Stuff before God.

"Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel." Phil 1:12

This is a letter Paul wrote and as I was reading it I was so excited! Here is a man that has been through WAY more than I can comprehend and here he is in a prison saying how his trials served to advance the gospel!
I realize that my life is no where near Pauls but I do feel that we (the western culture) tend to put items and objects above God. I don't think that I would realize how much my relationship was lacking, I've been given so much STUFF through out my life that I had forgotten how blessed I truly am, not saying i'm not thankful, but I am saying that I didn't realize how much i placed stuff above God.

Its funny because I was in Ottawa the other day and I felt soooo joyful, a feeling I had forgetten how much i missed. And pretty much the moment I had that back it was tested and tested hard!
Whether it be walking out of my best friends apartement because I knew I was hurting God by staying and i felt the best way to represent God was by walking away for that party.
or having my laptop, ipod, hard drive, camera and other stuff stolen out of my car, and not blaming God for not watching over my stuff. Maybe in some messed up way I needed that stuff out of my life for a little while in order to remember how much God actually loves me and how good it feels to be in constant communication with Him.

How many times has God asked me to spend time with him and i've put it off? How much dust do i let collect on my bible before i decided that him and i have some catching up to do? How many times do i talk to him just to vent and forget to ask him how he's doing?

I've had to learn this by having all this stuff just disappear.

So, i'll end with; How many times do YOU put God on the back burner? and how many times do you let stuff come inbetween you and God?