107 years ago day on February 23, 1905, Paul Harris, a Chicago attorney, met with three business colleagues Gustavus Loehr, Hiram Shorey, and Silvester Schiele to talk about their personal experiences. Harris then unfolded his general plan for the formation of a club. From that inauspicious beginning the world’s first service club, the Rotary Club of Chicago was born. Today there are more than 1.2 million Rotarians in 34,000 clubs in over 200 countries and geographical areas world-wide, who volunteer their time, share their talent and give of their treasure to serve their local community and people around the world. Continue reading
Author Archives: ThePreachersWord
Service Above Self
Filed under Service
Loving the Unlovely
If you have children, you have seen “Beauty and the Beast.” In fact, you probably own a copy. For those not into fairy tales, “The “Beast” is a Prince who could not love and was placed under a spell. To turn back into a Prince, he had to win the love of another and return it before his twenty-first birthday. But who could love a grotesque beast? Well, this is where the lovely Belle, a girl from a small French town who is dissatisfied with life, enters the picture. Continue reading
Filed under Love
President’s Day Reflections: What Substitute for a Religious Society?
This from CNSNews.com as I write my blog on this President’s day, February 20, 2012
Shaun Casey, the religious affairs adviser to presidential candidate Barack Obama in 2008, said at a discussion on Tuesday about “God and Politics” that the demise of religious society in the United States is a good thing.
“I, frankly, am glad American civil religion is dying,” said Casey, who is an associate professor of Christian Ethics at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C. Continue reading
Hindrances to Worship
“Worship is the believer’s response with all that he is–mind, emotions, will and body–to all that God is and says and does.” writes Warren Wiersbe. Continue reading
Filed under Worship
Some Random Thoughts on a Rainy Day
Today it’s raining here in Florida. I kinda like it. It’s not a rain storm. Or a hard, driving rain that makes you run for cover. It is a gentle rain. A relaxing rain. A soil nourishing rain. It’s not one of those cold winter rains like you have up North either. I have the french doors of my office open so I can hear the light cadence of its falling onto the lanai. Continue reading
Filed under Blessing, God, Life, Uncategorized
What it Means to Say “I’m Sorry”
Wendy Donahue, a staff writer for the Chicago Tribune, recently penned an article entitled “Give and take: The sport of apologizing.” Our local Tampa Bay Times (TBT) picked it up. While reading it, I was reminded of how difficult it is to simply say from the heart “I’m sorry.” It’s reminiscent of the 1976 hit by Elton John, when he crooned the mournful ballad “Sorry seems to be the hardest word.”
Filed under Apology, Discipleship
Token or Total Commitment?
A chicken and a pig were walking past an orphanage. The chicken said to the pig, ““We ought to do something nice for these children.” “Yes”, said the pig. ““I agree. What did you have in mind?” The chicken answered, “Why don’t we fix them a ham and egg breakfast?” The pig thought for a minute and said, “Well, for you that’s a token, but for me it’s total commitment!”
Filed under Commitment
A Message of Hope
I like the story Alan Smith tells about Tom who had never been on a fishing boat before and now was thinking it was the stupidest thing he’d ever done in his life. Who would ever have believed that seasickness could be this awful? With every pitch and roll, Tom wondered how he was going to survive the remaining two hours of the trip.
One of the deck hands came up to him and said, “Don’t worry, young fella. Nobody ever died of seasickness.”
“You’ve just taken away my last hope for relief,” Tom said. Continue reading
Filed under Hope
What’s Your View of Love?
On this Valentine ’s Day I thought you might enjoy some answers kids gave about love.
CONCERNING WHY LOVE HAPPENS BETWEEN TWO PARTICULAR PEOPLE
“I think you’re supposed to get shot with an arrow or something, but the rest of it isn’t supposed to be so painful.” –Manuel, age 8 Continue reading
Filed under Love
Guilt Free Living
Robert Jeffress wrote in his fine book “Choose your Attitudes, Change your Life” “Guilt is one of the most debilitating of human emotions. It wreaks destruction in our relationships and our spiritual lives. It is also a major cause of depression”
Jeffress is right. Guilt accuses. Guilt condemns. Guilt convicts. Guilt is mentally draining. Physically demanding. And spiritually disastrous. Continue reading
Filed under Forgiveness, Guilt
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