Ecclesiastes 12:10

   There is a joke that is going around, “How can you tell if the person at the party is a vegan? Don’t worry, they will let you know.”    I guess that means vegans are not afraid to brag about themselves and their accomplishments. It’s not just the vegans however. It’s the ultra-informed voters or the organic market extremists or the five figure club members.  It is the super dads, the academic all-stars, the Bible thumpers, the healthy living fanatics, or the triple marathon runners.  Maybe it is the green police, the homeschool warriors, the extreme couponers, the grammar Nazi or just the “cool kids”.  Those that think because of x you are much better than all the y’s in life.    Now most of these things are not bad in and of themselves. If you want to teach your kid at home, eat a restrictive diet, exercise a lot and always use who and whom correctly, that’s great, more power to you.  That’s not the problem. The proble...

    There is criticism and then there is being critiqued. One is disparagement, the other appraisal. One is condemnation, one is assessment.  Knowing these words definitions is one thing, knowing which it is when they are being given to us is another matter entirely.     If you take all criticism as critiquing, not only will you be pretty miserable but also on the road to failure. If you take all critiquing as criticism, you also will be a failure but even worse you won’t know why. When you don’t ever listen to those trying to help you improve, you will end up miserable because you can’t figure out why you are falling.     So how can we spot when someone is telling us something that might be hard to hear but helpful, rather than when someone is just being hurtful? How can we make sure we are in the right mindset to accept the advice and ignore the naysayer? Let consider some wisdom from the Bible. 1.    If i...

    Abraham Lincoln was once quoted about prayer by saying: “ I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom and that of all about me seemed insufficient for that day”    I often have remind myself when I am faced with the confusion of choice about the old hymn, Did You Think To Pray ?   Foolishly, I’ll wait till I have made up my mind to then go and ask for it from God. In all my debate and decision, I don’t factor in the Lord till the end.  But why wait?  The best decisions come when we let God make them.     Consider what Jesus did when he had a big decision to make. In Luke 6:12-13, we read: “ It was at this time that He went off to the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God.  And when day came, He called His disciples to Him and chose twelve of them, whom He also named as apostles ”   ...

    Over the years I become very concerned with making sure the church doors are locked.  You might think church buildings are crime free and undisturbed but this just isn’t the case.  At every work I been at (with the exception of Hope) I had my office at the church building robbed without someone “breaking in”.  Even when the situation didn’t involve theft, I had many other strange encounters that involved someone being in the building when they shouldn’t have been.  It has made me well aware of checking to make sure things are secure after we use the facilities.  I know at one place it was almost a grantee if I didn’t check the doors after a funeral or event, I would be dealing with someone coming in unawares.  It wasn’t that we didn’t want people at the building; we just wanted to know who was there and why they were there.  The insecurity of the unlocked door came from the folks who were only there for nefarious purposes. ...