Adultery<“Internet Addiction”<As many as 5 percent to 10 percent of Americans—15 to
30 million people—may be addicted to the Internet, according to Kimberly Young, clinical
director of the Center for Internet Addiction Recovery and author of the book “Caught in the
Net.” The main kinds of Internet addiction are cybersex, online affairs, gambling, gaming,
compulsive surfing, and even eBay addiction.
Though some suffering from Internet
addiction spend 14 to 18 hours a day online, Internet addiction is not only a matter of time. It’s a
matter of what people are doing online, and how that is affecting the quality of their life,
relationships, and work. <
Resource: Manuel Baigorri, “Internet addiction may be one click
away,” Medill Reports Washington, news.medill.northwestern.edu (7-29-08)<Index: adultery,
attention, bondage, computers, family, focus, freedom, gambling, Internet, priorities, selfcontrol, sex, technology, work
Adultery<“Adultery and Divorce”<
The British newspaper
The Guardian reported that the number one reason cited for
divorce in the UK in 2006 was adultery. It was the fourth year
in a row that adultery came in at number one. Thirty-two percent
of divorces in the UK were attributed to extramarital affairs in
2006.
The article said that “suspicion of adultery was even
more prevalent than the practice of it”: in almost half (49%) of
the divorces in Britain last year one spouse hired a private
detective to check on the other.<
Reference: “Private
investigators hired in half of all divorces in Britain,” April
23, 2007, www.guardian.co.uk<Index: divorce, faithfulness, family, holiness, lust,
marriage, purity, righteousness, sex, suspicion, Ten Commandments, trust, values<
Aging<“What’s the Name of that Flower?”< Two retired men were talking one day in the
kitchen, while their wives visited out in the living room. One of the men said, “My wife and I
went to a wonderful French restaurant last night.”
name?”
“Oh?” his friend answered. “What was the
The first gentleman thought for a moment, then said, “What’s the name of that
flower, the one with thorns?” “Rose?” his friend said.
“That’s it,” the older gentlemen said.
Then he turned and called into the living room, “Rose dear. What was the name of that restaurant
we went to last night?”<Ref< Index: forgetfulness, marriage, memory, names, old age, senior
citizens<
Angels<“Undercover Cops”< The book Where Angels Walk tells the story of two
undercover cops, Steve and Phil, of Nutley, New Jersey. While were working to stem the drug
trade in their area, they discovered a cave in the woods where drugs being stored. They wanted
to catch the leader and the others involved, so they waited until evening.
Finally, the leader
and about a dozen others were in the cave. Steve and Phil called for backup, but the request was
denied. So they called for another kind of backup. It was Steve and Phil’s habit to pray or read
the Bible together before their shift each day. Now, before approaching the cave, they prayed
together again for God’s help.
They approached the cave and Steve shouted, “Freeze!”—
and to his surprise, everyone did. No one moved, and when Phil asked the leader to hand over
the package he was holding, he meekly obeyed. When they told everyone to lie prone, they did—
with no back talk. They read them their rights, gathered evidence, and waited for the police van
from headquarters.
As they were walking the leader to the patrol car, Steve asked him, “Why
did the arrests go so easily?” After all, it was a dozen criminals vs. the two cops. The leader said,
“Do you think I’m crazy? I saw at least twenty guys in blue uniforms.” The leader said to
another prisoner, “Belinda, how many cops did you see come into the cave?”“At least twenty-
five,” she said. Steve recalled the words of Psalm 91:11: For he will command his angels
concerning you to guard you in all your ways;<Reference: William J. Petersen and Randy
Petersen, 100 Amazing Answers to Prayer, (Revell, 2003), pp. 171-173<Index: agreement
prayer, Bible, God’s power, partnership, power, prayer, promises, protection, spiritual warfare,
united prayer, unity
Anger
“Costly Victory”<
A younger employee at a construction
company worked with a hard-working foreman for a number of
years. He couldn’t help but notice that this foreman was always
passed over for promotions. One day he asked the foreman why.
“You’re one of the best workers here,” he said.
The foreman
explained, “Years ago I had an argument with the supervisor …
and I won.”
Proverbs 29:11: A fool gives full vent to his
anger, but a wise man keeps himself under control.<Ref<Index:
consequences, employment, humility, pride, relationships, retaliation, revenge, self-control,
sowing and reaping, temper, words, work<
Anger
“Heart Attacks”<
In 2000 an article in Circulation, a journal of the American Heart
Association, reported the results of a study held at the University of North Carolina (at Chapel
Hill). The study found that highly anger-prone people are nearly three times more likely to have
a heart attack. The connection between anger and heart attacks remained even after taking into
account other major risk factors like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, smoking and obesity.
Epidemiologist Janice Williams said, “The implications … are that anger could
potentially lead to heart attacks, especially among middle-aged men and women with normal
blood pressure.”
The study supported previous research showing that stress hormones
constrict blood vessels and may trigger an artery blockage. <Reference: Arizona Republic, 5/2/00
Index: emotions, health, peace, relaxation, self-control, sowing and reaping, stress,
temper<
Bible<“Arctic Seed Vault”< Norway has opened a “doomsday” seed vault in the Arctic. The
vault, dug deep in the permafrost of a remote mountain, is located in Svalbard, an archipelago
620 miles from the North Pole. The purpose of the frozen vault is to protect samples of the
world’s seeds from global disasters, natural or manmade. It can store up to 4.5 million seed
samples. It’s a backup to the world’s other 1,400 seed banks.
The world has the wisdom to guard natural seeds,
knowing that life springs from them. In the same way, we should
guard the spiritual seed of the Word of God, for it is the
source of spiritual life. “The farmer sows the word” (Mark
4:14). <
Reference: Associated Press, “Arctic vault to save
world’s seeds,” The Arizona Republic (2-26-08)<
Index: church
attendance, discipleship, end times, focus, life, ministry, natural disasters, priorities, spiritual
growth, seeds, study, witnessing, Word of God<
Bible<“Ask an Expert”<Some years ago, a man was riding along in his Ford when the
thing broke down. He looked at the engine, but couldn’t see what was wrong. He flagged down
another car—a big Lincoln—and asked for help.
Out of the Lincoln stepped a tall man who asked what the problem was.
“I can’t get this Ford to move,” the stranded motorist said.
The tall stranger looked under the hood, made some adjustments, and then said, “Start the
car.” The man gave it a try, and it started!
He thanked the tall man, and said, “What’s your name, sir?”
The tall man replied, “My name is Henry Ford.”
Henry Ford knew how to fix that Ford because he made it! God knows how to fix us because He
made us. Go to the “Owner’s Manual,” the Bible, for wisdom for your life.<Ref<Index: advice,
counsel, faith, God’s wisdom, prayer, providence, wisdom<
Bible< “The Bible in the Early Church”<
Justin Martyr, writing in the middle of the second
century, provides the earliest extra-Biblical description of an early Christian worship service.
Notice the central place both the Old and New Testament Scriptures held:
“On the day called the Day of the Sun all who live in cities or in the country gather
together to one place, and the memoirs of the apostles [what we call the New Testament] or the
writings of the prophets [what we call the Old Testament] are read, as long as time permits; then,
when the reader has ceased, the president verbally instructs, and exhorts to the imitation of these
good things. Then we all rise together and pray.”
Reference: Bruce L. Shelley, Church History in Plain Language (Thomas Nelson
Publishers, 1995), p. 61<
Index: church, leadership, prayer, preaching, priorities, teaching,
tradition, unity, worship<
Bible< “The Caiaphas Ossuary”<
One of the many archeological finds supporting the
accuracy of the Biblical record was the discovery of the “Caiaphas Ossuary.”
Ossuary is a fancy name for a bone box, where the bones of dead
people were kept. In 1990, such a box was found in Jerusalem’s
Peace Forest. It had two inscriptions on it: “Caiaphas” and
“Joseph, son of Caiaphas.” Archeologists believe it is the
ossuary of the Caiaphas who was the high priest who tried Jesus.
Whereas the Bible only refers to Caiaphas by that name, the
first century Jewish historian Josephus refers to him as,
“Joseph, who is called Caiaphas of the high priesthood”—the name
on the discovered bone box. <Reference: Walter C. Kaiser Jr.,
“How Has Archaeology Corroborated the Bible?” The Apologetics
Study Bible (Holman Bible Publishers, 2007), p. 1149<Index:
archeology, burial customs, Caiaphas, Christianity, crucifixion, death, evidence, faith, high
priest, history, Josephus, ossuary, trial of Jesus<
Bible< “Divine Protection”< In 1999 Guideposts magazine told the story of Mavis Gustafson
Pigford, who stopped by the Gideons table at the Iowa State Fair. A young man there picked up
one of the display Bibles and said, “I’m not supposed to give these away, but I sense you should
have one.” Mavis shrugged and took it.
A few days later when she was walking to town, a driver pulled up beside her, pointed a
gun at her, and began to assault her. As she resisted, he shot her in the side, and she fell to the
ground. Then he picked up her purse, took out her wallet, threw the purse on her head, and shot
it.
“I felt a dreadful impact,” Mavis said. “Still conscious, I lay silent, hoping he would think
I was dead. I heard the car drive away, and I stumbled to a nearby farmhouse.”
At the hospital, before she went into surgery to remove the bullet in her side, her sister
came to her. “Do you know what saved you, Mavis?” she asked. Then she handed Mavis the
Bible she’d put in her purse.
“A bullet was lodged in it, its tip stopping exactly at Psalm 37:14-15: ‘The wicked
draw the sword, and bend the bow … to slay those whose ways are upright. But their swords will
pierce their own hearts, and their bows will be broken.’”< Reference: The Best of Guideposts
(Ideals Publications, 2005), pp. 256-257<
Index: Bible, Divine appointment, Divine
protection, protection, providence, Word of God<
Bible< “Eating to Win”<Olympic swimming champion Michael Phelps, winner of the
most gold medals in Olympic history, has a champion-sized diet as well. He consumes 12,000
calories a day, compared to 2000 a day for the average 23-year-old man.
His breakfast consists of three fried-egg sandwiches loaded with cheese, a five-egg
omelet, grits, three slices of French toast, and three chocolate-chip pancakes, washed down with
two cups of coffee. Lunch is a pound of pasta, two large ham and cheese sandwiches, and energy
drinks. Dinner is another pound of pasta and a whole pizza, and another 1,000 calories of energy
drinks.
In spite of this rich diet, Phelps is in top condition. All of this food is fuel for his fivehours-a-day, six-days-a-week exercise regimen. His diet gives him the energy he needs to train
and compete.
As Christians, we are in the competition of our lives every day as we “run with
perseverance the race marked out for us” (Hebrews 12:1). Our spirits will require a healthy diet
of God’s Word if we want to run victoriously.
Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that
comes from the mouth of God.’” (Matthew 4:4).<
Reference: Clemente Lisi, “Phelps’ Pig
Secret: He’s Boy Gorge,” NYPost.com (8-13-08).< Index: Christianity, devotions, diet,
discipline, food, God’s Word, habits, Olympics, Michael Phelps, power, spiritual disciplines,
spiritual food, spirituality, spiritual strength, spiritual warfare<
Bible< “The Most Important Event of the Past 1000 Years”<
Life magazine published a
book listing the most important events of the last 1000 years.
Some of the events you might expect to be there: #2, Columbus’s voyage to the New
World in 1492; #16, the dropping of the atomic bombs on Japan to end World War II and open
the nuclear era; #17, Ford’s Model T; #20, the invention of the telephone; #27, the Wright
brothers’ flight at Kitty Hawk.
Some events you’re glad are there: #93, the invention of painless surgery. A Georgia
doctor was the first to use ether in a surgical procedure in 1842, when he removed a tumor from
a patient—for a fee of $2
Some of the events listed are kind of surprising: #82, the invention of Coke in 1886; #99,
the coming of Rock ‘n’ Roll; #39, the introduction of the potato to Europe.
But the #1 most important event of the last millennium, according to Life? The printing of
the Bible on Gutenberg’s printing press in 1455! This led to the Bible, and other books, being
distributed to the public at large for the first time. All of which led, eventually, to the
Renaissance, the Protestant Reformation, and the subsequent political and industrial revolutions.
Life got it right: the Bible has been the key to the advance of
civilization. It is also the key to our personal spiritual
advancement.<Reference: The Life Millennium: The 100 Most
Important Events & People of the Past 1,000 Years (Life Books,
1998)<Index: civilization, God’s sovereignty, history, progress, spiritual growth<
Bible< “The Search for Extraterrestrials”< The world’s largest and most sensitive radio
telescope is located at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. It is 1000 feet in diameter, 167
feet deep, and covers an area of about twenty acre.
Do you know what the world’s largest radio telescope is used for (among other things)?
To listen for space aliens. Since 1999, it has been used by the UC Berkeley SETI (Search for
Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) Program to search for radio signals from extraterrestrial
civilizations.
People are searching for a word from beyond this world. We have it for them in
the Bible.<
Reference: naic.edu/public/descrip_eng.htm; “SERENDIP,” Wikipedia, the free
encyclopedia, wikipedia.org (last modified on 26 June 2008)<
Index: aliens, church,
creation, extraterrestrials, God, Gospel, ministry, preaching, relationship with God, space,
witness, Word of God<
Bible< “Translated Bible Changes Tribe”<A Wycliffe Bible translator, working in a
remote village in Papua New Guinea, translated the opening chapters of Genesis into their native
language. When he did, the attitude toward women in that tribe changed overnight. They had not
realized that the woman had been specially made from the man’s side. When they heard it, they
immediately grasped the idea of equality between the sexes, and the lives of the women in that
village were changed.
God’s Word changes lives.<Ref<Index: changed lives, Christianity, conviction, equality, the
Gospel, marriage, missions, revelation, sexes, witness, women<
Bible< “You Can Trust the Bible”< One proof that the Bible is God’s Word is its amazing
unity. Though written over a span of about 1500 years, by about 40 different authors of different
backgrounds and locations and languages, it has a unified message from beginning to end: man is
a sinner who needs a Savior.
In Genesis, written about 1400 B.C., we see man’s first sin in the Garden & God’s
immediately promise that one of Eve’s sons would come to crush the serpent’s head—Man is a
sinner, a Savior is promised. In Isaiah, written about 700 years later, we read: We all, like
sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on
him the iniquity of us all (53:6)—Man is a sinner, a Savior will take his sin. Romans, written
another 700 or so years later, says: The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life
in Christ Jesus our Lord (6:23)—Man is a sinner, there’s a Savior.
One unified message throughout.
If you don’t think that’s impressive, imagine the conflicting messages you’d read in a
book on astronomy or biology or philosophy—or anything—if it contained the opinions of
different authors through 15 centuries.
Take the field of medicine, for example—according to an article in the Encyclopedia
Britannica:
●In ancient India, they used “sneezing powders” to cure people; hoping they’d
sneeze the sickness or spirit out of them; not realizing they were sneezing it on each other
●In the Middle East, they used “divination” to find out what was wrong with you.
They sacrificed an animal and studied its liver “to foretell the course of a disease”
●In Greece, they told you to go sleep in the temple of a certain god—perhaps
when you woke up you’d be better
●As late as the 18th century, a lecturer in Edinburgh asserted his theory that there
were only 2 diseases, and 2 chief cures: alcohol and opium (I bet his offices were always busy!)
●In Medieval Britain, barbers doubled as surgeons! (Which I guess would be
convenient: “Take a little off the top, Joe. And take out my gall bladder as well”)
●But perhaps the scariest of all was the ancient practice of trepanning: they cut a
hole, 2.5 to 5 centimeters across, in the skull of the patient—to provide the disease (or evil spirit)
with means of escape! They’ve found the remains of these skulls in Britain, Europe, and Peru.
The point is, you’d find a host of conflicting medical practices in a book compiled over
the centuries by 40 different practitioners. You’d find conflicting messages in any such book by
humans. (Put 2 people in a room, get 3 opinions.)
But the Bible, written over all those centuries by all those writers, presents one unified
message on man’s problem. One diagnosis: sin. One cure: the Savior. Such a unified message,
about the most controversial subject, could only come from God.
You can trust the Bible. <
775-782<
Reference: The Encyclopedia Britannica, 2002, “Medicine,” pp.
Index: faith, God’s Word, inspiration, wisdom <
Change<“An Age of Change”<
We live in an age of change.
If you are just reaching retirement age today, that means you were born before the
following: television, dishwashers, credit cards, ballpoint pens, the medical use of penicillin,
frozen foods, the pill, pantyhose, contact lenses, McDonalds and Starbucks, bottled water, FM
radio, yogurt, car seats, personal computers, cell phones, and video games, answering machines,
pagers—and on and on.
Change can be exciting, but also scary. The good news is, God does not change:
Malachi 3:6: I the LORD do not change.
Hebrews 13:8: Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.<Ref<
Index:
culture, hurry, patience, retirement, technology, time, senior citizens, vulnerability <
Change< “Mobile Society”< We live in an age of change.
Even people come and go out of our lives. According to the 2000 Census, in the five
years leading up to the census, about half of the U.S. population moved. Nevada had the most
moving: 63% of the population. Followed by Colorado and Arizona: at 56% of the population.
We can count on God not to move in and out of our lives:
Matthew 28:20: “… And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the
age.” <Reference: Associated Press, Genaro C. Armas<Index: culture, dependability, endurance,
families, home, hurry, money, moving, patience, time, vulnerability<
Changed Life<“Journalist’s Life Changed”<Lee Strobel was an atheistic journalist with
the Chicago Tribune. When his wife became a Christian, he set out on a skeptical investigation
of the Christian faith—but ended up becoming a Christian instead. God changed his life, as he
wrote about in his book The Case for Easter:
Over time my character, values, attitude, priorities, worldview, philosophy, and
relationships began to change—for the good.
So much so that a few months after I became a follower of Jesus, our five-year-old
daughter, Alison—who had previously only known a father who had been profane, angry,
verbally harsh, drunken, and all too often absent—walked up to my wife and said, “Mommy, I
want God to do for me what he’s done for Daddy.”
In effect, she was saying, “If this is what God does to a human being, then that’s
what I want for me.” Even at that early age, she experienced an authentic spiritual
transformation that shines through her life to this day.
Reference: Lee Strobel, The Case for Easter (Zondervan, 1998,
2003), p. 89<Index: atheism, change, children, Christianity,
conversion, Easter, evidence, family, fathers, God’s power,
marriage, parents, new birth, salvation, Lee Strobel, testimony,
witness<
Christianity<“The Historical Treatment of Women”< An irony of modern culture is the
attack by many feminists on Christianity—ironic because Christianity has led the way for
women’s rights in the world. Robert Hughes’ The Fatal Shore—The epic of Australia’s founding
describes the life of the Aborigines, the native people of Australia, before the Europeans came.
People like to idealize the lives of primitive peoples, and the Aborigines did have a lot of good
qualities, but listen to how they treated women:
●If a tribe was about to be attacked, it would sometimes send a party of women
out to the threatening tribe; if the other tribe had sex with the women, it showed “they were open
to a peaceful solution”; if they sent the women back untouched, it meant battle was at hand.
●The warriors going to battle “would swap their women as an expression of
brotherhood.”
●“wives were lent to visitors” a tribe wanted to honor.
●“If a woman showed the least reluctance to be used for any of these purposes,”
she could be beaten or speared.
●If she carried an unwanted child, her belly might be thumped to induce abortion;
if she bore a deformed child, it was “smothered or strangled”; if she died in childbirth, or while
nursing, “the infant would be burned with her after the father crushed its head with a large
stone.”
Hughes writes, “the unalterable fact of their tribal life was that women had no rights at all
and could choose nothing.”
Christianity has made its share of mistakes in the world, but where Christianity has gone
women’s rights have followed (as well as other blessings like freedom, prosperity, and
education).<Reference: Robert Hughes, The Fatal Shore – The epic of Australia’s founding
(Vintage Books, 1988), pp. 16-17<Index: Bible, change, Christianity,
church, equality, Jesus, influence, rights, women<
Christianity< “Light of the World”< Wherever Christianity has gone throughout history,
education, democracy, and prosperity have followed. A recent example of this can be seen in a
comparison of North and South Korea.
North Korea is a communist nation. South Korea is a nation where Christianity has taken
root; in fact, the biggest church in the world is located there. This satellite photo of the two
nations at night is from an October 11, 2006, Department of Defense news briefing by then
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfield and General George Casey.
(The slide should be shown here. You can find it at the link in the reference below. Or just
type in your browser, “North and South Korea at night,” and you should find it.)
You can see the outlines of the two countries. Notice the backward state of North Korea,
the lack of electric light; that one dot of light is the nation’s capital, Pyongyang. Notice, by
contrast, how South Korea is covered with light.
Where would you rather live? Jesus said of His followers, “You are the light of the
world” (Matthew 5:14). It has proven to be true.< Reference:
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/news/2006/10/mil-061011-dod01.htm
Index: Bible, change, Christianity, church, culture,
democracy, education, freedom, Jesus, history, influence, light,
light of the world, prosperity, rights<
Christianity< “Respect for Life”<
Much of the respect we have for human life today in
western society is due to the influence of the church.
In ancient Rome, for example, abortion, infanticide, child abandonment, suicide, and
deadly gladiatorial contests were “all legal and widely practiced.” But “Fifty years after the
legalization of Christianity in A.D. 313, the now-Christianized Roman emperors outlawed these”
practices. Abortion has made a tragic comeback, as western societies have slipped from their
Christian roots, but the rest of these practices are still illegal.
It was through the church that this positive influence came to society. Jesus said of His
followers: You are the light of the world (Mt 5:14). It has proven to be true.<Alvin J. Schmidt,
“Has Christianity Had a Bad Influence on History?” The Apologetics Study Bible (Holman Bible
Publishers, 2007), p. 274<Ref<Index: abortion, gladiators, children, church, culture, influence,
life, murder, Rome, salt, sanctity of life, light, light of the world, suicide<
Christmas<“Extravagant Gifts”<
Every Christmas Neiman Marcus publishes an exotic gift
catalogue. Here are a few offerings from 2006 (in case you’re still doing some last minute
shopping):
●You can get a skyscraper sculpture made entirely “of thousands of No. 2 pencils
precision-sharpened to exactly the right sizes.” It stands 7 feet in the air. It’s yours for only
$40,000.
●For just $5,000 to $7,000 you can get a luxury pet home. They come with
interior rugs and coordinating wallpaper, or with a plush armchair of Italian leather for your
pooch to rest on.
●Or you can buy a membership to the Castiglion Del Bosco (“Castle in the
Woods”) Club in Italy. It’s nestled among the ruins of a medieval fortress. The price is kind of
steep - $3.8 million – but you get the use of a luxury vehicle whenever you visit.
●Or there’s a chartered trip to outer space for six. Aboard Virgin Galactic’s
SpaceShipTwo, you’ll fly 63 miles above the earth—and when you return get a four-night stay at
Virgin Chairman Richard Branson’s private retreat in the British Virgin Islands. It’s a bargain at
$1.7 million. < Reference: “A space ride for Christmas, CNNMoney.com, October 4, 2006,
Index: gifts, materialism, money<
Christmas<“Surprised by John Madden”<
I grew up in Denver, and I grew up on the Denver
Broncos. In Denver, pretty much everyone does. In Denver, the Broncos are like a major
religious denomination. Even in those days (around 1970), when it seemed they were always
bad.
Our archenemy was the Oakland Raiders—the evil Oakland Raiders, with their pirate
logo, silver and black uniforms, and ranting and raving coach John Madden stalking the
sidelines. John Madden is an announcer these days, and in a lot of ads, but he got his start as
coach of the Raiders—coach of the sinister team that was always beating the good and noble
Broncos (that’s how it seemed to a little boy).
I’ll never forget one Sunday when the Raiders were in town to play the Broncos. I was
maybe 10 or 11, and my mom took us as usual to the Church of the Risen Christ on Monaco, to
an early service that was sparsely attended. And there, a couple rows in front of us sitting by
himself, was John Madden! The coach of the Raiders!
I was stunned. It was like the devil was in church! Raiders don’t go to church! But
obviously this one did, even on days his team was playing, even when he was out of town.
Ever since that day, I couldn’t help but like John Madden. He’d come into my element,
where I could identify with him. He wasn’t the enemy; he was one of us.
That’s what God did for us that first Christmas morning. We thought He was our enemy,
but He came into our element, where He could identify with us: where He could talk to us,
minister to us, and show us He loved us by giving His life for us. He came to us—so we could
know Him.< Reference: Author’s personal file<
Index: God’s nature, God’s presence,
incarnation, revelation<
Christmas< “A Hectic Time of Year”<
Christmas is not necessarily a peaceful time of year.
This year (Christmas 2006) some stores announced that they are going to be open some
ridiculous hours:
●At one mall in Elmhurst, NY, Limited Brands’ Express—and some other stores—
planned to be open 35 hours straight, starting yesterday at 7 a.m. on December 23, going all
night, and through Christmas Eve day.
●The Macy’s in Elmhurst planned to be open 83 hours straight thru Christmas Eve—
giving their employees a number of all-nighters.
●The L.L. Beans in New Jersey, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia planned to be
open 189 hours straight through Christmas Eve—that’s about a week of all-nighters.
The reason for these crazy hours, according to the article on CNN.com, was so the stores
could hit their holiday sales goals … because 4 out of 5 households were shopping later this year
than last year … because, at least for one lady in the article, her work hours left her no option!<
Reference: CNN.com, 12/22/2006< Index: money, materialism, peace, priorities, rest,
stress, work<
Church<“About to Blow Up?”<
Some years ago a garbage truck in Virginia exploded. The
crew had unknowingly picked up some calcium hypoclorite, a powder form of chlorine which
dissolves harmlessly when put in a swimming pool, but under pressure explodes. When the crew
compacted the trash, the truck blew up. Two firemen ended up in the hospital, and poisonous
gases forced office buildings to be evacuated.
Sometimes we can be just like that garbage truck. We
pick up a lot of nasty “chemicals” out there in the week:
stress, trials, temptations. If we try to process it all on our
own, we can have a blow up! God designed congregational worship
as a release valve—a place where He would meet us and lift the
burden and fill us with His good Spirit.<Ref<
Index: fellowship,
health, prayer, pressure, priorities, relaxation, rest, Sabbath, stress, Sunday, Ten Commandments,
worship<
Church< “Church Attendance Good for the Wallet”<Economist Jonathon Gruber has
found a statistical correlation between church attendance and a “Better Economic Outcome.” His
findings were published by the National Bureau of Economic Research.
He found that, on average, a household with double the rate of religious attendance as
another household has 9.1 percent more income. Extra religious activity also correlates with 16
percent less welfare participation (as well as 4 percent less chance of being divorced, and 4.4
percent more chance of being married).
Gruber said he’s “not validating” whether God had anything to do with the greater
prosperity, but “I can’t dispute it either,” he said.
Reference: H.B. London, Jr., “’Better Economic Outcome’ for Church-Goers,”
The Pastor’s Weekly Briefing (11-25-05)<Index: blessing, church attendance, family,
fellowship, giving, money, prosperity, service, tithing, unity<
Church< “14,000 Parts”<As you drive your car on a daily basis, you may be
aware of only a few of its many parts. You turn the steering wheel, look into the rear-view
mirror, adjust your radio station, press the gas and brake pedals, and move the turn signal up or
down. You probably notice only a few of your vehicle’s parts.
But do you know how many parts the average automobile has? 14,000! according to the
Encyclopedia Britannica. Though only a few of those parts may be noticed on any particular trip,
all of them together make up the automobile that gets you around.
It’s the same way in church life. Though only a few members may get much notice, it takes all
the parts to make up the body of Christ. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you
is a part of it (1 Corinthians 12:27).<Reference: The Encyclopedia Britannica, Volume 1, 2002,
“Automobile,” pp. 727-728<Index: body of Christ, faithfulness, fellowship, ministry, service,
teamwork, unity<
Church< “How Unchurched Americans View the Church”< A recent survey of unchurched
Americans found that most of them don’t believe church is necessary. The survey was conducted
by Lifeway Research and the North American Mission Board’s Center for Missional Research.
The study polled 1,402 adults who had not attended a religious service in the last six months, and
found:
●86 percent believe they can have a good relationship with God without being
involved in church.
●72 percent believe the church is full of hypocrites.
●79 percent believe Christianity today is more about organized religion than
about loving God and people.
(Somewhat contradictorily, 71 percent believe that
believing in Jesus makes a positive difference in a person’s
life, and 78 percent would be willing to listen to someone tell
them what they believe about Christianity.)< Reference: Mark
Kelly, “Unchurched Americans turned off by church, open to
Christians, Lifeway study says,” Facts & Trends (March/April
2008), pp. 6-10<
Index: attitudes, church attendance, commitment, culture,
discipleship, hypocrites, religion, unbelievers, witnessing, worship<
Communication
“Speaking Their Language”<When reaching out to increasingly important foreign
audiences, Hollywood often tweaks movie titles to make them sound better in the local language,
to give moviegoers a hint of the plot (of what is to them a foreign movie), and to take into
account local customs.
For example, Steve Carell’s Get Smart is Max the Menace in France, Agent Smart:
Casino Totale in Italy, Is the Spy Capable or Not? in Taiwan, and Confused Spy in China.
Grease is Vaseline in Argentina, and Airplane is The Unbelievable Trip on a Wacky
Airplane in Germany.
If Hollywood wants to make money, they have to speak their audience’s language.
Likewise, when we’re communicating the Gospel, we need to speak our audience’s
language. Theological terms such as “born again,” “redemption,” “Millennial Kingdom,”
“Incarnation,” “inspiration,” and “discipleship” have clear and wonderful meanings to the mature
Christian, but to the lost or unchurched they are foreign terms in need of explanation. <
Resource: Chris Hawley, “Hollywood gets lost in translation,” USA Today (8/1/08)<
Index: Bible, doctrine, explanation, Gospel, preaching, teaching, theology, translation,
understanding, witnessing<
Conflict<“Dividing Wall”<It’s not uncommon for divorcing couples in New York City to
continue living under the same roof. They follow judges’ orders and set boundaries as to which
spouse will use what part of the house when. But Simon and Chana Taub, residents of a house
valued at over $900,000 in a heavily Orthodox Jewish neighborhood in Brooklyn, raised their
dispute to a new level: under orders from a judge, a literal wall was built down the middle of
their home.
The dividing wall gave Chana access to the bedrooms and kitchen, and
Simon access to the living room and dining room. Three of their children stayed with her, one
with him.
It’s not as if the Taubs had no other options. Another home two doors down also belonged to
them. But both insisted they wanted to stay in the first house. <Reference: Arizona Republic,
1/20/07<Index: anger, arguments, bitterness, disagreements, disputes, division, divorce, family,
forgiveness, marriage, relationships, selfishness, strife, stubbornness, unforgiveness<
Confusion<“Wrong Way!”< A man was watching the news one night. There was a report that a
car was heading the wrong way on the freeway. He knew his wife was on that freeway, so he
called her cell phone and warned her, “Dear, there’s one car heading the wrong way on the
freeway.”
She said, “One car! There’s hundreds of them!”<Ref<Index:
discernment, driving, roads, traffic, wisdom
Consequences<“Doing Your Own Thing”< Thomas Huxley said, “A man’s worst
difficulties begin when he is able to do just as he likes.”<
Reference: The Bible Exposition
Commentary, New Testament, Volume 1, Warren Wiersbe, p. 234<Index: discipline, freedom,
rebellion, sowing and reaping<
Contentment<“Biting Off More Than You Can Chew”<The Wichita Eagle carried a story
about a resident named Bill Driver who saw a ball floating in an unusual way in Sandalwood
Lake, and he went to investigate. The ball was a child’s basketball, and the reason it was floating
in an unusual way is it was stuck in the mouth of a flathead catfish! The fish had obviously tried
to swallow the ball, but it got stuck. When it tried to dive beneath the surface, the buoyancy of
the basketball would bring it back up again. It had literally bitten off more than it could it chew.
The man captured the exhausted fish, deflated the ball with a knife, and removed it from
the fish’s mouth. Then he released the catfish back into the lake.
That’s a pretty good picture of what happens to us when we’re not content. We end up biting off
more than we can chew, and complicate our own lives. <Reference: Michael Pearce, “A Tough
Pill to Swallow,” The Wichita Eagle (KS) (May 30, 2004)<Index: boundaries, burnout, busyness,
coveting, desires, exhaustion, gratitude, lust, peace, rest, simplicity, stress, Ten Commandments,
work, worry<
Creation<“Earth: the Perfect Home”<
There’s so much scientific evidence for the
existence of God that nature is sometimes called God’s “Second Book.” One of the most
powerful pieces of scientific evidence for the existence of a Creator is the Anthropic principle.
Don’t let the big word scare you. It comes from a Greek word meaning man, like anthropology
(the study of man). The Anthropic principle is a fancy way of saying that the world seems
designed for the express purpose of supporting human life on Earth.
You see, the universe is a very inhospitable place. As far as we know, there’s no other
place in it that can support human life except this little dot of a planet called Earth. Scientists
have so far discovered 122 “Anthropic constants”—conditions that had to be present in the
universe for people to be able to live on Earth:
●the Earth had to be just so far away from the sun in order for it not to be too cold
or too hot. Our planet happens to be just the right distance away from our star.
●the Earth had to rotate at just the right speed, 24 hours. If it took longer,
temperature differences between night and day would be too drastic. If it took less time,
atmospheric wind velocities would be too great.
●there had to be just the right amount of water vapor in the atmosphere. A greater
level would result in a runaway greenhouse effect (it would be too hot), and a lesser level would
result in an insufficient greenhouse effect (it would be too cold).
●Jupiter had to be right where it is. Its gravitational field sucks away asteroids
and comets that could strike Earth.
Scientists have discovered 122 of these “Anthropic constants”—conditions necessary for
us to live here.
An astrophysicist named Hugh Ross calculated the probability of all these conditions
happening by accident for any planet in the universe: Assuming there are 10 to the 22nd power
planets in the universe (that’s a 1 with 22 zeros after it), he said there’s just 1 chance in 10 to the
138th power (that’s a 1 with 138 zeros after it) that all these constants happened by accident for
planet Earth. That’s a stunningly high number: that number is higher than the number of atoms in
the universe! (There are “only” 10 to the 70th power atoms in the universe.)
Think about that. Everything is made up of atoms; an atom is a million times smaller than
the thickness of a human hair; the smallest speck that can be seen under a regular microscope
contains more than 10 billion atoms. Imagine how many there must be in the universe. But this
astrophysicist says there’s just 1 chance in a number greater than the number of atoms in the
universe that all the constants necessary for life came together by accident for Earth.
In other words, it’s virtually impossible that all of these constants came into place by
accident for Earth. The only alternative is that a Creator did it on purpose.<
Reference: I
Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist, Norman L. Geisler and Frank Turek, pp. 104-106<
Index: atheism, design, God’s plan, God’s power, God the Creator, God’s wisdom, intelligent
design, providence, wisdom<
Creation< “Feeling Dizzy?”< Do you realize that you should be dizzy right now?
That’s because you are, right now, traveling at the speed of 66,000 miles per hour around
the sun. That’s how fast the earth flies as it orbits the sun: 19 miles per second. “One thousand
one.” In the time it took me to say that, woosh! we just flew 19 miles. It’s a journey of 595
million miles, and takes about 365 days to finish. So you are flying 66,000 mph.
But while you’re flying at 66,000 mph, you’re also spinning. At the equator, the earth is
spinning at some 1,000 mph! Revolving on its axis every 24 hours, giving us night and day. So
you’re flying at 66,000 mph, and at the same time you’re spinning at 1,000 mph.
But while you’re doing all this, you’re also leaning to one side. The axis of the earth (the
imaginary line that connects the north and south poles) doesn’t stick straight up in relation to the
sun; it tilts about 23 ½ degrees. This gives us the seasons, the northern half tilting toward the sun
in summer and away from it in winter. So you’re flying at 66,000 mph, spinning at 1,000 mph,
and leaning to one side.
But that’s not all. In addition, a foreign object is flying around your head! That foreign
object is the moon. While the earth flies on its orbit around the sun, the moon flies on its own
orbit around the earth, once about every 29 ½ days.
I told you that you should be dizzy right now! What if you were asked to run around the
inside of this church at a full sprint—while spinning in circles the whole time, leaning just so to
one side, and doing rope tricks around your head? You’d be lucky to stay on your feet one time
around. And what if we added a little pressure, and said that the fate of 6 billion or so people
rode on your ability to stay on your feet? That would be pretty scary.
But this is the feat that our all-wise and all-powerful God pulls off thousands of times
without variation or stumble in our solar system. So precise is His engineering, so perfect His
calculations, all these variables—at awesome speeds, and incredible masses—somehow work
just right over and over again! How can anyone believe that all of this happens by accident?
Reference: Seven Reasons Why You Can Trust the Bible, Erwin
Index: accidents, atheism, design, evolution, God’s plan,
Lutzer, pp. 140-143<
God’s power, God the Creator, God’s wisdom, intelligent design, plans, providence<
Creation< “Geckos”<
Do you have any geckos at your house? (You know, those little
lizards that also sell car insurance?) You’ll find them hanging out on your back patio at night,
near a window, because the light from the window attracts bugs for them to munch on. They
somehow hang from the side of a wall or even walk upside down somehow from the ceiling of
your patio.
There are a few interesting facts about geckos. Many have permanently closed eyelids,
but the eyelids are transparent. If attacked, geckos protect themselves by waving their tail. This
baits the enemy to go after their tail, which then breaks off. The tail keeps wiggling, however,
distracting the enemy while the gecko runs away.
But one of the most amazing things about the gecko is its ability to walk up the side of a
smooth surface, or even hang upside down from one. How do they do perform this feat?
Scientists were interested in this question because there’s no evidence that geckos use any gluelike material or suction device to keep themselves attached to the smooth surfaces. Scientists
found that geckoes have millions of microscopic hairs on their toes, hairs so small that they
directly attach themselves to the individual molecules that make up the surface of the wall or
ceiling or even a glass window. “The adhesive power of this system is so strong that a gecko can
hang its entire body weight with only a single toe touching the ceiling.” In fact, “If it were
possible to engage all of a gecko’s [toe hairs] at one time, the adhesion could support a 280pound man” hanging from your patio ceiling!
Who would imagine such power residing in the microscopic hairs of the tiny toes of a
little gecko? What a display of God’s creative power and wisdom!<
Reference: Creation:
Remarkable Evidence of God’s Design, Grant Jeffrey, pp. 73-74< Index: creation, design,
geckos, God’s plan, God’s power, God the Creator, God’s wisdom, intelligent design, small
things, uniqueness, wisdom<
Creation< “A Total Eclipse”<
God not only created the Earth as a perfect home for man,
He also made it a perfect “laboratory” or “classroom.” That is, God seems to have “fine-tuned”
life on Earth for the express purpose of allowing man to study and learn about his environment.
The phenomenon of the total eclipse is evidence of this.
A total eclipse is one of the most beneficial events for human knowledge. Astronomers,
physicists, and historians learn all kinds of things from them (this is how astronomers confirmed
that gravity bends light, as Einstein’s general theory of relativity had predicted; this is how we’ve
been able to date some historic events).
Guess where you can see a perfect eclipse? Only here on Earth! In fact, there are about 63
moons spread among the planets in our solar system, but only on Earth can you see a perfect
eclipse. Why? Because the sun is 400 times larger than our moon, and at the same time 400 times
farther away! Astronomer Guillermo Gonzalez put it this way: “the very time and place where
perfect solar eclipses appear in our universe also corresponds to the one time and place where
there are observers to see them.”
God designed our home on Earth as a place to live, and a place to learn.
And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the
night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, and let them be
lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth." And it was so. - Genesis 1:14-
16<Reference: The Case for a Creator, Lee Strobel, pp. 185-186<Index: atheism, design,
eclipse, God’s plan, God’s power, God the Creator, God’s wisdom, intelligent design,
investigation, knowledge, science, study, wisdom<
Cross<“The Offense of the Cross”< In his book The Cross of Christ, John Stott points out that
the earliest surviving picture of the crucifixion is a mockery.
It’s an ancient piece of graffiti, dating from the second century, found on the Palatine Hill in
Rome, “on the wall of a house considered by some scholars to have been used as a school for
imperial pages.” The “crude drawing depicts, stretched on a cross, a man with the head of a
donkey. To the left stands another man, with one arm raised in worship. Unevenly scribbled
underneath are the words … ‘Alexamenos worships God.’ The cartoon is now in the Kircherian
Museum in Rome…it was the concept of worshipping a crucified man which was being held up
to derision.” <
Reference: John R. W. Stott, The Cross of Christ (Intervarsity Press,
1986), pp. 24-25<
Index: Christ, Christians, crucifixion, death, faithfulness, humility, Jesus,
mockery, persecution, pride, ridicule, sacrifice, salvation, Savior, worship<
Death<“Odd Deaths”<
There have been some strange deaths in history, according to an
article entitled “30 Strangest Deaths in History.” For example:
●There was Death by a Beard: Austrian Hans Steininger was famous for having the
world’s longest beard, 4.5 feet long. But there was a fire in town one day, in 1567, and Hans
forgot to roll up his beard. He stepped on it, fell, and broke his neck!
●There was Death by Dessert: In 1771 King Frederick of Sweden died of a digestive
problem. After eating a giant meal consisting of: lobster, caviar, smoked herring, sauerkraut,
cabbage soup, and 14 servings of his favorite dessert: semla, a bun filled with marzipan and
milk.
●There was Death by Orange Peel: Bobby Leach was a daredevil, who in 1911 became
the second person to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel, and went on to perform many other deathdefying stunts. But while walking down a street in New Zealand, he slipped on a piece of orange
peel, broke his leg so badly it had to be amputated, and later died of complications.
●There was Death by Stubbed Toe: Jack Daniel, of whiskey fame, couldn’t remember the
combination to his safe at work one morning. In frustration he kicked it and injured his toe. It
developed an infection that killed him.
All men are destined to die once in some way. But as believers
in Jesus Christ, we don’t have to live in fear of it. We have
been promised a home in Heaven!<Reference:
http://www.neatorama.com/2007/03/12/30-strangest-deaths-inhistory/<Index: accidents, assurance, cross, Easter, eternal life, faith, fear, forgiveness,
Gospel, Heaven, Hell, hope, resurrection, salvation<
Disciples<“Definition of a Saint”<
A little boy attended a church that had beautiful stained-
glass windows. The stained-glass windows, he learned, contained pictures of Saint Matthew,
Saint Mark, Saint Luke, Saint John, Saint Paul, etc.
One day he was asked, “What is a saint?” He replied, “A saint is a person the light shines
through.”
Sainthood is not just for a precious few. All believers are called to be saints (Philippians
1:1). We are all called to let the light of Christ shine through our lives. <Ref<Index: body of
Christ, Christians, Christ-likeness, church, holiness, love, ministry, new creations, saints, service,
witness<
Discipleship<“Falling Away”<
The Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant
Denomination in the United States, reported 16,287,494 members in 2004. However, only
6,024,289 people—or 37 percent of the membership total—attended church per week (on
Sunday morning or whenever the church had its main worship hour). This is according to the
Strategic Information and Planning department of the Sunday School Board, 2004 statistics.
The Assemblies of God, another Bible-believing denomination (though of a Pentecostal
persuasion) called the 1990s the “Decade of Harvest.” Of the 3.5 million people reported to be
converted to Christ in that time, only 5 percent actually began attending church.< Reference:
Jim Elliff, “Southern Baptists, an Unregenerate Denomination,” Christian Communicators
Worldwide, CCWonline.org (2005)< Index: accountability, apostasy, belief, Christianity, church,
church attendance, commitment, decisions, fellowship, obedience, perseverance, persistence,
salvation, temptation<
Easter<“Power Connection”< When Herbert Jackson was assigned to the mission field, he was
given a car that wouldn’t start without a push. So he would round up kids from the school to give
his car a push when he needed to go somewhere; or if he was out making his rounds, he’d either
park on a hill or just leave the car running. He went through this trouble for two years.
When he was heading home, he was showing the new missionary what had to be done to
get the car going. The new guy took a look under the hood, and said, “Uh, Dr. Jackson, I believe
the only trouble is this loose cable.” He gave the cable a twist, slid behind the wheel, and the
engine roared to life.
Dr Jackson later explained to a seminary class that for two years he’d pushed that car
around, and all he needed to do was connect the cable.
As Christians, we also often live in our own power,
struggling and pushing to get by. But the resurrection power of
Jesus is available to us all along the way—if we’ll just
“connect” to Him by prayer and faith! <Ref<
Index: faith, God’s power,
power, prayer, relaxation, rest, resurrection, Sabbath, stress, Sunday, Ten Commandments, trust,
work<
Easter< “Presumed Dead, but Alive”<Darrell Johnson was presumed dead for more
than 30 years. Since 1976 he had been listed among the 144 victims of the Big Thompson
Canyon flood in Colorado. But on the morning of the flood Johnson and his family had checked
out of their shabby cabin at the resort, after just one night. They were safely away when the flood
hit.
His survival was discovered when residents decided to check for proof that he was dead
before putting his name on a memorial plaque. He was found alive in Oklahoma, where he
directs funerals. He was glad he got the bad cabin all those years ago.
Easter means that we will be found alive, forever in Heaven, long after the world thinks
we have come to an end.<Reference: Fort Collins Coloradoan, “Man presumed dead in 1976
Colo. Flood found alive,” Yahoo.com (8/3/08)<Index: afterlife, death, deliverance, eternal life,
Gospel, Heaven, hope, protection, providence, resurrection, salvation<
Encouragement<“Abraham Lincoln”<Abraham Lincoln, on the night he was
assassinated, had a number of personal effects in his pockets. These were passed down to his
granddaughter, Mary Lincoln, who kept them in a small box. The effects weren’t public
knowledge until they came into possession of the Library of Congress.
One of the items in Lincoln’s pocket that night: a letter to the editor praising Lincoln for
his singleness of purpose.
Even great presidents need encouragement. <Reference: McHenry’s Quips, Quotes &
Other Notes, Raymond McHenry, p. 78<Index: attitude, conversation, positive attitude, words<
Evidence<“Get a Clue”<One of the top vote-getters in the Laughlab’s World’s Funniest
Joke contest a few years ago was a joke about Sherlock Holmes and his faithful assistant Dr.
Watson.
Holmes and Watson went camping and pitched their tent under the stars. During the
night, Holmes woke up Watson and said, “Watson, look up at the stars and tell me what you
deduce.”
Watson said: “I see millions of stars, and even if a few of those have planets, it’s quite
likely there are some planets like Earth, and if there are a few planets like Earth, there might also
be life.”
Holmes said: “Watson, you idiot. Somebody stole our tent.”
People don’t always draw the conclusions they should from the evidence
presented to them. <Reference: Associated Press, “A laughing matter: World’s funniest joke
revealed,” The Arizona Republic (12-21-01); laughlab.co.uk<
Index: clues, common sense,
faith, Sherlock Holmes, humor, jokes, laughter, wisdom<
Faith<“God Will Take Care of You”<Shauna and Larry Catania and their two little
children felt led to move from Phoenix, Arizona, to New Jersey in the spring of ’06. Things,
however, did not go well for them at first. Their house in Arizona had not sold, they were paying
rent on the house they had moved in to, and Larry had not yet found a job. So they were paying
for two places to live without any new income.
Shauna said, “As I prayed about these things, I continuously felt God’s leading to just
trust Him and not try and fix things myself.
“One Sunday morning I was in turmoil as fear began creeping into my mind. As we
began walking to church, I prayed a silent prayer: God, please let me know that you care about
us and will take care of us. Not more than a minute after that I began hearing bells chime. I
realized the bells were playing an old hymn. I began singing along and realized that the hymn
was ‘God will take care of you, through every day, o’er all the way’ —God will take care of you.
Tears began to fall down my face as I realized that God did care and that He was going to take
care of us.”
After that morning, the couple was able to sell their Arizona house. Larry was hired at a
national company, just before the company instituted a hiring freeze in the New Jersey area. And
they were able to buy the New Jersey house they were living in, just as the lease was running
out.
Shauna said, “Interestingly, I have never heard the bells play since.”
For we walk by faith, not by sight. - 2 Corinthians 5:7 (NKJV)<Ref<Index:
circumstances, God’s love, God’s power, God’s timing, patience, prayer, providence, tests,
timing, trials, trust<
Faith< “So Help Me God!”<The World Book Encyclopedia shares an interesting anecdote
about George Washington.
On his Inauguration Day as the first president of the United States, “Washington rode in a
cream-colored coach to Federal Hall at Broad and Wall streets” (the first inauguration took place
in New York City, and that’s where the first Executive Mansion was located). “Washington
walked upstairs to the Senate Chamber, then out onto a balcony. Thousands watched as
Washington raised his right hand and placed his left hand on an open Bible.” Robert R.
Livingston read him the oath of office, and Washington repeated it. But then Washington added
his own words: “So help me God!” He “kissed the Bible. Cannons fired a 13-gun salute.”
How much of our nation’s greatness is due to the fact that our Founding Fathers relied on God’s
help?<Reference: The World Book Encyclopedia, 2003, “George Washington,” p. 101<Index:
America, Christianity, culture, George Washington, God’s power, power, prayer, presidents<
Faith< “Who Doesn’t Have Faith?”< Faith is central to all of life. For example, you go to a
doctor you don’t know, whose degrees you haven’t verified. He gives you a prescription you
can’t read. You take it to a pharmacist you’ve never seen before. He gives you a chemical
compound you don’t understand. Then you go home and take the pill according to the
instructions on the bottle. All in sincere, trusting faith.<Ref<
Index: belief, God, hope,
trust, vision<
Family<“Defining Success”< How would you define success? If we take our clues from the
media, we might think that success is a nice car, a perfect body, or popularity—and spend our
lives pursuing such things.
But George Barna conducted a nationwide survey that asked people what would really
make them happy—what life outcome would they view as truly successful. 25% listed some kind
of tangible accomplishment like financial accumulation, 14% listed emotional fulfillment, and
8% listed good health. But the #1 desired life outcome (at 32%) was a good family life. Most
people would consider their life a success if they had: “a strong family unit, a solid and lasting
marriage or if they had done a good job of raising their children.”
In spite of all the noise to the contrary, people know in their heart of hearts that family is
the priority.< Reference: “Family and Personal Accomplishments Lead People’s List of
Success Determinants,” The Barna Update, barna.org, 11/6/02<
Index: children, culture,
desires, goals, marriage, materialism, media, money, popularity, priorities, parenting, prosperity,
success, Ten Commandments, values<
Family< “Dinner Time”< An article in The Arizona Republic, citing research by the Center
for Alcohol and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, said: “The more often kids eat dinner
with their parents, the less likely they are to smoke, drink or use drugs.”
The article went on to say that “Other studies credit family mealtime for kids’ improved
school performance, eating habits and feelings of well-being.”
The article also pointed out: “Families that succeed in sitting down together for meals
usually have a standing ‘reservation,’ committing to a specific time every week. They also ignore
the phone, turn off the TV and pledge to listen to one another without interruption. And no one
leaves the table until everyone is finished eating.”< Reference: “Families that eat together …,”
The Arizona Republic, 1/22/03<Index: children, communication, example, influence, marriage,
priorities, parenting, prosperity, quality time, success, Ten Commandments, values<
Family< “Family Advice”< When it comes to family life, there’s a lot of advice out there. I
Googled “family advice” on the internet, and it yielded some 107 million results!
God also gives some “family advice” in the 5th Commandment: Honor your father and
your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you
(Exodus 20:12).<
Reference: Author’s experience, 5/11/07<Index: advice, children, fathers,
God’s wisdom, marriage, mothers, opinions, parenting, Ten Commandments, wisdom<
Fathers<“The Power of an Example”<
I’ve read books on marriage, taken and taught
marriage classes, gone to seminars—and learned valuable lessons from all.
But the best “class” on marriage I ever took was watching my dad’s example: As I grew
up, I saw my dad give my mom big kisses when he came home from work, go out of his way to
get her nice presents on special occasions, go out to dinner with her often, never let one of us
seven kids—when he was around—say a smart word to her, and always make sure the family’s
needs were met.
My dad’s example has meant the most to me.<
Reference: Author’s
experience<Index: children, example, family, influence, lessons, love, marriage, mothers,
priorities, parenting, values<
Fathers< “What Fathers Say Most”< Family life specialists Delmer W. Holbrook and his wife
lectured and conducted surveys across America. In a survey of hundreds of children, they found
the three things fathers say most when responding to their children:
#1 – “I’m too tired.”
#2 – “We don’t have enough money.”
#3 – “Keep quiet.”<Ref<
Index: children, communication, families, God the
Father, money, parenting, time, rest<
Focus<“Distractions Cause Crashes”<
Highway deaths were up in 2005 for the first time in
19 years. One reason for that, according to a study by the government’s National Highway
Traffic Safety Administration, is probably no surprise: distracted drivers. Distractions have
always been an issue, but the new technologies that have burst on the scene have multiplied the
problem.
“Drivers talk on their cellphones. Check their e-mail or send text messages. Get
directions from their GPS system. Pop a CD into their stereo. Change stations on satellite radio.
Help their kids with the backseat DVD player.”
The study—which tracked hundreds of drivers in the Washington, D.C., area for over a
year, and used sensor monitors to gather video and data about their behavior in the vehicles—
“found that eight of 10 collisions or near-crashes involved a lack of attention from drivers” just
before impact.
The study found that “A driver’s reaching for a moving object increased the risk” of a
wreck nine times. Dialing a cellphone increased the risk of a wreck almost 3 times. Drowsy
driving increased the likelihood of a wreck or near-wreck 4 to 6 times.
Distractions cause crashes.
Reference: Ken Thomas, Associated Press, “Study links distractions to crashes,” The
Arizona Republic (4-21-06)<Index: attention, busyness, commitment, danger, death, distractions,
driving, multitasking, patience, priorities, purpose, simplicity, stress, traffic, vision<
Friendship<“Deer Hunting”<In his book Love and Respect, Dr. Emerson Eggerichs tells
about one brave wife who decided to go deer hunting with her husband, a bow and arrow hunter:
She helped him set up the blind, and they both sat there for hours waiting for a deer to
happen by. They saw nothing, they shot at nothing, and they said nothing. Finally, they took
down the blind and headed back to the car. To this point she had not said one word the entire
time. As they were walking down the trail, her husband turned to her and said, “This was
awesome!”
The husband is energized by his wife’s presence.<Reference: Dr. Emerson Eggerichs,
Love and Respect (Thomas Nelson, 2004), p. 241<Index: conversation, families, fellowship, fun,
hunting, husbands, love, marriage, men, recreation, relationships, rest, time, wives, women,
words, vacations
God’s Control<“God’s Guidance in History”<In the book What Has Christianity Ever
Done For Us? one of the things talked about is the invention of the printing press by Johannes
Gutenberg in 1436. Why was the printing press invented at that point in history?
Could it be because for the first time in history there was a movement to translate the
Bible into the languages of the people? For about 1000 years the Bible had been available only in
Latin, the language of scholars. But now voices were declaring that all people should have the
right to read God’s Word for themselves. John Wycliffe had already created an English
translation (about 1382). William Tyndale was about to follow suit (in 1524), for which he
would be burned at the stake. And Martin Luther—hiding from his enemies in a lonely castle,
and growing a big beard as a disguise—was about to produce one in the German language
(1522).
Was it a coincidence that Gutenberg invented his printing press about this time—when the Bible,
for the first time, was being translated into the people’s languages, and ready to be massproduced. Or was God overseeing history and ensuring the spread of His Gospel?<
Reference: What Has Christianity Ever Done For Us?, Jonathan Hill, pp 8-14.< Index:
Bible, coincidence, evangelism, God’s sovereignty, God’s timing, God’s Word, providence,
witnessing<
God’s Control< “God’s Protection in History”<
Have you ever considered how “lucky” it
was that America developed that atomic bomb?
Do you realize that Albert Einstein, whose theories led to the creation of the atomic
bomb, was German—and that he lived in Germany as Hitler rose to power? But Einstein was
also a Jew, and Hitler decided to blame everything on the Jews—so Einstein fled to America.
And as World War II broke out, he took one of the most important actions in history.
He wrote a letter to President Roosevelt, warning that the Germans might be working on
the development of an atomic bomb, and urging “watchfulness and, if necessary, quick action on
the part of” the United States. This letter led to the Manhattan Project, and the U.S. developing
the bomb.
So America “luckily” got the bomb before the Nazis. But, of
course, it wasn’t luck. God was ruling over history to protect
the human race. History is truly His story.<Reference: Author’s
research<Index: coincidence, divine appointments, God’s love,
God’s sovereignty, God’s timing, protection, providence<
God’s Love<“The Making of a Brave” <One American Indian tribe had a unique practice
for training young braves. On the night of his 13th birthday, a boy was blindfolded and taken into
the middle of a dense forest. He was left all alone, the first time he’d been away from the
security of his family and tribe. When he took off the blindfold, he was there in the dark forest.
All alone. All night.
If a twig snapped, he wondered if a wild animal was ready to pounce. If an animal
howled, he imagined a wolf coming for him. The wind in the leaves brought to his mind all kinds
of sinister images.
Finally, if the boy persevered, the first rays of morning began to lighten the forest. He
saw the trees, the flowers, the outline of the path. Then, to his astonishment, he saw a man
standing a few feet away: his father! Standing there with bow and arrow, watching over him—
where he’d been all night.
When you’re going through a dark time, remember that, when the darkness clears, you’ll
see your Father there with you. His love is watching over you.
Reference: SoulSalsa, Leonard Sweet, pp. 23-24.<Index: fathers, God’s faithfulness,
God’s presence, loneliness, parenting, trials<
God’s Name<“God’s Name Represents God Himself”<“Disney.” What do you think of
when you hear that name?
Do you think of a young shy boy from Chicago who wanted to be a cartoonist? Probably
not.
What did you think of? Maybe a movie (The Little Mermaid or Lion King), or a theme
park (Disney Land or Disney World), or a cartoon character (Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck).
You probably don’t think of the man Walt Disney, who died in 1966, but of all his name has
come to represent.
There is power in a name. It is more than just some letters strung together to make a
certain sound. A name represents someone or something.
God’s name represents God Himself. Therefore, it should be held in highest honor, as the Third
Commandment teaches (Exodus 20:7).<Ref<Index: God, honor, names, Ten Commandments<
God’s Name< “God’s Personal Name in the New Testament”<
God’s personal name in the
New Testament is Jesus.
An angel told Joseph what to name Mary’s miraculously conceived Son: “She will give
birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from
their sins” (Matthew 1:21). Jesus is the Greek form of the Hebrew name Joshua (or Yeshua),
and it literally means the LORD saves (or Yahweh saves). Can you think of a better name for
Jesus?<
Index: angels, Christmas, God’s plan, Jesus, names, salvation, Ten
Commandments, virgin birth<
God’s Name< “God’s Personal Name in the Old Testament”<
God’s personal name in the
Old Testament is Yahweh. There are many other names for God in the Old Testament, but
Yahweh is the name He gave to Moses at the burning bush, when Moses asked, “What shall I tell
the Israelites when they ask ‘What is the name of the God who sent you to deliver us?’” God said
Yahweh was the Name he should give to the Israelites. Yahweh means I Am.
It is sometimes pronounced Jehovah, but Biblical scholars believe Yahweh is more
accurate. How did they get Jehovah? The Jews considered God’s personal name too holy to
speak out loud, so in oral readings they substituted the general title My Lord (Adonai in Hebrew)
for Yahweh. So for a long time no one heard the Name pronounced. The problem with that (the
reason it led to confusion later about the correct pronunciation) is that in Hebrew Yahweh is just
the four consonants: YHWH (called the ‘tetragrammaton’ )—the vowels are just implied (a
characteristic of Hebrew). So later, non-Jewish translators weren’t sure of the vowels, and
inserted the vowels from Adonai between the consonants for YHWH and came up with Jehovah.
But Yahweh is probably the original pronunciation.
How do you know when you’re coming across Yahweh, God’s personal name, in an
English translation? Most prominent English translations will indicate it by printing the word
LORD in all capital letters. Adonai, the general word for Lord, will have only the first letter
capitalized. So when you see LORD in all capitals, you’ve come across Yahweh, God’s personal
name.<Ref< Index: God, God’s existence, God’s holiness, God’s nature, names, salvation, Ten
Commandments, Yahweh, Jehovah<
God’s Plan<“Empty Bullets”<
In a radio broadcast, Charles Swindoll told a story from the
last months of World War II. The British were conducting daily bombing raids over Berlin. The
bombers took off from an airstrip in England and flew surrounded by smaller fighter planes
whose job it was to keep German fighters from attacking the bombers, which were easy targets.
One night after a successful bombing raid, as they were heading for the safety of
England, the bombers were attacked by a large group of German fighter planes. Somehow,
during the dogfight, one bomber found itself flying alone with no protection, and suddenly a
German fighter appeared out of nowhere. The crew of the bomber watched as the German plane
moved closer and closer, until finally it was in range.
They prepared for the worst and watched helplessly as tracer bullets began spitting from
the fighter. Bullets whizzed by them, over and under, until Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud—five
bullets slammed into the fuselage of the bomber near the gas tank. The crew braced for the
explosion, but nothing happened. They could see fuel pouring from the bullet holes, but there
was no explosion. Miraculously, they made it back to their base and got safely off the plane.
A few hours after they landed, one of the mechanics showed up in the crew’s barracks.
He had found five bullets inside the fuel tanks, crumpled but not exploded. He handed them to
the pilot.
The pilot carefully opened the shells and to the crew’s amazement found each one empty
of explosive. Inside one was a tiny wad of paper. When he unfolded the paper, he found a note. It
read, “We are Polish POW’s, forced to make bullets in factory. When guards do not look, we do
not fill. Is not much, but is best we can do. Please tell family we are alive.” The note was signed
by four Polish prisoners of war.
I imagine those POWs figured their predicament made no sense, that no good could possibly
come out of it. I wonder if they ever knew that their act of service saved lives. God can bring
good out of any circumstance, and our smallest acts of service can have far-reaching
results.<Ref<Index: faithfulness, God’s wisdom, God’s power, ministry, persecution, protection,
providence, service, suffering, tests, trials<
God’s Plan< “A Free Second” <
On December 31, 2005, you were given an extra second of
time. “In theory, there should be exactly 86,400 seconds in a day.” But “the actual length of a
day is 86,400.002 seconds.” That’s not much of a difference, but after awhile it adds up. So on
December 31, 2005, at exactly 5:00 p.m. (Arizona time), an extra second was added to the year.
It was 5:00:00 twice that day. (The last time this had been done was seven years prior.)
According to the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the extra second is necessary
to keep the world’s official clocks in time with the spinning earth.
The universe has its own time schedule; we humans have to keep adjusting our clocks to
stay in step with it. Likewise, God has His own timetable for His plan for our life; we need to
adjust to Him. <
Reference: John Faherty, “A Stolen Moment Is Coming,” The Arizona
Republic (12-31-05)< Index: Divine appointment, obedience, patience, time, timing, wisdom<
God’s Plan< “Seen from Above”<
In southern Peru a series of long strange lines, known as the
Nazca Lines, have been carved into the earth. The ancient Nazca Civilization, which flourished
from 200 BC to AD 600), made them by sweeping aside darker stones to reveal the lighter sand
beneath. Some of the lines cover many square miles.
For a long time no one knew what the lines were. Then in 1939 Dr. Paul Kosok of Long
Island University discovered that their true meaning could only be seen from the air. When
viewed from an airplane, these seemingly random lines turned out to be drawings of various
birds, animals, insects, fish, or geometric figures. (These geoglyphs, as they’re called, were
probably intended to be viewed by the gods in some religious rite.)
Likewise, when viewed from the earth, the paths of our life can seem a confusing jumble.
But down the road, when we catch a glimpse of our life from God’s point of view, we will see
that it all makes sense.<
Reference: “Nazca Lines” and “Nazca,” encarta.msn.com;
Timothy George, “Big Picture Faith,” Christianity Today (10-23-00), from “Bible’s Big Picture,”
preachingtoday.com
Index: confusion, faith, God’s control, God’s power, meaning of life, mysteries,
perspective, providence, purpose, suffering, trials<
God’s Power<“Conversion of Europe”<Historian Bruce Shelley, in his Church History in
Plain Language, writes about the conversion of Europe to Christianity:
The bristling forests of northern Europe were inhabited by barbarian tribes who
sacrificed animals and worshiped nature spirits among the trees and beside the streams. Any
missionary who ventured among them, with any hope of conversions, had to demonstrate the
superior power of the Christian spirits.
The most famous incident tells of one eighth-century missionary named Boniface who
marched into a shrine in Germany, the sacred forest of Thor, the god of thunder. The cult object
was a massive oak. Boniface, so the story goes, took an axe to it. Just as he leveled the first
stroke, a mighty breath of wind from God toppled the tree. The pagans marveled and were
converted. Boniface used the wood to build a chapel to Saint Peter.
That is the stuff that made Europe Christian. The missionary monks overthrew barbarian magic
by calling down superior powers. God blew, and the tree fell. A miracle here and a victorious
battle there; and the Germans were ready for baptism.<Reference: Bruce L. Shelley, Church
History in Plain Language (Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1995), p. 152<Index: baptism,
barbarians, Boniface, Christianity, church, church history, conversion, evangelism, faith, Holy
Spirit, idols, magic, miracles, missionaries, missions, power, prayer, salvation, signs,
supernatural, worship<
God’s Power< “It Was No Brute Strength”< In 1996, on Brown Road in Mesa, Arizona, there
was a bad accident involving two pickup trucks. The driver of one of the trucks, the one at fault,
was instantly killed. The driver of the other truck, Eddie Kime, was trapped in the cab of his
truck—with flames quickly spreading from the engine area toward the cab.
Two brothers, David and Kevin Estepp—both air-conditioning workers—were
barbecuing in their yard when they saw the fireball from the crash, and they rushed to help. But
the door had gotten jammed in the wreck, and they couldn’t get the driver out, and they had to
step back because of the smoke. The Arizona Republic quotes David Estepp: “I remember
hearing, ‘Step back, get away, it’s going to blow up,’ from other bystanders. But it’s like, you
know, he’s alive … you couldn’t just do nothing.”
So they stepped through the smoke, grabbed the steel doorframe, and pulled one more
time. Somehow the steel began to bend … and bend … and bend. They bent it downward almost
45 degrees, and pulled Kime free—less than a minute before the flames spread and engulfed the
cab.
Was it a miracle? David Estepp doesn’t know how to explain
how he and his brother bent that steel, but he said, “It was no
brute strength, I tell you.” Colin Williams, the Fire Department
spokesman, said, “Some of the guys can’t believe how it was
done. It seemed like supernatural powers.”<
Reference: Abraham
Kwok, “Superhuman effort saves man trapped in pickup,” The
Arizona Republic (3-29-96)<
Index: compassion, courage, Divine
appointment, love, power, prayer, providence, sacrifice,
service, supernatural, unity<
God’s Presence<“The Edge of the Universe”<
To get an idea how vast the universe is—and
how wondrous it is that God fills it all with His presence—let’s take a mental journey to the edge
of the universe.
Let’s take this journey at the speed of light, 186,000 miles per second (per second, not
hour). “One thousand one”—in the time it took me to say that, at the speed of light you would
have traveled more than 7 times around the Earth! That’s how fast we’ll be traveling.
Ready? Let’s go:
●Whoosh! Traveling at the speed of light, we reach the edge of our Solar System
on the day we left it. We’re making good time, and we might think that we’re going to reach the
edge of the universe before long. But….
●After leaving our Solar System, it will take 5 and ½ light years (5 and ½ years of
traveling at 186,000 miles per second) to reach the nearest stars to our sun, the Alpha Centauri
System. And our journey has just begun….
●It will take 100,000 light years to reach the point where—looking back from our
mental spaceship—we can view the spiral shape of our own Milky Way Galaxy.
●It will take 5 million light years to reach the point where—looking back—we
can view the cluster of galaxies the Milky Way is a part of, known as the Local Group.
●It will take 14 billion light years (14 billion years traveling at 186,000 miles per
second) to journey to the edge of the universe, the point where—looking back—we make out the
large-scale structure of the universe. (And we really haven’t reached the end of the universe; it is
still expanding.)
Do you get a sense of how incomprehensibly vast our universe is, and how amazing it is that
God fills it all? But Isaiah said, “He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads
them out like a tent to live in” (Isaiah 40:22). The whole universe is the “tent” God lives
in.<Reference: The Privileged Planet, DVD, by Illustra Media<Index: creation, God,
omnipresence, power, space, universe<
God’s Presence< “God, If You’re Out There….?”< “Please go out on the porch and get me the
broom,” a mother said to her little girl.
“I don’t want to,” the little girl said.
“Go and get the broom,” the mother repeated.
“But it’s dark out there,” the little girl said. “I’m scared!”
The mom said, “There’s nothing to be afraid of. God is out there.”
The girl went to the door, opened it a crack, and whispered, “God, if You’re out there,
could you hand me the broom?”
How real is the presence of God to you?<Ref<Index: children, faith, fear, God’s
invisibility<
God’s Presence< “Look for God’s Presence”<Do a quick experiment. Look around you
and find three items with blue in them: blue shirts or pants, blue Bibles, blue purses, whatever.
What happens after a few seconds of doing that? Everything with blue in it begins to
jump out at you!
That’s what happens when we begin to look for the presence of God. The presence is
there all the time; we’re just not noticing it. We will start to see God’s presence in our life if we
will start to look for it.<Ref<Index: devotional time, faith, focus, God’s invisibility, prayer<
God’s Presence< “You Go in There with God”<A thunderstorm hit. A loud clap of
thunder woke a four-year old girl and sent her running to her parents’ bedroom. “I’m scared,”
she said. “Can I sleep with you, Mommy and Daddy?”
The sleepy dad said, “It will be alright. Go back to your bed. God will be with you.”
The little girl was quiet a moment, then said: “Can I sleep with Mommy, and you can go
in there with God?”
How real is the presence of God to you?<Ref< Index: children, faith, fear,
God’s invisibility<
God’s Providence<“God Looks Ahead”<
Warren Wiersbe: “The word ‘providence’ comes
from two Latin words: pro, meaning ‘before,’ and video, meaning ‘to see.’”
God’s providence means that He sees before what’s going to happen in our lives, and
makes arrangements to meet our needs in advance.< Reference: The Bible Exposition
Commentary, New Testament, Volume 2, Warren Wiersbe, p. 97< Index: confidence, faith,
future, Divine appointments, God’s love, God’s plan, God’s sovereignty, hope, money, needs,
peace, plans, prayer, prophecy, providence, trust, vision, wisdom<
God’s Wisdom<“He Calls the Stars by Name”<
Isaiah 40:26 says that God has a name for
each star (He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name). The
modern telescope has revealed what a remarkable truth this is. Before the telescope, about 3000
stars could be counted in the sky with the naked eye. But now we know that there are about 10
billion trillion stars out there! That’s an inconceivably large number of stars, but God has a name
for each one of them. <Ref< Index: creation, God’s glory, God’s greatness, God’s power, God
the Creator, nature, wisdom<
God the Creator<“Einstein and the Creator”<
By 1916 Albert Einstein’s theory of General
Relativity had predicted that the universe was expanding. Why was this a big deal? Because an
expanding universe meant a universe that had a beginning point. This would be obvious if the
expansion of the universe had been videotaped: you could rewind the tape, and you would see
the universe shrinking back in on itself to its beginning point and to nothing.
There was as of yet no evidence for an expanding universe; Einstein’s theory just
predicted it. But he wasn’t happy about the idea! In fact, he later called it “irritating.” Why?
Because he knew that a beginning point meant a Beginner—a Creator. Up to this point Einstein
was a believer in the Steady State theory of the universe, which held that the natural universe
itself was eternal (had always existed, no one made it). And here his own theory was predicting
that he was wrong.
(In fact, the idea bothered him so much that he made what he later called “the greatest
blunder of my life.” He introduced a cosmological constant into his equations, which later came
to be called Einstein’s “fudge factor,” and which was soon revealed as an algebraic error. This
was how badly he wanted to avoid the idea of a beginning.)
But then in 1927 Edwin Hubble, looking thru the 100-inch telescope at California’s
Mount Wilson Observatory, saw visible evidence of an expanding universe. He discovered a
“red shift” in the light coming from the other galaxies. A “red shift” is what occurs in the light
spectrum if the source of the light is moving away from you. It was conclusive, visible evidence
of an expanding universe.
Two years later, in 1929, Einstein made his own pilgrimage to Mount Wilson to look
through Hubble’s telescope—and he could no longer deny that the universe was indeed
expanding, and therefore did have a beginning. From that point on he sought to understand the
Beginner. He subsequently said that he wanted to “know how God created the world. I am not
interested in this or that phenomenon, in the spectrum of this or that element. I want to know His
thoughts, the rest are details.”
When we see the greatness of God, we want to come to know Him.<
Reference: I
Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist, Norman L. Geisler and Frank Turek, pp. 73-74
Index: atheism, creation, design, eternity, God’s glory, God’s greatness, God’s power,
intelligent design, revelation, wisdom<
God the Creator< “Get Your Own Dirt”<
There’s a story of two scientists who, after
discovering how to clone humans, challenged God: “We don’t need You anymore. We can make
life ourselves now.”
God said, “Ok, let’s have a man making contest.”
The scientists said, “All right. We’ll do it like You did in the beginning.” They reached
down to grab a handful of dirt to form it into a man.
Then they heard God’s voice from Heaven: “Hold it. Get your own dirt.”
People are creative with what they’ve already been given: materials, talents,
opportunities. Only God can create out of nothing. He is the only true Creator.<Ref<
Index:
atheism, creation, creativity, dependence, God’s power, pride<
God the Creator< “Pre-Programmed”<The modern microscope has revealed that there’s
no such thing as “simple life,” that even a one-celled amoeba enters the world filled with preprogrammed information.
Charles Darwin assumed the cell, which is the basic building block of life, was a simple
blob of gel—moldable and adaptable. But the modern microscope revealed that there’s no such
thing as a simple cell. Even the one-celled amoeba has enough information in the DNA of its
nucleus to more than fill the 30 volumes of the Encyclopedia Britannica! (Staunch Darwinist
Richard Dawkins, professor of zoology at Oxford, admits to this.) And the information is not
random information, but a message telling the amoeba what to do.
And that’s just the information in the nucleus of the one-celled amoeba. The information
in the DNA of the whole amoeba would fill 1000 complete sets of the encyclopedia!
Two conclusions to draw from these scientific facts:
1)The cell, the basic building block of life, comes pre-programmed with an extremely
complicated message. Messages don’t happen on their own; they are formed by an intelligence.
2)If it requires the equivalent of the information in 1000 sets of encyclopedias to run a
one-cell amoeba, think of what it takes to run you and me, and the whole world! Only an
omniscient God could do it.
Reference: I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist,
Norman L. Geisler and Frank Turek, pp. 114-116<
Index:
atheism, creation, design, God’s greatness, God’s power, God’s
wisdom, intelligent design, life, omniscience, wisdom<
Grace<“Billy Graham and Jim Bakker”< If asked to name a most-admired Christian, Billy
Graham would be at the top of many people’s list. Jim Bakker, who was at the center of the
televangelist scandals of the 1980s, might be toward the bottom. As the president of the PTL
network, Bakker fell into immorality, financial scandal, and spent time in prison. Most Christians
distanced themselves from Bakker. Surprisingly, Billy Graham had a different reaction.
After Bakker’s release from prison, Billy and Ruth Graham invited him to dinner at their
old log mountain home. In his book I Was Wrong, Bakker wrote:
Ruth…had prepared a full-course dinner. We talked and laughed and enjoyed a
casual meal together like family.
During our conversation, Ruth asked me a question that required an address. I
reached into my back pocket and pulled out an envelope. My wallet had been taken when I went
to prison. I had not owned a wallet for over four-and-a-half years.
As I fumbled through the envelope, Ruth asked tenderly, “Don’t you have a
wallet, Jim?”
“This is my wallet,” I replied.
Ruth left the room, returning with one of Billy’s wallets. “Here is a brand-new
wallet Billy has never used. I want you to have it,” she said.
Bakker wrote: I still carry that wallet to this day.< Reference: Jim Bakker, I Was
Wrong (Thomas Nelson, 1997)<
Index: Jim Bakker, Christianity, church, compassion,
fellowship, forgiveness, friendship, Billy Graham, humility, love, repentance, restoration<
Greed<“Dying Man Robbed”<On October 2, 2007, a man with sacks of groceries was
standing at a bus stop in Mesa, Arizona. A dark GMC truck went out of control as it turned onto
Main Street from Horne, hitting the man and killing him. It knocked him about thirty feet and
mangled the metal bench. The truck fled the scene.
All of which was tragic, but what shocked residents was what happened next: While the
man lay dying, bystanders looted his groceries. They picked them up and walked
away.<Reference: Gary Grado, “Police ID suspect in fatal hit-run at bus stop,”
eastvalleytribune.com (10-3-07)<Index: compassion, conscience, crime, dishonesty, honesty,
insensitivity, integrity, love, mercy, needs, sensitivity, stealing, Ten Commandments, theft,
values<
Guidance<“Accident-Prone”<The most dangerous time of year to be an early-evening
pedestrian is at the end of daylight-saving time—when clocks have been turned back an hour and
darkness come earlier.
A study by professors Paul Fischbeck and David Gerard of Carnegie Mellon University
in Pittsburgh found that there are about 37 more pedestrians struck and killed by cars around 6
p.m. in November than in October.
Their findings confirmed a 2001 study by John M. Sullivan of the University of Michigan
that found that between 1987 and 1997 there were 227 pedestrian deaths in the week following
the end of daylight-saving time compared to 65 deaths the week prior.
The reason for the increased deaths is that drivers and walkers have not yet adjusted to
the earlier onset of darkness.
We’re more prone to accidents in the dark.
“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but
will have the light of life” (John 8:12).<
Reference: Seth Borenstein, Associated Press,
“Pedestrians at risk as clocks turn back,” The Arizona Republic (11-3-07)< Index: accidents,
Bible, danger, darkness, direction, Holy Spirit, light, time, wisdom<
Guidance< “Unmasked” <
Pamela Bagby’s oldest daughter worked nights to put herself
through medical school. One night she looked up into the barrel of a shotgun and heard a demand
for money.
At first, she was motionless with fear. But as she looked at the masked gunman, a name
came to her mind. As it did, fear dropped away. Apparently it was the gunman’s name. She
spoke the name out loud.
He was startled and dropped his aim. He began to shake and back away from her and out
of the business. Pulling off his mask, he ran off into the night.
God gave her that name.<
Reference: The Believer’s Voice of Victory, 11/06<
Index: God’s voice, hearing God, knowledge, miracles, prayer, protection, providence,
provision, spiritual gifts, supernatural, wisdom<
Hearing God<“Life-Saving Decision”<It’s important that we learn to recognize God’s
voice.
In Jan of 1997, Larry Riley—the player personnel director of the then Vancouver
Grizzlies of the NBA—made a decision that saved his life. He was in Cincinnati, waiting to
board a plane for Detroit. Instead, he decided to return home to Lynden, Washington. When he
arrived in Seattle, he learned of the fate of the Comair commuter flight he’d almost boarded: it
had crashed outside of Detroit, killing all 29 aboard. A co-worker called him and said, “Larry,
where are you? Everybody’s upset.” Then he was told about the other flight.
Larry Riley said, “Something just told me to go
home.”<Reference: “Grizzlies aide fortunate,” The Arizona
Republic (1-14-97)<Index: decision, God’s voice, God’s plan,
guidance, Holy Spirit, protection, providence<
Heaven<“Heavenly Experience”<Don Piper, a Baptist minister in Texas, was on his way
home from a conference (in January of 1989) when his car was hit head-on by a truck. He was
pronounced “dead” immediately—until he woke up about 90 minutes later! In his book 90
Minutes in Heaven he described the heavenly experience he had in those 90 minutes.
He said he found himself immediately outside a “brilliant, ornate gate.” The gate loomed
above him, was massive, and “glowed and shimmered.” The wall in which the gate sat stretched
“out of sight in both directions,” and upward as well. Inside the gate he saw streets of “literal
gold,” as if “paved of gold bricks.” Brilliant light was everywhere, especially shining out of the
gate.
The moment he arrived a large group of people rushed toward him, “smiling, shouting,
and praising God.” This was his “celestial welcoming committee.” They hugged and kissed him
and pumped his hand. They were all believers who had gone before him and influenced him in
some way for Christ. He said, “I had never imagined anyone being as happy as they all were.”
Don said: “Everything I experienced was like a first-class buffet for the senses. I had
never felt such powerful embraces or feasted my eyes on such beauty. Heaven’s light and texture
defy earthly eyes or explanation. Warm, radiant light engulfed me. As I looked around, I could
hardly grasp the vivid, dazzling colors. Every hue and tone surpassed anything I had ever seen.”
What he remembers the most is the music. He described it “as a holy swoosh of wings,”
but magnified “thousands of times.” He said, “It was the most beautiful and pleasant sound I’ve
ever heard, and it didn’t stop … I felt awestruck … I didn’t just hear music … it played in and
through my body.” The music came from various sources, including some that “sounded
instrumental” (he wasn’t sure), but the most amazing was the sound from “the angels’ wings.”
There were all kinds of music: “hymns of praise, modern-sounding choruses, and ancient
chants.” The songs were all “about Christ’s reign as King of Kings and our joyful worship for all
he has done for us and how wonderful he is.” It filled Don “not only a deep peace but the
greatest feeling of joy I’ve ever experienced.”
He knew they were moving into God’s presence as they approached the gate, and he “felt
deliriously happy.” But just as he was about to pass through, he returned to Earth—someone was
praying for him. <Reference: Don Piper with Cecil Murphey, 90 Minutes in Heaven (Revel,
2004), pp. 15-36 <Index: afterlife, angels, death, eternal life, family, friends, future, hope,
influence, joy, love, music, peace, Don Piper, prayer, salvation, service, witness, worship<
Heaven< “More Than Harps”<The Christian science fiction series The Lamb Among the
Stars, by Chris Walley, portrays a future in which redeemed mankind goes from planet to planet
(in spaceships), making them habitable. They use the high-tech skills man has developed and the
Lord’s wisdom to transform the planets, and they are able to accomplish great things because
they are sinless and unified. The conflict in the series: a new rebellion is about to break out.
That is fiction, but who knows if the Lord has something similar for us? There are about
10 billion trillion stars out there—about the number of grains of sand on the Earth’s beaches.
How many planets might there be? What did God make them for?
I have no idea if we will visit other planets, but I believe Heaven will be more than harps, clouds
and angels wings. In the Parable of the Minas, the master says to the faithful servant, “Because
you have been trustworthy in a very small matter, take charge of ten cities” (Luke 19:17).
That suggests that we will have exciting assignments of some sort in the next life, based on
faithfulness to our assignments here. <Reference: Chris Walley, The Lamb Among the Stars
Series (Tyndale, 2006)<Index: eternal life, faithfulness, future, hope, judgment, Millennium,
rewards, Second Coming, service, technology<
Heaven< “Utopia”< Mankind has always dream of a Utopia, a better world in which to live.
In 1887 novelist Edward Bellamy wrote “Looking Backward, 2000-1887, which depicts a
citizen of his day falling into a hypnotic sleep and waking up in the year 2000—and finding a
world much changed for the better. Among other things:
●there is no more housework
●when it rains, no one gets wet—because a huge umbrella is rolled out over the
city (it’s considered “an extraordinary imbecility” to let whether effect activity)
●there are no bad marriages, because no woman will marry an unproductive man
●and sports are for amateurs only—not money, just glory
In 1950 Waldemar Kaempffert, Science Editor of the New York Times, took his own stab
at the “Miracles” we would see by the year 2000:
●science will have done away with aging, and no one would look a day over 40
●every family will have their own helicopter, kept on their roof
●and a state-of-the-art home, “with all its furnishings,” would cost $5,000!
Man’s rose-colored dreams of the future have not
materialized. But a True Utopia is coming when Jesus returns!<
Reference: Looking Backward, 2000-1887, Edward Bellamy;
“Miracles You’ll See In The Next Fifty Years,” Popular
Mechanics, February 1950, pp. 270, 272; compiled in The 100 Most
Entertaining Predictions About the 21st Century, William Ray<
Index: end times, future, hope, Millennium, new world, predictions, prophecy, Second
Coming<
Hell<“The Reality of Hell”< Cardiologist Dr. Maurice Rawlings—a fellow in the American
College of Cardiology and a specialist in cardiovascular diseases—has done extensive research
on so-called life-after-death experiences. As a cardiologist, he regularly resuscitated patients who
claimed such experiences. He and his emergency room colleagues interviewed more than 300 of
them.
Many patients reported the familiar Heavenly experiences of bright light and warm
feelings. But nearly 50 percent reported images of fire and torment, for example, the patient who
came back screaming, “Please get me out of Hell!” Dr. Rawlings asked him what he saw, and he
described spinning downward through a dark tunnel toward grotesque creatures, a burning lake,
and a crowded cave full of suffering people. Dr. Rawlings said the other patients with Hell
experiences had similar descriptions, “which struck me as too much of a coincidence.”
What sets Rawlings research apart is that the patients were interviewed immediately after
resuscitation, not months or years later when stories could be revised or re-imagined. In fact,
many of the same patients who admitted to Hell experiences changed their stories in follow-up
interviews. Rawlings conjectures that they are unwilling to admit the experiences to themselves
or family, or that they are embarrassed by them—like getting an F on a report card.
Rawlings said: “I used to think religion was all a bunch of hocus-pocus, but these patients
have convinced me that there is both a Heaven and a Hell.”<Interesting fact: Research into lifeafter-death experiences has become possible because of modern re modern resuscitation
methods. Rawlings says there’s a difference between clinical death and true death. Clinical death
can be reversed by modern resuscitation methods. That’s because after clinical death there’s a
four-minute window in which the brain cells can survive without blood flow before rigor mortis
(and true death) sets in. During those four minutes resuscitation is possible. After those four
minutes, true death comes. Then only resurrection will restore life. Resuscitation, Rawlings says,
is an ability God has given us. Resurrection only God can do. <
Reference: Dr Maurice
Rawlings, “To Hell and Back,” video.google.com; Daniel Meyer, “The Light at the End of the
Tunnel,” Preaching Today No. 238, PreachingToday.com; Dr. James Modlish, “Great Doctrines
of The Bible: Is There Really a Hell?” thebiblestudypage.com/hell.shtml<Index: death, eternal
life, eternity, judgment, punishment, Satan, sin<
Holy Spirit<“What’s That Noise?<The story is told of an old farmer who, some years
ago, went into a hardware store and asked for a new saw. The salesman sold him a chain saw,
guaranteeing it was the latest model, and that it would cut 10 cords of firewood a day.
The next day the farmer retuned it and said: “I worked my fingers to the bone, but this
thing cut hardly any wood.”
The puzzled salesman said, “Let’s try it on some wood I have in the back.” They went in
the back, the salesman pulled the cord, and the motor “Vrooooomed” to life.
When it did, the old farmer jumped back and said, “What’s that noise?”
All the power we need may be available to us, but it
will do us no good if we don’t know it’s there. As believers,
the Holy Spirit lives in us. He has all the power we need to
live a victorious Christian life.<Ref<
Index: faith, God’s
power, God’s presence, power, prayer, trust, victory<
Honesty<“Caught Cheating”<In the 2000 Berlin Marathon, the 26-plus miles
were a bit too much for some runners. At about the 15½-mile mark, 33 of them ducked off the
course and caught a subway. They didn’t return to the course until just before the end of the race.
Problem is, they forgot about the computer chips they were wearing—to automatically
record the runners’ times at 5-kilometer intervals. They were disqualified and their times erased
from the race results.
No shortcuts are allowed in a marathon. Likewise, no shortcuts are allowed in our
Christian race. We must stay on the road of truth to walk with God.<
way to increase transit use,” The Arizona Republic (9-22-00)<
Reference: “That’s 1
Index: cheating,
consequences, dishonesty, hypocrisy, faithfulness, integrity,
judgment, lies, lying, rules, sowing and reaping, Ten
Commandments, truth, truthfulness, values<
Honesty< “The Consequences of Dishonesty”<An economic mystery is why some
countries remain so poor when they are so rich in natural resources. The reason is not too
complicated, according economist Thomas Sowell in his book Basic Economics. A culture of
dishonesty makes it too expensive to do business in some countries—where bribes have to be
paid, private property isn’t safe, and laws aren’t enforced. Companies aren’t willing to risk large
investments in such nations, so natural resources are not developed, employees are not hired, and
the standard of living does not rise.
An example is the African nation of Congo. Though rich in minerals, the country is still
poor. Here’s a description of the scene at the airport in its capital city of Kinshasa:
“‘Kinshasa is one of the world’s poorest cities, so unsafe for arriving crews that
they get shuttled elsewhere for overnight stays. Taxiing down the scarred tarmac feels like
driving over railroad ties. Managers charge extra to turn on the runway lights at night, and
departing passengers can encounter several layers of bribes before boarding.’”
A ranking of the most corrupt countries put Haiti, Bangladesh, and Nigeria at the top of
the list—they are all poverty stricken.
Reference: Thomas Sowell, Basic Economics: A Common Sense Guide to the Economy
(Basic Books, 2007), pp. 366-367 < Index: blessing, business,
consequences, corruption, culture, dishonesty, faithfulness,
integrity, lies, money, prosperity, sowing and reaping,
stealing, Ten Commandments, theft, truth, truthfulness, values<
Honesty< “Honesty Pays Off”<Donald Douglas of the Douglas Aircraft Company
(which became McDonnell Douglas) was competing with Boeing Aircraft to sell Eastern
Airlines its first big jets. Eddie Rickenbacker, the head of Eastern Airlines, told Douglas that his
company’s DC-8s were close to Boeing’s on everything except noise suppression. Rickenbacker
gave Douglas one more chance to out-promise Boeing on this feature.
After consulting with his engineers, Douglas reported back to Rickenbacker that he did
not feel he could make that promise. Rickenbacker said, “I know you can’t. I wanted to see if
you were still honest. You just got yourself an order for $135 million. Now go home and silence
those jets!”< Reference: Jerry White, Honesty, Morality & Conscience (Navpress, 1979), p.
71<
Index: humility, integrity, money, morality, prosperity, rewards, sowing and reaping,
temptation, tests, trials, truth, truthfulness, values<
Identity<“Impersonation” < In the summer of 2006 a man was charged with impersonating a
member of the Pittsburgh Steelers football team (the Super Bowl winners the previous season).
He told a woman he was tight end Jerame Tuman in order to convince her to loan him $3,200,
which he did not repay. He was charged with theft by deception, ordered to undergo
psychological counseling, and sentenced to 30 days in jail.
But that wasn’t the first time he had pretended to be a Steeler. The previous year he had
impersonated star quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, as well as his backup, so he could meet
women and get dates.
Reference: The Arizona Republic, 8/26/06< Index: character, dating, deception, honesty,
image of God, in Christ, lies, new creation, relationships, self-esteem, stealing, theft<
Influence<“A Life-Saving Movie”< The movie Bella is a low-budget film that surprised the
movie industry by winning the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival’s People’s Choice
Award. It’s a pro-life movie, about a young woman in a difficult situation who finds help from a
male coworker who befriends her. It was released by the Spanish soap opera star, Eduardo
Verastegui, who made a commitment to God that he would no longer be involved in offensive
projects. So he formed Metanoia Films to produce uplifting movies. Its first project was Bella, in
which Verastegui also stars.
Though the movie has been a financial and artistic success, what matters most to
Verastegui is the lives that have been saved. He said, “It’s been amazing. We’ve received so
many e-mails and letters from young ladies who just days before were scheduled to have an
appointment to have an abortion and after they saw Bella they kept their baby.” That includes a
young woman in Miami, who the actor talked into canceling her abortion appointment and then
personally took her and her boyfriend to see an early version of the movie. She decided to keep
the baby—and named her “Bella.”
Look at the lives that have been saved because one artist decided to be a positive
influence, and because family and friends reached out to take young women in difficult
circumstances to a good movie.<Reference: Baptist Press, “A Life-Saving Movie,” SBC LIFE
(January 2008)]<Index: art, artists, compassion, example, influence, leadership, love, ministry,
movies, purpose, service, witnessing<
Joy<“The Pursuit of Happiness”<In the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson
said: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are
endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and
the pursuit of Happiness.” He did not say that we were endowed by our Creator with the rights to
“Life, Liberty and Happiness,” but with the rights to “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of
Happiness.” He understood that no one—including a national government—could guarantee
happiness. The best you can do is guarantee a right to pursue happiness.
Happiness on Planet Earth is, for most people, a fleeting experience. Hard to find. Harder
to keep.
The Bible says there are some people who found it, and kept it: the Apostle Paul and the
church in Philippi. Paul’s letter to the Philippians is considered the New Testament’s book of
joy, containing the word “joy” in its various forms 16 times in just 4 chapters, and making the
climactic declaration in chapter 4, verse 4: Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again:
Rejoice!
True and lasting joy can be found in the Lord. <Ref<
Index: attitude, choices,
circumstances, happiness, peace, rights<
Joy< “The World’s Funniest Joke”< In 2001, a British psychologist—Dr. Richard Wiseman of
the University of Hertfordshire—conducted a survey that claimed to discover the World’s
Funniest Joke. The survey involved people around the world sending in their favorite joke and
then rating the jokes sent in by others—over 40,000 of them.
Here’s the joke that was declared the World’s Funniest:
Two hunters are out in the woods when one of them collapses. He doesn't seem to
be breathing and his eyes are glazed. The other guy whips out his phone and calls the emergency
services. He gasps, "My friend is dead! What can I do?”
The operator says "Calm down. I can help. First, let's make sure he's dead.”
There is a silence, then a shot is heard. Back on the phone, the guy says "OK, now
what?"
Here’s the top joke in the United Kingdom:
A woman gets on a bus with her baby. The bus driver says, “That’s the ugliest
baby I’ve ever seen. Ugh!”
The woman goes to the rear of the bus and sits down, fuming. She says to a man
next to her, “The driver just insulted me!”
The man says, “You go right up there and tell him off. Go ahead, I’ll hold your
monkey for you.”
One of the favorite jokes in Belgium: “Well, you see, there are basically three kinds of
people in the world. Those who can count and those that can’t.”
France’s favorite joke:
“You’re a high-priced lawyer! If I give you $500, will you answer two questions
for me?”
“Absolutely! What’s the second question?”
And Sweden’s favorite:
A guy phones the local hospital and yells, “You’ve gotta send help! My wife’s in
labor!”
The nurse says, “Calm down. Is this her first child?”
He replies, “No! This is her husband!”
Nehemiah 8:10: “…for the joy of the LORD is your strength.”< Reference:
laughlab.co.uk; “Official! World’s funniest joke,” CNN.com (10-3-02); “Top jokes in several
countries,” CNN.com (10-3-02); “Europe’s funniest nation revealed,” CNN.com (12-20-01);
Associated Press, “A laughing matter: World’s funniest joke revealed,” The Arizona Republic
(12-21-01)<
Index: culture, fun, fruit of the Spirit, happiness, humor, jokes, laughter<
Judgment<“The Civil War”< Abraham Lincoln, in his Second Inaugural Address, indicated that
the Civil War was God’s judgment for the blood spilled in slavery:
“…. Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may
speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's
two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn
with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years
ago, so still it must be said ‘the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.’”<Ref<
Index: Abraham Lincoln, Civil War, consequences, God’s wrath, justice, racism,
responsibility, slavery, sowing and reaping, war<
Judgment< “Doomsday Clock”<
Have you heard of the Doomsday Clock? It’s a symbolic
clock set by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Their purpose is to warn the world of how
close we are to “midnight”—to a nuclear or environmental apocalypse that destroys Earth.
They made news this last January (2007) when they set the clock ahead 2 minutes to
11:55 in response to today’s dangers. The Doomsday Clock was first set in 1947, at 7 minutes to
midnight. The closest it has been to midnight was 2 minutes away in 1953 when the U.S.
successfully tested a hydrogen bomb. The farthest it has been from midnight was 17 minutes
away in 1991 after the fall of the Soviet Union.
The truth is, that clock should always be set at 11:59 and 59 seconds, because the Lord
said He could return at any time, and our own personal “Doomsday” could come at any moment
through death. Are you prepared to stand before Him?<
Reference: Associated Press,
“Doomsday Clock moved ahead 2 minutes,” The Arizona Republic (1-18-07)<
Index:
accountability, danger, death, eternity, God’s wrath, Heaven, Hell, preparedness, responsibility,
rewards, Second Coming, sowing and reaping, time<
Judgment< “Hurricane Katrina”<In 2005 Hurricane Katrina brought a disastrous flood to New
Orleans. Is it possible that there was more to this tragedy than a natural catastrophe? Do you
know that New Orleans had a Day of Decadence planned before the flood came? Thousands and
thousands of people would have come to the city on that day to “flaunt perversion by performing
it openly in the streets of New Orleans as honored guests of the city” (Rick Joyner, Special
Bulletin #9 – 2005, Sept 8, 2005). Even after the flood, with toxic waters filling the streets, about
two dozen people still showed up for the Day of Decadence. Interestingly, Katrina means “to
clean” or “to purify.”<Ref<Index: cleansing, holiness, purification, sin, sowing and reaping<
Judgment< “Questionable Judgment”<
We’ve all heard about some questionable jury
decisions. Legalzoom.com posted a list of their Top Ten Frivolous Lawsuits. Some of the jury
decisions they mentioned:
●A 2003 jury awarded over $5 million to an Illinois man who robbed a convenience store
with a shotgun. He claimed his former employer, the Illinois Dept of Public Aid, had
discriminated against him, and this drove him to the crime. The jury bought it.
(The decision was later reversed, and the man ended up getting only $303,830—and he
did go to jail for armed robbery.)
●In 1992, a 23-year-old woman backed her car in Galveston Bay after a night of
drinking. Her passenger made it out of the car to the shore, but the intoxicated driver (whose
blood alcohol level was twice the legal limit) was unable to operate her seatbelt and drowned.
Her family sued Honda for making a seatbelt the intoxicated woman could not open
underwater—and was awarded $65 million.
(An appeals court later threw out the case.)
●And the most famous questionable jury award went to Stella Liebeck. Stella ordered a cup of
coffee to go from McDonalds. While removing the lid to add sugar, she spilled the hot coffee on
her legs, burning herself. A jury eventually awarded her $200,000 in compensatory damages and
$2.7 million in punitive damages—for spilling hot coffee on herself. <Reference: “Top Ten
Frivolous Lawsuits”, legalzoom.com<Index: accountability, blame, greed, justice, law, lawsuits,
legalism, responsibility, wisdom<
Justification<“Pride in Workmanship”<
A wealthy European bought a Rolls Royce. One day
he hit a deep pothole in the vehicle, and the rear axle broke. He shipped the Rolls back to the
plant in England.
He was surprised by how quickly the car was repaired, but was happy to have his Rolls
back. He waited for months, but no bill for the repair came, though his warranty had expired.
Finally, he wrote and asked the company about it.
Their reply: “We have thoroughly searched our files and find no record of a Rolls-Royce
axle ever breaking.”
Pride in their workmanship had erased any record of one of their axles ever having a
flaw. When God searches Heaven’s books for the record of your flaws, He likewise finds
nothing in the files. To find something would be to suggest that the blood of His Son was not
sufficient to cleanse you. There’s no record of your sin in Heaven if you are a believer in Jesus
Christ. You are “holy in his sight” (Colossians 1:22).
Hebrews 8:12: For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no
more.<Ref<Index: acceptance, faith in Jesus, forgiveness, identification, in Christ, new
creations, righteousness
Legalism<“No Fast-Food for You”< On July 29, 2008, the Los Angeles City Council voted
unanimously to put South Los Angeles on a diet.
It seems this impoverished part of the city has above-average obesity rates, along with an
abundance of fast-food restaurants. The Council voted to place a one-year moratorium on new
fast-food restaurants, hoping to lure restaurants that serve healthier fare to the area. Los Angeles
is believed to be the first major city to take such an action. The mayor must first sign the action
into law.
We might all agree that we should watch what we eat, but we might debate whether it is
desirable for the City Council to be watching for us.
People like to make rules for other people to follow.
<Reference: Associated Press, “LA council: Fast-food restaurants
put on hold,” The Arizona Republic (7-30-08)<Index: control,
food, freedom, government, law, Pharisees, politics, religion<
Legalism< “The World’s Highest Display of Nudity”<Authorities in Nepal were calling
for, of all things, a law banning nudity on Mount Everest, the world’s highest mountain. You
might be surprised that this is a problem that needs to be addressed, but authorities were
concerned after a Nepali climber disrobed on the 29,035-foot summit in 2006 (with the
temperature about 14 degrees Fahrenheit), staking a claim to the world’s highest display of
nudity.
It’s hard to believe that something like this is really going to catch on, but some of the
people who live there worship Everest as a god, and the president of the Nepal Mountaineering
Association said, “There should be a strict regulation to discourage such attempts by climbers.”
There’s a tendency toward legalism in people. We like to come up with laws for just
about everything, thinking they’re the cure. This is especially true when it comes to religion.
Reference: Associated Press, “Nepal authorities call for ban on nudity on Mount
Everest,” The Arizona Republic (9/27/07)< Index: ambition, attention, faith,
grace, idolatry, immorality, justification, law, rebellion,
religion, righteousness, salvation, self-centeredness, selfcontrol, sin, Ten Commandments<
Lies<“Lying Takes More Brain Energy”< A study has found that lying takes more brain
energy than telling the truth. The study, reported in 2004, was conducted by the Temple
University School of Medicine, using functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI.
The participants were divided into two groups. Those in the first group were asked to
shoot a toy gun and then lie and say they didn’t do it. Those in the second group watched what
happened and then told the truth about it.
The fMRI showed that the liars activated 7 areas of the brain in their response (including the
frontal part of the brain, the medial inferior and pre-central areas, the hippocampus, middle
temporal regions, and the limbic areas). On the other hand, the truth-tellers activated only 4 areas
of the brain (including the frontal lobe, temporal lobe, and cingulate gyrus). The conclusion: it
took more brain energy to lie than to tell the truth.< Reference: Reuters, “Lying
Makes Brain Work Harder,” wired.com, 11/29/04<Index: excuses, honesty,
integrity, obedience, power, simplicity, strength, Ten Commandments, truth, wisdom<
Love<“Baghdad Park Protected”<
U.S. forces in Iraq are protecting a certain park in Baghdad,
according to USA Today. The reason they are protecting it is to give young people a chance to
court! The park was built in 2007 with U.S. money. Rebuilding and protecting public places is
one of the goals of the new U.S. strategy in Iraq.
It’s dangerous for single men and women in Iraq to be seen together in public. As one
Iraqi youth activist put it, “If a boy and a girl are walking down the street together today, any
sicko extremists could come and just kill them at any moment.” But not at Abu Nawas Park. A
U.S. security firm under contract with the U.S. Army mans four checkpoints, searching every
car, keeping anyone with a weapon out—including Iraqi police. A supervisor for the security
company said, “The couples are free to come and do whatever they want. We have orders from
our company and from the American Army.”
Now on many days every bench in the park is taken as young couples sneak off to
meet—couples like 26-year-old Enas and her boyfriend Hussein, who were interviewed in the
USA Today article. They met two years ago, but this was only the third time they’d been together
in person. “This is the safest single place in Baghdad,” Enas said. “Anywhere else in Baghdad, I
would be in danger if they saw me sitting here with a boy like this.”
Reference: Charles Levinson, “Baghdad park a unique refuge for couples in love,” USA
Today (7-7-08)<
Index: democracy, freedom, Iraq, marriage, protection, safety, terrorism<
Love< “People Need Love”< In 2003, USA Today reported that a little loving contact can go a
long way when it comes to physical health.
A study by the American Psychosomatic Society had one group of people hold hands
with their spouses for 10 minutes (while they watched a pleasant video), and then hug for 20
seconds. Another group of people in the study did not experience this contact.
Then both groups were asked to speak about a recent event that made them angry or
stressed. As they spoke their blood pressure and heart rates were monitored.
The findings: Blood pressure soared in the no-contact group: their systolic (upper)
reading jumped 24 points, double the rise for those in the group with loving contact. Heart rates
in the no-contact group also increased more: by 10 beats a minute compared to 5.
A little love can go a long way.<
Reference: Arizona Republic, 3/12/03<
Index:
encouragement, God’s love, marriage<
Marriage<“A Bridge to Hawaii”<The story is told of a man who was walking along a
California beach, deep in prayer. All of a sudden he said, “Lord, grant me one wish!” Suddenly a
cloud formed above his head, and a voice came: “Because you’ve been faithful to Me, I’ll grant
you one wish.”
The man said, “Build a bridge to Hawaii so I can drive over any time.”
God said, “That’s a pretty materialistic request. Think of the logistics involved: the
concrete and steel it would take, the supports required to reach the bottom of the Pacific! I can do
it, but I don’t know if I can justify doing such an elaborate thing just to meet a worldly request.
Take a moment to think of another request.”
After a moment the man said, “Lord, could you help me understand women? What
they’re thinking, feeling, why they cry—that sort of thing?”
There was a pause, then the voice from Heaven said, “Would you like that bridge with two or
four lanes?”<Ref<Index: communication, family, husbands, men, miracles, mysteries, prayer,
relationships, understanding, wisdom, wives, women<
Marriage< “Expectations”< A Newsweek article about the modern male said that traditionallyminded women are more likely to be happy in their marriages with these modern males than
more modern-minded women. The reason? They’re not expecting as much!
More modern-minded women, taking their clues from the media and pop culture, are
expecting husbands who are strong but sensitive, verbal, and relationship-oriented. But that may
not describe the guy they get!
More traditionally-minded women, the article said, are happier in their marriages because
they’re not expecting so much. They just expect a guy! And that’s what they can get.
Unrealistic expectations = disappointment.<Ref<
Index: contentment, disappointment,
expectations, families, happiness, illusions, love, men, relationships, women
Marriage< “His Need for Respect”<A national study revealed the great need men have
for respect. Four hundred men were asked to choose between two negative experiences. Would
they prefer a)to be left alone and unloved in the world or b)to feel inadequate and disrespected
by everyone. Seventy-four percent said they would prefer to be left alone and unloved rather than
disrespected!
This is why the Bible counsels the wife in Ephesians 5:33 to “respect her
husband.”<Reference: Dr. Emerson Eggerichs, Love and Respect (Thomas Nelson, 2004), p.
49<Index: Bible, families, husbands, love, men, needs, obedience, peace, respect, submission,
wives, women<
Marriage< “I’m Sorry”<In his book Love and Respect, Dr. Emerson Eggerichs talks
about two of the most powerful words in the English language: “I’m sorry.” Those words are
especially powerful when a husband speaks them to his wife. She may be extremely upset with
him, but she is likely to melt upon hearing those two words.
One wife wrote to Dr. Eggerichs to tell him about a fight she had with her husband one
evening. It was over something silly. In fact, at one point they had talked about kissing before the
squabble broke out. The wife went to bed, her husband came later.
The wife wrote: “I laid there for a while and then out of the blue he said (facing
the wall), ‘I’m sorry, and if you still want that kiss, you can have it.’ And I fell in love with him
all over again. Needless to say, we weren’t fighting any more.” <Reference: Dr. Emerson
Eggerichs, Love and Respect (Thomas Nelson, 2004), p. 161<Index: accountability, apology,
confession, family, forgiveness, husbands, love, marriage, peace, peacemaking, reconciliation,
repentance, restoration, wives<
Marriage< “A Longer Life”<An article on livescience.com discussed some ways
science is looking into to extend the human life span, including eating less, genetic tinkering, or
a special diet for pregnant or nursing moms.
Or you could just get married. The article cited a 2006 study “by Linda Waite, a
sociologist at the University of Chicago, [that] showed that happily married couples tend to live
longer than unwed individuals. Married men were found to live, on average, 10 years longer than
non-married men, and married women lived about four years longer than non-married women.
“The researchers speculated that married men live longer because they adopt healthier
lifestyles and take fewer risks. Married women, on the other hand, probably live longer because
of the improved financial well-being that comes with marriage.”
Reference: Ker Than, “Extending Human Life: Progress and Promises,” livescience.com
(posted 5-24-06)<Index: age, aging, family, husbands, life, life expectancy, longevity, love, men,
relationship, single, wives, women<
Marriage< “Love and Respect”<In his book Love and Respect, Dr. Emerson Eggerichs
shares the story of a woman who decided to obey God’s command in Ephesians 5:33 to “respect
her husband”—in spite of the troubles they’d been through, including talk of splitting up. The
woman wrote:
“I am nearly in shock at the changes in my husband … on New Year’s Eve I left a card in
his lunch box. Nothing mushy, just a ‘You give me many reasons to smile’ message, to which I
added, ‘and many things about you I respect,’ then I said thanks for Christmas and Happy New
Year. The next day he got up from the table and brought a chair for me! This last Sunday he
suggested going to a movie in the evening, sat and talked before the movie started, proposed
going to a musical in town next week. In general, he has been much more open and
communicative….”< Reference: Dr. Emerson Eggerichs, Love and Respect (Thomas Nelson,
2004), pp. 78-79
Index: Bible, families, forgiveness, husbands, promises, God’s Word,
obedience, peace, respect, submission, wives<
Marriage< “Out to Dinner”<There’s an old story about an older couple who went
out to dinner. The wife saw another couple their age sitting in a nearby booth. And she saw this
other man with his arm around his wife, whispering in her ear, gently rubbing her shoulder.
She said to her husband, “Look at how sweet he is, how close, how he’s talking to
her. Why don’t you ever do that?”
Her husband looked up from his salad, glanced at the nearby booth, and said,
“Honey, I don’t even know that woman.” <Reference: Dr. Emerson Eggerichs, Love and Respect
(Thomas Nelson, 2004), pp. 130-131.
Index: communication, husbands, senior citizens, sensitivity, wives<
Marriage< “Respect Test”<In his book Love and Respect, Dr. Emerson Eggerichs
challenges a wife to obey God’s command in Ephesians 5:33 to “respect her husband” by taking
the Respect Test: to think of some things she respects about her husband, approach him when
he’s not busy, and say, “I was thinking about you today and several things about you that I
respect, and I just want you to know that I respect you.” Then, without waiting for a response,
the wife is to mention there is something she needs to do and quietly start to leave the room.
Then wait to see what happens in their relationship.
One woman said that when she tried this she couldn’t get out of the room before her
husband said, “Wait! Come back. What things?” Then she told him. When she was finished, he
said, “Wow! Hey, can I take the family out to dinner?” The wife was shocked. He seldom-tonever took the family out to dinner.
She asked for a rain check because the kids had commitments that night, but fifteen
minutes later she heard pots and pans banging in the kitchen. He was fixing dinner! An all-time
first.
A few days later she wrote Dr. Eggerichs: “You won’t believe it. He’s in the laundry room! Do
you have any other ‘respect tests’? I think I might get a cruise out of this.”<
Reference: Dr.
Emerson Eggerichs, Love and Respect (Thomas Nelson, 2004), pp. 185-186
Index: Bible, families, husbands, promises, God’s Word, obedience, peace, respect,
submission, wives <
Marriage< “What Do You Do All Day?”<Have you have heard the story of the man who
came home from work one day to find bikes and scooters blocking the driveway, the house in
shambles, dirty dishes stacked in the sink, dirty laundry piled up, clothes everywhere, and his
two preschoolers drawing on the walls?
He finally found his stay-at-home wife, asleep in bed. He woke her and said, “Honey,
what’s going on? The house is a shambles, and kids are running wild!”
She yawned and said, “Well, you know how you’re always asking me what I do all day?”
“Yeah,” he said.
“Well,” she said, “today I didn’t do it.”<Reference: Dr. Emerson Eggerichs, Love and
Respect (Thomas Nelson, 2004), p. 181<Index: appreciation, children, chores, communication,
family, gratitude, housework, husbands, love, men, relationships, thankfulness, roles,
understanding, wives, women, work<
Marriage< “What Do You Think?”< “Celebrating Men, Satisfying Women” is a
workshop designed to give women insight into men in order to enhance their romantic, family,
and business relationships with them. The organizers give a piece of advice: If you want to know
what’s going on inside a man, don’t ask him how he “feels.” He might just hem and haw, or he
might not respond at all. Ask him his opinion, or his thoughts. You may not be able to get him to
stop talking. A man’s values can be found in his opinions.< Reference: Sonja Haller, “Quest for
male brain decoder,” The Arizona Republic (1-21-08)<
Index: communication, conversation,
feelings, husbands, intimacy, love, men, opinions, relationships, talking, thoughts<
Men<“Score One for the Guys”<Men are able to find their way out of a maze faster than
women, according to a study reported in the April 2000 issue of Nature Neuroscience.
Researchers placed 12 men and 12 women in a 3-D virtual-reality maze. The participants
pushed buttons to maneuver their virtual selves through the maze, left, right, or ahead. According
to Dr. Matthias Riepe of the University of Ulm in Germany, the maze experience would equate
to trying to find a specific place in a strange city.
Men found their way out of the maze in an average of 2 minutes 22 seconds (without
once asking for directions!). The women made it through the maze in an average of 3 minutes 16
seconds.
Researchers scanned the brain activity of the men and women in the maze, and found that
they used different parts of the brain to some degree. The different approaches may have to do
with the fact that women tend to use landmarks to navigate (“Turn right at the drug store”), while
men think geometrically as when figuring from a map (“The park should be over this
way”).<Reference: Associated Press, “The way out? Men find it faster,” The Arizona Republic
(3-21-00)<Index: brain, creation, directions, female, guidance, families, male, marriage, mind,
reasoning, relationships, sexes, wisdom, women<
Miracles<“Miracle in the World Trade Center”<The documentary Miracles in Our Midst
chronicled the stories of people who seem to have had miraculous escapes from the terrorist
attacks on September 11, 2001.
One of them was Stanley Praimnath. He was in the elevator of the south tower of the
World Trade Center when the first plane crashed into the north tower at 8:46 a.m. Being in the
elevator, he hadn’t heard a thing, but when he walked into his office on the 81st floor (he was an
assistant vice president at Fuji Bank) he saw a red-orange flame coming from the north tower.
With others, he went back down the elevator. But in the lobby loudspeakers assured
everyone that their building was secure; they could return to their offices. With others, Stanley
got back on the elevator.
He was back at his desk, on the phone, when a giant airplane caught his eye out the
window. He heard its engines rev as it grew bigger and bigger, coming head-on. He dove under
his desk—on top of which he always kept a Bible—and prayed, “Lord, I can’t do this. You take
over.”
The nose of the plane crashed into Stanley’s very floor; a “wing,” he said, “sliced right
through the office.” There was a deafening explosion (Stanley would suffer temporary hearing
loss), a ball of flame, and then darkness. Stanley was the only one left on the 81st floor. In fact,
upon impact everyone on floors 78-82 had been swept away. Stanley at first thought they had
heartlessly left him behind, before he realized later what had happened. The ceiling was caved in,
part of the floor collapsed, partitions and walls flattened, every piece of furniture and computers
destroyed. Everything except for Stanley’s desk, under which he huddled, somehow alive.
The documentary pointed out that with the epicenter of the crash less than 50 yards from
Stanley’s desk, and thousands of gallons of jet fuel igniting, “the banker’s chances of survival
should be nonexistent. Yet when the cataclysmic roar of the crash subsided, Stanley Praimnath is
very much alive.”
Stanley (after more answers to prayer) made it out of the building. He said, “… there is a
God, and He hears and intervenes.” <Reference: Miracles in Our Midst, Grizzly Adams
Productions, Inc., 2006<Index: Bible, deliverance, God’s plan, God’s power, grace, mercy,
mysteries, power, prayer, protection, providence<
Money<“Hollywood’s Top Earners”<
These aren’t tough financial times for everyone.
Forbes posted this year’s leading wage earners in Hollywood:
#1: Will Smith – $80 million
#2: Johnny Depp – $72 million
#3: A tie between Eddy Murphy and Mike Myers – $55 million
#5: Leonardo DiCaprio – $45 million
All five top wage earners were men. Hollywood’s male stars out-earned the leading
ladies $487 to $244.5 million for the year.< Reference: Lacey Rose, “Will Smith tops list of
Hollywood’s best-paid actors,” Forbes.com (7/08)<Index: actors, entertainment, Hollywood,
income, movies, pay, prosperity, wealth, wages, work<
Money< “Keeping Up with the Joneses”<
An article on MSN Money said that one of the keys
to happiness, and financial stability, is to have friends and neighbors who either make the same
amount of money you do or less. The article cited a 2005 study by Glenn Firebaugh of Penn
State and Laura Tach of Harvard that found that “people were most unhappy when they were
living around those who were richer.” They’re unhappy because they start to compare
themselves with these folks who have more. They’re less stable financially because they go into
debt trying to keep up.
The article said, “it’s not how much you have” but how much you have compared to your
peers. The same family that would be happy with $100,000 a year if the people around them
made the same or less might be very unhappy if the people around them are bringing in $200,000
a year.
The article quoted one lady who said, “One of the mistakes I made when I relocated after
college was not researching the fact that I was moving into a much higher cost-of-living area.”
Reference: MP Dunleavey, “How rich friends make you feel poor,” MSN Money
(8/26/07)<Index: comparisons, conformity, identity, materialism, peer pressure, pride,
prosperity, work<
Money< “Lack of Savings”< The savings rate for America in 2006 was the lowest since the
Great Depression. The Commerce Department reported that the savings rate for 2006 was
negative 1 percent. A negative percent means that people spent everything they made and then
some. It was only the fourth negative rating in history: the first two times was in the Great
Depression (in ’32 and ’33), and the third time was in 2005.
However, the reason for a negative rating was different in the Great Depression: onefourth of the labor force was without a job. The lack of savings today is more related to lifestyle
choices and a lack of discipline.<
Reference: Martin Crutsinger (Associated Press), “Savings
rate lowest since 1933,” The Arizona Republic, 2/2/07<
Index: budget, choices, decisions,
discipline, endurance, future, impatience, investing, patience, perseverance, planning, retirement,
savings, self-control, wisdom<
Money< “Losing for Winning”<
There’s a story of a clever incident from Abraham
Lincoln’s law practice days. A wealthy fellow believed he was owed $2.50. The man who
supposedly owed him the money was poor. The wealthy fellow wanted what was his, however—
and, to be fair, $2.50 was probably more like $250 in those days—so he contacted Lincoln to sue
the man.
Lincoln was hesitant at first, but on second thought he agreed to take the case if the man
would pay him a fee of $10.00 cash in advance. The wealthy fellow agreed.
Lincoln took $5.00 to the poor man, and offered to him if he would send $2.50 back to
the rich fellow immediately to settle the alleged debt. The man, knowing a good deal when he
heard one, agreed—so he sent it back.
So the rich man got his $2.50—from his own fee. The poor man got another $2.50. And
Lincoln the lawyer pocketed $5.00. It’s unclear whether what really happened ever dawned on
the rich man.
Greed can cost us more than we imagine.
<Ref< Index: conflict, debt, greed, lawyers,
Abraham Lincoln, pride, wealth, wisdom<
Money< “Saving for the Future”<
An expert (Douglas Flynn) in a CNNMoney article said
that if you’re 30 years old you could have $1 million by age 61 just by investing $334 per month.
That’s based on the “historical 75-year rate of return on the stock market,” which “was 11.2
percent per year from 1925 to 1999.” So assuming that same long-term rate of return, an
investment of just $334 per month would make you $1 million by age 61 (if you started at age
30).< Reference: “You’re 30 and need $1M,” CNNMoney.com, October 18, 2000<
Index:
budget, choices, decisions, discipline, endurance, future, investing, patience, perseverance,
planning, retirement, savings, self-control, wisdom<
Morality<“Moral Purity?” < Our culture apparently considers God’s demand for sexual and
moral purity to be unreasonable—at least if we are to believe some recent research.
The Barna Group published a survey in October ’06 on the
moral beliefs of the so-called “Buster” generation—those in
their 20s and 30s. It found that more than two-thirds of this
generation consider cohabitation (living together without being
married) acceptable. More than half considered sex outside of
marriage and the viewing of pornography acceptable. And almost
half considered homosexual relationships acceptable.<
Reference: “A New Generation of Adults Bends Moral and
Sexual Rules to Their Liking,” October 31, 2006, www.barna.org<
Index: cohabitation, dating, family, fornication, holiness,
homosexuality, lust, marriage, pornography, perversion, purity,
relationships, righteousness, sex, Ten Commandments, values,
worldview<
Morality< “The World in the Church”<
Pollster George Barna,
in his 2001 religious report, found that three out of ten born
again Christians said there’s nothing wrong with cohabitation,
gay sex, or watching sexually explicit movies. Thirty percent of
born again Christians! It seems that the world has been seeping
into the church. <
Ref<Index: cohabitation, dating, family,
fornication, holiness, influence, homosexuality, lust, marriage,
pornography, perversion, purity, relationships, righteousness,
sex, Ten Commandments, values, witness, worldliness, worldview<
Mothers<“Mom-isms”<
Here’s one author’s list of “Things I learned from my mother”—
you might be able to relate:
●My mother taught me about the Circle of Life: “I brought you into this world, and I can
take you out.”
●My mother taught me about Logic: “Because I said so, that’s why.”
●My mother taught me about Foresight: “Make sure you wear clean underwear, in case
you’re in an accident.”
●My mother taught me about Religion: “You better pray that will come out of the
carpet.”
●My mother taught me about Irony: “Keep crying, and I’ll give you something to cry
about.”
●My mother taught me about Behavior Modification: “Stop acting like your father!”
●My mother taught me about Weather: “This room of yours looks like a tornado went
through it.”
●My mother taught me about Humor: “When that lawnmower cuts off your toes, don’t
come running to me.”
●My mother taught me about Anticipation: “Just wait until we get home.”
●My mother taught me about Fear: “One day you’ll have a child who’ll do the same
things to you.”<Reference: “Things I learned from my mother,”
http://www.corsinet.com/braincandy/hgender6.html<Index: advice, children, discipline, family,
marriage, parenting, wisdom<
New Age<“Do It Yourself Religion”<In January of 2008, an article in the Brisbane
Times in Australia reported on a study that compared the mental outlooks of people with a
traditional faith in God to those with a New Age brand of faith—or a Do It Yourself kind.
The article said: “Meditation, crystal therapy, self-help books—think they're making you
happier? Think again. A Brisbane academic has found a strong link between new-age spirituality
and poor mental health in young people.”
The study—by Rosemary Aird of the University of Queensland, as part of her PhD
work—surveyed more than 3,700 Brisbane-based 21-year-olds. She found that those with Do It
Yourself beliefs had “higher rates of anxiety, depression, disturbed and suspicious ways of
thinking and anti-social behaviour.” In fact, “Young people with new-age beliefs were twice as
likely to be more anxious and depressed than those with traditional beliefs.”
The article quoted Dr Aird: “‘Traditional religion tends to promote the idea of social
responsibility and thinking of others’ interests, whereas the new-age movement pushes the idea
that we can transform the world by changing ourselves. The downside is that people are very
much on their own and not part of a community, which may lead to a kind of isolation.’”
Reference: Shannon Malloy, “DIY Religions: More Harm Than Good,” Brisbane Times,
Australia (1-17-08), from http://www.religionnewsblog.com/20414/diy-religion
Index: anxiety, Bible, church attendance, confusion, culture, depression, discipleship,
example, faith, Gospel, independence, isolation, leadership, mind, peace, rebellion, religion,
traditions, truth, wisdom, worries, worship<
Obedience<“Costly Tantrum”<
Did you hear about the poor couple that kicked got off the
plane with their little girl?
They were flying home from Fort Myers, Florida, to Boston on Jan. 14, 2007, after
visiting grandparents. But their three-year-old daughter wasn’t cooperating. As the passengers
boarded the plane and got settled in, she picked this inopportune time to throw a tantrum.
She sat on the floor in front of her parents’ seat crying. She wouldn’t get in the seat her
parents purchased for her—and FAA rules say children two and older must have their own seat
and be wearing a seatbelt before takeoff. An airline spokesperson said, “she was climbing under
the seat and hitting the parents and wouldn’t get in her seat.” Attendants told the parents they had
to get the girl in control and in her seat. The mom asked if she could hold the girl on her lap, and
was told no. Finally, they removed the family from the plane!
It seems pretty heartless (and the parents were upset about it), but AirTran Airways
explained: “The flight was already delayed 15 minutes and in fairness to the other 112
passengers on the plane, the crew made an operational decision to remove the family.”
(They reimbursed the cost of the tickets, and offered three roundtrip tickets anywhere the airline
flies, but the father said they’d never fly AirTran again.)<Reference: Associated Press, Jim Ellis,
“Girl Kicked Off Plane After Tantrum,” 1/23/07<
Index: anger, children, consequences,
discipline, fruit of the spirit, stubbornness, parenting, patience, punishment, self-control, Ten
Commandments<
Obedience< “Pay Now or Pay Later”<
Winston Churchill was once asked what they should
call the war against the Nazis. His reply was, “The Unnecessary War.”
You see, before the war, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and French Premier
Edouard Daladier met with Hitler in Munich. They agreed to give him part of Czechoslovakia
without a fight. They hoped to appease Hitler and avoid a war. Hitler accepted the Munich
Agreement, as it was called, but instead of just part of Czechoslovakia—he took the whole
nation.
“When the German generals marched into that little nation and saw its fortifications, they
admitted that it was improbable that they could have taken it by force.”
If Chamberlain and his French counterpart had drawn a line with Hitler, it likely would
have cost several thousand lives to protect Czechoslovakia from him. However, just a year or so
later, Germany was so strong it cost millions of lives to stop him (more lives than any war in
history).
The lesson: If we compromise when it comes to doing the right thing now, it will likely
cost us a lot more later.
Reference: Rick Joyner, “Change,” The Morning Star Prophetic Bulletin, March 2008, pp. 3-4<
Index: Bible, change, compromise, consequences, Ten Commandments, commitment,
faithfulness, God’s Word, perseverance, procrastination, repentance, righteousness, war<
Obedience< “Turn Around”< A man pulled his car over to ask an old woman on the side of the
road how far it was to a certain town.
The old woman said, “Well, Sonny, if you keep going the way you're headed, it's about
twenty-five thousand miles. But if you turn around, it's about three miles.”
Are you going the wrong way? Things will be easier if you
turn and go God’s way. <Ref<
Index: peace, repentance,
stubbornness, wisdom<
Parenting<“Dial-A-Fairytale”<
A little too busy to read a
bedtime story to your child? In February 2005 a new company in
the Netherlands came up with a solution. For $7 a busy parent
can dial Sprookiebel, or Dial-A-Fairytale, and have their child
listen to a 10-minute recording of a classic fairytale like
“Little Red Riding Hood. ” The company received about 600 calls
in its first 9 days.<
Reference: “Dial-a-fairytale,” On Mission (Summer 2005)<
Index: children, education, example, family, fathers, love, marriage, money, mothers,
parents, quality time, reading, responsibility, time<
Parenting< “Umbrella of Protection”<
When my daughters were little, I played a game
with them that they thought was exciting, and I thought was cute. They stood in the front yard,
holding an umbrella over their heads. I took the hose, pointed it up, and sprayed the water over
the head—which fell down on the umbrella, while they huddled safely beneath with big grins on
their faces.
That was exciting to them: the water was falling all around them, but they were safe
beneath the umbrella.
That’s a picture of what God designed our parents to be for us: an umbrella of protection
from the “rain” out there in the world. That’s why He told us in the 5th Commandment to honor
our fathers and mothers (Exodus 20:12). It’s for our good.< Reference: Author’s
experience<Index: authority, children, family, fathers, God’s wisdom, marriage, mothers,
obedience, protection, Ten Commandments, wisdom<
Patience<“Hints for the Plains Traveler”<
Think you have it rough because you have to get to
the airport early for a four-hour flight across country in an air-conditioned airplane? Listen to the
following “Hints for the Plains Traveler,” published by the Omaha Herald in 1877, and you
might think again:
● The best seat inside a stagecoach is the one next to the driver…you will get less than
half the bumps and jars than on any other seat.
● If a team runs away, sit still and take your chances; if you jump, nine out of ten times
you will be hurt.
● In very cold weather, abstain entirely from liquor while on the road; a man will freeze
twice as quick while under its influence.
● Spit on the leeward side of the coach.
●Don’t growl at food stations; stage companies generally provide the best they can get.
● Don’t ask how far it is to the next station until you get there. (With luck, stations were
reached every six to eight hours.)
● Don’t grease your hair before starting or dust will stick there in sufficient quantities to
make a respectable ‘tater’ patch.
● Don’t …point out places on the road where horrible murders have been committed.<
Reference: Brochure at the Wells Fargo History Museum in Old Town San Diego
Index: change, comfort, convenience, discipleship, gratitude, hardship, perspective,
progress, self-control, time, traveling<
Peace<“Years of War vs. Years of Peace”<A thinker of the last century, Gustave Valbert,
sat down and calculated the number of years the world had been at war compared to the number
of years of peace. He figured that from 1496 B.C. to A.D. 1861, there had been 3,130 years of
war and 227 years of peace—in other words, 13 years of war to every year of peace.
He said that in that period “more than 8000 treaties of peace, meant to remain in force
forever, were concluded. The average time they remained in force was two years."
He added, “Within the last three centuries, there have been 286 wars in Europe.”
Remember, he was writing a century ago: before World War I, World War II, the Korean
War, the Viet Nam War, the Gulf Wars, etc.
Peace on a planet earth has been a fleeting experience.<Ref<Index: conflict, spiritual warfare,
war<
Perspective<“The Big Picture”<
An August 1st, 1999 New York Times article detailed the
economic struggles and frustrations of middle-class Americans. It talked about how they had to
work hard for modest gains, and sometimes ended up piling up credit card debt. The article’s title
was: “The American Middle, Just Getting By.”
However, the article included a picture of one of these middle-class American families …
in their own swimming pool.
An economist commented: “it is doubtful whether most other people in the world would
regard” the American middle-class “as ‘just getting by.’” < Reference: Thomas Sowell, Basic
Economics: A Common Sense Guide to the Economy (Basic Books, 2007), pp. 3-4<
Index:
America, blessing, contentment, gratitude, happiness, money, peace, prosperity, thankfulness,
Thanksgiving, values, work<
Prayer<“Forbidden to Get Close to God”<
When the Old Testament Temple still stood,
gentiles could only worship in the Court of the Gentiles, which was outside the inner walls. An
inscription was discovered, dating from the time of Jesus (and placed in the Istanbul Museum),
which warned Temple-going Gentiles: “No stranger is to enter within the balustrade round the
temple and enclosure. Whoever is caught will be responsible to himself for his death, which will
ensue.”
How blessed we are in these New Testament days to be invited to the very throne of God
Himself through prayer (Hebrews 4:16).<
Reference: The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia
of the Bible, Volume 5, p 647
Index: the cross, God’s presence, grace, Heaven, the Law, mercy, salvation, Temple,
worship<
Prayer< “God Never Forgets Our Prayers”< Vi Braafhart (“Mrs. B” to children) has for decades
held Joy Clubs in homes. Joy Clubs are mini Vacation Bible Schools, where kids come one day a
week to hear Bible stories, sing songs, and learn about Jesus. Even being a senior citizen has not
slowed Mrs. B down.
While living in Elizabethtown, PA, in the early 2000s, Mrs. B attempted to begin a Joy
Club in a trailer park. The manager, however, kept blocking it. Mrs. B prayed and prayed about
getting a club started there. She called others to join in prayer with her. She prayed about it with
her prayer partner, her Avon lady. She walked it off praying for it. But it never happened—and
she had to move to the Denver area.
After Mrs. B moved, her church in Pennsylvania asked the manager of the trailer park
again for permission to hold a Bible School there. And for some reason, the answer was yes now.
The church held a Vacation Bible School there, and 600 kids attended! Kids and kids were
saved, and adults were also touched. The manager promised them space for an ongoing ministry.
The people there told Mrs. B that the results were because of her efforts.
Mrs. B declared: “God does not forget your prayers.”<
Index: aging, children, endurance, evangelism,
faithfulness, obstacles, opposition, patience, persecution,
perseverance, persistence, remembering, senior citizen, sowing
and reaping, Vacation Bible School <
Prayer< “If You Talk About It, Pray About It”< On my way to a Thursday night elders
meeting, it seemed like the Lord said to me: “Don’t talk about something unless you also pray
about it.”
We spent a lot of time talking about our church finances that night, because things had
been tight lately due to a difficult economy, and we were facing some real needs. After awhile I
told the elders what I thought the Lord said to me on the way to the meeting, and so bowed and
one of us led in prayer about our finances.
The next Sunday we had an offering about three times as large as our usual offering,
which came in very handy at that time! In addition, $3,000 came in for our Building Fund, even
though we weren’t emphasizing the fund at the time. I believe it was all in response to our prayer
at the elders meeting. <Reference: Author’s personal story (at Desert Joy Christian
Fellowship).<Index: answered prayer, church, elders, fellowship, miracles, money, needs,
pastors, power, providence, unity<
Prayer< “In Jesus’ Name”<When the terrible earthquake hit Pakistan in the fall of 2005,
the Frontiers missionary group—which focuses on reaching Muslims with the Gospel—already
had workers in the area. In their newsletter, they told about one of their workers arriving on the
scene after the earthquake, a convert to Christianity they called “Graham” (his real name was
withheld for his safety).
Graham heard a cry in the rubble. A little boy was trapped in heavy rocks and debris;
only his head and one hand stuck out from the rubble. He was crying and begging for help:
“Uncle, save me!” he called to Graham.
Graham pushed with all his might against a section of the wall that had collapsed on the
boy, but it was far too heavy. He tried again and again but couldn’t get it to budge. The boy
continued screaming, and Graham saw that he was bleeding, but there was nothing he could do.
Then Graham sat down and told the boy to ask Jesus to help him, that he was the only
One strong enough. The boy asked him who Jesus was. Graham told him that Jesus was the Most
Powerful Lord God.
The boy began asking Jesus to help him, calling out to him in the Pushtu dialect. Then
Graham said, “When I say ‘Jesus, you are our helper!’ repeat this phrase with me. I will push the
wall, but Jesus will move it.” They cried out together, “Jesus, you are our helper!” and with one
push this one and a half ton wall moved as if it were nothing!
Graham pulled the boy to freedom, and said, “Your name is Emmanuel now. Your name means,
‘God is with us.’”<Reference: Frontiers Newsletter<Index: deliverance, divine appointments,
God’s name, God’s power, Jesus, mercy, miracles, missionaries, missions, witnesses<
Prayer< “The Power of a Prayer Meeting”< A church in Glendale, AZ, was asked to pray for a
man they didn’t know. The man was a friend of one of the members. The man, whose name was
Don Bandy, was deathly ill in a local hospital. The church prayed for Don in their Wednesday
night prayer meeting. Don later told the church what happened in his hospital room.
He was in the bed, near death, when a cloud began to come in the room’s window. In the
Bible God sometimes appeared in a cloud (Exodus 13:21; 1 Kings 8:10; Matthew 17:5), but Don
wasn’t a believer at the time and had no idea what was happening. Until a voice spoke to him
from the cloud—about his need to turn his life over to God, and promising to heal him. Then the
cloud left.
Don did give his life to God, and he did recover. He later became a member of the little church
that prayed for him. He said that the miraculous occurrences in his hospital room that night were
all because that church prayed for him. <Reference: Author’s experience<Index: changed lives,
church, God’s power, God’s presence, healing, miracles, unity<
Prayer< “Prayer Leads to Billy Graham”<
In May 1934 a group of 30 Charlotte, North
Carolina, business men were troubled by the spiritual apathy in their city due to the Depression.
They asked a local farmer to lend his pasture to them for a day of prayer. That day their leader,
Vernon Patterson, prayed this prayer, “Lord, out of Charlotte raise up a man to preach the Gospel
to the ends of the earth.”
The businessmen then erected a large "tabernacle" of raw pine on a steel frame, and
invited evangelist Mordecai Ham and his song leader Walter Ramsay to hold a revival there—
and the revival went on for eleven weeks as God poured out His Spirit in Charlotte.
One of the people who gave his life to the Lord in those services was Billy Graham, who
did become “a man to preach the Gospel to the ends of the earth.” The farmer who lent his field
to the businessmen for the day of prayer: Billy Graham’s father.
All because some businessmen got together to pray.<Ref<Index: faith, fruitfulness, God’s
plan, God’s power, miracles, priorities, significance, trust, unity<
Prayer< “Prayer Makes a Difference”<One Sunday in our church (Desert Joy Christian
Fellowship in Litchfield Park, AZ), a lady named Penny filled out her prayer card with a request
for prayer for her son Kyle who was going on a camping trip with his friends to celebrate his 19th
birthday. (She later said she had a bad feeling about this impending camping trip.)
It rained that weekend in the mountains of Arizona. As the boys were heading home, they
came around a bend to encounter a mudslide and a boulder in the road. The SUV rolled over.
The doctor said Kyle should have been killed. He was riding in the front passenger seat,
and that part of the vehicle was demolished and caved-in—as if a can opener had torn it open and
pushed it down into the seat. When Penny saw the vehicle, and realized that was where Kyle was
sitting, she almost fainted.
Kyle had to get 25 stitches, and had a concussion, and he couldn’t remember the accident,
but the doctors said he would be fine. The other boys were unhurt.
Penny is sure God protected her son as a result of prayer. (In the wrecked vehicle,
Penny noticed “one of those angels you hang from the rearview mirror laying on the seat.”)<
Index: angels, answered prayer, children, deliverance, faith, God’s power, mercy,
miracles, mothers, power, protection, providence<
Prayer< “Prayer Turns Back Tsunami” <When the Indian Ocean Tsunami hit in
December of ’04, a woman who lived in the path of devastation was used by God to save others.
The night before “Hayati” (not her real name, which is withheld for her protection) had dreamed
she was building a house without a roof (a symbol of protection), a house surrounded by a lot of
people. She had a premonition that many people were going to die.
When the earthquake hit and word of the rising sea came to her, she realized this was
what she had dreamed about, and urged people to run with her to safety. They ran to a mosque,
dropped to their knees and began to pray. But she and the others found themselves calling out to
the Lord Jesus! She said, “I forgot I was a Muslim. I prayed like I was a Christian.” She prayed,
“God, do not be angry. Forgive our sins. Lord Jesus, please save us.” The others called out to the
“Lord Jesus” over and over again as well.
When the water was only one meter away, it suddenly stopped and receded. They all thanked the
“Lord Jesus.” They were surprised they had called His name, but they knew Jesus was the One
who saved them. The woman had been a Christian until she married a Muslim. In the moment of
crisis, however, what was really in her heart came out—and she called on Jesus. Afterward, she
continued to boldly testify to the Lord Jesus, even though it put her life at risk.<Reference:
Timeline Lifeline: life after the Tsunami, “Hayati’s Story,” International Mission Board,
Southern Baptist Convention<Index: deliverance, dreams, God’s name, God’s power, guidance,
hearing God, Jesus, mercy, miracles, protection, Ten Commandments, testimony, witness<
Prayer< “You Can’t Putt”<
A Catholic priest and a Baptist minister were playing golf. Each
time the priest prepared to putt, he crossed himself. Then he tapped the ball and it rolled in the
cup. The Baptist minister watched this for the first nine holes. The priest made the sign of the
cross, tapped the ball, and it rolled in the hole.
During a clubhouse break, the Baptist minister said to the priest, “If I said a little prayer
like you do before I putt, do you think it would help?”
“No,” the priest said.
“Why not?” the Baptist minister asked.
“Because you don’t know how to putt,” the priest said.<Ref<Index: denominations, discipleship,
gifts, golf, training, work<
Prayer< “What God Can Do”<
A.C. Dixon wrote, “When we depend upon organizations,
we get what organizations can do; when we depend upon education, we get what education can
do; when we depend upon man, we get what man can do; but when we depend on prayer, we get
what God can do.”<Ref<
Index: faith, God’s power, miracles, power, priorities, trust
Priorities<“Human Life vs. Human Accomplishment”<In May of 2006 British
mountaineer David Sharp, 34, died while descending Mount Everest, the world’s tallest peak. He
apparently died of oxygen deficiency. The shocking news was that more than 40 climbers seem
to have seen him as he lay dying, but almost all continued their climb to the summit without
offering assistance.
Sharp was about 1,000 feet from the peak, in what is known as the low-oxygen “death
zone.” On the day of his death, several parties saw him in varying degrees of health and working
on his oxygen equipment.
Sir Edmond Hillary, who was one of the first two men to reach the peak in 1953, commented to
the New Zealand Press Association: “Human life is far more important than just getting to the
top of a mountain.”<Reference: Steve McMorran, Associated Press, “Everest pioneer blasts
climbers who left dying man,” The Arizona Republic (5-25-06)<Index: accomplishment,
achievement, ambition, compassion, death, focus, human beings, life, love, ministry, mountain
climbing, mountains, Mount Everest, pride, purpose, responsibility, selfishness, sympathy,
values, vanity, vision<
Priorities< “Irreplaceable?” < In Christian Family Counselor Dr. Kevin Leman’s book
Adolescence Isn’t Terminal, he tells about the time he spoke to a group of military wives on the
topic “Priorities in Families.” When he was finished, the lone male in the room—an Air Force
colonel—stood up and challenged him. The colonel said, “Excuse me, but you obviously don’t
understand the air force. When a woman marries an air force officer, she understands that the air
force must come first.”
When the colonel was finished, Dr Leman said, “I believe I do understand your air force.
If you died tonight, your air force would have someone in your place by 0800 tomorrow
morning.”
The ladies gave him a standing ovation.
In his book, Leman makes this point: “Everyone is replaceable outside the home; no one is
replaceable inside it. Don’t sell your soul to the company store. If you do, there’s still a great
chance that your company will downsize, and you’ll be out in the cold. Rather than sacrifice your
kids on behalf of your career, be willing to make sacrifices in your career on behalf of your
kids.”<Reference: Adolescence Isn’t Terminal, Dr. Kevin Leman, pp 135-136<Index: ambition,
careers, children, families, marriage, parenting, rest, Ten Commandments, values, work <
Priorities< “Not Enough Time—Literally!” <
Do you ever feel like there is not enough
time in the day for you? You might be right.
USA Today several years ago asked experts from various fields to chart how much time
was needed for the daily necessities of life (you know the sort of thing: experts telling you how
much time you should exercise per day, brush your teeth, play with your kids, etc.). Well, these
experts counted up the time that was necessary for exercise, sleep, hygiene, work and
commuting, eating, etc. When all those minutes were added together, the experts suggested times
for daily activities added up to 42 hours!
To live well, it seems, is going to require some prioritizing.<Ref< Index: busyness, distractions, families, focus, hurry, lifestyles, marriage, patience, prayer, simplify, stress,
time management, values, worry<
Priorities< “A Sandwich Emergency”<A Florida man called 911 to complain that a
Subway sandwich shop had left the sauce off of his spicy Italian sub sandwich.
He actually called twice. The first time was to summon police officers to make sure his
sandwich was made right. The second time was to complain that the officers were taking too
long to arrive.
Workers at the restaurant said the man became belligerent and yelled at them when they
were making his order. They locked him out when he left to call police.
The Jacksonville police arrested the 42-year-old for making false 911 calls. <Reference:
Associated Press, “Fla. man dials 911, complains his sandwich had no sauce,” USAToday.com
(8-4-08)<Index: anger, anxiety, emergencies, expectations, 911, patience, peace, relationships,
stress, worry<
Priorities< “Time Spent on Media”<Do you ever have trouble sifting through your
priorities? A lot of Americans apparently do.
In December of 2006, the U.S. Census Bureau published a report that projected how many hours
Americans would spend on the media in 2007. It projected that Americans would spend more
time on media in 2007 than on anything else in their lives except breathing! In all, Americans
were projected to spend an estimated 3,518 hours on the various media—or nearly five months—
including the equivalent of 65 days in front of the TV.<Reference: Arizona Republic, 12/15/06,
A32, “In 2007, Americans will spend 5 months on media”<Index: busy-ness, culture,
entertainment, family, influence, leisure, media, television, time, values<
Priorities< “Trash, Trinkets, and Treasures”<
A sign over a souvenir shop advertised
“Trash, Trinkets, and Treasures.”
That sign serves as a parable for life. Some people go
through life collecting “Trash,” just living to fulfill their
sinful desires. Some people go through life collecting
“Trinkets,” just living to acquire material things, just living
by the motto “The one with the most toys wins!” Wise people,
however, live for the real “Treasures” of life: serving God and
people.<Ref<
Index: eternity, Kingdom of God, love,
materialism, money, perspective, rewards, service, sin, values<
Providence<“A Cup of Coffee”<
My wife and I went to an Arizona Cardinals football game
in the fall of ’06. I walked in really wanting a cup of coffee. You would figure that somewhere in
that new multimillion dollar stadium they would sell a cup of coffee, but I couldn’t find one any
place (the stadium had just opened several weeks earlier, and apparently they hadn’t worked out
all the kinks yet). There was beer for sale everywhere, but I had no luck in my search for coffee.
During the second half, my wife went up to the concourse. I assumed she’d be right back.
But five minutes passed, ten minutes passed—and Lynette was still gone. The game was on the
line, too, but she was still not back. I figured she was talking to someone she’d run into, or
something like that. She was gone perhaps 30 minutes.
I couldn’t figure out what she was doing—what was more important than watching the
game! Until she came back with a cup of Seattle’s Best coffee in her hand! She had asked
someone where they sold coffee, and she had been directed to a concession stand on the far side.
She’d walked there and got me a cup of coffee. What a sweetheart!
My point is, a lot of times we’re left sitting there in life wondering what the Lord is up to.
It might seem like we haven’t seen Him for a while, and that important things are passing by as
we wait. But if we’ll be patient, we’ll find out that He was doing something for us all along, and
that He had a good plan. Our “cup of coffee” is on the way.<
experience<
Reference: Author’s
Index: faith, God’s love, God’s plan, God’s work, ministry, patience,
perseverance, service, tests, trials, trust<
Purpose<“Macbeth”< When the world is falling apart around King Macbeth in Shakespeare’s
play, he makes the statement that life is but a tale “full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.”
Well, Macbeth was wrong. Life has a purpose. God has a
plan for us. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ
Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to
do (Ephesians 2:10). <
Reference: William Shakespeare,
Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 5< Index: confusion, God’s plan, meaning
in life, providence, significance<
Religion<“The Number of World Religions”<According to the World Christian
Encyclopedia, there are 19 major world religions, which are subdivided into a total of 270 large
religious groups. If you include minor religious groups, the number climbs into the thousands.
All of this tells us that people have a desire to know God. In Jesus, God has revealed who He is:
John 1:1, 14, 18.<Reference: www.religioustolerance.org<Index: Bible, false religion, God’s
presence, incarnation, Jesus, knowing God, knowledge, relationship with God, revelation,
salvation, spirituality<
Repentance<“Letting Go”< A boy, reaching for a penny, got his hand stuck in a vase. His
mother tried to get his hand out. She pulled it, but no luck. She tried soap suds, but no luck. She
tried cooking oil, but his hand wouldn’t come out.
Finally she said, “We’re just going to have to break the vase, but it might hurt your
hand.”
At that the boy’s eyes got big, and he asked, “Would it help if I let go of the
penny?”<Ref< Index: accountability, blame, change, children, freedom, parenting, responsibility,
sin<
Responsibility<“Have Some Trouble” <In their book Boundaries, psychologists Henry
Cloud and John Townsend tell an interesting story about some parents who were having trouble
with their 25 year old son. The son didn’t come to the counseling because, his parents said, “he
doesn’t think he has a problem.” The counselor said, “Maybe he’s right. Tell me about it.”
They said their son was exhibiting a problem staying in school, and finding a job. He was
using drugs, and keeping questionable company. He was avoiding responsibility in general.
The parents obviously loved their son very much, and were heartbroken about how he
was living. They said they’d tried everything:
●Always made sure he had everything he needed
●Plenty of money at college so, they said, “he wouldn’t have to work and he
would have plenty of time for study and a social life”
●When he flunked out of one school, they helped him get in another “where it
might be better for him.”
Finally, the counselor said, “I think your son is right. He doesn’t have a problem.” The
parents just looked at him in shock, until the father said, “Did I hear you right? You don’t think
he has a problem?” “That’s correct,” the counselor said. “He doesn’t have a problem. You do.”
The counselor went on to explain, “He can do whatever he wants. No problem. You pay, you
fret, you worry, you plan, you exert energy to keep him going. He doesn’t have a problem
because you have taken it from him. Those things should be his problem, but as it now stands,
they are yours.”
Lights began to go on in the parents’ heads.
The counselor said to them, “Would you like for me to help you help him to have some
problems?”
Reference: Boundaries, Henry Cloud and John Townsend, p. 27-28<
Index:
consequences, discipline, God’s fatherhood, parenting, sowing and reaping<
Rest<“Sharpen Your Axe”< One man challenged another to an all-day wood chopping contest.
The challenger plunged right in: chopping away, piling up his wood, taking no breaks all day
long. The other man also went to chopping, but he stopped and took a number of breaks along
the way.
At the end of the day, everyone was surprised to find the second man’s woodpile higher!
The first man said, “How can this be? You took all those breaks and yet you have more wood!”
The second man said, “But you don’t understand: when I sat down to rest, I was sharpening my
axe.”
Sometimes the smartest thing is not more work, but a well-planned rest.<Ref<
Index:
church, prayer, patience, preparation, priorities, relaxation, Sabbath, school, stress, Sunday, Ten
Commandments, tools, training, vacations, wisdom, work, worship<
Rest< “Sundays Off”<S. Truett Cathy, owner of the Chick-Fil-A restaurant chain and Sunday
School teacher, explaining why his restaurants are closed on Sundays: “I can’t be teaching kids
how to keep the Lord’s Day holy while my cash registers are ringing.”<Reference: 1001 Quotes,
Illustrations & Humorous Stories, Edward K. Rowell and Leadership Journal, p 149<Index:
church, integrity, priorities, relaxation, Sabbath, stress, Sunday, Ten Commandments, work,
worship<
Rest< “Vacation Days”<
Resting does not seem to come as easily or naturally to Americans
as it does to people in some other nations. According to the 2006 World Almanac and Book of
Facts, the Average Number of Vacation Days per Year for selected nations is as follows:
Italy: an average of 42 vacation days per year for their workers
France: 37 days
Germany: 35 days
Brazil: 34 days
United Kingdom: 28 days
Japan: 25 days.
And America: just 13 vacation days per year!<Reference: 2006 World Almanac and Book of
Facts, p 755<Index: church, families, priorities, relaxation, Sabbath, stress, Sunday, Ten
Commandments, vacations, work, worship<
Rest< “Working While Asleep”
In 2004, the journal Nature published the findings of a German study that found that
sleeping brains continue to work on problems that baffle us during the day. This shows that
sometimes the best way to get the answer to a problem is not to continue battling with it, but to
take a break and get some rest. Let your sleeping brain work on it.
Reference: The Arizona Republic, 1/22/04<Index: church, health, priorities, relaxation,
Sabbath, sleep, stress, Sunday, Ten Commandments, vacations, work, worship<
Reverence<“A Sign of Respect”<
David McCullough’s book 1776 offers an insightful
glimpse into the character of George Washington. As a boy, Washington copied down 110 Rules
of Civility and Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation. These were 110 rules on how to
behave around others. Rule Number One read: “Every action done in company ought to be with
some sign of respect to those who are present.” Apparently he meant a bow or curtsy, a tip of the
hat, a proper greeting, an “excuse me”—that sort of thing. That this would be one of George
Washington’s goals tells you a lot about his character.
What if this was our goal, too? But not only with respect to people, but with respect to
God? Would it make a positive difference in the way we lived? < Reference: 1776, David
McCullough, pp 44-45<
Index: courtesy, glorifying God, God’s presence, Golden rule,
manners, obedience, respect, George Washington, worship<
Salvation<“Regime Change”<
In March 2003, the U.S. led a coalition that ousted Saddam
Hussein from power in Iraq. Most people recall the image of happy Iraqis dancing around the
fallen dictator’s toppled statue in Baghdad. They were rejoicing because there had been a regime
change! The dictator had been removed. The hope of something better stood before them—
perhaps even freedom.
But things quickly grew complicated. While many welcomed the change and worked to
bring about a new free government, many violently opposed it.
Likewise, there was likewise a regime change over the whole world 2000 years ago when Jesus
was raised from the dead and declared Lord over all mankind (Philippians 2:9-11). A vicious
dictator (Satan) was deposed, and the Good King reigns. But like the Iraqis, not all have accepted
the new reign. Each person must choose for himself. <Ref<Index: bondage, choices, cross,
decisions, deliverance, freedom, Jesus, Lordship of Jesus, obedience, power, resurrection, Satan,
service<
Service<“The Largest Churches in America”<
In 2007 Outreach magazine released their
annual list of the 100 Largest Churches in America:
●The largest church was Lakewood Church in Houston. Pastor Joel Osteen’s church
averaged 47,000 attendees per Sunday. That’s larger than some cities!
●The 2nd largest church was Willow Creek in the Chicago area, pastored by Bill Hybels,
with an average attendance of 23,500—half that of Lakewood.
●There were 2 other churches with attendance over 20,000: Second Baptist in Houston,
and Saddleback in California.
●The “smallest” church on the list was Shadow Mountain Community Church in
California, pastored by David Jeremiah, with a weekly attendance of 6,376.
The thing about a list like that: It can really make you feel insignificant! If you’re the
pastor of a small church, or attend one.
Should we feel that way? No. In the first place, the list can be misleading if it’s our sole
gauge of church life in America. The total attendance of all the 100 largest churches was just
over 1 million people, but more than 100 million people attend church every week in America,
and that’s a conservative estimate*. For another thing, the average attendance of most churches
in America per Sunday is estimated at less than 100.
However, the main reason we should not feel insignificant is
because we’re not! Jesus said, “And if anyone gives even a cup
of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my
disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his
reward” (Matthew 10:42). God notices and rewards every act of
service in His name, big or small. That’s true for every church,
and for everyone in every church.<*How I got my figures: Barna
Research indicated for 2004 that 43% of adults attend church per
week; as of 2001, acc to the Statistical Abstract of the United
States: 2002, p 13, there are about 212 million adults in U.S.;
43% of 200 million
is 86 million; throw in one child for every
2 adults and you have 129 million, thus my conservative estimate
of 100 million.<
References: “2007 Outreach Magazine Report:
100 Largest U.S. Churches,” Outreach magazine Special issue
(2007),
pp. 52-53; Doug Carroll, “Megachurch opens campus on
field of dreams in Gilbert,” The Arizona Republic (10/6/07)<
Index: church, church attendance, faithfulness, ministry, reward, significance<
Service< “A Life of Impact”<
Have you heard of Elizabeth Anne Everest? Probably not.
She was a nanny.
An upper class English family was looking for a nanny to take care of a boy whom his
mother called “a difficult child to manage” and others called a “monster.” He kicked, screamed,
hid for hours, and bullied. Elizabeth took the job.
She patiently set and enforced boundaries on the wild boy. The boy, knowing her
Christian faith, tried to escape math lessons by threatening to “bow down and worship graven
images.” But Elizabeth persisted. She prayed with him and taught him the Scriptures.
As a young man, the boy moved away from his faith. Until the day came when he was
escaping from a South African prisoner of war camp. Then the prayers and Scriptures he had
learned at his nanny’s knee came almost involuntarily to his lips.
From that time on, Winston Churchill’s faith defined him. When destiny called, he led
Great Britain in the fight against Nazi Germany, calling it a battle to save “Christian
civilization”—a battle “to preserve the structure of humane, enlightened, Christian society” from
“barbarous paganism.”
This man, whom some called the “Greatest Man of the Age,” led with the faith his nanny
inspired. In 1965, when he lay dying at the age of 90, one picture stood by his bedside: Elizabeth
Anne Everest’s. She had gone to be with the Lord some 70 years earlier without ever knowing
the impact her witness would have. <Reference: Rick Joyner, Shadows of Things to Come
(Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2001), pp. 154-157<Index: destiny, example, faithfulness,
fruitfulness, humility, impact, ministry, sowing and reaping, witness<
Service< “Post Office Angel”<
In 2001 Anita Rybat, a woman in her 70s, entered a
Phoenix post office burdened with Christmas gifts to mail and her oxygen tank. The lobby was
wall-to-wall people, every chair was taken, and—worst of all—she drew #60 and the clerks were
only on #15. She looked for a place to lean and rest her packages. She found a small corner of a
shelf, and settled in for a long wait.
But a young woman came up to Anita and said, “Take my number.” It was #27. Anita
protested, but the woman insisted and Anita exchanged #60 for #27.
Anita thanked her, settled in for a shorter wait—and then panicked! She didn’t have her
purse with her. She was going to have to return home for it. She went to the young woman,
explained her situation, and told her they needed to switch the numbers back.
The young woman said, “You and I can go up in line together. I’ll take care of it, and you
can pay me back later.” So they went up together. Anita’s packages came to over $40, and the
other woman paid for them.
Afterwards, as the young woman was leaving, she patted Anita on the arm and said,
“This is my Christmas present to you. Pass it on.”
Anita later said of her, “I wouldn’t have been surprised if she’d sprouted
wings.”<Reference: Arizona Republic, 12/26/01
Index: angels, aging, caring, Christmas, giving, help, kindness, love, ministry, senior citizens<
Service<“Servants?”< A man dreamed that he had been given a chance to visit Heaven and Hell.
When he opened the door to Hell, he was surprised to see a banquet hall set for a feast.
On the table were mouthwatering dishes of food, but the diners sitting around the table were
moaning in agony. Each diner had only a very long spoon to eat with. The spoon was long
enough to reach the dishes in the middle of the table, but too long to maneuver to their mouths.
So they cried in hunger.
When he opened the door to Heaven, he saw the same banquet setting: a table filled with
wonderful dishes of food, surrounded by diners with the same long spoons. But here the diners
were happy and enjoying the meal. The difference: in Heaven they were using the spoons to feed
each other.
A spirit of service is a mark of a follower of Jesus. <Ref< Index: body of Christ,
Christians, church, disciples, fulfillment, Heaven, Hell, love, ministry, obedience, joy<
Sex<“Mom’s Wise Counsel”<
In his book Love and Respect, Dr. Emerson Eggerichs tells
about one young wife who called her mom to tell her that she and her husband would not be
coming over that day. It was their usual practice to visit her parents every Sunday.
“Why not?” her mom asked.
“Well,” she said, “because my honey is in a twit.”
“Why?” her mom asked.
“I suppose because we have not been sexually intimate for seven days.”
This daughter may have expected some sympathy from her mom, but she was in for a
surprise. Her mom said, “You ought to be ashamed of yourself. Why would you deprive him of
something that takes such a short amount of time and makes him soooooo happy!?”
“Mother!” the embarrassed daughter said into the phone. “I can’t believe you said that.”
Later, however, the young woman saw the wisdom in her mom’s advice, commenting,
“My mom has been married for forty-seven years, and I don’t know of anyone who has a happier
marriage.”
Reference: Dr. Emerson Eggerichs, Love and Respect (Thomas Nelson, 2004), p. 252<Index:
advice, counsel, families, husbands, love, marriage, men, relationships, wisdom, wives, women<
Sin<“Victimized by Sin”<
A leading eating disorder treatment center says that almost half of
its patients were victims of sexual abuse as children.
“Forty-nine percent of our patients have experienced childhood sexual abuse," said Amy
Spahr, clinical director at Remuda Programs for Eating Disorders. "This is about 20 percent
higher than in the general population. Additionally, in the last five years, 11 percent of
adolescent and 20 percent of adult patients were diagnosed with Post-traumatic Stress Disorder
(PTSD).”
Eating disorders such as binge-eating, purging, restricting calories become a way of
helping victims cope with shame and body dissatisfaction.<Reference: “Majority of Eating
Disorder Patients Experience Childhood Sexual Abuse, Trauma,” christiannewswire.com
(8/5/08)<Index: abuse, children, consequences, eating disorders, food, guilt, pain, Post-traumatic
Stress Disorder, sowing and reaping, sex, sexual abuse, shame, stress, suffering, Ten
Commandments, trauma, victims<
Sorcery<“A Magical Spell”< There’s a Greek magical papyrus in the British Museum in
London. It was discovered in Egypt. It reveals some of what was involved in casting a spell in
the ancient world, and in some parts of the world still today.
The papyrus reads in part:
“Come to me, spirit that flies in the air, called with secret codes and unutterable
names, at this lamp divination which I perform, and enter into the boy’s soul, that he may receive
the immortal form in mighty and incorruptible light, because while chanting, I call…” —–here
the sorcerer listed the magical names he was calling upon.
In light of such practices in the ancient world, it is no wonder that the early missionaries
and apostles often cast spirits out of people as a part of their ministry. (Acts 8:7, Acts 16:18)
Reference: Clinton E. Arnold, Acts: Zondervan Illustrated
Bible Backgrounds Commentary (Softcover Edition), (Zondervan,
2002), p. 66.< Index: demons, the devil, exorcism, magic, possession, Satan, spirits,
spiritual warfare, the supernatural, witchcraft<
Sowing and Reaping<“Bitten”<
In 2002 a Vermont man was finally been arrested after a
two and a half year standoff with authorities. The bank had foreclosed on him, for failing to pay
property taxes, but rather than be evicted he had holed himself up in his remote home.
The sheriff hadn’t pressed the issue—since it was civil matter, and because the man was
considered a threat (he was associated with some extremist groups, referred to government
authorities as “foreign agents,” and had a felony conviction). Instead, he just kept a loose eye on
the man’s place, looking for a good opportunity.
Finally, the man made a rare excursion from his home. He had to go to the hospital to get
treated for dog bites. After his release, he was arrested.
Where were the dog bites from? From one of the dogs he had, allegedly, trained to attack
law officers! Instead, it had bitten him, and led to his arrest.
Our actions have a way of catching up to us.<Reference: Associated Press, “Evictee goes out, is
arrested,” The Arizona Republic (3-25-02)<Index: actions, anger, consequences, discipline, fruit,
judgment, money, patience, responsibility, results, seeds<
Sowing and Reaping< “Cola and Bones”<
A study released by a researcher at Tufts University
in Boston found that women who drink cola daily had lower bone mineral density in their hips,
and are therefore in greater danger of suffering a fracture. It did not matter whether it was
regular, diet or caffeine-free cola. Cola, it seems, contains phosphoric acid, which impairs
calcium absorption. The study referred to those who engage in daily consumption of cola, not
occasional. (Cola consumption had no effect on bone mineral density for men.)
It matters what we put into our bodies. Nutritional laws govern what happens to our
bodies as a result of what we put into them.< Reference: “Cola consumption linked to weaker
bones in women,” Yahoo!News, 10/10/06< Index: Bible, consequences, diet, food, health,
nutrition, responsibility, spiritual food<
Sowing and Reaping< “Heaven’s Store”<
A woman had a dream in which she wandered into a
shop at the mall and found Jesus behind a counter. He said to her, “You can have anything your
heart desires.” Astounded, but pleased, she began to list all kinds of wonderful things she wished
for immediately—peace and love and happiness, and so on.
Jesus smiled at her and said, “I think you misunderstand Me. We don’t sell fruits, only seeds.”
<Reference: Bill Thrall, Bruce McNichol, Ken McElrath, The Ascent of a Leader (John Wiley
and Sons, 1999<Index: actions, consequences, desires, discipline, dreams, fruit, happiness,
judgment, needs, patience, prayer, responsibility, results, seeds<
Spiritual Growth<“Digging for Treasure”< When the Apostle Paul said to “work out your
salvation” in Philippians 2:12, he wasn’t referring to working your way to Heaven, but to
allowing the salvation God put in you to work it’s way out of you into your daily life. The Greek
word translated work out was “used by the first century author Strabo to speak of digging silver
out of silver mines”—bringing a treasure that was already there out. That’s what Paul was
referring to: allowing the salvation God put in you to work it’s way out of you into your daily
life. He was referring to spiritual growth.< Reference: The Nelson Study Bible, New King
James Version, (Nelson, 1997), p. 2002<
Index: discipline, endurance, good works,
obedience, patience, perseverance, salvation<
Spiritual Growth< “Percent of Americans Who Exercise”< According to a survey by the
National Center for Health Statistics (in which 68,000 households were interviewed), 3 out of 10
Americans (31%) exercise regularly—regular exercise being defined as light-moderate exercise
at least 5 times a week for 30 minutes, and/or vigorous exercise at least 3 times a week for 20
minutes. Another 31% exercise occasionally, and 38% were sedentary.
The fastest growing exercises are the less strenuous kinds that emphasize stretching and
flexibility, like Pilates.
Just as physical exercise is necessary for spiritual fitness, so is spiritual exercise—Bible
Study, prayer, obedience, worship—necessary for spiritual growth.<
trend report,” July 2002, Volume 9, Number 3, p. 2.<
Reference: “ihrsa
Index: Bible study, discipline,
endurance, exercise, health, obedience, perseverance, prayer, worship<
Spiritual Warfare<“The Needless Battle”< The Battle of New Orleans, which took place in the
War of 1812, has also been called “the needless battle.”
It was “needless” because the war was already over! A peace treaty between the
Americans and British had been signed 15 days before the battle took place, but in those days of
slow communication the news of the treaty had not reached the armies. About 1,500 people lost
their lives in this “needless battle.”
Jesus has already won the war for us as Christians. We don’t have to struggle to win in
life in our own strength. If we will rest in Him—by turning our battles over to Him in faith—He
will give us the victory He’s already won.
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have
peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I
have overcome the world.” –
John 16:33.<Index: communication, confidence,
the cross, Easter, faith, God’s power, Jesus, peace, power, prayer, rest, resurrection, Satan, trust,
victory, war, waste<
Stealing<“Dishonest Employees”<According to one survey, 4 out of 5
employees are prone to theft. In a poll reported on cnnfn.com,
13% of workers admitted they will steal from employers, 66% said
they would steal if they saw others do so without consequences,
and only 21% said they will never steal. So 4 out of 5 employees
admit they can’t be trusted to keep their hands off their
employer’s stuff.<Reference: Janie Magruder, “Another day,
another pilferer,” The Arizona Republic<Index: character, dishonesty,
employees, employers, honesty, integrity, money, morality, sin, Ten Commandments, theft,
values, work<
Stealing< “Employee Theft Costs Businesses”<
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimated
that American companies lose about $40 billion a year due to employee theft. In fact, one-third
of all bankruptcies are due to it. According to one survey of people who stole from employers,
49% did it because of greed, 43% for vindictiveness (getting even), 8% because of need. <
Reference: Janie Magruder, “Another day, another pilferer,” The Arizona Republic<
Index: character, dishonesty, employees, employers, honesty, integrity, money, morality,
motive, sin, Ten Commandments, theft, values, work<
Stealing< “Shoplifting”<
A UPI article said that there are 1.2 million shoplifting incidents in
the U.S. per day. That’s an average of 833 per minute, at an estimated cost of between $19,000
to $25,000 to companies per minute due to shoplifting. <
Live: High cost of shoplifting,” UPI.com, 5/22/07
Reference: Julia Watson, “Eat To
Index: character, dishonesty, honesty, integrity, money, morality, shoplifting, sin, Ten
Commandments, theft, values <
Ten Commandments<“Clichés”<
The book The Dictionary of Cliches gives the origin behind
various common sayings. For example, the cliché “Read him the riot act,” which we know means
to warn or rebuke someone, originated with an actual Riot Act issued by George I in England in
1716 against unruly mobs. The Act declared: “Our Sovereign Lord the King chargeth and
commandeth all persons being assembled to disperse themselves, and peaceably to depart to their
habitations or to their lawful business … upon the pains contained” in this act.
The cliché “Eat humble pie” means to admit to a mistake. Originally, there was actually a
humble pie, but it was spelled “unmble” pie (without “h”). The “umbles” were the heart, liver
and entrails of the deer, which the huntsman put in a pie and ate “while the lord and lady dined
on the venison.”
-What about “In a pickle”? We know it refers to being in trouble. Originally, the pickle
was “not the edible that you pull out of a jar but the brine or vinegar it was preserved in.” So to
be “in a pickle” came to mean being in an uncomfortable situation.
There’s one cliché, however, that probably doesn’t need much explanation: “The grass
always seems greener on the other side of the fence.” Its meaning is that other people’s lives, or
the things in their lives, have a tendency to look better to us than our own. The 10th
Commandment, You shall not covet, (Exodus 20:17), addresses this tendency.< Reference:
James Rogers, The Dictionary of Cliches (Ballantine Books, 1985), pp. 257, 90, 164-165<
Index: boundaries, contentment, coveting, desires, gratitude, lust, simplicity<
Ten Commandments< “The Difference Between the First and Second Commandments”
Thomas Watson, a Puritan preacher back in the 1600's, summarized the difference
between the First and Second of the Ten Commandments: “In the first commandment,
worshiping a false God is forbidden. In the second commandment, worshiping the true God in a
false manner is forbidden.”<Ref<Index: Bible, church, compromise, culture, God’s nature,
holiness, idols, law, moral relativism, obedience, righteousness, standards, worship <
Ten Commandments< “God’s Name in Vain”<Let me ask you: How would you like it
if every time someone got mad, or stubbed a toe, or just wanted to make a verbal emphasis, they
used your name?
They’re driving along and someone cuts them off and they say, “Oh [insert your name]!”
I don’t think I’d like that. Or they stub their toe and say, [insert another name]!” Or they get mad
and say, “[insert name] destroy you!” That’s what the word “damn” means: destroy. So if we put
God’s name together with that word, we’re saying, “God destroy you!” That’s bad for 2 reasons:
1)He’s not the destroyer, 2)He’s certainly not going to go around doing it at our whim.
Would you like it if people used your name “in vain” like that? In the Third
Commandment (Exodus 20:7), God is saying: “I don’t like it either.”<Ref<
Index: anger,
conversation, profanity, God’s name, words<
Ten Commandments< “God’s ‘Red Lights’”<
You’ll notice that eight of the Ten
Commandments are stated as negatives, as “You shall not”s (all except Commandments four and
five). Why? These Commandments are warnings: “Stop! Don’t go there! Danger ahead!”
In 2002, the city of Phoenix had the dubious honor of leading the whole nation in redlight-running fatalities. The most dangerous intersection was 32nd Street and McDowell. But it
was bad throughout the whole state: there were 6,172 red-light-running accidents that year—with
6,171 injuries, and 42 deaths.
All because people ignored a red light.
The Ten Commandments are God’s “red lights.” Are you ignoring any of
them?<Reference: The Arizona Republic, 8/28/03, A1
Index: Bible, caution, danger, God’s wisdom, law, legalism, standards, warnings, wisdom
<
Ten Commandments< “God’s Wisdom vs. Man’s”<A number of years ago, someone
with too much time on his hands counted up the number of words in the Department of
Agriculture’s guidelines for the price of cabbage: 15,629 words.
There are only 285 words in the English translation of the Ten Commandments (in the
New International Version).
So it requires 15,629 words for people to regulate the price of cabbage, but only 285
words for God to govern the whole world!
The Ten Commandments are God’s wisdom for life.<Ref< Index: Bible, God’s wisdom, law,
legalism, wisdom<
Ten Commandments< “A Sign on the Wall”<
Chuck Colson—of Watergate fame, who
later became a Christian and founded Prison Fellowship—was speaking before a board of
Newspaper editors.
During the question and answer time, an editor boasted how he’d led a campaign to
remove the Ten Commandments from his city’s schoolroom walls. Fifteen minutes later the
same man bemoaned the high rate of violence and theft plaguing our schools. Colson couldn’t
help himself from speaking up and saying, “Hmmm, maybe you should put a sign on the wall:
‘You shall not steal.’”<Ref<Index: Bible, culture, God’s nature, God’s wisdom, law, secularism,
standards, wisdom<
Ten Commandments< “Ted Turner’s Ten Voluntary Initiatives”< Ted Turner—TV mogul,
founder of CNN, and very rich guy—once declared the Ten Commandments to be out of date.
He told the National Press Association members in Atlanta, “Nobody around likes to be
commanded. Commandments are out.” Ted instead came up with his Ten Voluntary Initiatives.
1)I PROMISE TO CARE FOR PLANET EARTH AND ALL LIVING THINGS
THEREON, ESPECIALLY MY FELLOW HUMAN BEINGS.
2)I PROMISE TO TREAT ALL PERSONS EVERYWHERE WITH DIGNITY,
RESPECT, AND FRIENDLINESS.
3)I PROMISE TO HAVE NO MORE THAN ONE OR TWO CHILDREN.
4)I PROMISE TO USE MY BEST EFFORTS TO HELP SAVE WHAT IS LEFT OF
OUR NATURAL WORLD IN ITS UNDISTURBED STATE AND TO RESTORE
DEGRADED AREAS.
5)I PROMISE TO USE AS LITTLE OF OUR NON-RENEWABLE RESOURCES AS
POSSIBLE.
6)I PROMISE TO MINIMIZE MY USE OF TOXIC CHEMICALS, PESTICIDES AND
OTHER POISONS AND TO ENCOURAGE OTHERS TO DO THE SAME.
7)I PROMISE TO CONTRIBUTE TO THOSE LESS FORTUNATE, TO HELP THEM
BECOME SELF-SUFFICIENT AND ENJOY THE BENEFITS OF A DECENT LIFE
INCLUDING CLEAN AIR AND WATER, ADEQUATE FOOD, HEALTH CARE, HOUSING,
EDUCATION AND INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS.
8)I REJECT THE USE OF FORCE, IN PARTICULAR MILITARY FORCE, AND I
SUPPORT UNITED NATIONS ARBITRATION OF INTERNATIONAL DISPUTES.
9)I SUPPORT DOING EVERYTHING WE CAN TO REDUCE THE DANGERS
FROM NUCLEAR, BIOLOGICAL OR CHEMICAL WEAPONS AND ULTIMATELY THE
ELIMINATION OF ALL WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION.
10) I SUPPORT THE UNITED NATIONS AND ITS EFFORTS TO IMPROVE THE
CONDITIONS OF THE PLANET.
I suppose there is some ok stuff there, but perhaps also some scary stuff (the United
Nations running things?), and certainly some obvious political leanings. But none of those
bothersome moral commandments like “Do not commit adultery,” “Do not lie,” “Do not use
God’s name in vain,” “Have no other gods before Me.”<
Reference: TedTurner.com< Index:
Bible, holiness, morality, moral relativism, obedience, righteousness, standards, truth<
Ten Commandments< “Wacky Laws”<
People have come up with some wacky laws at
times. Here’s a sampling of some strange laws that once were or still are on the books in
America:
●In Phoenix, Arizona, it was against the law for a man to come to town in
anything but pants.
●In Glendale, Arizona, it was against the law to back up your car.
●In Yuma, Arizona, there was a law that anyone caught stealing citrus fruit could
be given caster oil as punishment.
●In Joliet, Illinois: a law prohibiting women from trying on more than six dresses
in one store.
●In Massachusetts, it was illegal to show a movie which lasted longer than 20
minutes.
●In Halethorpe, Maryland: a law prohibiting a kiss that lasts longer than 1 second.
●In Dyersburg, Tennessee: a law prohibiting a girl from phoning a man for a date.
●In Cleveland, Ohio: a law prohibiting killing your neighbor’s chickens unless
you have written permission from a majority of the residents with 500 feet.
●An old law in Brainerd, Minnesota, orders that every male must grow a beard.
●A Kentucky statute: “No female shall appear in a bathing suit on any highway
within this state unless she is escorted by at least two officers or unless she be armed with a
club.”
●Another Kentucky statute: a wife must have her husband’s permission to move
the furniture in her house.
●In Indiana: a law prohibiting baths in the wintertime.
●In Helena, Montana: a law prohibiting unrestrained giggling
●In Tennessee: a law against taking a fish off another person’s hook.
●In Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan: a law prohibiting spitting against the wind.
●In Gary, Indiana: a law prohibiting attending the theater within four hours of
eating garlic.
●An old law of South Foster, Rhode Island: if a dentist makes a mistake and pulls
the wrong tooth, he shall have a corresponding tooth in his own mouth pulled by the village
blacksmith.
People have come up with some wacky laws. God gave His perfect laws—His
perfect standard to live by—in the Ten Commandments. < Reference: Wacky Laws: Over 100
Ridiculous but Real Laws, and More Wacky Laws, both by Barbara Seuling, 1975.<
Index:
Bible, God’s wisdom, law, legalism, standards, wisdom<
Tests<“Hold Your Heading”<Rick Joyner, pilot and minister, gives this wise advice for
facing the storms of life:
“One of the first things that a pilot is taught about weather is to stay out of thunderstorms.
The most violent weather on earth can be found in a thunderhead.
“However, if you do get into a thunderhead, if you can remain calm and avoid panic, you
will likely get through it. The key is not to overreact to the storm, but just slow down to a speed
that will not over-stress the airplane during a potentially violent shock, and hold your heading.
“A large thunderhead is seldom over ten miles wide, so the quickest way through it is to
hold your course and go straight. Turning will actually keep you in the thunderhead longer, and
will add stress to the aircraft because turns automatically create “G” forces. Pilots who panic and
try to turn around in a storm often cause just enough extra stress on the plane to go beyond its
limits.”<Ref<Index: discipline, obedience, stress, trials, vision<
Tests< “Out of the Nest”<An eagle’s nest can be quite a home. Though found mostly at
high elevations, like mountain cliffs, they can be quite large. The mama eagle will generally
make a nest at least 8 feet by 8 feet. The largest on record was 9 and ½ feet wide, 20 feet deep,
and weighed almost 3 tons! And they can be quite comfortable for baby eagles. The mama fills
the nest with leaves, animal fur, and down from her own breast. It makes for a cozy home for the
eaglets, safe and snug in the bottom of that deep nest—for a while.
The day comes when the mama eagle picks up the baby eagle, flies to a great and
dizzying height—and drops him! It’s quite a shock to the little eagle. He’s never flown a day in
his life. Life to this point has been a safe downy nest, under mama’s protective wings.
But now he’s falling, nothing but air between him and the hard world. He flutters his
wings, but he’s never done this before. He’s not going to make it. At the last moment, the mama
eagle swoops down, catches him, and lifts him into the sky again with her powerful wings.
To return him to the cozy nest? No. To drop him again! Until
those fluttering wings of his learn to fly! <Reference: The
Ten(der) Commandments, Ron Mehl, pp. 19-21<
Index: discipline, parenting,
spiritual growth, stress, trials, trust<
Tests< “Test for Citizenship”<
On October 1, 2008, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration
Services (USCIS) is scheduled to introduce a new citizenship test. The Redesigned
Naturalization Test is intended to better measure the prospective citizen’s grasp of concepts
rather than rote memorization of facts. The test covers five categories: American democracy,
government, rights and responsibilities, history, and geography.
Here are some of the questions (see if you qualify to be a citizen):
“What is the supreme law of the land?” – the Constitution
“What do we call the first ten amendments to the Constitution?” – the Bill of
Rights
“Name one branch or part of government.” – Congress/legislative,
President/executive, courts/judicial
“Who is in charge of the executive branch?” – the President
“When was the Declaration of Independence adopted?” – July 4, 1776
“What territory did the United States buy from France in 1803?” – the Louisiana
Territory, or Louisiana
“Who was President during World War I?” – Woodrow Wilson
“During the Cold War, what was the main concern of the United States?” –
Communism
“Name one of the two longest rivers in the United States.” – Missouri River,
Mississippi River
“Why does the flag have 13 stripes?” – they represent the 13 original colonies<Reference:
Daniel Gonzalez, “Aspiring citizens will face new test,” The Arizona Republic (11-24-07);
“Redesigned Naturalization Test,” www.uscis.gov<Index: discipline, education, knowledge,
spiritual growth, obedience, stress, trials, wisdom<
Thankfulness<“If the World Were a Village of 100 People”<
The Family Care Foundation
posted on its website an article entitled “If the World Were a Village of 100 People.” If you
shrunk the world’s population down to 100 people, the demographics would look like this:
●Only 33 would be Christians
●Only 50 would be adequately nourished, the other 50 malnourished
●Only 20 would live in decent housing
●Only 33 would be able to read
●Only 1 would have a college education
●Just 5 of the people would control about 1/3 of the village’s wealth, and all 5 of
those people would be U.S. citizens
●Only 7 of the 100 would have access to the internet
●24 of the people would still not have electricity, 39 would lack access to
improved sanitation, and 33 would be without access to a clean water supply
Do those statistics help put your life in perspective?<
Were a Village of 100 People,” familycare.org<
Reference: “If the World
Index: attitude, bitterness, blessings,
complaining, contentment, coveting, joy, peace, perspective, praise, Ten Commandments,
worship<
Thankfulness< “Let Me Be Thankful….”< Matthew Henry, the great Bible commentator, was
robbed one day. He wrote in his diary: “Let me be thankful, first, because I was never robbed
before. Second, because although they took my wallet, they did not take my life. Third, because
although they took my all, it was not much. Fourth, because it was I who was robbed, not I who
robbed.”<Ref<
Index: character, gratitude, Matthew Henry, honesty, money, perspective,
priorities, theft, treasures, wealth<
Thankfulness< “Mindfulness”<
Do you enjoy the blessings in your life, or are you always
wanting more?
Dr. Don Colbert, in his book The Seven Pillars of Health, says people need to learn to
practice mindfulness to cope with stress and enjoy life. Mindfulness is the ability to enjoy the
present. A lot of people can’t do this; they “go through the motions required to function in the
present moment, but they are thinking things like: ‘I’ll be happy when…’
● ‘I get a bigger place to live.’
● ‘I get that promotion.’
● ‘My kids are out of school.’
● ‘I pay off these bills.’
● ‘I get a new car.’
Mindfulness is the ability “to find something to enjoy in the present—continually.”
For example, Dr. Colbert says, “If you have to stop at a red
light while driving to work, don’t get frustrated, but consider
it a welcome opportunity to be thankful for your car, your job,
your boss, and so on. The majority of the people in third world
countries would love to have your car, your job, and your boss.
Quit complaining about what you don’t have, and start practicing
gratitude for what you do have. You can practice gratitude by
enjoying the music, the sights around you, the fact that you
have air conditioning or heating for your car—and the fact that
you have a car and are well enough to drive.”<Reference: Don
Colbert, M.D., The Seven Pillars of Health (Siloam, 2007), pp.
234-235<Index: attitude, blessings, complaining, contentment, coveting, focus, joy,
meditation, peace, perspective, praise, Ten Commandments, worship<
Tithing<“A Tithing President”<
President Bush is apparently a tither. In April of 2006, the
White House released the president’s tax returns. George W. and Laura Bush’s adjusted gross
income for the previous year was $735,180, including about $400,000 in presidential salary and
investment income. His charitable donations totaled $75,560 (to churches and groups like the
American Red Cross and Salvation Army). So he gave just above ten percent of his income.
(He paid $187,768 in federal taxes in ‘05, by the way.) <Reference: “How Much Money
They Made,” The Arizona Republic (4-15-06)<Index: church, giving, humility, money, offerings,
sacrifice, stewardship, wealth<
Unity<“The Civil War”<
The Civil War caused more American military deaths than any
other war in U.S. history—by far.
The Civil War resulted in about 620,000 military deaths. Compared to only about 25,000
deaths in Revolutionary War, 58,000 in the Viet Nam War, 116,000 in World War I, and 305 in
the first Gulf War. Even World War II, with all the awesome modern firepower involved,
resulted in 200,000 less deaths (405,399) than the Civil War.
(When you consider the population differences, about 100 million less people in the U.S.
during the Civil War than during WWII, the death figures for the Civil War are even more
staggering.)
The Civil War, the war between brothers, was the most deadly war in U.S. history. God
is serious about unity because there are few things more destructive than division.<
Reference: The World Book Encyclopedia, 2003, “War,” p. 25<
Index: brotherhood,
church, death, division, family, fellowship, forgiveness, hatred, love, marriage, peace, strife,
war<
Unity< “The Fish”< Next to the cross, the symbol of the fish is probably the most universal
sign of Christianity—perhaps because the early apostles were referred to as “fishers of men”
(Matthew 4:19).
But in the early days of Christianity the symbol of the fish was more than just a sign of
the faith. Because it was relatively easy to draw—just a couple of intersecting arcs—it was used
as a password between believers in the days of Roman persecution. If two strangers met, one
would draw one arc of the fish and the other the other arc—and they would know they were safe
in another believer’s company.
Our safety and blessing as believers still come from our unity with one another. It is no
accident that the Holy Spirit came to the church on the Day of Pentecost when the disciples
“were all together in one place” (Acts 2:1).<Ref< Index: blessing, brotherhood, church, church
attendance, fellowship, Holy Spirit, love, safety<
Unity<“Five States of Texas?” <
Texas has the right, whenever it wants, to divide into as
many as five different states. This is their right under the annexation treaty that made the
Republic of Texas one of the United States in 1845. So we could have five Texases instead of
one!
But they have never exercised this right—perhaps because they realize they are much
more powerful together. For example, in the ’04 Presidential Elections, Texas had 34 electoral
votes (which they threw behind their own George W.) compared to Arizona’s 10. Texas is the
second most populous state—as one state. They’re much more powerful as one unified state,
than as five divided ones.
The same is true when we come to most aspects of life—
church, family, workplace, teams—we’re usually much stronger
when we choose unity over division.<
Reference: The World
Book Encyclopedia, 2003, “Texas” (“Interesting facts about
Texas”), p. 185<
Index: brotherhood, church, division, family, fellowship,
forgiveness, hatred, love, marriage, peace, power, rights, strength, strife<
Unity< “Kicking Themselves to Death”<
Alaskan horses and donkeys
encounter hostility in similar but different ways. When attacked, the horses form a circle with
their heads to the inside, feet to the outside, and kick the predator away. The donkeys form a
circle, too, but with their heads to the outside, feet to the inside—and kick themselves to death.
He doesn’t want us acting like donkeys, kicking each other to death—at church, in the
home, or at the workplace. He wants us unified.
Reference: Ramesh Richard, Preparing Expository Sermons, (Baker, 2001), p.
125< Index: brotherhood, church, division, family, fellowship, forgiveness, hatred, love,
marriage, peace, strife<
Unity< “The Male Emperor Penguin and Childcare”<One of the oddities of nature is the
male emperor penguin of Antarctica. What makes him so odd is that he excels at childcare—not
always the strongest suit for the male of a species. And not just any childcare—he excels at
childcare in extremely hostile conditions.
After the female lays the egg, she takes off and leaves the egg under the care of the
male—sort of the opposite of what happens among humans so often! According to the
documentary The March of the Penguins, the male is expected to care for the egg in temperatures
that can reach 80 degrees below zero, and in winds that can reach 100 miles per hour.
How does this male penguin do it? With a little help from his friends: He and hundreds of
other dads left in charge of eggs, drop their aggressive natures and huddle together into a single
mass against the weather. They take turns standing over their eggs in the middle of the huddle
where it’s warmer.
They make it through the power of unity. <Ref<
Index: brotherhood, children,
church, division, family, fellowship, forgiveness, hatred, love, marriage, parenting, peace, power,
strength, strife<
Unity< “The Sight of the Shepherd”<In the book A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23, real-life
shepherd Phillip Keller says that one of the things that causes unrest among sheep is competition.
Keller points out that animal societies have social hierarchies: chickens have a “pecking
order,” cattle a “horning order.” Sheep have a “butting order.” Usually it’s a dominant old ewe at
the top of the social ladder. She drives and butts other sheep away from the best grazing and bed
grounds. The other sheep follow her lead to establish their own territories.
The problem is that the “sheep cannot lie down and rest in contentment” while this
friction is present. “They lose weight and become irritable.”
What’s the solution? The sight of the shepherd! Keller writes, “…whenever I came into
view and my presence attracted their attention, the sheep quickly forgot their foolish rivalries and
stopped their fighting. The shepherd’s presence made all the difference in their behavior.”
Similarly, keeping our Good Shepherd Jesus in view leads to peace between believers. He makes
me lie down in green pastures (Psalm 23:2)<Reference: Phillip Keller, A Shepherd Looks at
Psalm 23 (Zondervan, 1970), pp. 39-40<Index: animals, anxiety, attention, church, competition,
concentration, contentment, dominance, fellowship, focus, God’s presence, Good Shepherd,
hope, humility, Jesus, Phillip Keller, peace, priorities, rest, sheep, shepherds, stress, worry<
Vision<“For a Pair of Binoculars”< Just before midnight on April 14, 1912, the “unsinkable”
Titanic hit an iceberg. It sank at 2:20 a.m. on April 15. About 1500 lives were lost.
There’s always been debate about what caused the tragedy—different explanations have
come to light:
●The Titanic ignored at least six separate warnings about the ice field—one from
another ship, the Californian, which had sailed into the field and stopped for the night for
caution.
●Captain Smith, it is claimed, wanted to break the record for passage to New
York.
●There weren’t enough lifeboats. There were only 1,178 lifeboat spaces for
2,224 passengers. Since then, every ship has to have enough lifeboat spaces for all passengers.
●They never held a proper lifeboat drill. As a result, many of the lifeboats
weren’t even filled when they put to sea. If you’ve taken a cruise, you know lifeboat drills are
mandatory now.
●The Titanic’s distress signals went unheeded. A nearby ship (only 20 miles
away)—the same Californian that had earlier warned the Titanic—did not have it’s radio
manned. Since then, ships must maintain a 24-hour radio watch.
All these explanations have been given for the tragedy, but there might be a simpler one:
That night the ship’s officers sifted through a pile of requests from the passengers, many
frivolous, and hustled to respond to the desires of their pampered guests. Buried in the pile of
requests was one from a watchman: for a pair of binoculars. The request was disregarded.
This was the same watchman on duty that night, the watchman who first spotted the
iceberg—just before they struck it –and who, if given the binoculars, might have seen it in time
to avoid it or at least slow down. For the lack of a $50 pair of binoculars, the most expensive ship
ever built sank.<
Reference: A Prophetic Vision for the 21st Century, Rick Joyner, p. 226<
Index: danger, faithfulness, preparation, pride, priorities, small things, Titanic, warnings,
wisdom<
Vision< “Vision Blasters”< It’s hard to keep your vision in life. Someone will always come
along to blast it. Here are some statements by some short-sighted people throughout history:
●In 1840, it was said that anyone traveling at the speed of 30 miles per hour would surely
suffocate.
●In 1878, it was said, “electric lights are unworthy of any serious consideration.” The
thought was that they would never replace gaslights.
●In 1939 Popular Mechanics magazine said that the computers in the future might weigh
as little as 1.5 tons.
●In 1943, IBM’s Thomas Wilson said, “I think there is a future world market for perhaps
5 computers.”
●Music professional David Sarnoff once said, “The wireless music box has no
imaginable commercial value. Why would anyone pay for a message to be sent to nobody in
particular?” He was referring to the radio.
●Someone else said the cookie was a bad idea. An expert said, “A report shows that
Americans like crispy cookies, not the soft kind that you make.” He was talking to Mrs. Fields.
●The DECA Company wrote the Beatles and said, “We don’t like your sound and
besides guitar music is on the way out.”
●Best-selling author John Grisham’s first novel, A Time to
Kill, was rejected by 28 publishers before an unknown publisher
took a chance on him.<Ref<Index: attitude, confidence, criticism, faith, focus, hope,
perseverance, perspective, wisdom, worship<
Wisdom (or the lack thereof)<“Embarrassingly Obvious Health Studies”<Not everything
that should be obvious necessarily is—at least not to everyone. Here are the results of some
studies that spent time and money to prove what you probably already knew:
●A study by the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine found that
breathing the polluted air in Mexico City over a long period was bad for kids.
●Another study, funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, uncovered the fact that
while abuse of alcohol is hard on the brain, it’s even harder on the brain if you use alcohol and
cocaine together.
●Another group spent money to find out that patients who had to travel longer distances
in an ambulance were more likely to die before they reached they emergency room than those
with shorter trips.
●You probably know that statistics verify that teens have more auto accidents than adults.
But did you know it’s because they’re more immature? That’s what research from the National
Institute for Mental Health found out: the part of their brain used to gauge long-term
consequences isn’t fully developed.
●Another study found that if you buy cigarettes, it costs you money. It was done by a
researcher at Ohio State University, who said: “While a causal relation cannot be proven,
smokers appear to pay for tobacco expenditures out of income that is saved by non-smokers.”
That’s professor-speak for: if you buy cigarettes, it costs you money.
Not everything that should be obvious necessarily is—at least not to everyone.
Reference: Bryce Edmonds, “10 Embarrassingly Obvious Health Studies,”
HEALTH.MSN.com (10/5/07)<
Index: appearance, common sense, embarrassment, health,
intelligence, knowledge, science, scientists<
Wisdom <“Kindergarten”<
In the 1980s, the #1 bestseller All I Really Need to Know I Learned
in Kindergarten was published. The author, Robert Fulghum, realized one day that “what’s
necessary to live a meaningful life” wasn’t “all that complicated.” He’d already learned it in
kindergarten. Here’s some of what he wrote:
All I really need to know … I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the
graduate-school mountain, but there in the sandpile at Sunday School. These things I learned:
Share everything.
Play fair.
Don’t hit people.
Put things back where you found them.
Clean up your own mess.
Don’t take things that aren’t yours.
Say you’re sorry when you hurt somebody.
Wash your hands before you eat.
Flush.
Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
Live a balanced life—learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance
and play and work every day some.
Take a nap every afternoon.
When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands, and stick together.
And he said, Think what a better world it would be if we all—the whole world—had
cookies and milk about three o’clock every afternoon and then lay down with our blankies for a
nap.< Reference: Robert Fulghum, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten:
Reconsidered, Revised & Expanded, with Twenty-Five New Essays (Ballantine, 2004), pp. 23<Index: children, common sense, experience, fulfillment, intelligence, knowledge, lessons,
school, teachers<
Wisdom <“Knowing Where to Hit”<
A small factory had to cease operations when one of
their vital machines broke down; everything ground to a halt. The company’s own mechanic
couldn’t get things working again, so an outside consultant was called in.
The consultant looked the situation over for a couple minutes, took a hammer, and tapped
the machine in a certain spot—and it started running beautifully. When he submitted his bill of
$100 for the two minutes of work, the factory owner thought it was too high and demanded an
itemized bill. So the expert took a piece of paper and wrote him out one, which read:
$1—for hitting machine
$99—for knowing where to hit
Wisdom can’t be overrated.<Ref<Index: experience, expertise, knowledge, money, pay, salaries,
value, worth<
Wisdom <“Listen to Your Elders”< The Elder Wisdom Circle is a website manned by 600
seniors, ages 60 to 100. Its purpose is to be a place for people in their teens, 20's and 30's to
connect with a Cyber-Grandparent for free advice. You type in a question, and receive a personal
response.
The questions range from serious ones, like How To Help My Friend Who's Abused, to
practical household ones, like How Long for a Shrub to Grow and Choosing Roof Tile.
For example, one questioner wrote: “I recently remarried and my husband has 3 children.
They all live with us. They are very messy and do not keep their rooms clean. They are too old to
be this messy. Two of the three are in college and the youngest is in High School. Do you have
any suggestions….?”
“Texas-Grandpa” responded with the following advice: 1st, be sure she and her husband
were working together on this. Then sit down with the kids to kids to tell them their behavior is
unacceptable. “You will get a lot of teenage (baloney), but you need to ignore it and make sure
that you stay in charge of the meeting. Next is to spell out what is required and what will happen
if it is not done. For example, leaving clothes on the floor is not ok...so if they do so, you or your
husband will pick it up and they will not see it again. If they are leaving dirty dishes around, put
them on their bed.”
“Texas-Grandpa” adds: “You may have to kick one of the college kids out to make them
see that you mean business.”
And: “My wife and I raised a total of nine...one of our mottos was: You cannot let the
inmates run the asylum... Good luck.”
I can’t vouch for all the advice on the site, but I like the idea. People are realizing they
need the advice of someone more experienced to make it through life. In God we have the most
experienced One of all to seek wisdom from—the Ancient of Days (Dan 7:9, 13, 22). Life is
better when we follow His instructions.
Reference: elderwisdomcircle.org <Index: advice, aging, Bible, children, counseling,
discipline, education, elders, experience, family, God’s wisdom, God’s Word, grandparents,
learning, listening, parenting, parents, seniors, tradition<
Wisdom <“Recognizing the Times”<Do you remember the old A & P grocery stores?
They were once the largest retail chain in the world: their “15,000 stores in 1929 were more than
any other retailer ever had in America, before or since.” But now many have never heard of
them.
What happened? They failed to recognize the times they were in, what was happening in
their day. What was happening?
●Suburbanization: America was moving to the suburbs. Stores like Safeway
opened up there. A & P tended to stay in the central cities.
●The automobile: The coming of the car meant, among other things, that people
could bring home more from the store—more than they could when they had to carry it all in
their arms. Stores like Safeway opened up big stores in the suburbs, carrying more of each item,
and through economies of scale offered lower prices than A & P. A & P lost customers.
●Refrigerators and freezers: These allowed people to make bigger purchases of
perishables, like meat and dairy products, because they now they had a place to keep them
without spoiling. The big new stores were able to take advantage of this, too. A & P lost out.
It’s important to recognize the times you are living
in. <Reference: Thomas Sowell, Basic Economics: A Common Sense
Guide to the Economy (Basic Books, 2007), pp. 89-94<Index:
discernment, end times, last days, Second Coming, signs of the times, timing<
Wisdom <“The World’s Fastest Computer”<The most powerful computer in the world
currently is the IBM BlueGene/L, housed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in
California. It can do 280 trillion calculations a second!
However, that’s nothing compared to the computer they’re trying to put together at the
Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. Components for this
computer began arriving this fall (2006). Thirty-six moving vans full of equipment will be
needed to complete the computer. By the time its finished in 2008, it will fill a room the size of a
hockey rink and consume as much power as a small town. It’s called the Roadrunner project, for
New Mexico’s speedy state bird.
Its goal is to be the first computer to do a quadrillion calculations a second, known as the
petaflop barrier. How fast is that? It is roughly a billion times faster than today’s generation of
desktop computer! It will be used to simulate the first few seconds of a nuclear detonation—
virtual explosions that will allow the government to monitor its bombs without actually testing
them. A billion times faster than your desktop computer is incredibly fast—that’s what a
quadrillion is. It’s mind-boggling.
However, even more mind-boggling is that your brain—believe it or not—processes
information even faster! Some scientists estimate that the human brain carries out 10,000 trillion
operations a second, which is 10 quadrillion—10 times faster than a computer that can fill a
hockey rink!
However, as impressive as that supercomputer and the human brain are, neither compare
to the processing power of the mind of God: “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are
my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:9, emphasis
added). God’s wisdom is infinitely higher than ours.<
Constitution, Mike Toner, 2006<
Reference: The Atlanta Journal-
Index: computers, God’s wisdom, worship, speed,
technology<
Witnessing<“Reaching the World”< Though many people are impressed by mass evangelism,
the most effective way to reach the world is one-on-one evangelism (John 1:40-42). Consider:
If a great evangelist preached to a stadium full of 50,000 people every night, 365 days a
year, how long do you think it would take to reach the world (basing it on the current world
population of 6.5 billion)? 356 years! (50 thousand into 6.5 billion is 130,000 nights. 365 nights
a year into 130,000 nights is 356 years. And that’s never giving the poor evangelist a night off!)
In other words, for everyone alive in the world today to hear about Jesus using this
method, the great majority of them are going to have to somehow live another 300 years or so. In
other words, they are not going to be reached. Assuming they could live that long, the world still
wouldn’t be reached, because by that time there would be several more billion.
But if one Christian leads one other person to the Lord today, making them the only two
Christians in the world … And tomorrow these two lonely believers each lead another person to
the Lord, making four Christians in the world … And the next day these four each lead another
to the Lord, for a grand total of eight Christians—How long would take to reach the entire
population of 6.5 billion by this method? 32 days! One day over one month! (Actually, you’d
reach 8.6 billion in 32 days.)
That’s the power of one-on-one evangelism. <Ref<Index:
compassion, evangelism, example, Gospel, influence, leadership,
love, ministry, purpose, service<
Witnessing< “92-Year-Old Witnesses to Would-be Thief”<92-year-old
Pauline Jacobi had just finished putting her groceries in her car at a Dyersburg, Tennessee, WalMart when a man jumped in the passenger’s door, said he had a gun, and that he would shoot her
if she didn’t give him her money.
She told him, “I’m not going to give you my money.” In fact, she told him three times.
She said, “As quick as you kill me I’ll go to heaven and you’ll go to hell.” And she told him,
“Jesus is in this car and he goes with me everywhere I go”—causing him to look around
nervously. For ten minutes she talked to him, telling him to ask God to forgive him.
Tears began to fall down his face, and he said he needed to go home that night and pray.
She told him, “You don’t have to wait until tonight. You can pray anytime you want to.”
Then Pauline voluntarily gave him $10, all the money she had. “Don’t go spend it on
whiskey either,” she said.
The man thanked her, kissed her on the cheek, and left.
Reference: Nick Paranjape, “Dyersburg grandmother witnesses to many trying to rob her,”
wmctv.com (12/6/07).<Index: aging, assurance, Bible, changed lives, faithfulness, eternal life,
God’s power, God’s presence, Gospel, Heaven, Hell, Holy Spirit, Jesus, love, peace, power,
prayer, purpose, salvation, seniors, stealing, testimony, theft, thieves<
Witnessing< “A Timely Word”<
Mel Gibson’s movie The Passion of the Christ had a big
impact in our society. Even criminals turned themselves in to get right with God after seeing it.
But a woman you’ve probably never heard of may have played a role in getting the movie made
in the first place.
Mel Gibson was sitting at sidewalk café in an out-of-the-way place somewhere in the
middle of California. He was talking with an associate about making The Passion. When a
woman with a French accent came up and said, “Can I say this to you? Can I say, ‘Jesus loves
you’?”
Mel Gibson said, “Ok.”
They took it as a sign to make the movie.
You never know what impact your testimony might have.< Ref<Index: Bible, faith, Mel
Gibson, God’s Word, ministry, risk, service<
Women<“The Most Popular Plastic Surgery Procedures”< Many women are pursuing the
world’s idea of beauty, as is evident from statistics compiled by the American Society of Plastic
Surgeons.
There were 11 million cosmetic surgery procedures in 2006, a 7% increase from the
previous year. Women accounted for 90% of the procedures (with 9.9 million procedures; men
had 1.1 million procedures).
The most popular surgery procedures:
● #1, breast augmentation (over 325,000)
● #2, nose reshaping (over 300,000)
● #3, liposection (around 300,000)
● #4 eyelid surgery (over 225,000)
● #5, tummy tuck (around 150,000)
The most popular non-surgical procedures:
● #1 BOTOX (around 4,000,000)
● #2 chemical peel (around 1,000,000)
● #3 laser hair removal (just under 1,000,000)
● #4 microdermabrasion (around 800,000)
● #5 hyaluronic acid (around 750,000)
God has a different standard of beauty for women: Charm is deceptive, and beauty is
fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised. – Proverbs 31:30<Reference:
“Cosmetic Surgery Statistics,” docshop.com<
Index: appearance, beauty, conformity,
pleasing God, marriage, mothers, obedience, plastic surgery, purity, vanity, world, sex<
Women< “I Didn’t Recognize You”<
A middle-aged lady had a heart attack, was taken to
the hospital, and on the operating table had a near death experience. During the experience, she
asked God for 30 more years to live. God said, “OK.”
After her recovery, she felt great. She figured that she might as well make the most of it if
she was going to live another 30 years. So she stayed in the hospital a while longer and had a
face lift, liposuction, breast augmentation, and tummy tuck—along with a perm and a new hair
color.
But when she walked out of the hospital, an ambulance speeding up ran over and killed her. She
said to God, “Why did You let that ambulance hit me? I thought You said I had another 30
years?” God said, “I didn’t recognize you.”<Ref<
Index: appearance, beauty, mothers, plastic
surgery, vanity, sex<
Work<“Stress and Jobs”< Health Magazine published a list of the Most Stressful and Least
Stressful Jobs.
The Top 10 Most Stressful Jobs:
1. Inner City High School teacher.
2. Police Officer
3. Miner
4. Air Traffic Controller
5. Medical Intern
6. Stockbroker
7. Journalist
8. Customer Service/Complaint Worker
9. Secretary
Waiter<The Top 10 Least Stressful Jobs:
1. Forester
2. Bookbinder
3. Telephone Line Worker
4. Toolmaker
5. Millwright
6. Repairperson
7. Civil Engineer
8. Therapist
9. Natural Scientist
Sales Representative<Reference: http://cord.acadiau.ca/documents/StressFacts.pdf<Index:
anxiety, employees, employer, employment, health, jobs, labor, peace, relaxation, rest, stress,
worry<
The World<“Rock Music vs. Mozart”<
David Merrell, a 17-year-old high school senior
from Suffolk, Virginia, conducted a science project that compared the effects of rock music
verses Classical music on mice. He presented his interesting findings at the February 7, 1998,
symposium, “Towards a New Renaissance Through Classical Education.”
David separated mice into three groups. One group (the control group) listened to no
music at all. One group listened to Heavy Metal rock music 10 hours a day. One group listened
to Mozart 10 hours a day. Then the mice were run through a maze. Over a 4-week period, here’s
what he found:
●The group that listened to no music cut their time through the maze by about in
half. All the mice took about 10 minutes to get through the maze to begin with. The control
group, by the end of the 4 weeks, was making it through in about 5 minutes.
●The group of mice that listened to Classical music cut their time in running the
maze by 8 and ½ minutes! They improved from 10 minutes to 1 and ½ minutes.
●The Heavy Metal group did not fare as well. Their time through the maze
increased by 20 minutes—from 10 minutes to 30 minutes.
The point is that it matters what is influencing us—at least, if these lab mice are
any indication. It’s important that we put ourselves under the influence of the church and the
Bible if we want to grow spiritually.<
Reference: Marianna Wertz, “Why Classical Music
is Key to Education” (“Music, Mice & Mazes: ‘The Classic/Rock Run’”), schillerinstitute.org<
Index: Bible, church, conformity, culture, entertainment, example, fellowship, influence,
media, music, peer pressure, spiritual growth, wisdom, worship<
Worry<“Baseless Worries”<“Dr. Walter Cavert reported a survey on worry that indicated
that only 8 percent of the things people worried about were legitimate matters of concern! The
other 92 percent were either imaginary, never happened, or involved matters over which the
people had no control anyway.”
Reference: The Bible Exposition Commentary, New Testament, Volume 2, Warren Wiersbe, p.
94<Index: anxiety, crises, faith, fears, imagination, mind, panic, peace, stress, suffering, time,
trials, trust, waste<
Worry< “The Most Stressful Life Events”< In 1967, psychiatrists Thomas Holmes and Richard
Rahe conducted a famous study to determine whether stressful life events caused illness. Out of
that study came the Holmes and Rahe Stress Scale, which lists the most stressful life events.
The Top Ten Most Stressful Life Events:
1. Death of a Spouse
2. Divorce
3. Marital Separation
4. Imprisonment
5. Death of a Close Family Member
6. Personal Injury or Illness
7. Marriage
8. Dismissal from Work
9. Marital Reconciliation
10. Retirement
Some other Most Stressful Life Events on the list: Pregnancy, Change in Financial State,
Major Mortgage, Child Leaving Home, Change in Residence, Change in Church Activities
The psychiatrists compiled a separate list of Most Stressful Events for Minors, which
included things such as: Getting Married, Unwed Pregnancy, Divorce of Parents, Becoming
Involved with Drugs or Alcohol, Breaking up with Boyfriend or Girlfriend, Failure of a Grade in
School.
(And, yes, their study did find a positive correlation between stress and illness).<Reference:
“Holmes and Rahe stress scale,” wikipedia.org<Index: anxiety, children, crises, faith, fears,
illness, mind, panic, peace, sickness, stress, suffering, trials, trust<
Worry< “The Nature of Worry”<
The historical origin of the Greek and English words for
worry reveals worry’s nasty nature.
The Greek word translated “anxious” in Philippians 4:6, merimnao (mer-im-nah'-o),
means “to be pulled in different directions.”
The Old English root from which we get our current English word “worry” means “to
strangle.”
So to worry is to be pulled apart and strangled!<Reference: The Bible Exposition Commentary,
New Testament, Volume 2, Warren Wiersbe, p. 94<Index: anxiety, crises, faith, fears, mind,
panic, peace, stress, suffering, trials, trust <
Worship<“Amish Worship”< Somewhere this morning worshipers will arrive in horse-drawn
buggies. The men will be wearing dark trousers, straight-cut coats, and broad-brimmed straw
hats. The women will be wearing modest dresses with long sleeves and full skirts, a cape and an
apron, and their hair will be in a bun covered w bonnet or white prayer cap. They won’t have on
any makeup.
This Amish worship service will last 3 hours: The liturgy will be in High German, even
though the congregation is meeting in the middle of the U.S. The service will start with hymns,
sung without accompaniment, and very slowly (some can take 20 minutes). The 2nd hymn will
always the Loblied, sung in German.
There will be 2 or 3 sermons!
That’s a long service, but at least no cell phones will go off, and there wouldn’t be any
sound system problems! (Since, of course, the Amish don’t believe in such modern
conveniences.)
A shared meal follows the service.< Reference: BBC on the Internet,
www.bbc.co.uk/religion<
Index: church, fellowship, hymns, legalism, music, sermons,
technology, tradition<
Worship< “Definition of Worship”< What does it mean to worship? It’s one of those words we
use often without having an exact understanding of what it means. Our English word “worship”
was originally the Old English word “worthship,” meaning to express worth. And that is what
worship is: expressing God’s worth.
That is what we are doing when we put aside time for Him in personal or corporate
worship, and when we sing to Him, and when we serve Him. We are saying God is worthy of
these acts of devotion.
That is why worship in Heaven will never end, because God’s worth is eternal—we can
never fully express it.<Ref< Index: adoration, church, devotions, God’s glory, gratitude,
Heaven, music, praise, prayer, service, thankfulness<
Worship< “Snake Handlers”<Somewhere this morning—probably in a church in the
Appalachian Mountains—worshipers will take up take up deadly snakes with their hands. And
perhaps be bitten by them, and perhaps even injured or killed.
These “snake-handling” churches have been around since the early 1900s. A pastor of
one of these churches, interviewed in a National Geographic article, said he’s been “bit 14 times,
by rattlesnakes, copperheads, water moccasins.” There have been over 100 documented deaths
from the practice, and according to Professor Ralph Hood of the University of Tennessee,
Chattanooga, “If you go to any serpent-handling church, you’ll see people with atrophied hands,
and missing fingers.”
The article also mentioned, perhaps unnecessarily, that the churches had trouble
attracting new members—but endured thru family tradition.<
Reference: “Snake Handlers
Hang On in Appalachian Churches,” National Geographic News, NationalGeographic.com,
Brian Handwerk, for, April 7, 2003< Index: Bible interpretation, church, church growth,
extremism, faith, legalism, presumption, traditions, witness, wisdom <
Worship< “Vision of the Throne”< Ken Dickey was an old cowboy-turned-deacon in a Baptist
church in the Phoenix area. One night he was traveling north toward Flagstaff with his wife and
son when they had a terrible accident. Ken and the boy were sleeping when his wife fell asleep at
the wheel, and the vehicle went tumbling off the road.
They all survived, but Ken was in terrible shape. He spent a couple of months in the
hospital, and went through a torturous recovery: operations, the poisoning of his system, life
support measures, breathing machines, etc.
His pastor later asked him how he dealt with it all. Ken, with his cowboy twang, said, “I
don’t remember a bit of it, until I woke up in the rehab center. All I remember is a wonderful
vision of God’s throne, more pure than you could ever imagine.”
God had given Ken a glimpse of His holy throne, and one glimpse of it wiped out months
of trauma.
In the same way, worship—our seeing God on His throne—will
keep our vision for life fresh and positive.<Reference: Author’s
experience<Index: adoration, God’s throne, grace, healing, Heaven, holiness, judgment,
perspective, prayer, purity, vision<