Slow Down!

Oh, to write like the sainted Peter Marshall...

In the name of Jesus Christ, who was never in a hurry, we pray, O God, that You will slow us down, for we know that we live too fast.  With all of eternity before us, make us take time to live - time to get acquainted with You, time to enjoy Your blessings, and time to know each other.

Turn today on its head.  Slow down.  Take your time.  What doesn't get done today will wait until tomorrow.  Spend time with the Lord.  Be engaged with your family and friends.  May the Lord answer this prayer for us all today - slow us down, O Lord! 

It's Back - the Friday Funny!

Coming home from work, a woman stopped at the corner deli to buy a chicken for supper.  The butcher reached into a barrel, grabbed the last chicken he had, flung it on the scales behind the counter, and told the woman its weight.  She thought for a moment and then said, "I really need a bit more chicken than that," she said.  "Do you have any larger ones?"

Without a word, the butcher put the chicken back into the barrel, groped around as though finding another, pulled the same chicken out of the barrel and placed it on the scales.

"This chicken weighs one pound more," he announced.  The woman pondered her options and then said, "OK, I'll take them both!" 

Martin Luther says, "Hang On!"

Going through a challenging time in your life? Frustrated with certain people or situations? Ready to give up on your marriage or job or future.  Martin Luther has a message for you:

Hang on.  God will remain faithful.  Don't despair.  Cling to the truth the psalmist proclaims: "Wait with hope for the Lord.  Be strong, and let your heart be courageous." (Psalm 27:14).  The Lord won't extinguish a smoking wick but instead will make it glow brightly.  He won't break the damaged cattail but instead will strengthen it (Isaiah 42:3).

From "Faith Alone," August 3 devotional reading 

A sweet thought about your dog

Don't know where I found this but I really like the thought:

How beautiful it is - to love a dog

for all their life, 

and remember them

for all your life

Top Ten Reasons Why People Don't Go To Church

10) The glare from the pastor's forehead is too blinding

9) Three letters - NFL

8) I don't have kids yet

7) I have kids

6) People that happy give me the creeps

5) I can worship God in the outdoors...at the football stadium

4) I'm a good person and I want to avoid being told otherwise

3) They don't serve a good cappuccino during the coffee hour

2) When I want to feel guilty I just call my parents

1) No one asked me to go 

A true friend is...

About 25 years ago I heard John Maxwell speak at one of his leadership seminars.  He is a dynamic speaker and prolific writer who once was a pastor but now helps people learn how to get more out of themselves and others.  In working through one of his books I came across this definition of a true friend by author Richard Exley:

A true friend is one who hears and understands when you share your deepest feelings.  He supports you when you are struggling; he corrects you gently and with love, when you err, and he forgives you when you fail.  A true friend prods you to personal growth, stretches you to your full potential.  And most amazing of all, he celebrates your successes as if they were his own.

What do you think?

From "Becoming a Person of Influence," page 155 

Why opposition to the Gospel is good

For the more violently the world rages against the Gospel, the better the position of the Gospel is.

This should be a very pleasant comfort for us.  For it is sure that the world hates and persecutes us for no other reason than that we present the truth of the Gospel.  It does not accuse us of being thieves, adulterers, murderers, etc.; but what it despises in us is solely this, that we teach Christ faithfully and purely, and that we do not forsake the heritage of the truth.

Therefore we should know for certain that our doctrine is holy and divine, because the world hates it so bitterly. Otherwise there is no doctrine too wicked, stupid, ridiculous or dangerous for the world to accept it, embrace  and defend it gladly, in fact, to treat it reverently, support it, fawn upon it, and convert everyone to it.

The teaching of godliness, life and salvation, together with its ministers, is the only one that it despises and treats in an utterly shameful way.  This is evident proof that the world is angry with us only because of its hatred of the Word.  Therefore when our opponents raise the objection against us that our doctrine produces nothing but war, sedition, stumbling blocks, sects, and endless other evil, let us reply: "Blessed be the day when it becomes possible to see all this! But the whole world is in an uproar.  All right.  If it were not in an uproar, and if the devil were not in such a rage and we not creating such havoc everywhere, we would not have the pure doctrine which such tumults and havoc inevitably follow.  Therefore what you see as evil we regard as the highest good."

From Luther's Words, notes on Galatians, page 47.

Interestingly, Luther wrote this in 1535.  Yet, his words describe almost perfectly the condition of our world today. Opposition to the Gospel never changes.  It seems that Luther would say, "Good! Get the Gospel out to the world now