I have a confession to make. At nearly 43 years of age, I still like to watch cartoons. And while I console myself with the knowledge that movie and T.V. companies market cartoons to appeal to kids and adults these days, I'm sure there's some sort of "I don't want to grow up, I'm a Toys R' Us kid" mentality in me that my wife wishes I would address.

Yeah, I know; "Oh no! Not another preacher pushing how to GET something from God." The title certainly seems to be conveying that, but my intention in this is to show how the answer to everything we have need of is found in God's presence. Wisdom, provision, protection, peace that passes ALL understanding... everything is clearer and possible in the presence of God. But it all starts and ends with relationship... and at that... relationship that is rightly motivated.

Back in 1960 (a mere seven years before my birth), Stanley Kubrick directed the movie Spartacus which starred Kirk Douglas. It was a movie about a man during ancient Roman society who rose from the dust of his slavery to shake the very pillars of Roman rule with his declaration of freedom. Still, while the movie certainly relied on the tried and not-so-true Hollywood concept of rewriting history (for the sake of the cinema), Spartacus was a real person. In fact, he was the leader of the slaves in "The Third Servile War", (yes... I Googled it) a major slave uprising against the Roman Republic.