As we head into fall, many of us are conscious of getting our priorities in order. By the way, do your life priorities include material possessions?
It might help to remember Yussif, the Terrible Turk! Yussif was a three-hundred-and-fifty-pound wrestling champion in Europe a little over two generations ago. After he won the European championship, he sailed to the united States to take on the champ, whose name was Strangler Lewis -- a little guy, by comparison, who weighed just a shade over two hundred pounds.
Although he wasn't huge, Strangler had a simple plan for defeating his opponents. It had never failed to work. He'd put that massive arm of his around the neck of his opponent. He'd pump up that bicep and cut the oxygen off, right up there near the Adam's apple. Many an opponent had passed out in the ring with Strangler Lewis. The problem he had when it came to fighting the Turk was that the European giant didn't have a neck! His body just went from his head to those massive shoulders. Lewis could never get the hold so it wasn't long before Yussif flipped Lewis down on the mat and pinned him. After winning the championship, the Turk demanded five thousand dollars in god. After he wrapped the championship belt around his vast middle, he stuffed the gold into the belt and boarded the next ship back to Europe. He was now the possessor of America's glory and gold. He had won it all ... all except immortality.
He set sail on the SS Bourgogne. Halfway across the Atlantic, a storm struck and the ship began to sink. Yussif went over the side with his gold still strapped around his body. The added weight was too much for the Turk, and he sank like an iron anvil before they could get to him with the lifeboats. He was never seen again.
Have you ever seen a horse pulling a U-Haul trailer? If possessions are temporary and unfulfilling, what will bring fulfillment? Could it possibly be a relationship with God?
Pastor John Giesbrecht
