A RAINY, WINTER, STEW DAY

Wednesday, January 31, 2007

For those of you who never visit Arizona and only hear about our state, I’m sure it’s hard to imagine a rainy, winter day. But winter does come to the desert and it does rain—a little. That’s what we have today—a little rain and a little winter.

It rained during the night and it has been raining this morning. The rain has stopped for the moment but it still is threatening. That may be all it does for the rest of the day—threaten, but we will take it.

So, today is a day for stew! Charlotte makes a delicious stew and we like to eat it on a rainy, winter day. It would be good on a hot, summer day but we usually don’t eat it then. We like it on a rainy, winter day.

I’m going to “curl up” with a good book in a few minutes. I have so many great books I can’t believe how blessed I am. My schedule for the day is: A good book, a good stew—and I may even take a good nap.

I hope you have a good day!

CHRIST IS THE ONLY WAY

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

In his Turning Point Daily Devotional for 12/26/06, David Jeremiah points out that, "Christian leaders who appear on secular television talk shows are often asked whether they believe Jesus is the only way to heaven. If the answer is 'Yes, Jesus is the only way,' the interviewer often paints the Christian as intolerant, arrogant, narrow-minded, out-dated, and fanatical.
"But if the interviewer were talking to a physician who had made a medical breakthrough for a terrible disease, would he say, 'Doctor, how intolerant to think this is the only cure for this disease'? If he were talking to a mathematician about the multiplication table, would he say, 'Professor, how can you be so arrogant as to believe that three times three always equals nine'?
"By its very nature, truth is narrow, precise, and factual. Jesus said, 'I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me' (John 14:6). In this day of pluralism and political correctness, it's important to know that Christ is still the only one who can save from sin. Do you think God would have given His own Son had there been some other way?"

THE VALLEY OF LIGHT

Monday, January 29, 2007

The Hallmark Hall of Fame had another winner last night. Their presentation, The Valley of Light, was excellent. It was heart warming and inspirational. The theme was that we have a purpose in life. A simple but important truth was said by one of the characters, “Everybody needs somebody.”

This little valley was filled with good people. Perfect? No, and I’m sure if you “dug” around you would finds some bums. But the show focused on the good. It was refreshing.
A little community of people that wanted to do good. In addition to this, Hallmark always presents fantastic, heart warming, commercials. I get teary eyed over each one.

I have known my wife since she was a young girl. We have been married over 48 years. She has always wanted to be good. Sounds corny? Maybe. But it’s true. And, believe it or not, we come from a time when people in general, wanted to be good. Oh, yea, there were bad people around, and have been since the beginning of time, but we didn’t know many of them. We left our windows and doors open and the screen door had a simple latch that wouldn’t deter anyone really wanting in. We felt safe and secure. If we needed anything there was a neighbor there to help. Today, it takes a tragedy to get anybody to pay attention.

The Valley of Light was about people who simply wanted to do right. I liked it. I liked it a lot!

HELP

Sunday, January 28, 2007

Ann Lamott tells the following story:

I was remembering an old story the other day about a man getting drunk at a bar in Alaska. He’s telling the bartender how he recently lost whatever faith he’d had after his twin-engine plane crashed in the tundra.

“Yeah,” he says bitterly. “I lay there in the wreckage, hour after hour, nearly frozen to death, crying out for God to save me, praying for help with every ounce of my being, but he didn’t raise a finger to help. So I’m done with that whole charade.”

“But,” said the bartender, squinting an eye at him, “you’re here. You were saved.”

“Yeah, that’s right,” says the man. “Because finally some ---damn Eskimo came along…”

DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI CITATION

Saturday, January 27, 2007

Did you hear the one about the preacher who became a lawyer? Probably not, because as far as I know, Dr. Allen Isbell is the only one who has done it.

Allen is a long time friend of Charlotte and me. We were pleased to see that he and his wife, Mikey were awarded a Distinguished Alumni Citation from Abilene Christian University. Allen, Charlotte and I were students at Lawton High School in Lawton, Oklahoma. Later, Allen and I were at Abilene Christian at the same time. Allen and his roommate had the room next to me and my roommate but they spent as much time in our room as they did in theirs. I have a lot of great memories from those days. After graduation I went to California to preach and two years later Allen went to Carlsbad, New Mexico. That was in the days of evangelistic meetings and I went to Carlsbad and preached in two meetings. We exchanged church bulletins for years while Allen was preaching full time. In 1973 he earned a J.D. from the University of Houston. But he never stopped preaching. For thirty years he has preached for the Broadway Church of Christ in Houston, Texas. Because Allen does not draw a salary from preaching, and because Broadway's building is paid for, the congregation is able to devote 52 percent of its budget to missions and benevolence.

Congratulations to two dear friends. It’s a great honor to receive the Distinguished Alumni Citation from a great university.

THE JESUS CREED

Friday, January 26, 2007

When an expert in the law asked Jesus for the greatest commandment, Jesus responded with the Shema, the ancient Jewish creed that commands Israel to love God with heart, soul, mind, and strength. But the next part of Jesus’ answer would change the course of history. Jesus amended the Shema, giving his followers a new creed for life: to love God with heart, soul, mind, and strength, but also to love others as themselves.

THIS JESUS CREED OF LOVE FOR GOD AND OTHERS CAN TRANSFORM YOUR LIFE!