Category: Example

11/23/2022 0 Comments

Beating Mediocrity

Janet has her own cleaning service; for years, she had no trouble gaining enough clients to run a successful business because of her work quality. As her business expanded, she hired another worker, and that’s when the problems began. When Janet cleans a room, it is immaculate, but with her new employee Justin, it was not the same. She showed him the cleaning materials to use and demonstrated what “right looks like.” At first, she thought his cleaning lapses merely required on-the-spot corrections. But Justin’s work continually languished. He responded with excuses when she would point out deficiencies rather than learn and improve. After three frustrating months, she had to let him go.

9/7/2022 1 Comment

The Long Walk

Meditation
Romans 8:3-4--What the law could not do since it was limited by the flesh, God did. He condemned sin in the flesh by sending His own Son in flesh like ours under sin’s domain, and as a sin offering, in order that the law’s requirement would be accomplished in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

8/19/2022 1 Comment

Reproduction

My dad loves to teach the men he is discipling the five steps in training a man (applicable to men and women):
1. Tell them why they should follow Christ—Matthew 4:19.
2. Show them how to follow Christ—John 14:21.
3. Get them started in following Christ—Luke 9:23.
4. Keep them going as it relates to following Christ—John 15:4.
5. See that they pass it on . . . reproduce what they have learned—Mark 6:7,12.
Let’s focus on the fifth step establishing that training effectively occurred.

8/11/2022 1 Comment

As Usual

Mary Geegh is one of my heroes. She wrote a fascinating booklet called God Guides. Mary wrote, “I determined to listen to God for guidance in all matters, and I promised Him I would obey whatever He told me.” Mary had a critical spirit towards a coworker, so, in line with her new conviction, she asked God’s guidance on how to repair the rift between them. God told her to give her colleague a fresh egg. Mary thought that would insult her and resisted God’s prompting. But later, with prodding, she did what God asked, and He used that egg to refresh the woman and to bring new love into Mary’s heart for her—all the friction was gone! Mary created a habit that would change her life and give her countless stories of God miraculously working in her and through her for His Kingdom.

6/20/2022 1 Comment

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.

4/30/2022 1 Comment

The Purpose of Religion

Cassandra was baptized in church on Easter in front of hundreds of cheering people. Her testimony was amazing. She spoke of getting pregnant as a young teenager. She shared her struggles with shame, feelings of inferiority, and rejection. Then she testified how a stranger introduced her to Jesus but that she had not followed Him. She credited her husband with getting her involved with the right crowd of people who taught her what it means to pursue God. Now her life is on a heaven-honoring trajectory. She loves ministering to people and most importantly pursuing God.

3/13/2022 0 Comments

Understanding Wisdom

What is the source of wisdom? Is it academic institutions? If we want to be wise is the best method to gain the highest degree and be immersed in learning institutions, listening to teachers and professors? Or is it experience? Do we agree with Confucius? “By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.” Will Rogers had a more colorful adaptation, “There are three kinds of men: The ones that learn by reading. The few who learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence and find out for themselves.”

12/31/2021 0 Comments

Finding Stasis

Meditation
Daniel 5:26-28--This is the interpretation of the message: MENE means that God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end. TEKEL means that you have been weighed in the balance and found deficient.PERES means that your kingdom has been divided and given to the Medes and Persians.

12/7/2021 1 Comment

A Faith of Equal Privilege

The antidote to discrimination and racism is Jesus Christ. Pastor E.V. Hill once shared his response to Black Panthers threatening his life for preaching about “that white Jesus.”
I don’t know anything about a white Christ—I know about Christ, a Savior named Jesus. I don’t know what color He is. He was born in brown Asia, He fled to black Africa, and He was in heaven before the gospel got to white Europe . . . I do know one thing: if you bow at the altar with color on your mind, and get up with color on your mind, go back again and keep going back until you no longer look at His color, but at his greatness and His power—His power to save![1]

12/1/2021 1 Comment

Fire

When was the last time you sat beside a fire, alone, and able to think and meditate? The previous home owners left me a gift of numerous piles of dead branches all over the property. I guess they didn’t have time to burn anything but I still would label their actions a gift because they gave me plenty of reason to clear away brush piles and, in the process, burn. There is something mesmerizing (and therapeutic) about sitting next to a fire and watching it reduce large masses to smoldering ashes. No branch escapes. All that feel the hot fury of flame are engulfed and reduced to residue.

6/15/2021 0 Comments

Suubi House

West Point classmate Bill Bowman shared his story with the Long Eternal Line team who gather each Tuesday night for prayer. Bill suffered a bad car accident that crushed his back and should have left him permanently paralyzed. While in the hospital Bill shared how Jesus held him and comforted him. Bill apologized for not walking the right path and the Lord shared with him that his story was not over yet. Miraculously, Bill and his wife were able to have a baby girl they named Sarah. Bill nicknamed her Suubi—a name that stuck.

9/21/2020 0 Comments

Graduation

Barbara Jo was born on January 14, 1929 in Kellogg, Idaho. Trapped in a nursing home by Covid-19, depressed and unable to leave her room for months, she wasted away to a mere 75 pounds before finally reaching earth’s finish line at the age of 91. Fortunately, her life was not defined by her death.

8/23/2020 1 Comment

Marking People With Grace

Ron and Joyce York

At the age of 88, my dad is walking the final chapters of his life on earth still on fire to share the gospel with any and every person he can. Mark Cahill wrote the book One Thing You Can’t Do In Heaven and that one thing is evangelism. Dad is making sure he maximizes now what he won’t be able to do once he is home.
I’m working on writing a biography of his life and was challenged by an entry in his journal on October 10, 1983 while he was serving as the country leader for the Navigators in the Philippines.

7/31/2020 0 Comments

I & II Samuel

If you want to read great books on leadership, read 1st and 2nd Samuel. Early tradition suggests that 1 and 2 Samuel were originally one book in scripture so I will do my best to examine the combined 55 chapters and share key leadership lessons. No author is named for these books but scholars largely credit the prophets Samuel, Nathan and Gad. Based on 1 Sa. 27:6, the writing may not have been completed until about 930 B.C.[1]

7/27/2020 2 Comments

Block Party

Saturday afternoon we hosted a block party at our home on Westchester. All but two of our neighbors showed up which was downright amazing. About 25 of us shared food and got to know each other a whole lot better. Because of the rain, most of the time was spent eating and talking under the shelter of our cleaned-out garage. One of the best things about fellowship is hearing people’s stories. Most love the opportunity to talk about their lives and there is something bonding about learning the history of those we live near. Perhaps because of all the COVID-19 issues we were even more eager to spend time together.

5/7/2020 0 Comments

Joshua

Meditation
Joshua 14:10-12—"As you see, the Lord has kept me alive these 45 years as He promised, since the Lord spoke this word to Moses while Israel was journeying in the wilderness. Here I am today, 85 years old. I am still as strong today as I was the day Moses sent me out. My strength for battle and for daily tasks is now as it was then. Now give me this hill country the Lord promised me on that day, because you heard then that the Anakim are there, as well as large fortified cities. Perhaps the Lord will be with me and I will drive them out as the Lord promised.”

1/21/2020 1 Comment

The Finest Encouragement

Lew Boore--mending with joy!

Meditation
Acts 16:40--After leaving the jail, they came to Lydia’s house where they saw and encouraged the brothers, and departed.

10/14/2019 0 Comments

Paying Attention to Integrity

Van closed the door to his office and invited Able to sit down. After a few minutes of chatting, Able said he’d found a way to save the company thousands of dollars. It involved manipulating records in order to avoid paying taxes to the IRS. Van asked him if it was legal. Able shifted in his chair and looked down at the plush burgundy carpet before answering. “Boss, technically this is not legal, but in researching this option I discovered from several of my friends in other companies that they do it all the time. If we were to get audited, I could claim it was just an accounting error and I don’t think we would be penalized.” Van rubbed his hands over his eyes and slowly exhaled his breath before answering, “Do it.”

8/29/2019 0 Comments

What's Your Flavor?

Meditation
Matthew 5:13--You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt should lose its taste, how can it be made salty? It’s no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled on by men.

8/12/2019 1 Comment

Daniel

If you have never read through the Old Testament, I would highly recommend you read the book of Daniel. For one thing, the prophetic material found in the book of Revelation cannot be rightly interpreted without a general knowledge of Daniel’s writing. This small book of 12 chapters is highly organized and by its intricate arrangement reveals how incredibly wise Daniel was. Daniel’s ministry covered the length of the Babylonian exile with his last dated prophecy made around 536 B.C. when he was in his eighties.[1]

Photo used under Creative Commons from Rachel Maxey Miles