The summer has taken Bridge Church on mission to Chiapas MX, into several of our neighborhoods to do Block Parties and home repair, into our local jail with a new Fatherhood initiative and round two of Celebrate Recovery, AND through the book of Ecclesiastes on Sunday’s at the West St. Tammany YMCA during our weekly worship gatherings. We have several weeks to go, but here’s a few highlights from the series so far.

• A 40-year study was conducted by the wealthiest man who ever lived, of every pleasure known to man, to see what would bring real fulfillment. His full report is known to us as the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes.
• Here would be a good headline in tomorrow’s paper for this report: “Can Meaning be Found in Life? 40-year, Multi-Billion Dollar Study says No”
• Who is Solomon? a cross between a Saudi Arabian prince, the President of the United States, Socrates, & Mickey Mouse. The wealthiest, most politically powerful, wisest, & most famous person in the world. He reigned for 40 years as King of Israel and his life serves as a case study for FINDING MEANING. He tried it all and spared no expense in search for meaning and found it ALL meaningless.
• Life on earth – “under the sun” – is a lot like a soap bubble, you float for a while and then you pop and the shows over, usually leaving much to be desired by onlookers.
• Don’t let what you can’t control or can’t explain destroy what you can enjoy.
• The power to enjoy life comes from within. It’s about character, not circumstances.
• Worship and wealth go hand in hand, b/c our checkbook follows our hearts desire.
• God is in control. Worship, don’t negotiate.
• Friendships are worth more than paychecks.
• Money is to keep us and others alive, not to give us life and meaning.
• Do you want to stand before God and say…I didn’t invest much in your kingdom, but I did drive some great cars. I didn’t help those in need, but I did have a great cable package. I didn’t support world missions, but I did try everything on the menu at Copeland’s.
• We don’t live by explanations, we live be promises. We don’t walk by what we see, we walk by faith. We don’t get to heaven by what we know, but who we know.