"What shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefits toward me? I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the LORD. I will pay my vows unto the LORD now in the presence of all his people. I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the LORD." -Psalms 116: 12-17 Very Happy Thanksgiving to you. God bless. Continue Reading
November 27, 2013
Doing It Right
“Bless the Lord oh my soul, and forget not all His benefits.” -Psalm 103:2 “Blow, blow thou winter wind”, Shakespeare said. “thou art not so unkind as Man’s ingratitude. Freeze, freeze thou bitter sky. Thou dost not bite so nigh as benefits forgot.” Continue Reading
November 21, 2013
With Love, Disappointed
“For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia — At my first answer no man stood with me, but all forsook me: I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge.” - II Timothy 4:10-16 “For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ’s.” - Philippians 2:21 Live enough years and you’ll get a taste of what Paul’s talking about here, and I think you know what I mean. Church splits. Fallen ministers. Broken commitments. Self-righteous Continue Reading
November 20, 2013
Self Watch
“But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, after I have preached Christ to others, I myself should become disqualified.” - I Corinthians 9:27 You’ve gotta appreciate Paul’s honesty. Here’s the great apostle/evangelist admitting that even at this point of his life and ministry, self-watch is essential. After preaching Christ to others, he realizes he could step outside God’s approval, and here, I think, he’s warning all of us to remember that whatever has been attained needs to be maintained. Continue Reading
November 20, 2013
The Angry Wife
It seems nothing works with her. A kind word is met with a rebuff. Touching and lovemaking are out of the question. Any little thing (or nothing at all) seems to set her off, and she’s willing to shout, accuse or cut down at a moment’s notice. She’s an angry wife, and she’s not alone. Plenty of marriages are falling apart, largely because of a husband’s sin, a wife’s ongoing anger over the sin, and the couple’s inability to deal with the fallout. Continue Reading
November 18, 2013
The Default Principle
When you discover behavior that delivers pleasurable impact, your brain will crave a repetition of the impact. Accept this fact and prepare for it, and you’ll go far towards maintaining integrity over the years. Continue Reading
November 11, 2013
Veteran’s Day and Grateful Remembering
There’s honor in fighting, assuming the situation calls for it and the fighting is fair. So today, remembering our veterans isn’t asking much, considering all they’ve been and, for that matter, where they’ve been. My hat tips this morning, while my heart says “thank you and thank God for you” to our Vets. Today’s the day for reflections on both the nobility of sacrifice and the misery warfare brings. Continue Reading
November 7, 2013
Bless the Jerk
There’s no way to navigate a life without getting bumped, bruised or outright wounded by people. No one’s exempt, and generally, the closer we are to people the more capacity they have to wound us. There’s the challenge of intimacy: I want to be known and loved; I don’t want to be injured. And good trying to get the one without the other. Where there’s closeness, there’ll be, among other things, wounds. Continue Reading
November 4, 2013
What’s So Funny?
“If Christ has died for me, I cannot trifle with the evil that killed my best Friend.” ― Charles H. Spurgeon Two things tell me a lot about myself: what I laugh at, and what makes me mad. If something strikes me as funny, that shows I take delight in it, find it amusing, enjoy it. And usually that’s fine, because I hope to have a good sense of humor. I love to laugh, and good night, there’s lots to laugh at! So give me a good joke, a funny situation, clever one-liners, or glimpses of my own quirks, and I go off. But every so often I catch Continue Reading
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