Ecclesiastes 12:10

  There are 30 seconds in a minute, 60 minutes in an hour, 24 hours in a day, 365 days in a year (give or take). It’s always been that way and will continue to be that way. Time moves on at the same pace it always has.   But it sure doesn’t feel that way.   You might think back to the 90's as ten years ago but check again it was thirty. You may think your favorite movie just came out but consider you took your wife to it on your first date. That concert that is coming to town featuring that new band, their last hit was a decade ago. Time has a funny way of speeding up the longer you take it in.   It works the other way as well. We think we spend lots of time doing something and in reality, it has only been moments. We waste huge chunks of time and it is over in a flash. Time flies but it also grinds along at a snail’s pace.   Yet in reality, it is all the same. It’s how we use it that makes it feel different. Consider Paul’s word in Ephesians 5:15-16, “ Therefo...

  I have hit some bad golf shots before but I don’t think anyone has hit one worse than Metthieu Boya. He’s not a tour pro, however, just a ground technician at an airport in the west African state of Benin. On his lunch break, He was trying to get in a little practice when he sliced a drive, badly. The ball struck the windscreen of a jet fighter that was preparing to take off, causing it to careened into the four jets neatly lined up by the runway. Those five plans happened to be the entire Air force of Benin.   Whoops.   You wouldn’t think a golf ball could bring down an air force but here it is. Little things can do big damage. Like words. A caustic remark at the wrong time, a little white lie, a pointed barb may not seem like much but they can kill joy, deflate hope and send folks down the wrong path.   James tells us, “ So also the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things. See how great a forest is set aflame by such a small ...

    I n Psalms 37:1  we read, “ Do not fret because of evildoers, Be not envious toward wrongdoers ”. It’s a good warning because that is exactly what we do.   Think about it. How many times do we see folks that are beside themselves about worldly shenanigans? They obsess about the evil they see to the point they make themselves miserable.     On the other side of the coin, we have those that feel like they are missing out. They look at a world that does what it wants when it wants and deep-down wishes that could be them. Forget about the consequences. They feel they are suffering because they can’t live like the world.   Yet both of these reactions are not faith responses. Consider what said the next few verses down; “ For evildoers will be cut off, But those who wait for the LORD, they will inherit the land. Yet a little while and the wicked man will be no more; And you will look carefully for his place and he will not be there ”. When we fret ...

  Psychologist Robert Emmons has spent nearly his entire career studying gratitude. He has found that few things in life are as integral to our well-being. Study after study has shown that consistently grateful people are more energetic, emotionally intelligent, forgiving, and less likely to be depressed, anxious, or lonely. Gratitude is an attitude of a healthy person. Colossians 2:7 ..being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, overflowing with gratitude.   The Bible is full of proclamations about the need to be thankful and grateful. It’s not just good behavior, it's good for us behavior. Gratitude keeps us in the right framework. Lose it and you start to lose everything. As Francis Schaffer put it, “The beginning of men's rebellion against God was, and is, the lack of a thankful heart”. Romans 1:21 For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and th...

   T o Europeans, American chocolate tastes like vomit. And they are not wrong. Now don’t misunderstand, I like American chocolate but maybe it is because I don’t know better.   . In 1893, successful confection Milton Hershey made a trip to the Chicago World's Fair. There he discovered the rich, elegant taste of German chocolate and realized he needed to add it to his offerings. So, the next year he introduced what we know call the Hershey bar and it became more popular than all his other products. With European chocolate still unknown to the American masses, the Hershey bar became the iconic definition of what a chocolate bar should taste like throughout the United States.     His method for making the chocolate was different than the Europeans however. His process created creates something called butyric acid, also found in Parmesan cheese and the spit-up of babies. It helped to increase the shelf life of the candy but it also gave the candy a tangy taste....