Church Blog (Page 39)

As I remember it, the two-hour bus ride from Memphis to Little Rock took a little longer than that. We had two bus drivers along the way. The first was a middle-aged Baptist. He presented his beliefs kindly, but vigorously; I was obviously not the first church of Christ preacher that he had debated. The second driver said that he had heard my conversation with the first and had the look of a reluctant tag-team wrestler who had just been…

I was somewhat perplexed when my plane arrived late at the Denver Airport; I doubted that there was enough time to make my connecting flight. It was comforting to hear the stewardess assure us in cheery tones that we would be speedily directed to the departure lounge on our arrival. Well, either someone missed that memo, or I missed them. Realising that self-help was now my only help available, started that long, exhausting, the seemingly endless journey from one end…

When preparing for my 1991 journey to South Africa I visited a doctor. His advice about vaccines for life-threatening diseases was more thorough than I had expected. His long list included: Smallpox, Cholera, Dengue, Trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness),…and a few others that I’d only heard about in the movies. He, of course, recommended a course of no less than 18 injections to cover the most common diseases. The look of horror on my face was obviously enough to satisfy his dry…

I asked a friend how he got over the “business start-up problems” that sometimes bankrupt new businesses. He said, “I would carefully price out a job according to equipment, products, personnel, and time needed…then I would double it! Many new businesses fail because they do not factor in the obstacles that they CANNOT see—they are always there, and they are always expensive!” Hidden costs can ruin your travels. A “buy now and worry about it later” philosophy is guaranteed to…

For the most part, I didn’t mind travelling by myself in my youth. Finding someone to talk to wasn’t hard to do, and travel was exciting and carefree in those early days. Later, during long-haul family trips (when the kids were small), we learned what hard work was. But the kids eventually became expert travellers and have since gotten me to where we were going—it was all worth it. Human beings are not designed to be alone. Moving forward is…

I was 28 when I decided to go to the USA for the first time. The thought was daunting. Though not my first international trip, it was my biggest endeavour up till then. My destination was decided, I knew where I was going but had no idea of cost or possible dangers along the way. The travel agent was a natural. She took out a map (this was long before the Internet, laptops, and smartphones), and with pen in hand,…

O for the day when every Christian rises to greet the new day with a song of victory in their hearts. Praising God for victory over the consequences of sin and death. Victory over the worries of this world, and victory over the vanity of worldliness. The moment you were baptised, you entered the Kingdom of the victorious. And there you can stay through all eternity if you choose. Sadly, we Christians distract ourselves when we look for people to…

I can only pray that I would be brave in the face of a deadly enemy. I cringe at the stories of WWI soldiers being shot in the back by their own officers while running from the enemy. That could have been me. Its easy to talk about a brave story, but when a situation calls for courage, it is then that we prove the strength of that which resides within. Scripture tells us to “be watchful, stand firm in…

Be careful that the information that someone is pouring out in “confidence” isn’t already known by others; you might be branded a gossip. Such was the experience of one preacher who spent many heart-breaking hours consoling a man over “personal and confidential” matters. He was later accused by the man of breaking confidence and the relationship never recovered. The real source of the “gossip” turned out to be the man himself. His friends had simply noticed the changes in his…

Many Christians have a strange relationship with the word, “Fool.” Though they may think it, or even mutter it under their breath, they daren’t say it out loud because of these words from Jesus: “Whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell” (Matthew 5:22). Which behoves us all to contemplate why Jesus’ warnings against such an insult is so severe. A good place to begin is to ask, “If a fool is a fool…