Ecclesiastes 12:10

  Y ou might have heard about the game Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon. Its premise is that prolific actor Kevin Bacon can be connected in shared acting gigs to almost any in Hollywood in less than seven turns.  For example, Keanu Reeves was in "Speed" with Sandra Bullock. Bullock was in "Practical Magic" with Nicole Kidman. Kidman was in "Eyes Wide Shut" with Tom Cruise. Cruise was in "A Few Good Men" with Kevin Bacon. It's a fun game for movie nerds to flex their knowledge muscles.   However, you may have fewer degrees than Kevin Bacon.   Researchers Nicholas Christakis and James Flower found that for most people they are interconnected to over a thousand people by at least three degrees of relationship.   A personal impact and influence to over a thousand people. So, your actions have a ripple effect. The things you do don’t just affect your son but your son’s best friend mother.   Consider then your potential impact for the cause of Chri...

  David L Payne really wanted to settle in Oklahoma. The only problem was that this was before it was Oklahoma and it was Indian Land. Payne thought since some areas in Indian Territory were unassigned, they should be allowed to be settled. So, he and his followers, known as Boomers illegally crossed into the land and set up a town near what would become Oklahoma City. The town, which he called Ewing, was cleared and streets were laid out in just a few weeks. Yet that is all it was a layout. Before anything could be made, Federal troops arrived and escorted the group out of Indian Territory. Ironically, when the Land Ran would open this land to settlers, people grabbed it up so fast they didn’t leave room for streets. When they finally got around to it figuring that out, the street on the east didn’t match the ones on the west.  Jogs had to be added and land taken back to make it all work.   It turns out building a city is a little more complicated than people thin...

   I n 2009, Tilcon, a New York City-area construction company employee we will call Gary didn’t like his company keeping tabs on where he was going. The company had installed all company trucks with GPS trackers, so they would know the whereabouts and routines of their workers. Garry wasn’t having it, so he installed a GPS blocker in his truck.   He might have gotten away with it except his jammer blocked more than his truck. In fact, it would block any signal within a 10-mile radius of his truck, which on many days was the Newark Airport. This would cause a glitch in the airport's new satellite-based navigation technology. No planes crashed because of it, but glitches are not something the Federal Aviation Administration likes when it comes to planes and their investigation led right to the door of Gary’s truck. He got fined 30,00 dollars and lost his job as well.     Often like Gary we only think in terms of how things will affect us. What’s in it fo...

     When the American colonies forced the British to surrender at Yorktown, it might be tempting to think they were then a new nation, but that isn’t what happened.   While they might now be independent, it didn’t mean the troubles were over.   The colonies were not united, and debts were growing. Solider laid siege to Congress demanding back pay. George Washington would say at this time, “ It is yet to be decided whether the Revolution must untimely be considered a blessing or a curse “.   From these early difficulties, the new nation was formed. The early struggles help to show these people what would be needed to achieve the lofty standards that the Rebellion had proclaimed. Even 200 years later the United States is still working to be the nation they fought and died for it to be.   I think there is a parallel to our life as a Christian. When we obey the Gospel and arise from the water of baptism, we in essence have won the war over sin and ...