Ecclesiastes 12:10

    As a minister I find myself going into a lot of hospitals and nursing homes.  Something I have noticed that is fairly common to most every place is the crowd of nurses and staff outside the entrances smoking.  Even if I don’t see anyone, I often can catch a whiff of the stench left behind.  Every time I shake my head and think surely those that are in the health care business know of the health dangers of smoking!  Why would someone that works among the ill every day and probably has seen firsthand the effects smoking, choose to engage in such an unhealthy practice?     It’s not just among health care workers and smoking that you see these strange contradictions.  Ministers that preach morality are often caught in lurid affairs.  Police officers that have worked the wrecks of people killed because of their speeding that think nothing of flying down the highway.  Lifeguards that warn swimmers to stay se...

  If I’m the greatest speaker anyone has ever heard, on all the lectureships, could be doing a meeting every week if you wanted, If people hang on my every message and consider it as close to the “Word of God” as you can get… But don’t have love; I’m just making a bunch of meaningless noise   If I’m on the cutting edge of every new thing, incorporating all the latest technology, If I have a bachelors, a masters, and a doctorate, I am published in all the brotherhood works, have a bestselling book, a must read blog and thousands followers on twitter and if I stand on the right side of every issue, confront every wrong and win every debate… But don’t have love, it doesn’t really matter   If I have out worked everyone else, done more than all my critics, been the better man, took the bullet for the eldership’s mistakes, been the sacrificial lamb   But don’t have love, it wasn’t really worth it Love is that important .   So I better figure ou...

Crazy hypothetical: Newton’s Third Revenge * You have been granted a wish by the revenge genie.  The revenge genie works like a regular genie except your wish is granted to a mortal enemy [1] .  Whatever you wish for them will come back on you as well in equal and negative fashion.  So if you wish for your enemy to drop dead, well then you will die in what kills them as well.  If you try and outsmart the genie by wishing for a million dollars for you enemy, it will come out of your effort(you'll make the money) but the both of you will receive it [2] . So you do benefit but your effort helps them at no cost. You have to make a wish. What do you wish for? *Crazy Hypothetical is a mental game that gives you a conditional choice that gets you thinking about a subject. I used these for several years as discussion starters in Bible class. This a good one for discussion and revenge and the danger grudges can have one the person that holds them. ...

Monday Morning Scattershooting while wondering,  why they have a sign road saying 'Falling Rocks'. What exactly am I supposed to do with that information? They may as well have a sign saying "Random accidents ahead"    A preacher friend once told me a lazy man can hide for a long time in ministry.  The older I get the more I see that to be true.  Ministry has totally different set of hours than any other profession.  There are times when you are so busy you can’t even eat and there will be those that accuse you of never working.  Other times you will have done nothing and people will pat you on the back for you efforts.  Unfortunately, the perception of how much you work is what people often look at, not at the real amount of work.  Some people think if your car is at the building when they drive by you are working, even if you are nowhere to be found.     The temptation comes to a minster to manipulate perception to...

    A preacher friend was lamenting how frustrating of an experience he had recently trying to get the full names of visitors.  He had introduced himself with first and last name to a couple different young couples but they had only responded with their first names.  He went to check the visitor cards but they had not filled them out.  “ How are we supposed to reach out to them if we don’t know who they are?” he retorted.  To him it was an absurdity, but I think I understood their reluctance.    Younger generations are much more protective of their personal information. While older generations don't think much of giving out names, numbers and addresses; younger generations have become very suspect .  In the digital age information is valuable.  Personal contact information is a highly sought out commodity.  Marketers want that information so they can fill your in-boxes with offers.  Telemarketers want...

Crazy hypothetical: Words That Could Change The World* You have a machine that can send a twitter length message (140 Characters) to any person at any time in history. The person receiving the message will not believe it is from the future (even if you try telling them) and will be delivered in a way that will seem ordinary to them. The message will be treated like any other message the person might receive, so the more famous or influential person that receives it the more likely that might ignore it. (So if you send a message to Abraham Lincoln telling him not to go to Ford’s theater, it will be put in with all the hundreds of other messages he received in a day and he might not see it till it is to late.) The machine will only work once. Who do you send a message to and why? What effect do you think it will have? *Crazy Hypothetical is a mental game that gives you a conditional choice that gets you thinking about a subject. I used these for several years as discussion...

Monday Morning Scattershooting while wondering,  If violence is never the answer,what if the question is,“what is never the answer”. Then it is violence even though violence is never the answer    A sports radio station I listen to is known for having hot sports opinions. They like the host to have controversial thoughts on everything. “Jerry Jones the owner needs to fire Jerry Jones the general manager!”  “The Rangers need to get some pitching right now!” “The designated hitter is ruining baseball!”  While this may make for good talk radio, I don’t think it is the best way for a preacher to operate.  I see some preachers spending a lot of time trying to stir up controversy and conflict.  They are quick to throw in their two cents on every issue.  This may stir up the comment sections and boost their fame but I don’t think it much helps the cause of Christ.  Recently I ran across a fellow that was setting some bear traps [1]...

    I always had a soft spot for Simon Peter.  As a person of limited intelligence, he has been a good role model for me.  In the Bible, Peter doesn't come off as the brightest bulb in the bunch.  First, his nickname is Rock. [1]  It takes three times before he gets it anything (Matthew 26:75, John 21:15-17, Acts 10:16-17).  Peter is always saying something he shouldn't (Mark 8:33, Luke 9:33-39, John 13:9-10).  And he is kind of slow on the uptake (Acts 12:6-10 [2] ).  Peter doesn't always handle things the best way (Galatians 2:11-14) and even say he finds some scriptures “hard to understand” (2 nd Peter 3:16).     You don’t see those mental flaws however keep him from being a powerful force in the cause of Christ. You can’t read the Gospel without seeing Peter, warts and all. You can’t imagine the church’s rise in the Book of Acts without his influence.  He serves as apostle, ...

Crazy hypothetical: Be The Bad Guy* In order to protect your family and those that you love, you must take credit for a terrible crime. You can’t tell anyone the real reason for your actions. People will always believe that you have done this and you can never be cleared. Do you take the rap? Variables to consider: The Crime: Is there a crime you wouldn't admit to? Your legacy: What if they would know of your innocence after you died? What if your family would know  of your innocence  but the rest of the world would see you as guilty? What are they protected from : Death, Suffering, Finical distress, Punishment from the crime I.E.  They did it but you take the rap The Punishment: Will you be in prison, be executed, a social pariah...  *Crazy Hypothetical is a mental game that gives you a conditional choice that gets you thinking about a subject. I used these for several years as discussion starters in Bible cl...

Monday Morning Scatter Shooting  while wondering  w hy I like all of the music in my iTunes, except when it's on shuffle, then I like about one in every fifteen songs in my iTunes? Jeff Jenkins had a wonderful post ( http://thejenkinsinstitute.com/2013/02/top-10-things-preachers-love-about-preaching-at-least-the-preachers-we-contacted-for-this-article/ ) about the great things about being a preacher.  One item that wasn't on the list was how preachers get to work mostly with Christians.  As a preacher, my coworkers are Christians. My bosses are Christians. The people I have meeting with are Christians.  Now any good preacher has his dealing with the world but he does have a much better work environment than most of the average members do.  Preachers don’t have to deal with a lot of the worldly things that an everyday job does. The dishonesty, sexual talk, the three martini lunches, all the negative influence the world has on the market p...

    Between 1875 to 1883, a professional thief known as Black Bart held a reign of terror for stagecoaches from northern California to Oregon.  He was responsible for at least 29 different robberies.  In all his robberies, Black Bart never had to fire a shot; he was only assaulted once beside when he was finally caught.  Most everyone was too afraid to dare to fight back against the notorious crook.  The fear of this notorious bandit was enough for most folks to hand over their valuables. The myth of Black Bart was in the end just that, a myth.  The man that all the people feared was a failed miner from Decatur, Illinois.  He arrived at his robberies on foot because he was terrified of horses.  In the end, He never fired his gun because he never had ammunition.  He was too afraid to load his gun.     Fear causes people to do strange things.  It can cause some to give over their valuables to a man with a ...

The Final Countdown Crazy hypothetical: * There is the possibility that a counter can be place in your visual range that will tell you exactly when you are going to die. It will be a date displayed in the corner of your eyes so that all time you will see the date of you death. This counter will adjust as you do things that will put you in danger thus shrinking your life span and as you do things that might help you to live longer. Would you want to have that counter if it was perfectly accurate? How much do you think it would affect your behavior? What if it was not perfectly accurate but rather a probability based on an average person? *Crazy Hypothetical is a mental game that gives you a conditional choice that gets you thinking about a subject. I used these for several years as discussion starters in Bible class. This one is good for discussion about choices that change our life and how we view our own morality.

Monday morning scatter shooting while wondering why all the gold in California is in a bank in the middle of Beverly Hills. Does this seem like sane finical planning to you?    I was reading an article this week about how no one mails out bulletins anymore.  It lamented how many good thoughts and idea are no longer spread this way.  I understand that sentiment.  I used to read twenty or thirty different bulletins a week that came into the office. But over the years it dwindled to just four or five.  The Postal service with its rate increase and every changing bulk mail requirement has effectively killed the effort.  My new replacement is Twitter and the blog sphere.  Lots of good preacher will link to their writings. It never ceases to amaze me how many good idea I get from these posts. Sometimes I blatantly use the CASE method (Copy And Steal Everything) other times one line will take me into a totally new direction.  Ideas ...

    A preacher took a job at a congregation that was known for firing preachers.  He didn't expect to be there for six months, so it came as a shock when after a year he was still in the pulpit.  After another year on the job he figured he must be doing something right since only one other man had made it this long.  As he approached the end his third anniversary and was about to be the longest tenured preacher this church had ever had, he went to the elders to hear what they had to say about his achievement.  The oldest elder spoke up, “Well as you know we have gone through  quite a few preachers over the years, so after we let the last guy go, we took a long look at what the congregation wanted in a preacher”.  “The membership couldn't agree on anyone, and the only time they were happy was when we didn't have a preacher."  We knew we had to have a preacher and then we found you and it seems  y...