Does the Bible teach that God’s providence works in human events to care for His people and accomplish His purposes?
What is God’s will for our lives?
Do the unexpected events that occur in our lives demonstrate the work and will of the Lord working to influence our choices and decisions?
These are questions each of us will face, sooner of later. They each relate to our word of the week, providence. Continue reading
Filed under Providence, Word of the Week
I recently came across an old piece from S. H. Payer that has taken on new meaning for me. I hope it speaks to you in a personal way.
Live each day to the fullest.
Get the most from each hour, each day, and each age of your life.
Then you can look forward with confidence, and back without regrets. Continue reading
Filed under Sunday Seed Thoughts
Sometimes when visiting a cemetery, I like to look for old grave markers and read the epitaphs. Many are predictable. Like “Rest in Peace.” “Loving Mother.” Or “Faithful Father.”
However, some people, or at least their relatives, exhibited a sense of humor with the choice of epitaphs . Here are some actual inscriptions on tombstones.
Ezekial Aikle, buried in the East Dalhousie Cemetery in Nova Scotia, died at age 102. His Epitaph? “The Good Die Young.” Continue reading
Filed under Opportunity, Service
Some of the world’s greatest men and women have been saddled with disabilities and adversities but have managed to overcome them. I’m not sure of the origin of this piece, but it expresses this thought well.
Cripple him, and you have a Sir Walter Scott. Lock him in a prison cell, and you have a John Bunyan. Bury him in the snows of Valley Forge, and you have a George Washington. Raise him in abject poverty, and you have an Abraham Lincoln.
Subject him to bitter religious prejudice, and you have a Benjamin Disraeli. Strike him down with infantile paralysis, and he becomes a Franklin D. Roosevelt. Burn him so severely in a schoolhouse fire that the doctors say he will never walk again, and you have a Glenn Cunningham, who set a world’s record in 1934 for running a mile in 4 minutes, 6.7 seconds. Continue reading
Filed under Adversity
The Englishman John Donne was one of the great Metaphysical poets of the 17th century. His most famous sonnet “Death Be Not Proud” is part of a sequence of poems called “The Holy Sonnets.”
The poet personifies death and says you are not as tough as you think you are. Continue reading
Filed under Death
Last night I watched the Indiana-Purdue basketball game. It is one of the most intense and heated rivalries in college basketball.
They have played 203 times since 1901. The rivalry even has its own Wikepedia page describing notable disputes, technical fouls, ejection of coaches, overtime games and of course, the famous Bob Knight chair-throwing incident that happened 31 years ago today.
Last night I watched the #22 ranked Hoosiers match up with the #17 ranked Boilermakers with complete confidence that Indiana would win the game. Continue reading
Joe Theismann, now an ESPN sports commentator, enjoyed an illustrious career with Washington Redskins as an All Pro quarterback.
Theismann, who led the Redskins to two Super Bowl appearances–winning in 1983 before losing the following year. When a leg injury forced him out of football in 1985, he was entrenched in the record books as Washington’s all-time leading passer.
However, at the end of Theismann’s career he learned a bitter lesson. In an interview he said, “I got stagnant. I thought the team revolved around me. I should have known it was time to go when I didn’t care whether a pass hit Art Monk in the 8 or the 1 on his uniform. When we went back to the Super Bowl, my approach had changed. I was griping about the weather, my shoes, practice times, everything.” Continue reading
Filed under Uncategorized
A man asked his wife, “What would you most like for your 40th birthday?”
She said, “I’d love to be ten again.”
On the morning of her birthday, he got her up bright and early and they went to a theme park. He put her on every ride in the park – the Death Slide, The Screaming Loop, the Wall of Fear. She had a go on every ride there was.
She staggered out of the theme park five hours later, her head reeling and her stomach turning. Then they were off to a movie theater where they ate popcorn and sweets and drank Cola. At last, she staggered home with her husband and collapsed into bed. Continue reading
Filed under Uncategorized
“What if you could have a GPS for your life?” asks author and leadership coach Michael Hyatt.
Hyatt then relates a personal story of getting lost one time on a hike in the Colorado Rockies when he “got confused, and took the wrong path down the mountain.”
Fortunately Hyatt had a smart phone that picked up a signal and he was able to find his way back. Continue reading
One day a small boy was trying to lift a heavy rock. He strained with all his might, but he couldn’t budge it.
His father, passing by, stopped to watch his futile efforts.
Finally he said to his son: “Are you using all your strength?’
“Yes, I am!” the boy cried, exasperated. Continue reading
Filed under Great Bible Verses
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