TO ME, BIRTHDAYS ARE JUST another routine realization that I’m not getting any younger. I know that because the cake won’t hold all the candles. Even if it could, the frosting would melt before I’d be able to blow all of them out. One year, my kind and thoughtful assistant reminded me of another approach I could take. She gave me a birthday card showing an old guy standing beside a cake covered with candles.
Read MoreCategory Archives: Christian Living
Doing vs. Being
MY HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATING CLASS had its thirtieth anniversary reunion many summers ago. Since I could not attend, I decided to blow the dust off my yearbook and stroll down nostalgia lane. I remembered a project we seniors were given before the yearbook went to press back in ’52. We were asked to think about the next twenty years and answer, “What do I want to do?”
Read MoreTaking Time
EIGHT WORDS WERE BRASHLY SMEARED across the dashboard of the speedboat tied up at Gulf Shores, Alabama. They reflected the flash and flair of its owner whose fast life was often publicized in sporting news across America. In the off-season, the left-handed speedster in the Gulf of Mexico resembled a shiftless, beachcombing drifter with his stubble beard, disheveled hair,
Read MoreThe Case against Vanilla
I CANNOT IMAGINE ANYTHING more boring and less desirable than being poured into the mold of predictability. Few things interest me less than the routine, the expected, the status quo. A fresh run at life by an untried route will get my vote every time. Stay open-minded for a moment, and I’ll try to show you why.
Read MoreStaying 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 a brief period of time. How can you stretch your mind? What are some good mental exercises that will keep the cobwebs away?
Read MoreKeeping Your Word
MARCH 11, 1942, was a dark, desperate day at Corregidor. One island after another in the Pacific theater had been buffeted into submission. The enemy was now marching into the Philippines as confident and methodical as the big band in the Rose Bowl parade. Surrender was inevitable. The brilliant and bold soldier, Douglas MacArthur, had only three words for his comrades as he stepped into the escape boat destined for Australia: “I shall return.”
Read MoreWatch Out for Fakes
MY FRIEND ATE DOG FOOD ONE EVENING. He was at an elegant student reception in a physician’s home. The dog food was served on delicate crackers with a wedge of imported cheese, bacon chips, an olive, and a sliver of pimento on top. It was hors d’oeuvres a la Alpo. The hostess, just graduated from a gourmet cooking course, decided to put her skill to the ultimate test. Did she ever!
Read MoreDestination Unknown
DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOU ARE GOING? You remember Thomas Henry Huxley. Devoted disciple of Charles Darwin. Famous biologist, teacher, and author. Defender of the theory of evolution. Bold, convincing self-avowed humanist. Traveling lecturer. After another series of public assaults against truths Christians held sacred, Huxley was in a hurry to catch his train to the next city.
Read MoreWhen You Grow Up
“WHAT DO YOU WANT TO be when you grow up?” The answers we receive are all over the map. One youngster recently told me he wanted to be either a car mechanic or a garbage collector. When I asked why, he gave the classic nine-year-old response: “So I can get dirty!” I smiled and understood as I reflected on my own childhood.
Read MoreSticking with a Commitment
A FULL YEAR BEFORE THE apostle Paul wrote to people who comprised the Corinthian church, they had begun a project. No doubt they got started with a burst of enthusiasm, the thrill of a fresh beginning. But with the passing of time, the newness had worn off. The edge of their spontaneous motivation had gotten dull. It became a monotonous marathon that dragged slowly on and on.
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