Ecclesiastes 12:10

  What to make something seem easier? Bring along a friend.   Simone Schnall from the University of Plymouth conducted research where people were taken to the bottom of a hill and asked to estimate how steep it was and therefore how difficult it would be to climb. When they were accompanied by a friend, their estimates were about 15 percent lower than when they were on their own, and even just thinking about a friend when looking at the hill made it seem far more surmountable. Friends have a way of making things easier. Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor. For if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion. But woe to the one who falls when there is not another to lift him up. Furthermore, if two lie down together they keep warm, but how can one be warm alone? And if one can overpower him who is alone, two can resist him. A cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart . Ecclesiastes 4:9-13  Our world has recently been f...

   One of the wisest saying a friend once told me was this: “There is no right way to do the wrong thing, but there is a wrong way to do the right thing”     Simply if you are doing something wrong, it won’t be right no matter how well you do it. Yet there are times when we are doing the “right” thing yet do so in a way that will not be effective or just may cause more problems.   I think that is exactly what Paul is dealing with in the book of Philemon. He knows that he could simply order Philemon to accept back his runaway slave Onesimus. He had the right to do so both as an apostle and by the authority of the Scriptures. Yet he didn’t do it that way.   Therefore, though I have enough confidence in Christ to order you to do what is proper,   yet for love's sake I rather appeal to you — Philemon 1:8-9   Instead, he appeals to him. He appeals to his personal relationship, to Philemon’s integrity, to his confidence in him to do the right ...

     Li Fuyan had been having the same headache on and on for the past four years. He’d tried every treatment imaginable to ease his throbbing headaches but nothing made much of a dent. It had all started after a failed robbery where he was attacked with a knife. The blade gave him lacerations on the right side of his jaw but he was able to escape with his life. Doctors finally decided to do an X-ray of his skull to see if there were any issues. Turns out the blade hadn’t just nicked his face. A rusty four-inch knife blade had been lodged in his skull the whole time. Once it was removed his headache went away.     This is similar to how sin treats us. Often, we struggle with a sinful temptation and maybe we feel like we escape the damage. However, if the desire finds a way in our hearts, it beings to corrupt. Some other struggles may seem unrelated but it’s really desire growing into lust. But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his ow...

    Lots of folks try to cure the blues by getting themselves something nice. A little “Retail Therapy” to cheer them up. When surveyed, most folks believe that buying themselves something is a good way to improve their happiness and that if they had more money to spend on themselves it would make them overall happier.   However, research says that is dead wrong. Spending on yourself may give a small boost, but it quickly goes away. This also has a diminishing return as well, so the more you do the less help it is. However, spending can bring you happiness, you just can’t do it on yourself.   Elizabeth Dunn from the University of British Columbia did a couple of studies, one that surveyed people that had recently received a bonus and one where participants were given a sum of money to spend in a day and found in both that those that used the funds on others, such as friends and family ended up feeling significantly happier than those who treated themselves. ...

    When Paul started preaching in Iconium, things seemed to be going well. In Acts 14 we read, “ a large number of people believed, both of Jews and of Greeks .” Yet the momentum didn’t last as “ Jews who disbelieved stirred up the minds of the Gentiles and embittered them against the brethren .”  So how did Paul change the tide?   Well, he didn’t, at least not immediately. In verse three it tells us “ Therefore they spent a long time there speaking boldly with reliance upon the Lord ” Those folks that had been disillusioned by the opposition took time to convince. Even after the prolonged effort, they didn’t convince everyone. As we read in verse 4 “ But the people of the city were divided; and some sided with the Jews, and some with the apostles ”.     I am afraid that many forget these lessons. When we put our hand to the plow, we oftentimes expect quick and easy results. If those don’t come or problems muster, we are quick to give up and proc...

     The old adage was ‘seeing is believing’ but photoshop and deepfakes, seeing isn’t all that accurate anymore. It’s easy to get fooled by fake news and internet hoaxes yet that isn’t the biggest deception we face. Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God.   But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called "Today," so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. Hebrews 3:12-13      Here the Hebrew writer warns us about the deceitfulness of sin. Sin fools us into not seeing what is right in front of us. It always explains itself away, hides behind false motives, and covers over its shortcomings. Al the while it corroding our hearts taking us away from God.   So how can we see thru the lies?   With one another. With encouragement. With a daily dose of accountability from other brethren. That is why God didn’t make ...

    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...