Category Archives: Godly Living

Replacing Discouragement with Expectancy

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The story is told of a man who was walking along the beach, after the tide had gone. Scattered densely on the sand were thousands of starfish that the tide had brought in, but neglected to take out. In a short time, the sun and wind would dry the starfish, leaving them dead. The man, on his daily walk, was bending down, picking them up one at a time, tossing them back into the ocean.

After watching this for a while, a tourist approached him and said, “There are so many starfish on this beach. What difference could what you are doing possibly make? What does it matter?” The man bent down, picked up another starfish, and just before tossing it into the sea said, “It matters to this one.”

If there is one tool of the enemy that is nearly universal in its effectiveness, it is the tool of discouragement. Often, because the task embodied in The Great Commission seems overwhelming, believers just give up. This podcast strives to help us avoid this. It helps us recover our lost expectations.

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An Advent Sermon on Peace…

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I read this week that the phrase, security blanket, was actually invented by Linus van Pelt. Linus’ sister, Lucy was always bothered by Linus’ attachment to that blanket. She tried to make Linus drop it. She stole it and hid it. Once she cut it up to make shapes for a flannel-graph. Another time she cut it into squares for Linus to use to clean his glasses. She once made a kite out of it and “accidentally” let go of it. Another time Lucy buried the blanket, causing a frantic Linus to dig up almost the entire neighborhood before Snoopy found it.

Why would she do that? Because she was the annoying big sister. Because she was Lucy.

There are a lot of Lucys in this world. In fact, it sometimes seems that the whole world is nothing but a mean old Lucy who tries to prevent us from having any kind of peace of mind.

Now the Bible doesn’t speak about security blankets, but it does speak of being secure. The Bible speaks about being safe — about peace.

That’s what this podcast is about today: Peace. If you’re looking for peace, give it a listen.

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Characteristics of Thankful People

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I thought this Thanksgiving week that it would be wise for us to take a Thanksgiving Quiz. This is not the standard Thanksgiving Quiz, with questions like, “How many turkeys can dance on the head of a pin?” Instead, the questions are more about your own heart of thankfulness.

So — let’s give it a try. There are ten T/F questions. Count every one you say “true” to:

  1. I follow Jesus’ example and give thanks for meals (John 6:11).
  2. When I sing songs to God, I am purposefully thanking him for his goodness to me.
  3. I have personally given thanks to God for his mercy in the past week (Psalm 136).
  4. I thank God for hard things that come into my life because of how he uses them to change my heart.
  5. I thank God for my church family.
  6. When I place my tithes and offerings in the plate, I am expressing my thanks to God.
  7. I thank God that I can do things for him (1 Timothy 1:12).
  8. I give thanks because I know it pleases God.
  9. When I catch myself being ungrateful, I apologize to God and thank him for his grace.
  10. I am careful not to give thanks simply with my lips, but also with heart.

How did you do? I hope you scored a ten, but whether you did well or not, it’s good to talk about being thankful. In this podcast, you discover three characteristics of thankful people.

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