Month: August 2006
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Truly wise or merely sophisticated?
There are people who are wise and there are people who are sophisticated – and they are not the same. Yesterday I greeted a boy I’ve known for several years. He is in the grip of adolescence and desperately works at projecting the look of teen-age sophistication. By studying the trends and carefully emulating the […]
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Controlled by appetites
Judges is one of the Bible’s more difficult books to fully understand! It tells the story of God’s people in an era when “everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” The lack of strong leadership – political and spiritual – leads to some terrible sins and atrocities which are explained with this line […]
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Holy things, holy places
A situation in my life got me to thinking about holy stuff… you know, which are holy day? What are holy places and/or holy things? Who are holy people? The first thing I did was re-think the word – “holy.” Since it is a word primarily derived from Biblical sources, I went there. In the […]
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Puppets on a string?
Driving home from a hospital visit with a suffering saint I had a long talk with the Lord about the questions that were nagging at the edges of my mind. The main one, “What are You doing, Lord?” There are a couple of situations that I’m dealing with in my ministry that are stirring up […]
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Encourage –
One from the archives…. Encourage– — To inspire with hope, courage, or confidence; hearten.— To give support, to foster growing or development________________________ When a person leaves an encounter with you, have you added value to his life, or taken something away? I find that some people consistently bring a lift to me when we converse. […]
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Consideration – a basic Christian quality
Humans can be puzzling, can’t they? The whys and wherefores of behavior can be difficult to discern. Getting to the real need, what’s actually going on under the surface, demands patience. But, time and again in my dealing with people, I re-discover that when I take time to try to understand the needs and desires […]
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Measuring success
Ever hear of Dennis Kozlowski? In June, 2005 he was convicted on numerous counts in Federal courts involving fraud and theft of millions of dollars from Tyco, International. Here’s the amazing thing. Kozlowski was legally compensated with over $500 million (not that’s not a typo) by the company he headed from 1992 to 2002. Under […]
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The Privilege of Prayer
Prayer meetings are not usually the more well-attended functions at churches. I’m sure there are many reasons for that. Maybe it’s the constant repetition of the same, “Lord, bless Charles” kind of prayers that are often the staple of such meetings. Maybe the reason people stay away is unbelief – “What good will it do, […]
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Selling maps?
Today’s TFTD is not my original work! Thank you to Eddie Hilburn for this article which was published in REV., Sept/Oct. ’06 issue. Selling Maps? I was driving around in an unfamiliar city looking for a local coffee shop where I was going to meet a friend. I was lost! Being a 21st century man, […]
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Let God love you!
Is there a place of recurring pain in your life? No, I’m not just thinking about physical pain, like a headache. Has something turned out wrong, a relationship gone bad, your dreams been smashed? Philip Yancey wrote about the ache of the soul that leads some of to experience disappointment with God! It happens when […]