Ecclesiastes 12:10

Where there is no guidance the people fall, But in abundance of counselors there is victory   Proverbs 11:14      In 1870, the French were on the verge of war with Prussia. However, they had a secret weapon, the mitrailleuse. It was a new type of machine gun they had developed. Now, at that time, machine guns were recent inventions, and the government wanted to keep the technology a secret.    So it distributed the guns to military units…without instructions for how to use them. The instructions weren’t sent until after the war had begun.    But by then it was too late. Needless to say, France lost that war.   Lack of information is a great way to ruin any effort. Leaders who fail to share their vision with followers. People who fail to ask the counsel of those with experience and knowledge. When one side doesn’t or doesn’t want to talk to the other.  You can’t expect people to work together if they can’t / don’t speak together (...

    The single biggest thing the London Underground did to improve satisfaction among its customers was not to make the trains cleaner or faster or run quicker. It was the introduction of display signs that would tell you the amount of time till the train would arrive.   People were happier waiting nine minutes for a train knowing when it was coming, rather than waiting four minutes in uncertainty. They wanted to know. Knowledge made the uncomfortable more tolerable.   I think we need to understand that when we deal with others. Our tendency is not to tell people things we think will upset them. We gloss over, avoid the subject, and leave folks in the dark.  Rather than help it makes the issue worse.  Sometimes it is not intentional. We just fail to communicate things to others and then wonder why they are frustrated and upset.  Sometimes “ Speaking Truth to One Another ” is making sure we are speaking! Our lack of communication might be saying...

  Dreams are strange things. Scientists are still not sure why we do it.   What good does it to lay out a scene where I’m back in high school and didn’t study for a test? Or worse forget to get dressed. Trying to tell somebody about your dream seems to be an exercise in futility. The more you explain the less it makes sense. Yet they affect us on an emotional level. Why do we call our hopes for something better dreams?   Dreams are hard enough when that doesn’t mean anything, just imagine how it was who knew God was trying to communicate thru them   Joseph, Pharaoh, Gideon Daniel, Nebuchadnezzar, and many others struggled with the dreams God sent them. What does it mean? How should I respond? It didn’t seem like the best form of communication.   Why did God do it that way? My guess is that human being couldn’t handle a more direct communication. Just look at how the people of Israel respond to God trying to talk to them (Hebrew12:18-19). ...

  Like a lot of folks, you're on the internet. You purse the blogs, check in on your group on Facebook and scan the twitter feed. Yet whether you are in cyberspace or in person in the real world, you should be acting like a Christian. So when the moment comes to make a comment on some post what should you do? Here is a handy checklist . Ask if you need to say what you are planning to say Here is a handy verse to consider: Ephesians 4:29 ” Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear ”. So if the comment is not wholesome, good for others, on topic, uplifting, and generous to the recipient, then don’t say it. Ask why you are saying what you are planning to say Here is another verse to consider: 2 Timothy 2:24-25 " The Lord's bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged...

  In Matthew 7:5 Jesus gives us a command: " You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye ”.   I think it is high time I start taking that literally.   Now before you think I have terrible woodshop safety, understand what I mean by literally. We use that word badly. This passage is figurative language and it is to be understood that way but it’s revealing a very exacting truth we all need to be doing. Before we say anything to another about their faults we need to clean up our own.   Years ago when I read Dale Carnegie’s book How to Win Friends And Influence People, he said, “talk about your own mistakes before you criticize another”. Jordan Peterson sixth rule in his recent book 12 Rules for Life is “Set your house in perfect order before you criticize the world”   It’s the same idea of what Jesus is saying here.   Yet today we just fail to do ...

  John ends his second letter with this statement: Though I have many things to write to you, I do not want to do so with paper and ink; but I hope to come to you and speak face to face, so that your joy may be made full. 2 nd John 1:12    It’s an odd way to write an inspired letter that will be part of the Bible. They may have, but we will never get to talk with John face to face. He does something very similar in his third letter as well.  Why?   It may be as simple as this. Sometimes the best way to handle an issue is face to face . John is dealing in both of these letters with issues that could have a great effect on the church in a specific place and the brotherhood as a whole. He addresses the issue but in the end, he knows the best way to handle this is in person. Even if we don’t get the persona visit, we can learn from his approach.   So much communication in our world today is impersonal. Emails, text, social media. The...