Unless you’ve recently read Jane Austen’s classic Pride and Prejudice, you probably haven’t thought of or used the word amiable lately, a word she uses rather frequently.
Maybe it was more of a 19th-century word. However, we could probably use a revival of the word and a renewal of the behavior it embodies given our 21st-century propensity for rudeness, rage, and just bad manners. Continue reading
Filed under Word of the Week
“Faith is to believe what you do not yet see; the reward for this faith is to see what you believe,” once wrote the 4th-century theologian Augustine.
This reminds me of an unknown author who expressed it this way: “Faith sees the invisible, believes the incredible, and receives the impossible.”
In our cynical, secular, irreligious, and immoral culture, we need a renewal of faith.
But what kind of faith? Continue reading
Filed under Renew in '22, Word of the Week
The devotional booklet Our Daily Bread relates a story about a man who loved old books.
One day he met an acquaintance who had just thrown away a Bible that had been stored in the attic of his ancestral home for generations. “I couldn’t read it,” the friend explained. “Somebody named Guten-something had printed it.” Continue reading
Filed under Renew in '22, Word of the Week
In one of his devotional books, LeRoy Brownlow told a story about a man explaining ethics to his son.
“Ethic is vital to a workable and confident society,” he said. “For instance, a friend paid me back today a loan with a new hundred-dollar bill. Later I discovered there were two hundred-dollar bills stuck together. This immediately presented a question of ethics.” Pausing he said… Continue reading
Filed under Renew in '22, Word of the Week
There is an old saying that offers this insight. “There are three types of people in this world: those who make things happen, those who watch things happen, and those who wonder what happened.”
People who make things happen are people of initiative. They see things that need to be done and they don’t wait to be asked or told they just do them.
Webster says that initiative involves the “energy or aptitude in the initiation of action.” Etymologically it’s rooted in the Latin word “initium” which speaks “to beginning.” Continue reading
Filed under Renew in '22, Word of the Week
With the beginning of baseball season, I’m reminded of a story about George Brett who enjoyed an All-Star 20 years career with the Kansas City Royals during the 1970s and 80s.
Brett was once asked by a reporter what he wanted to do in his last at-bat when he retired. No doubt, many ballplayers would like to end their career with a 400 foot home run like Ted Williams did at Fenway Park. However, that’s not what Brett said. Continue reading
Filed under Renew in '22, Word of the Week
Tonight the #1 seeded Kansas Jayhawks play the #8 seeded North Carolina Tar Heels for the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship.
It’s the culmination and climax of March Madness, one of the most exciting times of the year for all basketball fans.
Even though my bracket is shredded, I will predict the winner of tonight’s game. Continue reading
Filed under Renew in '22, Word of the Week
“Virtue is to the soul, what health is to the body,” wrote the French Essayist François de La Rochefoucauld.
Using that analogy it’s not an exaggeration to say that a spiritual pandemic pervades our society today. To deny it is to ignore the violence, lawlessness, immorality, perversion, and wickedness in the world around us. Hitting closer to home, maybe even the vice within our own minds and hearts.
This year in connection with our theme “Let’s Renew in ‘22,” we’re using our word of the week to encourage renewal and revival of spiritual qualities that may be ignored in our culture and even neglected by Christians. Continue reading
Filed under Renew in '22, Word of the Week
March Madness is here with its passion, enthusiasm, borderline crazy fans, and its exuberant color commentators.
If you watch any of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament over the past few days, you know what I’m talking about.
We had to listen to a few games on the radio while driving home, and those announcers know how to colorfully describe the game to make it come alive.
If you’ve ever attended a tournament game the atmosphere is electric. The fans, coaches, cheerleaders, bands, and players are excited about the game of basketball. Continue reading
Filed under Renew in '22, Word of the Week
Several years ago Barna Researchers conducted a survey to find out what people knew about holiness. Surprisingly, they discovered that “though the Bible talks a lot about holiness, most adults are confused and even daunted by the concept.”
Only 1 in 4 of the Church goers they interviewed believed they were holy.
And when asked what holiness meant, the most common answer was “I don’t know!” Continue reading
Filed under Renew in '22, Word of the Week
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