Ecclesiastes 12:10

   Vesta Stoudt was working as a factory worker during World War Two packing ammunition boxes. She knew that there was a problem.   The ammunition boxes were difficult to open. Now in a firefight, you don’t want to struggle to open the box, but you also don’t want a box that lets live ammo spill out in transport.  So she came up with a solution. She told her bosses. They shot her down without much consideration. She tried again. No result. So, she took it up the chain of command. Way, way up the chain of command.  On February 10, 1943, she wrote a letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt explaining the problem and offering a solution. Luckily for us he listened.   Because her idea didn’t just help win the war, it became one of the most useful things in the world. Her idea was a strong cloth tape with an adhesive to close the seams. The idea would become duct tape, quite possibly the most useful ‘fix it all’ in the world.   Proverbs 19:20 sa...

  As Dale Jenkins wrote: “Faith is a little like paint. As long as it’s in the can, it isn't much. Left in the can long enough a gallon of paint will ruin. Faith left unpracticed and unexercised will too….  You can’t just talk about faith.  To be effective, you must be living it out. So take the paint out of the can and start painting.”   The Bible says in James 2:18,”  But someone may well say, "You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works . " Faith is something that only works when it is used. If our faith doesn’t do anything, is it really there at all?   Truly “ living by faith ” isn’t just a proclamation we make but one we live in how we walk and talk, how we live and interact, and what we say but also what we do.  Is our faith canned? Is it something we have if we go looking for it? Or is it something that is being used daily in our lives?   Does your faith color eve...

  There was a rancher in Oregon named Bill Brown. He was known for often writing checks on any paper available. This included things like envelopes, soup can labels and newspaper margins. Now, most banks wouldn’t accept his kind of check but Bill Brown was a very rich therefore very important customer, so the banks in his area would cash the checks without question.   It wasn’t the surface the name was written on that mattered but the name written on the surface.  In 2 nd Corinthians 4, Paul speaks about the privilege we have because of our involvement in the ministry of Christ. Yet he warns us that we, “ do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus' sake . In fact, he tells us “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves ”  It is not about the person the message is written on but the person that is has written the message. ...