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Someone on the radio said this to his radio audience: "May this be the best year of your life." You sure hope so! In fact, you may settle for a good year. How can we make this year the best year of our lives – or try to make it the best year of our lives? So many times we go through the New Year in a fog and sometimes we crash and burn. How do we "grab the bull by the horns" and take control of the situation, come what may? We find that when we grab this year by the horns sometimes we find o...
Among most movie critics, they would consider David Lean's "Lawrence of Arabia" one of the most acclaimed films of all times. The movie shows amazing vistas of the beautiful Arabian deserts. It has had a powerful impact on filmmakers of the following generations – particularly Academy Award-winning Steven Spielberg. Spielberg said, "I was inspired the first time I saw 'Lawrence.' It made me feel puny. It still makes me feel puny. And that's one measure of its greatness." We live in a world that...
What do you consider your worst enemy? You may say, “Do I have to choose one?” Maybe you have many worst “enemies.” We may wake up in the morning thinking about the worst enemy we will face that day or we have faced for many years. It may come as some past failure or sin. You have dealt with it when the doctor told you had the “big C” called cancer. It may have come in dealing with a family problem. The film “Paul, Apostle of Christ” deals unflinchingly with persecution in the early church. E...
You may have gone to the movie “Overcomer.” It tells a story of a young lady in high school who came from a dysfunctional home. She went through many hardships. She gave up on life and started going down the wrong road. She lived in a broken world and lived a broken life. Finally she met some people who invested in her life and turned her around. She worked hard and won the state championship in cross country because someone believed in her. These people, also with great kindness and love, sho...
You may have gone to the movie “Overcomer.” It tells a story of a young lady in high school who came from a dysfunctional home. She went through many hardships. She gave up on life and started going down the wrong road. She lived in a broken world and lived a broken life. Finally she met some people who invested in her life and turned her around. She worked hard and won the state championship in cross country because someone believed in her. These people, also with great kindness and love, sho...
School will start in about a month. Some parents have great excitement as their children go back to school and have a chance to further their education. The cost for a child to start school and finish their high school education in public schools is around about $150,000. If they go on to college it will cost around another $200,000 or $300,000. If they add in all the time and sacrifice, they wonder if the cost of the education is worth it? Is the money well spent or did they throw their money...
Jim Eichenberger wrote, "In 1934, Theodore Jones and Henry Grob made a discovery most children only dream about. Jones and Grob had started a secret club and were burying the box that would hold the club's treasury and secrets. Digging in the dirt floor of Jones's cellar, the teens discovered the Holy Grail of childhood fantasy – real buried treasure! They first came across a shiny $20 gold coin. When their excavation was complete, the boys had unearthed 3,558 century-old gold coins, a f...
People will celebrate Father's Day this weekend. They will spend about $15 billion to show their great love for their father who has sacrificed so much (we know of some exceptions). Comic book heroes still have great popularity. In 2017 alone, six superhero movies brought in more than $4 billion (US) at the box office. These movies raise a perplexing question. What draws such large crowds to these movies? People may have many answers, but could the real answer be that people need a superhero to...
The scholars can debate a mother's most glorious work and a mother does many, many important works. Sometimes a person has a hard time determining a mother's most important works because she does so many. Elisa Morgan wrote that her daughter texted her asking for Elisa's grandmother's Peppermint Ice Cream Pie. Elisa started going through her grandmother's recipes. She found it and sent it to her daughter. She then made this astute observation. "I wonder what other family heirlooms might be...
You may have had someone correct you many times as a child but you did not appreciate it. But as an adult, you may greatly appreciate it. The parent or adult that chastens you did you a great favor by helping you to see what is right and hate the wrong. Maybe as an adult, you have an inner circle of friends and loved ones and maybe even a mate who speaks words of wisdom into your life. You really do not care hear what they are saying but you know that you need their words of wisdom. Sometimes a...
Someone on the radio said this to his radio audience: “May this be the best year of your life.” You sure hope so! In fact you may settle for a good year. How can we make this year the best year of our lives or try to make it the best year of our lives? So many times we go through the New Year in a fog and sometimes we crash and burn. How do we “grab the bull by horns” and take control of the situation come what may? We find that when we grab this year by the horns sometimes we find ourselves in...
We wonder if there is life after Christmas. In fact, we wonder if life is worth the living. We went through Christmas, now we have to go back to work to pay for all the bills. For some of us, we have Christmas all year long because the Christ Child lives in our lives and we have a new lease on life each day. Randy Kilgore tells about a coworker who made a confession to him that he lived a “comfortable narcissistic” life that had no meaning and he was not good “Jesus material.” He wanted to know...
I want to ask you an important question: “Who owns the future?” Adolph Hitler had the right answer. Supposedly Hitler made this statement: “The future is with those who are with the youth.” If he gave that answer, he gave the right answer. Many groups or people are battling for the minds of the youth. Whoever controls the minds of the youth today owns tomorrow. That is why we are concerned about Christian education or education in general. We want to control the minds of the youth – not to in...
As Thanksgiving approaches we have many blessings that God has given us over the last year. We want to thank Him for all these blessing. We have a measure of health; we have hope, happiness and help from God. In fact sometimes we have seen God bless us in many miraculous ways far more than we could image. God has kept us safe going up and down the highway. In some situations if God had not intervened we would not be sitting here in church today. We have seen His love over and over again...
Most of us have had to deal with a difficult tragedy. Maybe we have had a loved one die in a car accident. The police came to our door in the middle of the night and told us the bad news. Some people have had to face the problem of a child dying young. It may come as losing a job. Sometimes a doctor walks in and says, “I’m sorry but I can’t help you.” We could list many more. In fact we would rather not even talk about them. If we do, we still have to face the pain. Maltbie Babcock, a 19th-ce...
What do you consider your true identity? Are you sure? Our society is trying to find their true identity. They go around asking, “Who am I?” I have some great news. You do not have to go around looking for your identity and trying to figure out if you are a male or female. You do not have to try to find your identity (personal worth) in marriage, being single, having a family, work, wealth, pleasure, education, power broker, or in a million avenues that lead to a dead end and sometimes to tot...
Kristen Holmberg shares about the opportunity to sing in the choir. The instructor had her come to the piano and as she played Kristen sang along. After she finished, the instructor sent her to the counseling office to take another class. From that day on she quit singing until she read in Psalms 98:1 “Sing to the LORD a new song, for He has done marvelous things.” David commands all people to sing not because of their ability to sing but because of what God has done. From then on Kristen sta...
To celebrate Winston Churchill’s 80th birthday, the British parliament asked artist Graham Sutherland to paint a portrait of this powerful statesman. Churchill allegedly asked the artist: “As a cherub, or the Bulldog?” He felt these two images would display his great dignity. Sutherland, however, said he would paint him as he truly saw him. Churchill did not like the results of seeing himself slumped down in a chair wearing his stern scowl look on his face. He put the picture in the cella...
We have seen many powerful military leaders. When they say, “Jump!” the person receiving the command says, “How high?” We like to see people with that kind of power. They speak a word and someone immediately carries it out. We respect them highly. Paul found himself in prison in Jerusalem with his own Jewish people wanting him dead. In fact, more than 40 men formed a conspiracy to kill Paul. They even went to the Jewish leaders who helped in the plot to take Paul’s life. Something interesting ha...
Basketball season is going on and now March Madness (heavy on the madness part) starts. Alva basketball teams completed gallantly in the play offs but did not quite make it. They wanted the ultimate trophy in the state playoffs – the Golden Basketball given to one team that wins the state championship. We have a problem. Some will lose. Some losses break our hearts. Don’t you wish you could always win in basketball and never lose? Make the final shot that wins the game and the crowd goes wil...
Someone has said, “If you can keep your head when everyone is losing theirs, you do not know the facts.” It is easy to lose our confidence in a world gone mad. We wonder if someone is in their right mind if they face the future with confidence. The song, “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so” has a powerful message and one of the most enduring songs of children and adults. Written by Anne B. Warner in the 1800s, this song talks about Christ’s deep love for us and our love for...
Christmas has arrived and are you ready for it to come? Yes, you may have you last-minute presents to buy, getting all the food for the family and sending cards. Yet in the midst of all the wonderful blessings, do you feel that you may be missing out on something? We see many expressions of love at Christmas and yes, we see lack of expressions of love. We stop and ask ourselves the hard question, “Why is everyone doing all these wonderful deeds of kindness?” In fact, they are going ove...
There comes a time in your life that you have to stand up and be counted for the truth. We find that hard to do. Five hundred years ago this last Friday a man stood up and was counted for the cause of Christ. His stand forever changed the course of history. In 1517 on Oct. 31 a lowly monk of the Roman Catholic Church challenged the problem of indulgences. Indulgences meant that you could buy your way into heaven. Martin Luther nailed his complaints on the door of All Saints’ Church in Wittenberg...
When was the last time you were arrested and thrown in jail? How long did you spend in jail? We don’t have to face those decisions when we accept Christ at the present time. Around the world many people have to face that problem because of their faith. Jaydee Miller spoke here Sept. 26 during the school of missions. He told about a man named Doxian in China who was part of the police surveillance of the underground church. He killed many Christians. He could tell those who committed their l...
On Aug. 29 we had some men come to repair the gutters on the church. I said to the owner of the company, “Do us a good job.” He said that he always does a good job, “that is why you see my signs all over Alva.” They put in a tremendous amount of effort to really repair the gutters in the right way. They did “do us a good job.” As we have reflected about Labor Day this past weekend, we are reminded of the many people who willingly “do us a good job” and they love doing it. For some it does no...
