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Scripture is filled with stories of people who made temporary things permanent.

In Luke 16 Jesus tells a story about a man who was about to be fired from his job. Recognizing the need to prepare for the future, the man begins to trade his employer’s goods for influence and friendship with some of his employer’s clients. He recognized that he had a little time, and a little opportunity to turn what was temporary (his authority of his position) into that which would last longer.

And so trade he did.

The same thing is true for us as well…we have a little bit of time on this earth, we have access to a little bit of money and possessions, and each of us has a decision to make: will we pour our lives into things that are temporal, or will we trade what is temporary and quickly fading away, for the eternal.

Christ’s call is to “Use worldly wealth to make friends for yourself, so that when it is gone you will be welcomed into [eternity].”

Peter Buck (from my previous post) took something temporary and turned it into something more permanent. Everyday we have an opportunity to best him. In 100 years Peter …

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A short while ago, I had a quick chance to speak to Crown’s staff at one of our devotional times on Thursday.

I started with a story.

Peter Buck was a guy who took $1,000 a few years ago and made an investment in a young man named Fred. Fred was looking for money to pay for college, and Peter suggested starting a small business, a sandwich shop. They called it “Pete’s Submarines”, but it sounded like “Pizza Marines” so they changed it to Pete’s Subway. Soon they dropped the “Pete’s” and were left with Subway. Now with over 30,000 restaurants around the world, it appears that Peter Buck made a good investment in his young friend.

Peter is now worth over 1.6 Billion US Dollars.

Turns out he was pretty smart to trade his temporary $1000 for something more permanent.

More on this later…