Invite the Real King to Your Wedding
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Las Vegas chapels of love that use Elvis Presley’s likeness could find themselves becoming Heartbreak Hotels.
The licensing company that controls the name and image of “The King” is ordering Sin City chapel operators to stop using Elvis in themed ceremonies, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported on Monday. Authentic Brands Group sent cease-and-desist letters in early May to multiple chapels, which are expected to be compliant by now.
With Elvis themed weddings generating a hunka-hunka big chunk of the nearly $2 billion Las Vegas annual wedding industry, such a move could really end up being detrimental to the industry at large. Mom and Pop small businesses, which have only just begun to recover from the COVID shutdowns and financial crisis are in danger of going under.
Well, those desiring to enter into a genuine marriage covenant need not despair. There is indeed a King who will be present at every ceremony to which He’s invited.
But don’t stop there — invite Him into the marriage, not just the wedding. Unlike the fragile wedding industry, a Christ centered marriage will be able to withstand the many kinds of crises which will inevitably come.
“Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken” (Ecclesiastes 4:12, NIV).
“Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain fell, the torrents raged, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because its foundation was on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain fell, the torrents raged, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell—and great was its collapse!” (Matthew 6:24-27, NIV).
The Mine That Keeps Giving
A mine in Australia has produced what its owner believes are two of the biggest gold specimens in recorded history.
The biggest of the stones came in at 198 pounds and is estimated by the company to contain about 143 pounds of gold, a total that at current prices would be worth around $2.6 million
The second-biggest piece weighed 132 pounds and was valued at about $1.95 million.
Early estimates from RNC Minerals have put the total take of coarse gold from the cut at more than 562 pounds, or more than $10.4 million worth.
Airleg driller Henry Dole has been credited with uncovering the astonishing find at the 45-year-old Beta Hunt gold mine near Kambalda.
Here is what I like about this story…
They have been digging at this mine for 45 years….
And still getting gold, and not only that, but their biggest piece ever!
That is so much like the Word Of God.
Dig in it for years and years, and still haven’t seen it all or exhausted its treasury,
In fact, I believe that the greatest revelation and truth are still to come!
"And the words of the LORD are flawless, like silver purified in a crucible, like gold refined seven times" (Psalm 12:6).
Vain Jangling
The English language has done some changing in the 400-plus years since the King James Version was made available. Within its pages, you’ll find phrases like “straitened in your own bowels” (2 Corinthians 6:12), “superfluity of naughtiness” (James 1:21), “bloody flux” (Acts 28:8), “filthy lucre” (1Timothy 1:7), and “the thick bosses of his bucklers” (Job 15:26).
There is a beauty and picturesqueness to the Elizabethan English, though. One example of this is in 1 Timothy 1:6, which warns against “vain jangling.” To me, that’s a vivid way of translating a compound Greek word translated elsewhere as “fruitless discussions” (NASB), “idle talk” (NKJV), “vain discussion” (ESV), “meaningless talk” (NIV), and “empty talk” (MEV). Have you ever heard anyone jangling keys or coins in their pockets? It’s usually a nervous tic and mindless habit, but it can be loud and annoying.
The cause of this "vain jangling" is revealed in verse 7, that “they want to be teachers of the Law, even though they do not understand either what they are saying or the matters about which they make confident assertions.”
We need to be cautious lest we become religious noisemakers, banging and clanging with reckless abandon. Our words hold the power of spiritual life or death within them (Proverbs 18:21). Thus, great restraint, copious forethought, and thoughtful execution ought to control our speech, wherever it is “heard.”
Otherwise, we may simply be declaring our thoughtless ignorance, both uninvited and unwelcome, and come off sounding like three dollars of pennies churning in the pocket of a champion fidgeter.
"A truly wise person uses few words; a person with understanding is even-tempered" (Proverbs 17:27).