Think About It

Today is one of my favorite days of the year. Today is Game 1 of the Texas Rangers Baseball season. All is right with the world now! If you have been reading my stuff for a while, you are probably aware of how big of a baseball fan I am – especially when it comes to the Rangers. I probably am more of a Texas fan than a pure baseball fan; but there are certain things I do like about the game in and of itself. One of the great things about the MLB season is that it consists of 162 games, so it is a marathon more than a sprint. Another thing I like about the game at a professional level is that this time of year everyone is tied and everyone has an equal chance to make the playoffs and win the championship. There are no rankings, there are just empirical standings. You win and you control your destiny. However, one of my favorite things about the game is that each day begins a new opportunity. When the final out is made, that game is history – you can’t change it so you might ...

Is it opportunity or ability that brings about success?  I believe the answer is “yes”!  To be successful, we must have the abilities we need to succeed at whatever endeavor we undertake, but I also believe that we must make the most of the opportunities that present themselves.  Now, notice I didn’t say, “the opportunities” that we receive because I think that we have an obligation to go out and find them.  If we sit back and wait until someone hands us something on silver platter, we’ll probably be waiting a long time.  If we are waiting for someone to point out our opportunities for us, we will miss way too many of them.   It is easy to look at people who have become successful and be skeptical of them – thinking that maybe they had more opportunities than others – but before we criticize them for the doors that have been opened to them, let’s examine if the doors were really opened for them or if they went around turning door knobs until they found...

Have you ever thought about how God disciplines us?  Okay, maybe a different way to ask this is how can God punish us?  Many of us believe in an eternal hell as absolute spiritual punishment, but have you given much thought to what He can do in the here and now?  It is tempting to envision God sending some horrific plague on us to try to teach us a lesson, but I think there is something else He can do and may do more often than we might realize.  What if God were to just go “hands off” on us and leave us to our own consequences?  On the surface, this might not seem like much of a punishment, but think about how efficient mankind is at messing things up on our own?  With God’s help, we can be successful in living a good life, but when we are left to our own, we are pretty much destined to make a mess out of it. When Paul discussed God’s relationship with mankind, he described ungodly thought then observed, “Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their ...

Ah … Spring is finally here!  So what! I know a lot of people look forward to spring and that’s great.  There are a lot of neat things that happen during this time of year.  There is new growth and new life all around us.  However, spring is not the panacea that it appears to be.  In fact, truth be told, according to several sources, suicide begins to peak this time of year.  (Actually, winter is when the fewest attempts occur – especially in December.) Now, the reason for this sobering news is to help us remember that happiness and contentment don’t come from some mystical formula.  We can’t just hope that the coming of spring, the beginning of a new job, a tax refund or anything else will produce a lasting change in our lives.  Sure, they may help provide temporary relief, but until we address the underlying struggles, we probably won’t really feel better.  That’s the bad news; but there is good news.  If you are hoping to feel better,...

When the Old Testament prophet, Malachi, was recording God’s message to the people of Israel, he pointed out that God told them He wasn’t pleased with their worship. The Lord was dissatisfied with what the people were passing off as “sacrifices”. They were presenting the lame, sick, blemished and stolen animals to their spiritual Father and religious Master! While this was bad enough, we get the impression that the people were upset with God’s disdain for their giving less than the best. The problem is summed up in the Lord’s rebuke, “You also say, ‘My, how tiresome it is!’ And you disdainfully sniff at it,” says the Lord of hosts, “and you bring what was taken by robbery and what is lame or sick; so you bring the offering! Should I receive that from your hand?” says the Lord.” (Malachi 1:13). The Israelites seemed to whine about how difficult it is – almost saying, “We are doing the best we can!” … but is that true? At one point in the discussion, God wishes that someone would s...

Even though my sister was born on this date, outside of our family, she is not the most famous person to have a March 20th birthday. There are several people who celebrated birthdays on this day, one of the most influential in modern times is Fred Rogers. Mr. Rogers wasn’t dynamic; but his calming, caring nature influenced a lot of people. One of my favorite quotes from him states, “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’”. As I thought about this, I started reflecting on many of the crisis scenes I have seen and, while there is typically a focus on victims in a crisis, if you look deeper, probably in the background, you’ll see helpers. You will see people who are willing to give of themselves – people who are willing to exchange their peace to reduce other people’s crisis. These helpers make life livable! As I thought about this statement, I was reminded that, as h...

I have become pretty good at being Dr. Google. When I, or someone I know about, experiences a symptom, I jump on the internet and come up with a diagnosis. Now, when you combine my love of research and my tendency to be compulsive, I can spend a lot of time diagnosing stuff. While this doesn’t mean that I am right, it does show a propensity to try to help others. As I thought about those of us who spend a lot of time researching physical ailments I wondered how many of us could do the world a favor if we had the same fervor dealing with spiritual issues? What could happen if, when we realized that we or someone we cared about was struggling with a spiritual concern, we investigated the issue in the Bible? The presence of online bibles has made it so much easier to do research and share information quickly. If we care enough about people’s physical health that we dive into the sources to help them feel better, imagine how much good we could do if we went to the Source to help them...