Worthy Words

The day after Thanksgiving —also known as Black Friday— marks the official start to another Christmas shopping season. Many a valiant soul will venture out to local malls, fighting the crowds to find good deals as they work through their Christmas shopping lists. In fact this year many retailers have jumped the gun and are advertising their Black Friday is already in progress. There is a lot of competition for the money in our pockets. Some time ago, I read a newspaper article that referred to the opening of a new mall with this statement: “… a pastor was so moved by the retail magnificence around, that he quoted Scripture, ‘Jesus said, I came that you may have life and have that life abundantly… and what do you suppose abundance means? All of this, of course!’”   That’s a troubling notion that somehow our material prosperity is directly related to our relationship with Jesus. Does the abundant life really mean that Jesus came to help us shop ‘til we drop? I don’t think s...

A recent home project that I thought would be rather simple turned out to be an education in “trial and error” — a phrase used countless times — and it suddenly occurred to me what the second half of that equation actually means. It means that in the learning process there will be errors: mistakes, mishaps, shortfalls, unmet projections, and disappointing outcomes. You might be thinking, "Duh"; I guess the statement really is obvious. But it occurred to me that I have a tendency to want to learn by trial and success.  I want things to work the first time I try so that I can be done with it and move on. Think about it: How much more productive you could be if everything worked as planned. How much more efficient your life would be if nothing ever backfired. However, this is not how God set it up. His plan is that you learn through a process that isn't always easy and is rarely painless. But the results are always worth it. David wrote, "My troubles turned...

A concerned husband goes to see the family doctor: "I think my wife has a hearing problem. I often have to repeat things again and again before she hears me."   "Well," the doctor replies, "When you go home tonight, stand about 15 feet from her and say something. If she doesn't reply, move about five feet closer and say it again. Keep doing this so we can get an idea of the severity of her problem." So the husband goes home and does exactly as instructed. He stands about 15 feet from his wife, who is standing in the kitchen, chopping some vegetables. "Honey, what's for dinner?" He gets no response, so he moves about five feet closer and asks again. "Honey, what's for dinner?" No reply. He moves five feet closer, and still no reply. He gets fed up and moves right behind her, about an inch away, and asks one final time, "Honey, what's for dinner?"   She says, "For the fourth time, vegetable stew!...

I came across this story and would like to share it with you. Ever feel like a frog? Frogs feel slow, low, ugly, puffed, drooped, and pooped. I know. One told me. The frog feeling comes when you want to be bright but feel dumb, when you want to share but are selfish, when you want to be thankful but feel resentment, when you want to be great but are small, when you want to care but are indifferent. Yes, at one time or another each of us has found himself on a lily pad floating down the great river of life. Frightened and disgusted, we are too froggish to budge. Once upon a time there was a frog. But he really wasn't a frog. He was a prince who looked and felt like a frog. A wicked witch had cast a spell on him. Only the kiss of a beautiful maiden could save him. But since when do cute chicks kiss frogs? So there he sat, an unkissed prince in frog form. But miracles happen. One day a beautiful maiden grabbed him up and gave him a big smack. Crash! Boom! Zap! There he was, ...

But Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.”—Luke 18:16-17 It was just a few weeks back. I was driving to my Mom’s house for Sunday lunch. My great-nephew, Joel, hitched a ride and was sitting in the back seat of my truck. We carried on conversation about what he learned in G-Force and other assorted preschooler ramblings when all at once with no particular context he busted out with, “Uncle Eddie, today is the best day ever!” I thought to myself, he was really inspired by my message today. (Hah! Hah!) I responded, “Really, why do you say that?” He said, “I don’t know. I just know it’s going to be the best day ever.”  Looking at him in the rear view mirror with his boyish grin, blonde hair, and blue eyes I was awakened to something that lay dormant in me since m...

There are 30 books of the Bible in this paragraph. Can you find them? This is a most remarkable puzzle. It was found by a gentleman in an airplane seat pocket, on a flight from Los Angeles to Honolulu, keeping him occupied for hours. He enjoyed it so much, he passed it on to some friends. One friend from Illinois worked on this while fishing from his john boat. Another friend studied it while playing his banjo. Elaine Taylor, a columnist friend, was so intrigued by it she mentioned it in her weekly newspaper column. Another friend judges the job of solving this puzzle so involving, she brews a cup of tea to help her nerves. There will be some names that are really easy to spot. That's a fact. Some people, however, will soon find themselves in a jam, especially since the book names are not necessarily capitalized. Truthfully, from answers we get, we are forced to admit it usually takes a minister or a scholar to see some of them at the worst. Research has shown that something in our...

In the movie City Slickers, Curly (Jack Palance) tells Mitch (Billy Crystal) that the secret of happiness is found in one thing. Mitch asks, "What's the one thing?" Curly says, "You have to find that out for yourself."     Paul defined the one thing for himself: "But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 3:13-14)   His "one thing" was winning the prize — the prize of knowing and being known by Jesus. This goal was the driving force behind all that he did.    A subtle, but crucial, distinction is this. Paul wasn't driven by the idea of success in ministry, of building growing congregations, of reaching unchurched people with the gospel. He did these things — and he did them well — but he was driven first by the desire to know Jesus. His devotional life, not his ambition, fu...