Most of us see New Years Day as a fresh start. Many (or most) of us hope and pray that the New Year will be better. We make steadfast resolutions of how we are going to do better next year. The reality is that January 1st is just another day. We could just as easily resolve on May 18th or August 3rd that we are going to change how we live. But there is something psychologically powerful about the New Year. January is named after the Roman god Janus. He was unique because he had two faces…one to look into the past and one to look into the future. Today Janus the two faced would be a very successful politician. On this January 1st I am sure many of you have made resolutions for the New Year. The most cited resolutions generally include things like exercising more, saving more money, getting out of debt, quitting smoking and reading the Bible all the way through without getting
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This series was well received last year. Some would call this a repeat but I prefer to think of it as environmentally friendly blog recycling with virtually no carbon footprint. Merry Christmas!  Dave As a public service I am providing a shopping guide for things you can give to Jesus on His upcoming birthday. For the internet hall monitors who love to send anonymous and snarky comments I understand that the celebrated date of Christ’s birth is likely off a bit. But since this is when we celebrate we will go with the date assigned by the church fathers and Hallmark. Let’s be honest…giving the King of Kings and Lord of Lords a unique gift is really tough. The last post examined the gifts brought to the young Christ child over 2,000 years by the wise men, I had hoped that examining what the Magi brought might jump start our gift giving ideas.  By the way, there is a plaque that is available with the
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This series was well received last year. You may view this as a repeat. I prefer to think of it as re-gifting. Blessings and Merry Christmas! We are fast approaching the hardest day of the year for most men. Many of us men give gifts to our significant others with fear and trembling. Humor writer Dave Barry relates the confusion most men deal with when giving a gift to their wife. He could tell by her reaction to the gift that she had not been dreaming of getting an auto emergency kit, even though it was the deluxe model with booster cables and an air compressor. Clearly, this violated an important rule, but the man had idea what the rule was, and his wife was too upset to tell him. Barry continues his thoughtful treatise… So why is the Christmas season so difficult for men? There are many complex reasons, by which I mean: women. The problem goes back to the very first Christmas. We
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Today is a revisit of a “Christmas Classic” from earlier. How does a blog become a classic?  It is your blog, your site, you pay the server charge and you can call it whatever you want. So enjoy a classic from Christmas past… One of my contributions with this modest little blog is to continually ask the tough questions. While listening to  “Away in a Manger” at a recent Christmas program my inquiring mind kicked in. You likely know verse three of the song. The cattle are lowing The poor Baby wakes But little Lord Jesus No crying He makes As I listened an important series of difficult and probing inquiries popped into my head. What noise, exactly, were the cattle making when they started lowing? Was this normal cow talk? Did lowing just sound better than mooing in the lyric or is lowing a more spiritual and reverent cow sound? And then the most important question came to mind. What is wrong with me? I can’t
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I am a little too old and lot too cynical to be swept away by the latest fad in Christendom. I have sat on the sidelines while Jabez prayed, millions were purpose driven and others found their best life. I guess I was just left behind. Others were incredibly excited by one or all of these phenomenons. So I was more than a little surprised to find that God rocked my world through a ministry I knew little about just a few short years ago. Their books and materials have not become an entire section at your local Christian superstore. And that is a shame. Because they have a message that needs to be heard by most of us. The organization is called TrueFaced and the book of same name rocked my world.  I don’t think I have ever had a book (excluding the inspired one) impact me as much as this one. Here is how strongly I feel about this book
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On Monday I heard the sad news of the passing of Joan Horner. I lost a friend. The Texas Rangers lost one of their biggest fans. Thousands of women around the world lost a role model and mentor. Andy Horner lost his sweetheart of sixty-four years. She will be missed so much by her loving family and friends. Perhaps you don’t know who Joan Horner is. Joan and husband Andy started a little direct sales company called Premier Designs Jewelry a quarter century ago. That little venture now generates sales of 350 million dollars a year. But that is not what impressed me about Premier Designs. Lots of companies generate profits and hire people. Andy and Joan wanted to make a difference with their company. They have. Few companies have had a more concentrated plan to share their financial blessings than Premier Designs. Through the Horner-Premier Foundation the company has supported ministries and missionaries in 45 countries around the world. Locally, to help
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Christmas really is the most wonderful time of the year. I love the music, the memories, the traditions and the chance to annually think about Burl Ives. His memory came back again with the annual airing of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. That show first aired in 1964 and it has been a staple ever since. Ives is the voice of Sam the Snowman who narrates the “enhanced” story of Rudolph. Rudolph and his elf buddy Hermey don’t fit in with the others. Rudolph looks different than the others. Hermey is not interested in making toys. In an odd plot twist, Herme wants to be a dentist. Not surprisingly, his elf supervisor is upset with the unproductive Hermey. So the two outcasts set off to find their fame and fortune. The part of the story that resonates with me these days is when Hermey and Rudolph find their way to the Island of Misfit Toys. All of the toys on this island
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