Too much of any good thing is too much. Howard Hughes had too much money and it worried him to death. It made the news when he died and his several wills came to light. The really interesting thing, however, was that he had apparently ceased living long before he died. With all his millions he died a lonely and broken man.

I overheard a conversation between a young college couple the other day. He was saying that he did not care what he did for a living as long as there was lots of money in it. The young lady agreed. I thought to myself: "Son, when it comes to enjoying life, you have already lost it."

Mrs. Ethel DuPont Warren was once described by artist Dan Flowers as one of the most beautiful women in the world. Her marriage to Franklin Delano Roosevelt~Jr. was one of the social events of the decade. She had everything: money, looks, social position, success . . . but at the age of 49 Mrs. Warren hanged herself from a bathroom shower fixture.

Mark Hesslip had fame. Only a few die-hard hockey fans will remember Mark. He played a couple of seasons with the New York Rangers in the NHL and then one season with the Los Angeles Kings. His very promising career was cut short by what he himself called a love affair with cocaine and alcohol. He wanted to break if off but could not. Listen to Mark: "I was in the gutter and I put myself there. What you put into your body is what you get out of it. There is not anything good about drugs and alcohol" Mark is one of the lucky ones; he is doing well in rehabilitation, but he has a lifelong fight on his hands. Mark had fame, money, a promising career--almost anything anyone would want--but he lost it all.

Some people just curl up in front of the TV set and stop living. It's amazing that "soaps" have had to drop characters because of the strong audience identification with them. Viewers send them presents; offer them jobs when they are out of work (in the show), send condolences and memorials when some favorite character is "eliminated" from the story. These viewers generally stop living in this world and end up in ~hat magical world of ozone and ether. By the time children finish high school they will have spent an average of 15,000 hours in front of the electronic baby-sitter. They will have experienced more of the sordid side of life by sixteen than their grandparents dreamed of in a lifetime.

There is a way out. Lou Costello, the famous old-time movie comedian, almost lost his life to rheumatic fever at the very height of his career. Lou went through the depths of self-pity. Why me? Then one day he read about a little girl named Goldie. Goldie had been diagnosed as having only six months to live. Suddenly Lou's problems seemed to disappear. He had everything life could give and this child would not even have the chance to live. Lou called his own doctor and asked him to look into the case. He made it possible for the little girl to go to the Mayo Clinic and with the proper care she was healed. So was Lou.

We need to take our eyes off ourselves and focus on others. That ls the first step. Then we need to sharpen the focus and see Jesus. Instead of allowing our desires to be shaped by TV and our morality by the latest Gallup poll we need to let Jesus show us His way. Each of us is unique. We have something to get from life and something to give to life. Jesus said, "There is no profit to the man, even if he should gain the whole world, if in doing so he loses his immortal soul