Author: admin

I don’t remember whether I was on the super slab or if I was on a side road, but I was travelling behind a clean looking dump truck. I was up close enough to clearly read the neat block-lettered sign on the back of his dump bed: Warning Stay Back 200 Feet. Not Responsible for broken glass. As I thought about how clean the truck looked and bemused the fact of why they put that sign on the back, I suddenly heard a loud “Whap!” I instantly knew it was the sound of a rock hitting the windshield and cracking it. I looked in the direction of the hit and sure enough, there was the small star of a crack. My reaction was, “Well I’ll be! Here I was just sitting here thinking about what that sign said, and the very thing happens to me!” We must do more than just sit there and read the sign if we are going to keep from getting hit by the rocks of life. As soon as we read the sign, we had better take some evasive action. To delay is to make ourselves more liable to take a hit.

Lot was told that the city he was living in was going to be destroyed. He got up and went out to tell his son’s in laws to get out of the city, that it was about to be destroyed. They thought he was joking. They did not take the word that was given to them seriously. I am sure they sat around and talked about Lot among themselves, laughing at the message he was giving them. Even Lot, on the morning of the great destruction dilly-dallied around so that the angels had to grab him and his family by the hand and literally drag them out, the Lord being merciful to them. So they were brought out of the city and the Lord rained fire and brimstone down on Sodom and Gomorrah destroying everyone and everything in the corrupted place. Even after all that, Lot’s wife looked back and became a pillar of salt (Genesis 19).

Life and eternity is no joke. Jesus is the sign that is given to us to experience abundant life now and for all eternity. If we sit there and just read the sign and muse on its meaning and we never commit our lives to him to allow him to give us his life and guide us in his way, then we open ourselves to eternal destruction. You don’t want that rock to hit your glass. With the sign given, quickly turn your life to Jesus and obey what his Word says to do. Ask to be filled with and led by his Spirit. As we are quick to follow his way, he will take us by the hand and lead us out of the place of corruption and destruction and bring us into a place of present and eternal peace and rest.

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The Lord instructed Lot to leave the city because he was about to destroy it. Lot lived in the Sodom and Gomorrah area where sexual perversion was rampant, and God decided to clean house. He does have the right to do that. He can do it with water, with fire, or with anything he so desires. But Lot apparently sort of had one foot in the world and one foot hobbling along with God. He was dragging his feet about getting out of the city. The Bible says Lot “lingered” (Genesis 19:16).The angels of the Lord had to grab him and his family by the hand and literally drag them out. By the mercies of God, they were taken outside the city. He was then told to run to the mountains and not look back. Lot did not like that. He said he was concerned with what evil might befall him in the mountains, so he requested to go to the next city. That was agreed on and off toward the city they went. All seemed to be going well when a terrible thing happened. Lot’s wife looked back to where they were coming from, and the Bible says she turned to a pillar of salt (verse 26). Lot about lost it all by lingering from making the exodus, no doubt because of his attachment to the world. Worse than that, Lot’s wife becomes a dead, good for nothing pile of dirty salt by her attachment to the world, and longing to be a part of it.

Jesus said whosoever does not forsake all that he has cannot be his disciple (Luke 14:33). God has set things up so there is total blessing that comes from total commitment. So often, through his mercy, he blesses us in spite of us. But his perfect way is like joining the army. You exchange your life and your rights for his life and his rights over you. As you are trained in this way, you become an instrument through which God can speak, act, gain dominion, and set captives free in every way and be blessed. Lot lingered and lost his wife and about lost it all. When God calls us to follow him, we don’t need to linger with one hand holding to him and another hand holding to “them.” There is extreme blessing in loving the Lord our God with all (that is “all”) of our heart, mind, soul, and strength and loving our neighbor as ourselves (Luke 10:27). He’s talking about leaving all behind and loving all around as being a way of life. Deviation from this is lingering and positioning ourselves to lose. Rather than being a lingering Lot, we can choose to be a lover of the Lord with all our hearts. That’s the way to abundant life in every way. Love God instead of linger with the world.

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In the pursuit of independence, with the liberty to live and worship in the way one so desires, this country was born. There was persuasion from a dominating force, Great Britain, to keep the thirteen colonies under their jurisdiction. The people in pursuit of liberty chose not to submit to their demands. Lethal force in the form of the British army was used to bring the people back under their control. Lethal force was met with lethal force. The revolt was known as the Revolutionary War. George Washington led the people to victory and the United States of America was born. We celebrate this independence on July fourth. Our motto is “In God We Trust”.

In every person there is an innate desire to be free. We all want to be free spiritually, mentally, emotionally, in family, financially, socially, and eternally. The good news is that God wants us to be free in all these areas. He has provided the way for that freedom by sending Jesus Christ who obtained this for us. Man, in his pursuit for freedom, has come up with all kinds of religious beliefs and activities and systems of mental and emotional disciplines and exercises to be free in those areas. There are programs to address the pursuit of freedom in families, financially, and socially. Jesus came and boldly declared “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6). He made it plain that he was the path to the Father for eternal freedom. He also plainly said that he came to give life abundantly for every area of life. And, he told us that there is a thief who is out to steal, kill, and destroy that abundance (John 10:10). That thief is Satan, who is working through sin and walking about with lethal force to rob us of our liberty and keep us under his jurisdiction spiritually, physically, and in every way. We can submit to his desires if we so choose or we can declare our own revolutionary war. We can submit to God and truly be born again, be filled with the Holy Spirit and power, and truly get the Word of God in our hand and mouth. In this way we can meet lethal force with lethal force, and through faith in Jesus Christ declare, obtain, and maintain our independence from Satan’s power in every way. The work that Jesus did for us is lethal force to the power of Satan. Because of Jesus, we can apply his word by his Spirit and fight to take our liberty in every area of life. In this way, with praises to his name, we can be free and adopt the motto: In God We Trust.

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I was standing in a line at Wal Mart with a young mother and her two children right ahead of me. In the lower part of the shopping cart sat a three year old boy, and in the upper part sat his younger sister. The mostly unintelligible words from the three year old boy flowed incessantly, except, interjected regularly, maybe every 20 or 30 seconds, was a clear “Right Mama?” The Mama would always patiently answer “Right” and offer some type of answer in response to his barrage of young syllables. I asked the young Mama how many times in a day did she hear that question. She said many times, and, that no other answer such as “yes” or “ok” would suffice, rather, he had to hear “right.” It seemed this little boy was constantly making observations and offering his thoughts and opinions and solutions, but in it all, he would constantly check with Mama to see if he was on track with the “right” line of thinking.

The Bible says that if we will acknowledge God in all our ways he will direct our path (Proverbs 3:6). With this we need to develop our walk with God so that praying should be our first resource instead of our last resort. We naturally go about trying to work things out and when we fail and have exhausted all avenues, we finally start calling on God to help us. It is sort of the old “when all else fails, read the directions” syndrome. If we would get the directions right up front, it would not be trial and error. A successful leader surrounds himself or herself with people who can give good, sound advice. What a privilege to be able to walk with and surround ourselves with the highest wisdom of the universe. The Bible says Jesus is made unto us wisdom and right standing with God and purity and complete deliverance in every way (1 Corinthians 1:30). In him we have it all, and for us to not draw on that complete provision in daily life could be called sheer stupidity. His help is just an acknowledgment away.

Rather than living in the habit of him being our last resort, would it not be much better to be living in the habit with him being our first resource? He will be happy with our companionship and constant communication, and as a child, of us laying our case out there and listening for his response. He will patiently hear our rambling syllables with much understanding and offer a response of guidance and confirmation. Throughout his word he tells us, “Talk to me child, I’m listening.” “Right Mama?”
Psalms 4:3; 10:17; Luke 11:9-13; Romans 10: 9-13

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I needed a boost. I had a 45 minute drive ahead of me and my peeper lids did not want to stay open. I have never had one of those energy drinks. I have heard they are not that good for you, but I figured a little energy drink would be a whole lot better for me than falling asleep at the wheel. There’s a whole assortment of drinks to choose from. There is Monster, Red Bull, 5 Hour Energy, and on it goes. After a brief perusal of the ingredients on some of them, I decided to go with one called Full Throttle. It had some B vitamins in it and was of a citrus flavor. It didn’t taste bad, but regardless of the taste, it was going down the hatch. I think it must have done some good because I did not get drowsy on the trip, nor for quite a while into the late evening. Mission accomplished. With the name of the drink I was reminded of my flying days. When you taxi the plane onto the end of the runway to take off, and the word comes from the tower to take off, you give the plane full throttle. With that, you can get up enough speed to get the plane off the ground. If you don’t give it full throttle, there will be a messy incident at the end of the runway.

When you read the words in red in the Bible, you find Jesus saying things like you cannot serve God and money (Luke 16:13) and he talked about leaving all for the kingdom of God’s sake (Luke 18:29). He said that he who finds his life shall lose it and he that loses his life for my sake shall find it (Matthew 10:39). He said he who does the will of the Father which is in heaven, the same is his brother, and sister, and mother (Matthew 12:50). Throughout the teachings of Jesus, he called for a total commitment – full throttle. And that’s good, because if we just go part way with him, we are setting ourselves up for a crash. If we give ourselves to believe all his word and embrace all of who he is and what he has done for us, then faith connects us with the power of God. By the power of God we can get the plane off the ground in every area of life – spirit, soul, body, in family, financially, socially, and eternally. Total commitment opens us up to the life and power of God that goes beyond mere intellect. God does not have us to forsake intellect. Rather, he has us submit our intellect to him so his power can enhance it. Intellect can only go so far. His power has no limits. Full throttle is a choice we make based on the facts of his word. If we want to get off the runway to fly in his power, we must give it full throttle.

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It has probably happened to everybody who has operated a computer. Because it has happened to me, I now have a little yellow post it note on the keyboard of my computer that says, “Save it quickly.” I recently heard my step-daughter, Lisa, relate this story that happened in her work place. One of the workers in the office spent a whole day painstakingly entering data into the computer. She was shown in the very beginning what to do to save her work. She apparently was so focused on getting it entered just right, that she went the whole day without ever hitting the save button. At the end of the day when she exited out of the program, she apparently hit “no” when the little “do you want to save this” window came up. In an instant, the whole day’s work vanished. That was data entry. It can be entered again. Spontaneous creative work cannot be reentered. The first lesson to learn in operating a computer is to get into the habit of saving your work. Don’t flirt with fate. Lisa also related how she had done a sizeable amount of work on the computer one time and just as she was about to save it, the electricity went off in the building. Her work was lost.

We are all a unique creative work of God. He did not make a mold to make several copies of you. You are it, the one and only. When Jesus laid his life down for you, it was not for one of several of you, and if one does not make it, no big deal, another one will. No. If you don’t make it, that piece of work is lost forever. One aspect of God’s salvation for all mankind is that it is like a business transaction, like working with a document on a computer. You choose to do what needs to be done to save the document that is before you. The Bible says the word of God is near you, even in your mouth and in your heart, that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Whoever believes on him will not be ashamed. God is rich toward all that call upon him, for whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved (Romans 10:8-13). The first step in knowing that when your computer shuts down, the piece of work that you are will be saved, is to simply hit the save button. Do the business transaction with God. Give him the reins of your life. Then whatever else needs to happen in your life, you can read it in God’s word, he is faithful, he will be working in you to make sure you get what you need with no loss. Don’t let the electricity go off on you before you get saved and all is lost.

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Four friendly dogs would greet me at the gate when I went to the job I had in the country. They would kindly check me out as I closed the gate, then after getting back into the van, they would escort me down the driveway to the house where I would be working. Then for the duration of the day, my friends would lay around the general proximity of where I was working, doing what dogs do so well during the day – sleeping.

The job progressed nicely and as I was bent over a five gallon bucket using it as a saw horse making some fine cuts on some trim, I sensed what felt like something nibbling the hair on my head. Chico, the horse, had quietly walked up and bent down to check out this large tuft of white hair that now sits on the top of my head. I looked up into the curious face, just about touching nose to nose, to discover a very sweet natured, friendly horse that no doubt is very much a family pet. Well, no harm was being done, and having looked up to see what was going on, I went right on making my cuts on the trim, never missing a beat. Chico must have really liked my hair, because she just kept on messing with it for a couple of minutes or so, then went on about her business. My brother, Joe, was laughing enjoying the whole show, so he took a picture of the activity to archive in the electronic annals of family history. I will always remember the friendly dogs and Chico the horse who likes to nose around in a big head of hair.

The Word says “a man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother” (Proverbs 18:24). Life is short, and as Jesus said, “sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof” (Matt. 6:34). Friendliness is generated from a life of peace and it promotes peace. Since without any effort there is more than enough evil to go around for all on a daily basis, it makes good healthy sense to make the effort to simply be friendly. Truly being friends with God through faith in Jesus Christ allows us to be friends with ourselves, and the peace in this relationship allows us to be friends with others. We each have a choice: to feud and find fault, or to be friendly. Life is too precious to spend it with our pants in a wad magnifying and living from one upsetting situation to another. We can learn our lesson, forgive, forget, and go forward. We can live in a frown or we can live friendly. Chico and the dogs showed that friendly is better for peaceful living.

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Back in the days when I was jetting around the world doing mission work, it was a common practice for me to hand out gospel tracts. I developed my own tract in the form of a million dollar bill. One side has a picture of Jesus with the message “Jesus Christ died for you! His blood that was shed for you is more precious than silver or gold.” The flip side asks “If someone gave you a million dollars, would you take it?” I then go on to explain on the tract how that in love Jesus died for us and rose again to give us eternal life. I then explain that by taking him you can have your sins forgiven, be filled with the Holy Spirit, have healing in your body, power over Satan, and live in God’s plan for your life. John 3:16 is quoted, and I quote the place where it says if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead you will be saved…For whosoever calls on the name of Jesus, will be saved (Romans 10: 9, 13). It ends up by asking, “Will you take Jesus?” Then it gives a phone number and a web site. One time when I very politely passed out tracts to all of about 175 passengers on a large jet before we took off, I had an interesting response. I started at the beginning of the first class section after everyone was seated. Most everyone received the little green piece of paper with acceptance. I wanted them to have something to muse on for the flight. But when I got to the very back of the plane the last person I handed the tract to was a lady, who when she saw what it was and read the front side of it, she went ballistic. Up she came out of that seat in a rage, cussing and sputtering and carrying on. The Stewardess came and quieted her down as I went to my seat. Later in the flight, the Stewardess came to me and told me not to worry, that I could pass out gospel tracts on her plane anytime, and that there is usually one person like that in every bunch. The early church suffered persecution, and the church in parts of the world today suffers persecution for freely getting the gospel out to all people. With that experience on the plane it seems the stats run that out of about every 175 people, there’s going to be one greatly offended at you getting the gospel out freely to all. Multitudes gladly welcomed and benefitted from Jesus’ ministry, but probably about 1 out of every 175 were greatly offended and persecuted him. He did not let the ballistic ones stop him. Neither should you and I.

As I approached an 18 wheeler on east bound I-30, I noticed his left rear inside tire was flat and wobbling. It had not started coming apart, and I thought if I could let him know he had a flat he would pull over and tend to it before littering the highway, making a dangerous situation for all. I pulled up alongside him getting his attention by staying even with the cab of the truck and signaling with my hand with a rearward down motion. I saw that he got my signals. I then pulled in front of him, maintaining my position for a distance. Then I gave a right turn signal and got off at the Friendship exit, hoping he would follow me. He did not. So I went through the exit and took off to catch up with him, this time dodging large chunks of truck tire scattered along the highway. I caught up with him again, went through the same procedure of going alongside him, and we both pulled over on the side of the interstate. I got out of my van and went back to him to find out that he was Russian and I could not understand a word he was saying. I showed him the tire which by now was only a couple of rings of rubber and steel around the wheel. The rest of the tire was scattered along the highway with cars having to dodge the chunks. I told him where the next truck stop was hoping he could understand me, and I went on my way. I know the man did not know me from Adam, but had he responded to check his truck out immediately, we would have prevented all the debris littering the highway. A lot of time we are naturally cautious to embrace spiritual things that don’t fit into our “norm.” Jesus said to test the spirit to see whether it is of God or not. The Spirit of God is according to love and truth, and the spirit of the enemy is the spirit of error and division (1 John 4:1-8). It is wise, when we get a signal that something is up, to check it out quickly so we will know what we are dealing with. Is what we see before us according to the truth of the Word and the way of love or is it man’s word and man’s way that does not totally harmonize with the pure, simple, word of God. If we pay attention to the signals, in due time, we can determine what is going on. The Spirit of God leads us to Jesus, the fullness of the Spirit of God, and following his leadership and guidance in all that we do, as did Jesus, for the good of all. If we follow that way, we won’t litter the highway with a lot of dangerous debris that can be harmful to fellow travelers on the road.

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While traveling from Arkadelphia to Delight, I saw in the distance a white object on the edge of the pavement. As I approached it I saw that it was a white duck sitting there with its head held up facing the road, and as I went by at about 60 mph, it never moved a feather. I thought, “Is that thing real or is that a stuffed duck?” I turned the van around and came back to it thinking it sure looked real. I got out of the van and only when I walked right up to it did it move its head a little. I reached down and picked it up with both hands. One leg just dangled; somehow it had gotten its leg broken. It did not have a good future where it was. I set it in the van and went back to where Gentry Creek crosses the highway and released it into the creek. As he swam up the creek I thought, “Well, he is more in his element now, maybe at least he has a chance.” And I went on my way.

Sometimes we get our leg broken in life and all we can do is just sit by the road. It is times like those that we need a helping hand to lift us up to carry us to the creek where we can at least have another chance. If we don’t get a helping hand we can just sit by the road until we waste away, or if we flop ourselves around until we get out in the road, we get run over. If we just sit there we become the proverbial “sitting duck” just waiting to get hit or become the victim of the next passing dog, fox, or coyote. Life will run off and leave you, run you over, or gobble you up.

No, it is good to help a brother or sister whose wing or leg has been broken for whatever reason and they are just sitting by the road of life. Everyone is of infinite value. Every person is paid for by the price of God’s own Son, Jesus. He gave his life so that every person could live life to the fullest. That is available to every person through forgiveness of sin, fullness of the Holy Spirit, undoubting belief in God’s faithfulness to his Word, and obedience to the promptings of his Spirit. If we swim in the river of God’s presence, we are in a position of rescue and refuge from the dangers of the highway and the predators of the woods. In that place there is healing from the injuries inflicted by life and people. Regardless of what has happened to us or what people have done, the person of Jesus and the presence of the Holy Spirit, is good, is healthy, and is beneficial for our well-being. We can trust him with all our heart and be perfectly safe. He will take us from the side of the road to a haven of rest and healing and wholeness in his own way as only he can.

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