Think About It

The further we get into the 21 st Century, the more we lose sight of one of the greatest characters from Major League Baseball.   Yogi Berra was a poor kid from St. Louis who made it to the bright lights of Yankee Stadium.   Yogi was a pretty good ballplayer, but most of the world remembers Yogi for his wit and “wisdom”.   Berra had some of the best one-liners ever recorded.   Things like “You can observe a lot just by watching”, “When you come to a fork in the road, take it”, “I knew that record would stand until it was broken”, “Baseball is ninety percent mental.   The other half is physical” and one of my favorites, “How can you think and hit at the same time?”.   Honestly, I don’t know if Yogi said everything he is credited with saying, but I came across another Yogi-ism that was truly thought-provoking, “If you don’t know where you are going, you might wind up someplace else.”.   While this final thought might make us scratch our heads, it can...

One of my favorite biblical words is “meekness”.   I believe that meekness has gotten a bad reputation for meaning weakness, but I don’t think that is the intent of the concept.   Rather than referring to an inability to do something, meekness refers to the self-control of not doing something.   I really enjoy the way that some people have described meekness as power under control and used the illustration of a bridle-led horse.   When a horse is prepared to be ridden, the trainers don’t destroy the physical ability of the powerful animal, they merely teach them to respond to the controls used by the rider.   The horse still has the ability to run fast and the muscle mass to do incredible tasks, but they use them at the direction of their owner. A meek Christian isn’t emasculated to the point that they allow the world to overwhelm them, they merely respond to the directions of their Master.   It isn’t that they “can’t” do what everyone else can do, rathe...

Have you ever heard the religious analogy that describes Christians as the “hands and feet of Christ”?   Have you ever thought about where that comes from?   The other day I was doing some researching and found a poem attributed to Teresa of Avila that includes the words, “Christ has no body but yours, no hands, no feet on earth but yours ... Yours are the feet with which He walks to do good, yours are the hands, with which He blesses all the world ...”.   I realize that there is a lot literary license taken in this work but it seems to make sense.   Jesus showed us how He expected us to live through His life on earth, then left His work up to us.   We are one of the major ways that today’s society can get to know Jesus.   Centuries before Teresa penned her poem, the Apostle Paul provided us with another example of how believers can make a difference, “ Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg ...

I have been reading a biography by Jackie Speier entitled, “Undaunted:   Undaunted: Surviving Jonestown, Summoning Courage, and Fighting Back ” that describes her incredible journey from the jungles of Guyana to Washington D.C. and beyond.   If you aren’t familiar with her story, Speier was part of Leo Ryan’s congressional investigative team that went to Jonestown, Guyana to check on Jim Jones and the People’s Temple.   On November 18, 1978 Ryan’s team was gunned down as they prepared to come back to the United States while Jones led his faithful in a mass suicide (murder).   Speier was shot multiple times and after almost a full day in the sweltering jungle heat was within hours of dying.   Fortunately medical help arrived in time to save Speier and she began her long recovery.   Not only did she have to regain her physical strength, she also had to rebuild her shattered life and dreams.   How did she do it?   In a sense, she willed herself to g...

          I have been blessed with a pretty quick recovery from some health problems I had at the beginning of the summer.  My recovery has gone pretty smoothly and I am feeling really good.  In fact, last weekend I was able to mow the grass (which was a sign that things are almost back to normal).  I am thankful for the prayers and the blessings of recovery.  However, that has also created a bit of an issue for me because my doctors want me to go to cardiac rehab (and I don’t really want to go).  It isn’t that I don’t think I can do it, I just don’t want to put out the money and effort it is going to take to complete the program.  I feel good, I think I can do it on my own – why should I do their routine?  The answer is that I have developed decades of bad habits and this is my chance to make some changes to get my physical health back on track.           As I processed through t...

What is religion?   Typically when we think about religion we conjure up images of church worship or doing religious acts.   While there is value in worshiping and working together as a church, religion is more than this.   When James was teaching the early church what they needed to do to be pleasing to God he noted, “ If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man’s religion is worthless.   Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.” (James 1:26-27).   Religion isn’t just something we do on Sundays, it is the way we live each and every day of our lives. In describing religion, the Bible specifically mentions three things: 1.   Watch our language .   What we talk about and how we talk about it defines our religio...

          Have you noticed that there is a lot of blame being handed out these days, but have you also noticed that we are typically short on assessing personal accountability?  Folks, we have a violence problem in our society and we seem to be helpless in stopping it – or are we?  No, the changes won’t come overnight, but we have to do something.  Maybe this will help.  Let’s stop blaming peripheral people/issues and start focusing on personal accountability.  It is easy to blame violence on “guns” but no firearm has ever loaded itself and started firing!  It is convenient to blame politicians, but I don’t know of a leader who has actually pulled a trigger and killed multiple people.  (By the way – this cuts both ways ... both those who are accused of being soft on gun laws and those who have been accused of not effectively policing their own neighborhoods.)  It is popular to blame videogames, but people are no...