Anita and I were in Lagos, Nigeria where we had both spoken at a pastor’s conference. The other pastors that travelled over with us were travelling on to another confernece in another African nation, but were were headed home. We were escorted to the security gate, and were on our own from there. We walked down the concourse to the end where our gate was. There on the floor, from wall to wall, were Muslims bowed down in prayer to Allah. We had to get by but they blocked the concourse. I knew it was rude, but we just waded through them to get to the other side. After all, we’re not Muslims, I thought. And we were the only ones around not on our knees. Anita just followed me.
After we got to the gate Anita let me know how uncomfortable she was doing that. And we remembered that women were not allowed to come near Muslim men when they were praying. Wow, we could have started a holy war right there in the airport!
Sometimes we innocently violate another’s standard of right and wrong on their own turf. When has that happened in your life?
Tags: Islam, Nigeria
Once I was performing a wedding when a comical thing happened. A young ring bearer had noticed prior to the service that the rings were tied loosely to the pillow he was to carry. Trying to help, he retied the rings a little tighter. During the ceremony, when the best man tried to untie the rings, he found they were in tight knots. Always prepared to do whatever is necessary, I had to interrupt the wedding to ask for a pocketknife so we could continue. It broke the monotony of a boring wedding with a good chuckle all around, and left the bride and groom with a wedding memory of a lifetime.
The little guy was only trying to help. But the help he offered backfired. Sometimes we get in the way of what God wants to do by trying to fix the problem ourselves. Getting ahead of God is a common problem we all share.
When was the last time you tried to fix something or someone and it backfired?
Tags: humor, wedding
The newspaper reported that a Utah businessman had filed for bankruptcy and declared his debts to be $613,000,000,000. What’s more, the man claimed assets of only $7,310. If all debts were honored, his creditors would receive about one-millionth of a cent on the dollar. There was no way he could begin to pay his debts.
That reminds me of my situation before I came to Christ. I had violated the Lord’s desires for me so many times that the mountain of offenses was overwhelming. But when I came to Christ all that was washed away. My debt was forgiven. Today I stand before Him with a clean slate. Thank God for forgiing my debt.
Tags: debt, forgiveness, sin
There were three crosses on Calvary’s hill. On one was a man dying in sin – he did not accept Jesus. On another was a man dying to sin – he trusted Jesus as Savior and Lord (Luke 23:40-43). And on the middle cross was One dying for sin. He could die for others because He was God’s Son and had no sin of His own. The center cross made all the difference for those two men hanging beside Jesus – the difference between an eternity in hell or heaven.
The whole world is represented by those two thieves and their response to the Lord Jesus. We see in the three crucified individuals a picture of the sinner, the saint, and the Savior.
What does the cross mean to you?
Tags: cross
Some Christians make it a habit to wear a cross. It may be on a necklace or a lapel pin. It may be worn thoughtlessly as a piece of jewelry or prayerfully to let people know of the wearer’s personal faith, and it also can be worn as a good luck charm of sorts.
In April 2006, a Methodist church in the city of Dudley, England, found out that it would have to pay a fee to put a cross on its new building. Yes, a fee was required because under British law the cross is an advertisement. It proclaims to the world, whether on a person or a building, that the cross has a value.
What if the government assessed a fee (tax) for you to exhibit a cross? Would you pay it?
Tags: cross, tax
Some of you may know that Pastor Bob Herman, Senior Pastor at County Line Church of God south of Auburn, had a serious stroke some time back. There was a blockage in his carotid artery from his neck to his temple, 6 inches long. When doctors later attempted to do something with that clot, they discovered it had disappeared. The specialist did a catherization and found no sign that the clot had ever been there. After some more complications, the Dr. decided he needed to put a stent in where the blockage had been. That procedure was scheduled for yesterday. Pastor Bob’s wife recorded what happened next in her blog:
“After a little over an hour, our buzzer buzzed & we were called into a conference room to talk with Dr. Sanghve. When he entered, I expected to hear one thing, but instead heard something else. He did NOT insert a stent into Bob’s artery. Now, wait a minute. No stent? I thought that was the definite plan of action. Now no stent? My sinus infection has my head really plugged, & sometimes it feels like I’m not quite there. So I had to really concentrate to catch what was being said. Yup. No stent. I had heard correctly. Dr. Sanghve said that when he got to the suspicious area, he couldn’t find any slight ripple or tear. He took a lot of time searching, changing angles & magnification, messing with equipment to get the very clearest picture, & he couldn’t find a thing. Once again, Bob was clean. The artery was perfect. No evidence whatsoever that there was ever a problem. As he searched, he thought. He concluded that from the time of the last ultrasound on Saturday night, Bob’s carotid had been healing & now it was healed so well that it was unidentifiable. With Bob’s previous miraculous healing (when the entire clot was gone from his carotid), Dr. Sanghve has concluded that Bob is a bizarrely swift healer. Again, whatever. We know that a miracle has again been witnessed by all. May God receive glory through this!”
What do you think of that?
Tags: healing, miracle
We finally got all the drywall completed at our house. Since we had everything tore apart, we decided to move a wall to enlarge our family room and make better access to another room. We had to wait until the heat run was moved and the electrician moved some wires in the ceiling before we could finish patching the drywall in the ceiling where the wall had been.
Because the ceilings of both rooms that are now one had Spanish Lace texture, I wasn’t sure what the patch job would look like. But we had a professional repair it. When he was finished only the color difference was evident. I believe after the paint job we will be totally unable to tell where the wall had been.
That’s a great illustration of the work the Lord does in our lives. It starts with a major renovation, then gradually gets better as the Lord deals with various areas of our lives, until finally, in the end, His love covers a multitude of sins.
Where are you in that transformational process?
Tags: sin, transformation