Taming a Liger...Unexpected Spiritual Lessons from Napoleon Dynamite

My sweet friend Brandy, gave me this book for my birthday. I will admit right here, right now, that I am a fan of Napolean Dynamite. I believe it is one of those of movies that you either like it or you don't. So when I first read the title I thought, this is so cool! I was interested, however, to find out these "unexpected spiritual lessons."
I started reading this past Sunday when we got back from the mountains. There are 24 short chapters that cover these spiritual lessons. I am now on Chapter 4 and have really enjoyed everything so far. The title of Chapter 4 is called, "Worst day of my life, what do you think?" (anyone that has seen the movie can picture how Napoleon sounds right about now) The authors briefly mention how we tend to shorthand different sayings for stuff like using the word "best" for stuff. I know I tend to use that word a lot for EVERYTHING. Do I really mean that EVERYTHING is better than all the rest? No, it just means that I really like it a lot. In the movie, on Napoleans first day of school, it was the "worst day of his life". I definitely tend to think that about some days but I know that it isn't REALLY the "worst day of my life". Again, it is just a shorthand way to say, "i had a bad day". Next the authors mention how we are conditioned to understand this shorthand and take it for what it really means.
They go on to discuss Job in the Old Testament. It was interesting because Job really had a reason to say "worst day of my life". In one day, Job incurred the following losses:

• All of his oxen and donkeys were stolen by the Sabeans who killed the servants Job had hired to tend the flocks
• All of his sheep and the servants tending them were struck by lightening and killed
• All of his camels were stolen by the Chaldeans, who also killed the servants in charge of them
• All of his sons and daughters were killed when a tornado caused their house to collapse on them

The bible says that Job responded like this, Job 1:21-"He said, I came naked from my mother's womb, and I will be naked when I leave. The Lord gave me what I had, and the Lord has taken it away. Praise the name of the Lord!"

When I read that, I am always so amazed at how he can just say something like after all of those horrible things happened to him. It is also a great reminder of how we need to hand all of our worries and fears over to God. Peter says it in 1 Peter 5:7-"Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you." Can you imagine if we tried to carry all of our worries and concerns ourselves? We would buckle under the burden!

I thought I would share this today because it really spoke to me. So often, we praise God and enjoy our relationship with him when we are having "the best day ever". It is not so often that we praise Him we are having "the worst day ever". This is definitely something I need to work on. God longs for us ALL the time and He deserves our undivided attention.