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The Most Fun Place on Earth

                When our oldest daughter got married this past summer, we were fortunate to have lots of family and friends come and spend that day with us.  Some even got to hang around for a while afterwards.  One of those was Sara’s brother Josh, his wife Jeanine and their three kids.
                Soon the question became, “What are we going to do with three little kids for an entire week?”, so we quickly made a list.  On the first day we took them to the splash pads.  The next, we went to the pool at Churchill Park.  Then we ran them around on the rocks at Roche Percee.  We took them to the pool at the leisure centre and to several playgrounds.  We even had a huge Nerf gun battle in our backyard.  In short, we did every fun thing that there was to do.
                Fast-forward six months and I am sitting next to one of the boys at Christmas supper, so I turn to him and say, “If I came to see you in Akron, Ohio, what fun things could we do there?”   He says, “Nothing!”   At that point, his mom leaned over and whispered, “My boys think Estevan, Saskatchewan is the most fun place on earth.  Ever since the summer, they have been begging us to move to there!”
                Akron is a nice place.  It has a population of over 700 000 people.  They are surrounded by parks.  There are pro football, baseball, basketball and hockey teams in the area.  Cleveland and all it has to offer is just forty miles away.   Name anything you would ever want to do, and you could find it in the Akron metroplex.  Yet, two little boys who live there think that Estevan is the best place in the world simply because we spent some focused time with them.
                Typically, I am as selfish as the next person.  However, for one week, I got out of my own way and the result was great!  We had fun and we made some memories that will last a lifetime.
                Something special happens when you put the needs of others ahead of your own. 
                The trick is learning to do that all the time.          
“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others” (Philippians 2:3-4).  

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