Worthy Words

I was afraid of the dark when I was a child. I remember thinking monsters were outside my window because strange sounds would come from that direction while I lay in bed trying to go to sleep. I’m sure today’s children when they go to bed at night also fear the dark where the imaginary world of monsters, bogeymen, and things that go bump in the night come to life. The most reassuring word came from my mother who would sit by my side calm my fears and say a prayer with me; “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray dear Lord my soul will keep…”, that brought back a sense of peace to my troubled heart and allowed for restful sleep. Adults often laugh off the fears that seem so real to children. But the fact is that many adults experience something very similar. After the lights go out and the sound of silence fills the air, we are forced to face the things that hide in the busyness of the day. The grown-up monsters of deadlines, pressure at work, addictions, marital strife, abuse, d...

"Give me liberty or give me death," was the phrase that contributed in putting Patrick Henry in history books. He made another statement that appears in a number of quotation collections. He said, "I know of no way of judging the future but by the past." Repeat this before an audience and you'll see many heads nod in agreement. It has the ring of good common sense. However, some caution needs to be taken here. Be careful, this axiom might be true when applied to politics or history or investment strategies, but it provides a lousy foundation for developing relationships. And it certainly doesn't reflect the way God relates to us. God gives individuals a chance to let go of the past and start over — each and every day. Jeremiah wrote, "Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness." (Lamentations 3:22-23) God doesn't jud...

Early last year, with no warning, the computer I was upgrading shut off. My insides screamed, “No, no, no, no!” while on the outside I somehow maintained a relatively calm composure. Silently, I begged for a favor from God to bring the computer back to life. I hit the power button and held my breath. Nothing. I slammed the side of the PC, made sure the memory modules were secure, shook it around a bit and tried again. The glorious sound of the computer turning on chimed through the speakers. “It’s alive!” I screamed in triumph. Quickly, I backed up all of data. But it didn’t last long. Within a few minutes, the computer died once again. To fix the computer, I had to delete everything on the computer and reformat the hard drive then preform a clean install of the operating system back onto the hard drive. After reloading the original software, I added the personal files I had saved. As I did, I couldn’t help but think about the way God preforms a clean install on us when we ...