Make Your Meter Run Backwards
Have you ever thought about putting solar panels on your home? Did you know that if you do, you can actually make your meter run backward? On a bright sunny day, as the sun beats down on the panels and they produce more energy than you can use, the surplus causes the bi-directional meter to run backward.
Instead of paying for electricity, the electric company credits you for the extra.
Each of us is given a stewardship of grace. Those who are faithful stewards will produce more light than those who are poor stewards, both now and in eternity.
Daniel wrote, "Those who are wise will shine as bright as the sky, and those who lead many to righteousness will shine like the stars forever" (Daniel 12:3).
The greater glory with which the faithful will shine in their resurrected state is God's way of crediting it back to them.
The Hidden Door
Jason Barry, with CBS, reports:
Steve Humble is the founder of Creative Home Engineering in Gilbert. His company makes an assortment of secret doors that are used to hide secret rooms or closets in someone's house. His website's name -- HiddenPassageway.com -- basically says it all.
"We make doors that don't look like doors," said Humble. "It could look like a bookcase, or a dresser, or grandfather clock, or brick wall -- anything you can think of that isn't a door, ..."
Humble said that some of his clients want a secret door to hide a kids' play area or movie room. Others want a place to hide a large safe or some guns.
But personal safety is the No. 1 reason people call him. High-end clients want custom-built panic or safe rooms where they can hide in case of a home invasion.
... All of the high-end secret doors open and close with a remote control that can be connected to anything around the house, which makes it kind of fun.
So fun, in fact, customers often have trouble keeping their secret rooms secret.
"The majority of clients come to us with the intention of telling no one, but it's not uncommon for them to be so proud and excited about it, they end up showing it off to the neighborhood," Humble said.
People who build secret doors to secret rooms can’t wait to tell their neighbors, even though the rooms are supposed to be kept secret. Are we, as Christians, as excited about telling people about the door that's not supposed to be kept a secret, the one that leads to life eternal? Jesus said, “I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture” (John 10:9).
Really cool secrets are hard to keep. What cooler secret is there than the “Door” that leads to heaven?
Don't Covet Your Neighbor's Lottery Win
Kelley Holland, with Time, reports:
If you don't win (and we all know almost everyone who plays the lottery loses), you might think the next best thing would be for someone in your community to hit it big.
After all, a sudden windfall would probably lead the winner to throw a party for the neighbors, indulge in fancy landscaping, or splurge on other things that make the neighborhood a nicer place.
The idea makes sense – but there's a downside to living near a lottery winner. Neighbors of lottery winners are significantly more likely to declare bankruptcy within a few years of the big event than are people living near ordinary folks, according to a 2016 study. The study focused on lottery winners in Canada, and found that every $1,000 increase in lottery winnings raises the risk of bankruptcy among the neighbors by roughly 2.4 percent.
Why the negative ripple effect? When people win the lottery, they often spend some of the money on envy-inducing goodies like new cars, boats, and supersized TVs. Researchers say that these lifestyle upgrades then tempt their neighbors to boost their own spending on visible markers of prosperity, even though they haven’t had a sudden run of financial luck. Down the road, that leads to more bankruptcies, said Sumit Agarwal, a professor of finance at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business and an author of the study.
Those who are rich in possessions induce others to lust after those possessions. Might not the same be said of spiritual riches? Do others see your wealth in Christ? Is it attractive, compelling them to want to “get some of that?”
“I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I take pride in my ministry, in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them” (Romans 11:14).