Ecclesiastes 12:10

    P.T Barnum had a problem. People were hanging around too long at his American Museum. Wanting to move more people out so he could move more in, he posted signs pointing "This Way to the Egress”.   Patrons unsure what that was but fascinated by Barnum’s unusual and varied attractions would follow the sign until they reached a door that said: “Here is the Egress”. After walking through, they were shocked to learn they had just left the building. They didn't know "egress" meant "exit"   Word matters. They have meaning. Mark Twain once said, “ The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter. ’Tis the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning .”   There are words used that we sometimes think we know what they mean, but in reality, we might not be as sure of them as we think. In the religious world, people will co-opt certain phrases and twist them into meaning something the Bible doesn’t. Words li...

  We know what it means when we say someone “stole our thunder”. It is a euphemism for when someone takes your praise, credit, or attention before you have a chance to. But it doesn’t make a lot of literal sense. You don’t own any thunder for anybody to steal.   Unless you are John Dennis.   As the story goes, Dennis was a playwright in the 1700s. His play was mostly a dud but part of it wasn’t. He had come up with a clever way of simulating the sound of thunder. When Dennis went to another play, he recognized his creation. He exclaimed, “ The villains will not play my play, but they steal my thunder !” Now he made something else people would steal, his turn of phrase and it seems he still didn’t get much credit for that.   Often items we think of stealing as a material only thing. But we can steal things that are not as tangible as well. A person’s time, a reputation, hope, credit, joy. All these might not be physical things but they can be just as d...

  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 ...

    In 1840, the Whig party needed a candidate to unseat Martin Van Buren. So, they created one. They took a Virginia aristocrat by the name of William Henry Harrison and transformed into a ‘ hard cider–swillin’, log cabin–livin’ everyman’ . Harrison wasn’t known for much outside of his victory in the rather obscure battle of Tippecanoe and that exactly what the Whigs wanted. All he had to do during the campaign against Van Buren, was to avoid any controversial issues and keep his mouth shut.  The campaign was a success.   So, his Inauguration Day was really the first chance Harrison had to speak his mind. And boy did he. His speech still holds the record for the longest ever at over two hours. It was described as the “ longest, most excruciatingly boring Inaugural Address ever delivered ’. It was an ordeal for the audiences not just because of the speech but also because the temperatures were below freezing.   That didn’t faze Harrison. Even without a co...

  Tom was an insurance agent that has always wanted to write a novel.   So when the Naval Institute Press decided to start publishing fiction, he sent them a manuscript he had spent the last four months writing. They said if he would edit it down about a hundred paged they buy it. So Tom did that and his book was published. Its realism and the well-paced story was a hit with military and government types. It sold over 40,000 copies. Tom and the publishers were excited. He never expected to make anything off the book. Little did he know one fan was going to change that.     This fan had received the book as a Christmas present and was asked what he was reading, he quickly told them all about the book. He said it was “unputdownable” and “my kind of yarn”. Well, people listened, I guess they do that when you are the president of the United States. After Ronald Regan gushed about the “ Hunt for Red October ”, sales went thru the roof eventually selling 100 millio...

  If you yelled for 8 years, 7 months and 6 days you would have produced enough sound energy to heat one cup of coffee. It hardly seems worth it.   Yet it seems today we still do a lot of yelling. Every few weeks another cause or issue pops up that forces us to raise our voices. We must express our anger. So we post on the internet, rant in the cafes, bellyache in the break room. We can’t hardly seem to wait to yell about something. But is it worth it?   Let’s consider some Bible verses: Proverbs 18:2   A fool does not delight in understanding, But only in revealing his own mind. Proverbs 15:1-2   A gentle answer turns away wrath, But a harsh word stirs up anger.  The tongue of the wise makes knowledge acceptable, But the mouth of fools spouts folly. Proverbs 29:22   An angry man stirs up strife, And a hot-tempered man abounds in transgression. James 1:19-20    This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone mus...