What If You Only Had 6 Months to Live?

            What if you were told you only had six months to live?  What would you do?  What would you tell your wife?  Your children? Your friends? What advice would you offer?  If the elders gave you an opportunity to speak to the church, what would be your  final words?

            Randy  Pausch, a terminally ill computer science professor at Carnegie  Mellon University, was given that opportunity.  On September 18, 2007, he stood in front of 400 people at the university to deliver his last lecture entitled, “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams.”  He spoke of the Continue reading

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You Be Jesus

One of my favorite stories is about the mother who was preparing pancakes for her two sons, Kevin, age 5, and Ryan, age 3.  As the boys began to argue over who would get the first pancake, she saw an opportunity to teach a spiritual lesson.  Continue reading

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ARE YOU CRUISING?

Isn’t cruise control a great invention? I don’t take a lot of long trips by automobile, but when I do it’s a great feature to have. On our trip last week from Tampa to Kansas City there were mainly interstate highways. Fortunately, the traffic wasn’t very heavy. So, I kept it on cruise control most of the time. The drive was pleasant. We just cruised along. Continue reading

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Reflections On Our Move to Kansas City

Last Thursday Allied Van Lines arrived to unload all of our stuff at our new home in Lee’s Summit just east of Kansas City. It seemed like even more stuff that I remember packing!  But I haven’t seen anything yet that wasn’t ours (BTW, for my ruminations on “stuff” see my post when we packed!  https://thepreachersword.com/2012/05/22/some-thoughts-about-stuff/  ) Continue reading

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IT’S FRIDAY. BUT SUNDAY’S COMING! Turning Grief to Joy

    

 When the Passover feast ended, and Jesus and taught the lesson on humility and ministry through washing the disciples feet, they began walking across the Kedron valley to the Garden of Gethsemane.  As Thursday turned into Friday the disciples hearts became heavy. Mournful.  Plaintive.  Jesus knew and understood their sadness.  And so he encouraged them, “let not your hearts be troubled.” Continue reading

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Know Anyone Who Needs A Push?

Dave McNally, in his neat book “Even Eagles Need a Push,” tells about a man that is in bed with his wife when there is knocking on the door. He rolls over and looks at his clock. It’s 3:30 AM.

“I’m not getting out of bed at this time,” he thinks, and rolls over. Then, a louder knock follows. “Aren’t you going to answer that?” says his wife. Continue reading

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The Joy of Friendship and Fellowship

Norma Jean and I enjoyed a wonderful Memorial Day weekend with dear friends in Columbia, TN.  We worked together with these good people in the Kingdom for 11 years.  We worshiped together.  Laughed together. Cried together.  Rejoiced together. Ate together. Made memories together.  And now we had an opportunity to spend a little time together on the way to a new and exciting chapter in our lives. Continue reading

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The Delight and Danger of Curiosity

 

A school teacher was finishing up a lesson on the joys of discovery and the importance of curiosity.  “Where would we be today, she asked, “if no one had ever been curious?

One child quietly spoke up from the back of the room.  “In the garden of Eden?” Continue reading

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The Memory of the Righteous

 Memory can  be a wonderful blessing.  It can bring smiles, laughs, or even tears of joy as we look at pictures, share stories, or just think about the good times of by gone days.  One writer said, “Memory is the way of holding on to the things you love, the things you are, the things you never want to lose.” Continue reading

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IT’S FRIDAY. BUT SUNDAY’S COMING! The Paradox of the Cross

The crucifixion of Christ on the cross was one of the great paradoxes of all human history.

By definition a paradox is “a statement or proposition that seems self-contradictory or absurd but in reality expresses a possible truth.”  Jesus often spoke truths that contained a paradox.  Here are three examples.  Continue reading

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