A young lady was soaking up some sun on a Florida Beach when a little boy in his swim suit, carrying a towel, came up to her and asked, “Do you believe in God?” She was surprised, but answered, “Yes.” Continue reading
Happiness is a Choice
Abraham Lincoln once said, “Most people are about as happy as they choose to be.” Interestingly this comes from a man that suffered much heartache, disappointment and defeat in his life.
Filed under Happiness
“God’s Elevator”
While I was in Indiana last week, Jim Dorn told me this story. I thought you would like it.
There was a family that lived out “in the sticks”, far from civilization. One day the family made their first trip to the “big city” and visited a mall. They were amazed by almost everything they saw, but especially by two shiny, silver walls that could move apart and back together again. The boy asked his father, “What is this, father?” The father (never having seen an elevator) responded, “Son, I have never seen anything like this in my life, I don’t know what it is.”
While the boy and his father were watching wide-eyed, an old lady in a wheel chair rolled up to the moving walls and pressed a button. The walls opened and the lady rolled between them and into a small room. The walls closed and the boy and his father watched small circles of light with numbers above the wall light up. They continued to watch the circles light up in the reverse direction. The walls opened up again and a beautiful 24-year-old woman stepped out. Continue reading
Filed under Gospel
The Freedom of Forgiveness
It happened in a little church, in a little town. I was there; I saw it; I heard it. Toward the conclusion of the service, a trembling woman came forward and sat on the front pew, asking forgiveness. She had been an absentee for several years. The woman who sat directly behind her, shocked, grew pale and nervous. Several in the audience seemed bewildered and wondered if trouble would start all over again; for there had been trouble, lots of it, tragic and heartbreaking– two murders, court trials with opposing families, and one death in the electric chair. Continue reading
Filed under Forgiveness
Encourage One Another
How long can you stand barefooted in a bucket of ice water? Hadn’t thought about it, had you? Well, believe it or not, a psychological group conducted an experiment several years ago using that very technique to measure people’s capacity to endure pain. They discovered one factor that caused people to stand in the ice water twice as long as others. Can you guess what it was? Encouragement. When another person was present during the experiment to lend support and give encouragement, the sufferers were able to endure pain much longer than those who had to suffer alone.
Encouragement is Important Continue reading
Filed under Encouragement, One another
How’s Your 2012 Resolutions Going?
How many of your New Year’s Resolutions have survived the first week of 2012? Are you still on your diet? Exercise program? Texting less? Controlling spending? Listening more? Reading the Bible and praying daily? Continue reading
Filed under New Year, Resolutions
Worship: A Time to Recharge Our Batteries
A few years ago when pagers were more popular than they are today, I read about a man who worked in a customer service call center for a national pager operation. He dealt with the usual complaints regarding poor pager operations. Among the “unusual calls”, the best came from a man who complained that he kept being paged by someone named “Lucille.” Continue reading
Filed under Worship
He Lived Life in all its Fullness: My Eulogy for Gary Baughn
I will never forget when Gary stood before the church family to give a Wednesday night invitation talk. His message was about influence based on Matthew 5:14-16 where Jesus says, “You are the light of the world.” To make his point, he had someone turn out all the lights in the building. It was dark. Pitch dark. You couldn’t see Gary. Or anyone around you. Then he lighted a candle. And that single little flame provided so much light. You could see Gary and those around you. He made his point in dramatic fashion. Continue reading
Filed under Eulogy, Funerals, Gary Baughn, Uncategorized
Real Freedom
Seventy-one years ago today on January 6, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered the State of the Union Address where he articulated “The Four Freedoms” that he saw as a goal not only for the United States, but the world. The four fundamental freedoms “that people everywhere ought to enjoy”, according to Roosevelt, are freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear. Continue reading
Filed under Freedom
Discipline
“The most valuable result of all education is the ability to make yourself do the thing you have to do, when it ought to be done, whether you like it or not. It is the first lesson that ought to be learned and however early a person’s training begins, it is probably the last lesson a person learns thoroughly.” –Thomas L. Huxley
I know Huxley was right. My parents tried to teach me self-discipline, and I’m still learning it. Success requires self-discipline. The student, the athlete, and the business person must all cultivate the habit of self-discipline. It is true spiritually. Continue reading
Filed under Discipline
