James Arendt
IT WAS THE STRANGEST LITTLE DREAM--there wasn't very much to it. I went over these mountains toward the sea, and it was like paradise, going into another world, and I came back and told you about it, how wonderful it was!
And the thing that made it so wonderful was that THERE WASN'T TOO MUCH OF ANYTHING--that's the funniest thing! It was just that simple. In that country it was IMPOSSIBLE to do too much of anything: You couldn't eat too much, you couldn't drink too much, you couldn't work too much, you couldn't sleep too much, you couldn't go too far.
YOU JUST COULDN'T DO TOO MUCH OF ANYTHING.--And that seemed to solve all the problems. Nobody wanted too much, so nobody had too much, and so nobody fought to get too much or had any fights or wars, 'cause nobody wanted too much or more than the other fellow. Nobody wanted too much of anything, nobody had too much of anything.
THERE WAS LOTS OF PEACE and PLENTY and SAFETY and HAPPINESS, BUT NOT TOO MUCH, just ENOUGH for everybody. Everybody had enough to eat and to drink, enough to wear, but not too much. Nobody had too much. The women were very pretty, but they didn't wear too many clothes like they do now. In fact they wore very little but enough--just not TOO much.
AND EVERYBODY HAD THE TRUTH, AND THE TRUTH WAS THAT NOBODY HAD TOO MUCH or was too much of anything. And that seemed to solve everybody's problems. And I had come back to tell you, all excited about it, about how I'd found a land where everybody's problems were solved by not having too much of anything, by not being able to do too much or go too much or be too much or not be too much or not go too much and not do too much.
EVERYTHING WAS SOLVED BY NOT TOO MUCH. So I guess you'd call it "The Land of Not Too Much" where everybody was content with not too much.
It just seemed to solve EVERYTHING. Nobody was too good or too bad or too proud or too mean or too much of anything. You couldn't do too much or anything like that--it was just impossible. Isn't that funny?
ISN'T THAT A FUNNY DREAM? It was so real to me and I was so excited about it and I was telling you all about it.
So I guess I'd better stop before I tell you too much about the Land of Not Too Much. Is that enough? It's a funny little story for little kids I guess, The Land of Not Too Much. Jesus gave it to me, I didn't think it up. The Land of Not Too Much.
My name is James Arendt. I was raised in the Hegewisch neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois, served in the USAF from 1970 to 1974, and became a full-time missionary for Christ living 40 years in Japan, 3.5 years in Russia, and a few months in other countries such as Finland, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, South Korea, Taiwan and mainland China where I also served the King of Kings, Jesus, as an Ambassador for His Kingdom. My full bio.
If you like this article and my work on this website, you can show your appreciation by sending me a gift. Both my wife Tess and I are now unemployed and now live in the Philippines.
On July 31, our pastor drove us 70 kilometers south from our home in the city of Allen to Caybayog City (Samar, Philippines) where there's an immigration office. There I successfully applied for and received a 6-month visa extension! But the cost was higher than expected, 12,450 Philippine pesos, roughly $235 USD. Thankfully, I received one gift so far that covered half of that. If any of the visitors to this website who are not regular contributors to my work would like to help us cover the other half, it would be greatly appreciated. I will immediately send you an email to thank you.
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• Recognize you have violated in some way the laws of God. Violation of legal law is called a crime. Violation of God’s moral law is called a sin. For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; - Romans 3:23
As it is written (in the Bible), There is none righteous, no, not one: - Romans 3:10
• Recognize the penalty of sin: Death! For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. - Romans 6:23
Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: - Romans 5:12
• Recognize Jesus is the Saviour! Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. - John 14:6
Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. - Acts 4:12
And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. - Acts 16:31
• Recognize our lives our sinful by nature. We can do nothing of our own to merit eternal life. Salvation is completely by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ! For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: - Ephesians 2:8
But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. - Isaiah 64:6
Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; - Titus 3:5
• Recognize Christ paid the sin debt we owe! But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. - Romans 5:8-9
• Recognize you must receive Christ as your personal Saviour! For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. - Romans 10:13
• Ask Jesus to be your Saviour!
Dear Jesus:I know I am a sinner. I know if I were to die right now, I could not go to Heaven. I ask you, right now, to come into my heart, forgive me of my sin, and be my Saviour. Thank you for saving me and giving me eternal life. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
If you prayed that prayer with all sincerity, you have passed from death to life and have been born again into the family of God!
Read my bio
This morning my daughter was exhausted from exercise and was hallucinating due to fluid loss..and I said she did too much. Quoted this story and how I was given a single piece of paper 44 years ago. She said why don’t you google it. I did. I found it. It made me cry to see it again. It has been my mantra for all this time.
Blessings to you from the island of Guam just north of you.
James