A rich man from Hong Kong was vacationing at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village. A couple hours before lunch time, he noticed a small boat with just one fisherman docked nearby. Inside the small boat were several large yellow fin tuna. The man complimented the fisherman on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them.

The man replied, only a little while. The wealthy man then asked why didn't he stay out longer and catch more fish?

The fisherman said he had enough to support his family's immediate needs. The rich man asked what he did with the rest of his day.

The fisherman said, "I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, and spend time with my wife. Some nights, I stroll into the village and play guitar with my friends. We entertain the children with stories and songs. Some evenings my wife and I help at our church."

At that the rich man offered, "I have an MBA from Harvard and could help. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds, buy a larger boat. With the proceeds from a larger boat you could buy several more boats. Eventually, you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman, you could sell directly to the processor and open your own cannery. With my advice on marketing, you would ultimately control the supply of product, processing, and distribution."

"Of course, you would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City in order to manage the growing fleet. After you open the cannery, you would then need to move to Los Angeles to manage and coordinate the marketing and distribution."

The fisherman asked, "How long will all this take?"

The rich man replied, "Fifteen to twenty years."

"What then?", asked fisherman.

The rich man laughed and said, "That's the best part. When the time is right you would relocate your growing empire to Hong Kong or London, announce an IPO, sell your company's stock to the public, and become very rich. You would make millions."

"Millions? Then what?", the fisherman asked again.

"Then you could retire," "move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, spend time with your wife, and stroll to the village in the evenings and play guitar with your friends."

The Navajo Native Americans have a saying: "A man can't get rich if he takes proper care of his family."

Mt 6:21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Mr 8:36 For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?

This story is a good example to remember. Many a mans greatest desire is to become rich and retire wealthy, nothing wrong with that I guess, except for often times loosing our families in the process.

Often times we already have a great life, we just do not realize it. God bless you is our prayer. Come and join us at Monterey Free Will Baptist Church.