IF YOU FOUND YOURSELF near the end of your days, close to death, who or what would you most want by your side? That’s a compelling question, isn’t it? I know that as I grow older, much that I once attended to and perhaps even worried over through the years means very little now that I’m in my eighth decade. In those times of rare but necessary reevaluation, what’s really important comes into clearer focus.
Read MoreCategory Archives: Christian Living
Staying Alert
Your mind is a muscle. It needs to be stretched to stay sharp. It needs to be prodded and pushed to perform. Let it get idle and lazy on you, and that muscle will become a pitiful mass of flab in an incredibly brief period of time. How can you stretch your mind? What are some good mental exercises that will keep the cobwebs away? I offer three suggestions: READ.
Read MoreKeeping Your Word
March 11, 1942, was a dark, desperate day at Corregidor. The Pacific theater of war was threatening and bleak. One island after another had been buffeted into submission. The enemy was now marching into the Philippines as confident and methodical as the star band in the Rose Bowl parade. Surrender was inevitable. The brilliant and bold soldier, Douglas MacArthur, had only three words for his comrades . . .
Read MorePursuing Worthy Trophies
HE WAS BRILLIANT. Clearly a child prodigy, the pride of Salzburg, a performer par excellence. One of the most brilliant and gifted composers of all time left earth at the young age of thirty-five. The man lived most of his life in abject poverty. He died in complete obscurity! His official name was Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Amadeus Theophilus Mozart. With a handle like that, he had to be famous.
Read MoreDestination Unknown
Do you know where you are going? The place? Dublin, Ireland. The time? Toward the end of the nineteenth century. The event? A series of blistering attacks on Christianity, especially the “alleged resurrection” of Jesus of Nazareth. The person? Thomas Henry Huxley. You remember Huxley. Devoted disciple of Darwin. Famous biologist, teacher, and author. Defender of the theory of evolution.
Read MoreA Quiet Place
IT IS ALMOST 10:00, MONDAY NIGHT. The children are snoozing upstairs. Aside from a few outside noises—a passing car . . . a barking dog . . . a few, faint voices in the distance—all’s quiet on the home front. That wonderful, much-needed presence has again come for a visit—quietness. I recall when our children were little, how valuable times of silence were to both Cynthia and me.
Read MoreThe Satisfaction of Being Thorough
I HAVE JUST TAKEN MY Webster’s Dictionary off the shelf and looked up thorough. It means, “carried through to completion, careful about detail, complete in all respects.” Thorough is my kind of word! I learned the importance of being thorough from my parents while growing up in south Texas. Most weren’t so fortunate.
Read MoreWhen You Grow Up
“What do you want to be when you grow up?” That’s a favorite question we enjoy asking children. And the answers we get usually are “a police officer” or “a nurse” or maybe “a fire fighter.” Some kids are visionary.
Read MoreA ”Renewed Mind” Is Essential
Let’s talk about some positive input on the correct mentality of a servant. Is it possible to think so much like Christ that our minds operate on a different plane than others around us? Not only is it possible—it’s essential!
Read MoreMental Barriers to God’s Voice
DO YOU REALIZE THE POWER OF humanistic reasoning to block the power of Scripture? Let me be specific. Perhaps you’ve formed the habit of getting even rather than overlooking wrongs done against you. So, when you come across scriptural instruction that requires an alternative attitude, your inner reaction is “No way!”
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