Category: Considerate

5/26/2026 2 Comments

Lettuce Bless You

We are in a drought in SE Georgia. Nevertheless, the spinach and lettuce I planted have flourished thanks to some very rich, amended soil. Since you can only eat so much lettuce, and it is not great for freezing, Stacy texted several of our neighbors to see if they would like some. Everyone responded, “Yes.” So, I bagged up lettuce and made deliveries. Though we did not ask for anything, in return we were given two dozen eggs, a whole carton of blueberries, and peaches. Neighbors shared from their bounty, and I was struck by how we were blessed beyond what we had given. “Lettuce bless you,” was met with “We berry much appreciate you.” (C’mon, everyone needs a dad joke now and then).

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3/14/2026 0 Comments

What the Gospel Looks Like

David Nasser

David Nasser was invited in his car late at night to a Southern Baptist youth group meeting the next evening by his weed-sharing friend.[1] He told his friend he needed his parents’ permission, so the two of them went inside David’s house. David yelled out to his sleeping parents that he was sorry to wake them, but needed to know if it was okay for him to attend his friend’s church group the next day. Expecting a solid “No” from his Shiite Muslim father, he was surprised when his dad asked him the name of the church. His friend yelled out, “Shades,” synonymous with Shades Mountain Baptist Church. “I know those people,” his dad replied and gave David permission to go.

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10/3/2025 1 Comment

Treasure in Hand

CBS News carried a heartwarming story about nine-year-old Jameson, the young Philadelphia Phillies fan whose dream was to catch or acquire a big league baseball. His parents bought tickets for seats positioned along the third base line, where the ball girl routinely tossed foul balls on the field up to fans in the stands. Sure enough, in the fifth inning, Jameson got a ball. Later, while watching the game, he overheard a woman ask the ball girl if she could get a ball for her mother, Donna, who was at the game to celebrate her 80th birthday. As you can imagine, youth are the priority, and the chances of Donna getting a ball were remote. So Jameson had his prize, but several innings later, he did something astounding for a boy with treasure in hand.

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6/17/2025 1 Comment

There is no God

An older woman was bent over by the side of the road, working on a cross and flower arrangement on the corner of Colerain and Douglas Drive. Her black Toyota was parked on the grass just off the road, and Stacy thought it would be a good idea to see if she was okay. So I dropped her off and then executed a U-turn to park behind them.

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5/16/2025 1 Comment

To Be Entrusted

Padel Code

Beth* walked off the court before our game started, sat down by the chain-link fence, and sobbed. Then she grabbed her gear and left the pickleball courts. Candace caught up with her and tried to comfort her. While that was going on, Jimmy (who was going to be her partner) came over and explained what had transpired. He commented to her that he did not enjoy playing with her in a previous game because she was too loud and excitable. Beth was already aware that her behavior might be too much for people, so Jimmy’s words increased her insecurity and hurt her feelings.

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4/22/2025 0 Comments

Fully Mature

In a conversation bemoaning people's lack of curiosity about others today, 81-year-old Ross shared an interesting observation he learned from someone he respected. “We are high in connectivity and low in connection.” People are more engaged on social media than ever, but they are making fewer connections because most posts are self-focused. He identified this as expressive individualism, where “what I have to say is more important than what I have to hear.”

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3/25/2025 1 Comment

A Fabulous Debt

Our dogs can be obnoxious. Whenever our next-door neighbor’s kids or dogs play in their backyard, Sig and Uzi run along the wooden fence barking with some dog-only-knows obsession. When birds fly overhead or geese land on the pond, they race the length of the yard yapping, trying to create a “no-fly zone.” Phil and Julie never complain. Graciously, they say the noise does not bother them and they like dogs so don’t worry about it.

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2/25/2025 0 Comments

Crafting Circles Not Cliques

Todd Foreman

My West Point classmate Todd Foreman is the most generous person I know in helping those around him, whether they be friends, coworkers, family, or those who are underprivileged, disabled, neglected, or hurting. Todd has a soft spot in his heart that is bigger than the state of Texas, where he resides. Sometimes, to his detriment, he puts the needs of others before his own needs in keeping with the Apostle Paul’s admonition, “Do nothing out of rivalry or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves. Everyone should look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others” (Philippians 2:3,4). Todd is a make-the-circle-bigger kind of leader.

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2/11/2025 1 Comment

A Booster

Larry and Valencia Turrentine

Larry leads a group of military academy graduates in our weekly Tuesday night prayer ZOOM® calls with a brief devotional and prayer. His words often encourage us. When I asked Larry what we could pray for him for the year, his answer was thoughtful and four-fold. He asked for prayer for those he was financially counseling and coaching who were in debt. He requested a benevolent, discerning heart for those needing love and financial assistance. Larry sought wisdom in leading online classes to facilitate spiritual growth. He solicited energy to not grow weary in visiting those who were bedridden and suffering from dementia.

Larry often sends me encouraging texts. He is a caring friend I go to for advice, a good listener, and a gentleman who, above all, seeks to honor God. I thank God for bringing him into my life and the lives of countless others. Larry is a booster.

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9/11/2024 1 Comment

Debating

Meditation
Jude 9--Yet Michael the archangel, when he was disputing with the Devil in a debate about Moses’ body, did not dare bring an abusive condemnation against him but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”

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6/19/2023 0 Comments

Using Discernment

Ann faced a challenging situation in her new supervisory role with a nonprofit company that recently hired her. One of the employees, Calista, who worked on a different team, was giving her a tough time. Calista had applied for the job Ann now held and resented that she was not chosen. She used Ann’s inexperience to belittle her on calls (shared by others in the organization) and was rude when speaking to her. Ann realized she needed Calista’s help, but she first had to figure out a way to win her over, and that did not seem easy. So she asked for prayer from her close friends and asked God for His assistance.

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5/17/2023 0 Comments

Put the Spotlight on Me!

Loren and Ralph Erickson

On Saturday, family and friends gathered to honor and remember Ralph Erickson. Ralph lived a whole life of 90 years, serving as an Army Chaplain, a Clinical Pastor, and a Grief Counselor. Married twice (both of his wives, Joanna and Darlene, passed away), Ralph was a man who loved Jesus and who cared deeply about his family and people. He served as an Army Chaplain for 24 years, with two tours in Vietnam. He received the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star, and the Air Medal (a medal for aviators awarded him for the incredible number of hours he spent on helicopters to minister to troops).

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12/31/2022 1 Comment

Schlep Naches

Schlep naches is a Yiddish phrase that means “deriving pleasure from the achievement of others.” In her book, The Myths of Happiness, Sonja Lyubomisrsky wrote:
The surprising finding is that the closest, most intimate, and most trusting relationships appear to be distinguished not by how the partners respond to each other’s disappointments, losses, and reversals but how they react to good news. Flourishing relationships have been revealed to be those in which the couple responds “actively and constructively”—that is, with interest and delight—to each other’s windfalls and successes . . . Both men and women who say that their partners respond in this “active-constructive” way report the highest levels of satisfaction, trust, and intimacy in their relationships.

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12/23/2022 0 Comments

Practice Hospitality This Holiday Season

Hospitality unites people. It helps us find room to help others in need and is the antidote to hostility and division. This holiday season, especially in these times of intense division, we should all practice this virtue and apply its power to strengthen relationships at home, work, with our fellow citizens, and even strangers. In the Christmas story (Luke 2:1-20), Mary was in labor while her husband, Joseph, sought shelter. The innkeeper had no available rooms, but seeing Mary’s desperate situation, offered the holy family shelter in a stable where the animals resided.

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12/6/2022 2 Comments

The Best Message Never Preached

Dan with Ralph Holland

Ralph was invited to preach by pastors who had seen his television program broadcast throughout Latin America. Two pastors met him at the airport and took him to the venue—an auditorium full of worshipers. As the service progressed, the host pastor asked Ralph to be finished preaching by 9:00 p.m. so people who required public transportation could make the last bus. Two groups provided music and even played some of the same songs. An offering was taken, and the person facilitating it decided to preach a short message and then had one of the bands come up and play yet another song. By the time Ralph was introduced to speak it was 8:55!

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7/22/2022 0 Comments

Revisiting Grace

There is a thoughtful piece on grace circulating on Facebook that I have amplified and maximized with apologies to the unknown author.

Grace constitutes unearned or unmerited favor. She is seen throughout the Bible. Grace means promotion, not based on qualifications. When she speaks, protocols are suspended. So, King Ahasuerus extends the scepter to his Queen Esther. With Grace at work, laws are set aside for a higher purpose. A hungry David understood this when he ate consecrated bread (1 Samuel 21:6). Jesus commended his insight because “The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27). A Samaritan woman with five different husbands was blessed by a thirsty grace-giving Savior. An adulteress experienced no stones from a sin-convicted crowd. When Grace acts, pedigrees and ethnic background are irrelevant, so Joseph, the Hebrew prisoner, became Egypt’s second most powerful leader. When Grace operates, educational qualifications are thrown out. Fishermen become disciples, to the dismay of the religious elite. Grace instills hope in the hopeless, joy in the forlorn, and peace in the agitated. She has your back while she holds your heart. She transforms lament into a dancing melody. She is the warmth that accompanies light, and she is God’s gift to you forever.

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6/20/2022 2 Comments

Honoring Our Elderly

Patricia P. Driscoll and Celia Straus wrote in Hidden Battle on Unseen Fronts, “As a society, we don’t take very good care of one another. Ours is a disposable culture: our children, our elders, our ill and infirm, our natural resources are often ignored, overlooked, forgotten or mistreated.” Did you know that respect for the elderly is tied in scripture to reverence for God? God did not make people obsolete, objects of derision or relics to be ignored or kept out of the way. We as a society have done this because collectively, we view feebleness and weakness as properties to be avoided. We don’t wish to be reminded of the last chapters or days of life before death. We want to be strong, healthy and admired. But we see life from such a limited and sadly vain vantage. God made life, and He made it with eternity in mind. When we disrespect the elderly, we disrespect what He created, which is never a good practice.

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9/4/2021 0 Comments

Parable of the Sack

Once upon a true time, a woman was carrying a heavy sack of cereals on her head down a dusty Kenyan road. As she walked the rutted earth on that hot sunny afternoon, a man in a blue, paint-faded pickup truck pulled up alongside her and asked, “Je! Ungependa safari?” (Would you like a ride?). The woman, after wiping the sweat off her brow, smiled at him and said, “Ndio Asante” (Yes, thank you). So, he pulled over to the side of the road, put the truck in park, and got out to help the woman. She put the sack on the truck bed and the man assisted her in climbing into the back. Then he returned to his cab and continued on his journey.

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2/12/2019 0 Comments

What Right Looks Like

Meditation
Acts 10:1,2—There was a man in Caesarea named Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian Regiment. He was a devout man and feared God along with his whole household. He did many charitable deeds for the Jewish people and always prayed to God.

It should not surprise us that Cornelius was God’s choice to first bring the gospel to the Gentiles. When we study his profile, it is inspiring and gives us a clear picture of what right looks like and thus why he was favored in God’s eyes. Cornelius was:

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9/3/2018 0 Comments

Considerate

Two exhausted, firemen came into a diner around 6 a.m. after working tirelessly for 12 hours to put out a fire. Liz Woodward took their order and just happened to overhear the two firefighters discussing their tiresome battle. Later, when Tim and Paul went to pay for their breakfast, their bill contained this message:
Your breakfast is on me today—thank you for all that you do; for serving others and for running into the places everyone else runs away from. No matter your role, you are courageous, brave, and strong. Thank you for being bold and badass everyday. Fueled by fire and driven by courage. What an example you are. Get some rest.—Liz

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