Ecclesiastes 12:10

       There is an old proverb that tells how a kingdom was lost because one person didn’t do their job. A servant was to shoe horse before a great battle. As he came to the last horse he didn’t have enough nails to finish the job. Rather than go back and get the supplies needed to do the job correctly, he simple quit. Because the shoe was not installed properly, the horse lost it sh in the battle, because the shoe was lost the horse was lost which lead to the loss of a rider which lead to the loss of the battle which lead to the loss of a kingdom. Many great things often turn on the apparently trivial details.     I thought of this story when I was reading Acts 9. In it, Saul had just been converted and had immediately begun to proclaim Jesus. This caused him a great deal of problems with Jews he had previously worked with. At the same time, Christians were not willing to accept him because they were afraid of him fearing that he really ...

   I love parody songs. For those of you unfamiliar with this term, it is basically when someone rewrites the lyrics of a popular song to some thing really silly. They are just harmless fun to get a laugh. The only problem is once I hear the parody song; the original is ruined for me. As I was driving home a few days ago the old George Jones song “She thinks I still care” was on the radio, but no matter how hard I tried I could not get the chorus of the parody song “She think I steal cars” out of my head. I had probably only heard that parody once but it was still stuck in my head. Just a sample of the parody  had warped the original for me.    This is an example of how sometimes even a little bit of wrong can spoil a good thing. So many times we think that we can overcome the little bit of bad that is in so much of the little thing of this world. We justify by saying “A little bit of bad language in the movies OK, I just ignore it” or “I won’t participate i...

      During the summer my Mom would make the best tuna sandwiches for lunch. Every once in a while, I will get a craving for one of those sandwiches. I've learned I could make them pretty much the same for myself (but still not as good as Mom). I found out however that when I did I would have to fight off the cat because she also loved the tuna. It was such a problem that I just abandoned ever fixing them because it was such an inconvenience.     A few days ago, I had that craving for a tuna sandwich but I thought it is was just too much trouble. The sad part is that the cat is no longer with us, so the excuse is no longer valid. I had just gotten so use to giving the excuse; I had forgotten the reason for it.   We can do the same thing in our commitment to the Lord’s work. Life forces us at times not be able to help the church as we have before. It may be an illness, a family problem, or a hectic schedule. But after those things have set...

     Jesus once told his disciples in Matthew 18:5-6 “ And whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me. But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea.      This verse reminds me of a story of a man that became interested in the problem of juvenile delinquency. If his efforts to find a common cause, he began to interview some of the boys that were in custody at a local detention center. As he talked to a young boy that had been arrest for working as a pick pocket, he asked him why he did things that were wrong. The boy looked at him with a confused stare and replied, “No one ever taught me anything different.”    One the easiest way we can cause a young person to fall into sin is to be apathetic towards their spiritual education. The bible speaks to us in several passages about teaching God’...

It is seldom that a person under a sentence of death would refuse a pardon. Yet there is one such case recorded in the annuals of the U.S. Supreme Court. Two men by the names of Wilson and Porter had been sentenced to be hanged for robbing the U.S. Mail in 1829. Porter was executed but three weeks before his own execution, Wilson was granted a pardon by then President Andrew Jackson. But foolishly, Porter refused to accept it! The refusal to accept a pardon was a point of law that had never been raised before, so the Supreme Court was called upon to give a decision. In their decision Chief Justice John Marshall wrote the following: “A pardon is an act of grace, proceeding from the power intrusted with the execution of the laws, which exempts the individual on whom it is bestowed, from the punishment the law inflicts for a crime he has committed. A pardon is a deed, to the validity of which delivery is essential, and delivery is not complete without acceptance.” How could a person be...

     I once heard an old preacher’s story (I don’t know if it is a real account or a work of fiction) about a church with a priority problem.  It started with a simple line in the church bulletin reading “Would the person that moved the trees from the behind the pulpit last week, please return them". The same statement kept appearing each week but with an increasingly harsher tone. Over the next six months, the interest in “who stole the trees” became a mainstay of the congregation. Each member had a theory over who would commit such a terrible crime. The preacher even got involved with lessons entitled “Stealing from God” and “Thieves and liars will not inherit the kingdom of God”. The controversy came to an end as just as it had begun with a simple line in the church bulletin. It read, “For those curious about how the trees came to be back with us last Sunday, they were found in the baptistery.     Even if this story is not en...

     One of my favorite things in youth ministry is picking up and taking kids home. I enjoy it because it gives me a chance to visit with the young people. I have noticed however that many times they are more an influence on me than I am to them. For example, once of the kids happen to mention something about a hot ham and cheese sandwich. All during the devotion, I began to think how good a hot ham and cheese sandwich sounded. When I came home you can guess what I fixed myself for dinner. When Linda asked me what I was having I told her. She said “Why did you fix that?” I responded, “I don’t know, it just sounded good.” Not until later did I remember the earlier conversation. It goes to show how we can be subtlety influenced by those we are with.      The Bible speaks of at least two ways that those around us can influence us, one positive and one negative. First Corinthians 15:33 says, "Do not be deceived: Bad company corrupts good morals ....