Jesus’ half-brother, James, the leader of the Christian Church in Jerusalem, wrote in his opening chapter, verse 22: “But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.” Listen to God’s Word – not man’s word. Culture has a way of trying to lead us like a pied piper. We justify […]
We want it now – right?
So often, we find ourselves out of patience waiting for something to happen – some resolution of a problem we have. We may even be suffering mentally or physically and the solution or cure has not come yet. The pain may even be almost unbearable and the cause of it may have been totally out […]
Are we people pleasers?
We all know people who are pleasers. Maybe, in some way, we lean that way, too. We avoid conflict. It’s better, we think, to not rock the boat. We give the other person their way rather than debate that person. In some situations it may be better to postpone that debate but it should not […]
Judging
Don’t! Don’t judge. Leave that to the Lord – or actual judges. When we don’t like someone we judge them. We don’t even know them or what happened to make them like they are. We just know we don’t like them. It’s hard to turn the other cheek but, until we can really understand why […]
How do we end up making so many poor choices?
It usually starts with pride. We think we know the right answer, the next step. We think we know better than those who caution us. Maybe we are afraid we will lose face if we don’t make a certain choice. Others will disapprove. Sometimes, we’re just confused, frustrated and tired – and we take the […]
This rule is golden
Love your neighbor as yourself. Sometimes, that is difficult, right? True – it’s the epitome of the Golden Rule: do unto others as you would have them do unto you. But what if they don’t deserve good treatment like you do? We have all learned that love, as opposed to infatuation, is a decision – […]
The good that can come out of this pandemic
One thing we have done in our neighborhood is to get together on our street Tuesdays and Fridays for “Happy Hour” at 5:30 pm, when everyone is usually home from work. Actually, why limit “happy” to an hour? It usually lasted at least thirty minutes longer. We practiced social distancing and those who were not […]
Snuffing out hatred
There is so much hate in the world. Skin color, cultural and racial differences, age and gender differences. Those are just a few of the reasons we learn to hate. But what good does it do anyone? It certainly hurts yourself more than the ones you hate. Our hatred overcomes any joy that may be […]
Who gets the credit?
Remember those class projects where five kids would form a team to complete an assignment, ostensibly with everyone helping? Who ended up actually doing the work? You did – right? But the others still wanted the same grade, didn’t they? I’ve always used this example to describe Socialism. Everyone wants the same income and benefits, […]
Call in air support
In Vietnam, no sound was as welcome as an F-4 swooshing by followed by a rocket blast hitting the pink smoke circle dead on. We can request the same kind of support from above. Just call on The Pilot of the universe, of eternity. My confidence comes from the fact that, if I call on […]
