Category: Observation

5/28/2023 1 Comment

Listening When We Don't Want To

Mike and Robbie boarded the light rail on their way to a Seattle Mariners game. A few feet from their seats sat a dirty, smelly man suffering from an addiction, mental health challenge, or both. Mike was repulsed and cautious toward this man conversing with an imaginary person. Mike noted, “He rearranged his clothing and belongings continuously and removed and replaced a fake mustache.” Mike prayed that he would not attack them or be a problem. The Holy Spirit had another plan. He whispered in Mike’s ear that this was a man with a name, a man loved by Him, and that Mike should approach and talk to him. But that was not something Mike wanted to do, and for most of the train ride, he resisted listening to persistent promptings.

4/20/2023 1 Comment

The Critical Importance of Mentoring

Will is a senior at Liberty University and a member of the Army ROTC program. He will commission as an officer in less than a month. I was blessed when he asked me to help him create a sponsorship program for their ROTC department. In this case, sponsors are older men or women who have served in the military as senior officers or NCOs and who are willing to be mentors to any of the cadets who would like to be paired with them to meet and learn and become better prepared to serve as officers. With the help of four mature individuals I was able to recruit, we shared with several cadets who came out on a Monday evening to learn about the critical importance of mentoring.

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.

2/13/2022 0 Comments

Explain This

Meditation
Proverbs 30:2-3--I am more stupid than any other man, and I lack man’s ability to understand. I have not gained wisdom, and I have no knowledge of the Holy One.

3/7/2021 0 Comments

Mama, You're Singing in the Cracks!

Randy told us the following story at our elders’ meeting. A young boy was sitting at the piano playing a well-known song when his mother came up behind him and started singing. The boy stopped playing and looked up at his mother and said, “Mama, you’re singing in the cracks!” The poor woman was off-key and the boy wanted her to know it.

12/18/2019 0 Comments

Futile or Fulfilled?

Ecclesiastes is a wisdom book written almost certainly by King Solomon. The book title in Hebrew is Qōheleth and translates “Teacher.” A predominant theme of Ecclesiastes is that “under the sun, all is futile.” Futility comes from the Hebrew word hevel which stresses that which is empty and transitory. This key word occurs 38 times and is used to describe outward, physical things as well as inward thoughts. [1] It is often paired with the phrase “a pursuit of the wind.”

5/28/2016 0 Comments

Incense--Fragrant Prayer

Walking into my office downstairs I was immediately aware of a great aroma. That observation was quickly followed by one of relief. I had left my fragrance lamp on all night and that could have been a fire hazard. Fortunately, the melted eucalyptus/mint-laced wax cubes created a wonderful scent and nothing had overheated.

Meditation
Psalm 141:2—May my prayer be set before You as incense, the raising of my hands as the evening offering.

8/19/2014

Blinded by the Obvious

Meditation
2 Kings 4:43—But Elisha’s attendant asked, “What? Am I to set 20 loaves before 100 men?”
“Give it to the people to eat,” Elisha said, “for this is the what LORD says: ‘They will eat, and they will have some left over.’”
Matthew 14:17—“But we only have five loaves and two fish here,” they said to Him.

4/5/2014

See the Need

I had two speaking engagements on the same weekend that required me to wear my dress uniform with a bow tie for one event and a long tie for the other. The night before traveling, as I got into bed, I remembered I had only packed a long tie. I decided to get it first thing in the morning before Kathleen took me to the airport.

9/20/2009 0 Comments

Angels

On several occasions, I have read or heard amazing testimonies of people who experienced God’s deliverance via angels from an enemy intent on their destruction. God’s Word extensively teaches us about angels with over a 105 references to them in the Old Testament and more than 170 times in the New Testament. The Bible teaches that angels:

1/8/2009 0 Comments

One Star

Coffee Cottage is a popular coffee shop near George Fox University. One of their favorite draws for students is the free wireless service. Often I come in to find many tables occupied with folks writing papers or working projects on their laptops. But unless a person knew that wireless was free and available, they could work on their computer and have no idea they could access internet connection capability simply by asking for the password.

12/29/2006 0 Comments

Youth

George Barna is a seasoned pollster and director of the Barna Group. His group’s survey results in 2006 reveal some disturbing trends. Listed below are three of the twelve most significant findings this year.

7/28/2006 0 Comments

Safety

The Deschutes River in Oregon is 173.4 miles long. It runs through rugged forest and deserted desert sometimes cascading with terrific roar, sometimes ambling like some peaceful toddler. It is a great river to fish for steelhead and salmon. On the lower Deschutes people often come to whitewater raft. And for that experience, my son, Stephen and I, joined 17 folks from Southwest Hills Baptist Church.

2/3/2006 0 Comments

Sensitive

William did an amazing thing this past Christmas. The eleven-year old son of Cindy and David carefully selected each Christmas gift for his parents and his older brother, Walt. The dynamics of this family are not unusual. The oldest son has close ties to his dad while the youngest is close to his mother. That is why William’s gift was so special. William desired to have a better relationship with his father. So he wrote David a touching letter that pointed out his own understanding of why their relationship was weak. Then he mentioned his desire to be close to his father. Inside the letter was $10 William gave to his dad to purchase a fishing pole so they could go spend time together as father and son—fishing.

11/26/2005

Vigilant

I wish you could see what I see. Outside my study window, a squirrel sits in our tire swing. He bends his head beneath the black rubber but only for a moment. Quickly he pops back up and surveys the yard. This process repeats for several minutes until a small Voice reminds me of a vital truth. The squirrel knows he has natural enemies he must avoid to live; whether it is Bear, our good-natured Rottweiler, Mel, our stalking cat, or some dive-bombing hawk. There are no old, careless squirrels in our neighborhood.

9/13/2004 0 Comments

September 13th, 2004

12/18/2003 0 Comments

Unrecognized

She sits on the sofa biting down on the flesh of her left index finger. It’s an old habit and the sure indicator of mounting frustration. The pattern started near the end of college and extends through five jobs, a mediocre marriage and raising four children. Allisson hardly feels His presence anymore. She’s surrounded by friends and truth be told, spends hours each week instant messaging them or talking on the phone. She carts her kids to sports events. She’s seen every elementary play and never missed a parent-teacher meeting. Pastor Mike calls her first if the nursery helper calls in sick. She is the model of dependability. So why does Allisson feel dry like some sponge left in the sun? Why does she cry when her husband asks her what’s wrong?

10/11/2003 0 Comments

Maintenance

Do you remember the 507thMaintenance Company and it’s infamous soldier—PFC Jessica Lynch? She was badly hurt, the sole survivor in her Humvee which crashed into a disabled truck attempting to escape an ambush. Lynch did not fight the enemy as the media first reported. But another fellow soldier did—PFC Patrick Miller. He won the Silver Star for his valiant efforts and a Purple Heart. Miller was fortunate to have survived and later as a captive to be rescued by a Marine patrol. You see he and those who could fight almost all experienced jammed weapons. Their rifles barely worked because they rarely cleaned and maintained them. It had been seven months since Miller last fired his M16! Evidently, the soldiers of the 507th took their weapons for granted. Their primary job was to repair and maintain equipment in the rear. They did not expect to be involved in any fighting.

9/8/2003 0 Comments

Observant

In the early fall of 1976, homesick Panya Sawan walked the streets of Newberg, Oregon. While his feet moved his mind questioned if he made a big mistake. Yet, as much as he missed his family, the thought of returning to his Thailand home was equally painful. Would his family consider him a failure?

9/27/2002

Distractions

The bride stood beside the groom radiant. Sitting next to me, Dan wondered what chemical process takes place that allows a woman to practically glow! There was a spiritual vibrancy as well. It was obvious that Jason and Shelby were committed as much to glorifying God as they were to consummating their marriage. But I found it difficult to concentrate as the two lovers recited their vows.

Photo used under Creative Commons from Rachel Maxey Miles