Last week, the Power Ball lottery was approximately $1.5 billion.  So many people around drove to Georgia to purchase tickets including me and my husband.  I personally do not see anything wrong in spending a "little" money on a MAYBE.

It was a beautiful day (have not had too many of them here lately), a beautiful ride in a beautiful new truck, delicious mint-chocolate ice cream in a waffle cone, and a little dreaming.

"What would you do if we won just a piece of the lottery?"

"Well, I would buy a new roof for both sides of the church (am tired of messing with those roofs), pay off all my bills, record all my songs, publish a couple of books, and give the rest away to family and friends."  Honestly, that is the list that immediately fell off my tongue.

After a little thought, I added, "I might even buy a grand piano and a new keyboard but only after I have taken care of my family and close friends."  Yes, dreaming can be fun.

Back to real life.  Every decision we make in life is crucial to our story, our future.  Our past deeds are but a few pages of the 300-plus novel most of us will write.  The story to be written in the future is determined by the choices we make now.

So, what would we do if someone who could deliver came to us and said, "Ask me for something.  You can have anything you want."  JACKPOT!  God has done exactly this.

Solomon in 1 Kings 3:1-15 won God's lottery!  In a dream, the Lord appeared to Solomon and said, "Ask what you wish Me to give you."  Solomon carefully, humbly considered the Lord's proposal.

You have shown great lovingkindness to Your servant, David my father, who walked before You in truth and righteousness and uprightness of heart . . . You have given him a son to sit on his throne . . . Now, I am king . . . but I am yet a little child [about twenty years old].  I do not know how to go out or come in.  I am the king of Your chosen people, a great people who are too many to be numbered.  So give Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people, to discern between good and evil . . .

Solomon could have asked for fame, victories over his enemies, fortune, magnificent palaces, many children, health, a beautiful wife, immortality, etc.  But, he did not. 

Remember Solomon was the second child of David and Bathsheba; the first died as a result of David's sin.  He grew up watching David rule.  He survived David's civil war with his other sons.  He knew what God wanted and what He did not want.  The author of 1 Kings knew this and made this statement before he recorded Solomon's dream:  Solomon loved the Lord.

Solomon's love for God guided him when God popped the million-dollar question.  Solomon's love for God and for what God loved - His people - prompted him to ask for wisdom to rule rightly.

God was pleased, and because of the nature of Solomon's request, God gave him what he asked for and everything else.  God gave him a wise and discerning heart so that there would never ever be anyone like him in history, and He also gave him what he did not ask for - riches, honor, fame, and long life so long as he kept God's statutes and commandments.

What did Solomon do after he awakened from the dream?  Did he run around telling everyone about his good fortune?  No.  What he did revealed the true nature of his heart.

He worshipped and provided a feast for all his servants.  He was not thinking about himself; he was genuinely grateful to God and generous to those who served him.  Can you see where his heart was positioned?  In the very center of God's great big hands and heart.

Yes, Solomon, a man after his "father's Father's" heart, knew what to ask for, and ask, he did.  He and God's people were winners.  His lineage would provide the Christ child who became the Savior/Redeemer of the whole world.  Solomon's decision impacted not only his future but ours as well.

As this year is still new and fresh, may we all love God as Solomon did.  May we all heed Solomon's example and make good, wise, godly decisions.  The decisions we make today will determine what is written on the future pages of our own stories.  Let's make it a best seller.