Think About It

One of the heroes of faith throughout all times is the Old Testament great, Abraham.  There are several things that endeared him to the Lord and set an example for us including his willingness to offer his son, Isaac, as a sacrifice.  In fact, one New Testament writer noted, “Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar?” (James 2:21).  I cannot imagine the amount of faith it took to be willing to sacrifice a child, but an interesting thing happened on the way to fulfilling this act of righteousness – he never had to kill his son.  He was willing to do it, but God spared him.   As I got to thinking about this I was struck by the fact that sometimes a willingness to do something is as important as the actual deed.  Abraham was no less an example of righteousness because he didn’t actually kill Isaac, he went as far as he could considering the circumstances.  The reason that this got my attention is won...

On this date in 1974, an entertainer by the name of Philippe Petit traversed a highwire between the two twin towers of the World Trade Center.   Now, I have to go on record as saying that this feat wasn’t not authorized by any official entity; however, it did bring him several moments of fame.   In fact, after being arrested and being subjected to a psychological evaluation, he was given the opportunity to atone for his crime by doing a publicly sanctioned event in Central Park.   The daredevil made quite a name for himself living on the cutting edge, so that’s why this comment caught my attention, “I, like everybody else, have a certain fear of heights, and I have to be very careful when I am in the clouds; but it is what I love; it is my domain, when you love something, you don’t have fear.”. As I thought about Petit’s observation I got to wondering what is holding us back from doing what we want to do?   No, I am not advocating that we all go out and break the...

One of the most beloved poems of all time is the 23 rd Psalm.   Among believers, it has a special place in our hearts and even those who don’t accept the Bible as their guide tend to look fondly on the comforting words of King David.   There is a lot of richness in David’s observations, but I want us to take a look at Psalm 23:2, “He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters.”.   I love the imagery of how the Great Shepherd can lead His flock to this serene scene; but I have come to appreciate it even more when I apply it to those times of turmoil in life.   While this can be a wonderful experience throughout our day-to-day lives, it becomes quite important during times of stress and crisis.   As we deal with intense challenges and burnout, we need to go to those quiet places where our minds and spirits can be restored. Are you going through a difficult season in your life?   If so, have you allowed the Lord to...

Communication is an important part of our lives.   In fact, it is so important that we teach the process to our school children and offer it as advanced training for our leaders.   It doesn’t take too much effort to exchange simple information, but if we are going to build deep relationships we need to understand how to be effective communicators.   Now, I would imagine that most of us know this and agree with it, but have you noticed that few of us communicate effectively all the time? Even those people who pride themselves in their communication skills can find themselves failing.   I think one of the biggest challenges we face is when we need it the most.   Have you ever been hustling to accomplish something or deep in thought and had someone interrupt you?   We might be more tolerant when they have an emergency that needs to be addressed, but how do we react when we don’t feel it is all that urgent?   I have to admit that this is one of my weak...

What do we allow to interrupt the important things in life?   Okay, now for the follow-up question:   how long are we willing to allow them to derail us?   We are all going to have times when life takes a turn we aren’t expecting and, when that happens, it is bound to knock us off track.   However, for most of us, there will come a time when a sense of normalcy sets in – are we ready, willing and able to get back in the groove of things? As I was thinking about this the other day, I got to thinking about the Apostle Paul.   As dedicated as he was to the rules and regulations (after all he had been a Pharisee) he was able to make adjustments and return to his core responsibilities.   In one letter he chronicled, “Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent in the deep. I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my...

A few years ago I was growing tired of having to play catch-up when I would have one of those busy weeks and would scramble to get what I needed to get done completed on time.   It didn’t happen often, but something urgent might pop up or I would have one of those weeks where things were stacked on top of each other and would have to hustle to get things ready to go when they needed to go.   I started keeping a monthly “to do” list in association with my calendar and could plan for those hectic times. Now, the reason I bring this up is as a reminder that life can get busy at times, are we prepared for those deadlines?   It might be as simple and routine as hugging our children at the end of the day or as life-changing as the Lord’s Second Coming; but we need to be prepared.   If we simply play things by ear, we are going to end up missing something.   Again, some activities can be done last minute or made up later, but there are some things that we get one s...