If you could do anything...

  What would you do if you could do virtually anything....that is, if money were no object and you had complete control of your time?  This weekend Shirley and I joined some good friends to see what one man did who had almost limitless money and time.  His name was George Vanderbilt and he was a grandson of the shipping and railroad tycoon Cornelius Vanderbilt.  When he was still in his twenties he decided to build an epic castle-like personal residence with something like 250 rooms, several acres of floor space, over forty bathrooms, elevators, full electricity, walk in refrigerators and placed it on 125,000 acres of rolling hills and forest near Asheville, North Carolina.  He took six years and used the best architect and landscape designer to create a "country home".  And a few years later he took a wife and settled in to make the amazing place a self supporting operation with farming, timber, furniture manufacturing and a commercial nursery.  Sadly, George died at a young age (51) from complications due to an emergency appendectomy.

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So what would you do if you had countless millions of dollars and plenty of time?  Would you build something really impressive like the Biltmore?  It occurred to me that we really do have limitless resources and all the time we need.  We may not be a descendant of Cornelius Vanderbilt but, if we have placed the weight of our trust in the living God and His Son, Jesus, we have access to all that His kingdom includes and we have much more than a little time...we have all of eternity.  We can draw on limitless resources across eons of time, with the greatest resource being the direct and intimate personal access we have to the mind and heart of our Lord.  Interestingly, He is looking for folks who will tap His treasures to reflect His glory and to complete His kingdom work.  I don't think He is as interested in large buildings like the Biltmore as He is in extending His message of redemption and restoration to the world He made long ago.  After all, it's not what we can build as much as participating in what the Lord is already building!

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1 Chronicles 17:12-13 He shall build Me a house, and I will establish his throne forever.  I will be his Father, and he shall be My son; and I will not take My mercy away from him...

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blessings and thanks to Dean and Leigh,

Rob Smith