Think About It

          One of the most often prevalent discussions these days is, “Will you get the vaccination?”.   There are many who believe it has preventative powers and would volunteer to be first in line.   Others aren’t so sure and are apt to wait to see how it goes.   Then, there are some who just won’t do it – they will not get vaccinated.   Everyone has access to the same information, but they will process it individually.           As I thought about this scenario, I got to thinking about another decision we will all make in our lives, a belief in Jesus.   We all have access to the information about Jesus as written in the Word of God and evidenced in the natural world but it is up to us to decide what we are going to do with it.   Some people believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and accept Him as Lord of their lives.   Others may develop a limited be...

The other day I was thinking about this whole COVID mess and I had a revelation – I need to be careful how and when I express my opinions. What really got my attention was thinking about someone who had lost a family member to the disease hearing people argue about whether the virus is real or is just a political ploy. Honestly, it doesn’t matter what others think, for that individual, it is serious! For them, it isn’t rhetorical debate, it was a life and death issue and death won! The more I thought about, the more I realize how important it is to tame our tongues. Imagine someone who has a child in a drug treatment program having to overhear a heated debate about whether someone with a chemical addition should be incarcerated or merely left out on the street to fend for themselves. What would it be like to be the child of a solider who was killed in Viet Nam to have to hear someone call the conflict a politically irresponsible waste of time and resources? How about being a st...

In preparation of an upcoming holiday trip to West Virginia I have started reading about the Hatfields and McCoys. Now, for you West Virginians who might take offense to being painted with the same brush as the two families, please let me explain. For years, our family has been regaled with stories about how our family had a presence in Logan County, West Virginia back in the day, so I thought I’d start to do a little research and where better to start than with some of the most studied families in United States history. I am just beginning my reading, but I have already learned a couple of things. First, understanding the feud between the Hatfields and McCoys is tough because of the number of people involved – some of whom were related to the principle families on both sides of the conflict. Yet, I think the most important thing I have learned is that feuds aren’t necessarily fueled by incidents, that comes from a lack of forgiveness for the incidents. Especially early in this f...

Several years ago, I heard someone say that it is impossible to multi-task. Their point was that our brains can really only focus on one thing at a time so, while we can get pretty good at shifting gears, we can only have one primary thing going on in our minds at a time. I wasn’t an early advocate of this philosophy (probably because I prided myself on being able to keep several things juggled at one time), but the more I thought about it, the more I believed it to be true. We can only have one priority at a time, so when we are busy with a lot of tasks, we are actually taking time away from our priorities. Now, you might want to argue about the possibility of multi-tasking, but the reason I bring this up is not to debate, but rather to discuss prioritizing. Dealing with multiple things all at once is possible, it is not productive because it diverts our attention away from the other things – the important things. If we are going to be the best we can be, we have to be willin...

What is the role of the church in today’s society? While it might be tempting to consider this previous question and answer “Well, no duh, it is to preach the gospel of Jesus”, but the point of the question centers around our willingness to do this rather than get distracted by everything else going on in the world. Through the years, Christianity has wrestled with its place in the world – often getting dragged into the political and social arenas – and today’s world is no different. It is easy (and fun) to view the church as a place to argue which candidate most represents us or whether mask-wearing is a religious responsibility or if churches should demand constitutional rights, but we must remember that these are not our primary functions. Do they deserve to be discussed – probably, but they are not the function of the Lord’s Church! That focus should go hand-in-hand with our Lord and Leader’s comment, “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” (Luke...

December 7, 1941 … a date which will live in infamy. Most of us are familiar with this quote from President Franklin Roosevelt, but have you ever thought about the impact the event and the statement had on our nation? The attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii and the call to action shaped our nation for years to come. The dedication to overcoming this obstacle gave the U. S. a reason to defeat tyranny and a battle cry to build on. Much like the way the phrase “Remember The Alamo” inspired Texans; the mention of December 7 focused Americans. People who have overcome hardships are those who were willing to confront the challenges head-on. They didn’t back away, nor were they content to allow others to go into battle for them. They took a stand and dedicated their lives to make a difference. There are several challenges facing our communities today – some of them are health-related, others are spiritual and quite a few are moral. The challenge is standing right in front of us, are we ...

The other day I was doing some research on a quote and it led me to an interesting discovery. The quote is “A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still.”. Several people have utilized this quote, but maybe the best known is Dale Carnegie in his book, “How To Win Friends And Influence People”. As I bounced around in cyberspace I landed on a site called “Universal Ethics” that appears to be hosted by Arthur de Leyssac. The reason I am going to this much effort to cite my source is because I believe that someone with a good idea deserves to be recognized. On their site I saw this quote, “A public debate might convince the audience but it generally won't convince the opposing debater. If you really want to convince a specific person rather than an audience, do it in a one-on-one conversation, don't do it in public, and treat it as a joint initiative for discovery rather than a contest.”. The author goes on to say that sometimes people aren’t interested in ch...