Worthy Words

 Have you ever noticed how people respond when they are in front of a camera? Take weddings for example. A lot of pictures are taken to capture the moment for the bride and groom to treasure for years to come. A new trend that has emerged at these events is a photo booth. You get into the booth and put on a variety of costumes for three rapid-fire poses then pick the best one to paste to the new couples memory album. It’s a lot of fun. Looking over some of those snap shots it’s easy to see that some people know how to “turn it on.” Someone could be having a bad day, emotions all over the place, but when you hold a camera in front of them and say, “cheese,” they will flash one of the biggest, brightest smiles you have ever seen. It makes for great pictures, but I can’t help but think how often I do this myself. Instead of letting those close to me know how I feel and what is happening in my life, I simply put on the smile everyone wants to see. I don’t think that is always what ...

Last week’s Monday Night Football featured an AFC West divisional game pitting the Denver Broncos against the San Diego Chargers. Peyton Manning and the Broncos overcame a 24-0 halftime deficit to beat San Diego 35-24.  The four-time league MVP and 2006 Super Bowl winner completed 13 out of 14 passes for 167 yards and three scores in the third and fourth quarters hitting everything in a Denver jersey with precision. The result eclipsed Manning’s previous best second half turnaround of 21 points and equaled the second biggest halftime comeback in the Super Bowl era. It also tied for fourth as the greatest comeback from any point in a game in NFL history. Peyton will never forget this game. And we should never forget the lesson it teaches. “You're never too far behind to stage a comeback." Yeah, we desperately need to remember this fact. No matter how many times you have fallen, no matter how far from victory you may appear to be, there's still time to stage a comeback.  ...

A little boy wanted to meet God but didn’t know where God lived.   So the boy packed his backpack with Twinkies and a six-pack of root beer and started out on his quest. When he had walked a few blocks, he met an old woman who was sitting in the park watching some pigeons. The boy sat down next to her and opened his backpack. He was about to take a drink from his root beer when he noticed that the old lady looked hungry, so he offered her a Twinkie. She gracefully accepted it and smiled at him. Her smile was so appealing that the boy wanted to see it again, so he offered her a root beer. Once again she returned the favor by smiling at him. The boy was delighted! Together, they sat all afternoon eating and smiling.    As darkness fell, the boy realized it was time to go home, after taking a few steps; he turned around, ran back to the old woman and gave her a hug. She gave him her biggest smile ever. When the boy arrived back home a short time later, his mother was...

The English art critic and social thinker John Ruskin said, "The highest reward for a person's toil is not what they get for it, but what they become by it."  In what ways is your work transforming you? Since WORK is not without its difficulties, some who are gainfully employed let the long hours; low pay, unseen results, and undeserved criticism make them bitter and unproductive—just in it for the pay check.  The book of Hebrews says that Christ was made perfect through his sufferings. This is not referring to Christ's sinless perfection; he had already achieved that. "Perfect" here refers to his fully realizing his potential — fully accomplishing the mission that God had given him. How was this accomplished? Through suffering. His suffering brought many to salvation.  And it was only right that God — who made everything and for whom everything was made — should bring his many children into glory. Through the suffering of Jesus, God made him a perfect leade...

In Fast Company Magazine there was an article that articulates a conversation that took place between the sculptor Henry Moore and the literary critic Donald Hall. Hall said to Moore, “Now that you’re 80 years old, you must know the secret of life. What is it?”  This great artist thought for a moment and he said, “The secret of life is to have a task, something you do your entire life, something you bring everything to, every minute of the day, for your whole life. And the most important thing is: It must be something you cannot possibly do.”  Paul talks about the ‘one thing’ in his life: preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. He says... “Yet when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, for I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!” (1 Corinthians 9:16) Sharing the gospel was the one thing that motivated Paul. It drove him forward day after day. What about you?  Is there something of which you can say, "Woe to me if I do not do this"? What one thing d...