January 6: Secret Attack
During the 1982 conflict in the Falkland Islands
between England and Argentina, the Royal Navy's 3,500 ton
destroyer HMA Sheffield was sunk by a single missile fired from
an Argentine fighter jet...
January 13: The Value
of Service
Dale Carnegie once said, "No man can become
rich without himself enriching others." Carnegie lived that
philosophy, as evidenced by the 43 millionaires he had working
for him...
January 20: Bless Your
Children
It's impossible to adequately communicate
the need your children have for your affirmation. All you must
do to understand their need is reflect for a moment on the value
you place on your father's words of approval...
January 27: Extended
Forgiveness
We've all been emotionally wounded. Friends
have betrayed us. Family members have spoken harsh hurtful
words. In most instances the wrong ricocheted off our skin. "No
big deal," we said. But on a few occasions the arrow pierced
deeper and left a gaping hole...
February 3: Ride Out
Your Pain
We've all experienced our share of physical,
psychological, emotional and mental pain. And when we feel
squeezed by pain like a tennis ball in a vise--we just want
relief...
February 10: Value Each
Day
Solomon said, "The day of one's death is better
than the day of one's birth" (Ecclesiastes 7:1). His words seem
odd. Perplexing. But upon reflection they make sense...
February 17: A Safe
Place To Hide
What kind of confidence does God provide? The kind
that erases fear in the face of an earthquake so devastating the
tallest mountain crumbles into the sea. God offers the kind of
peace we'll never find at Home Depot...
February 24: Love Your
Wife
I find it distressing, but not surprising, that
according to the Barna Research Group "Born again Christians are
just as likely to get divorced as non-born again adults." I
realize there are a host of reasons for the breakdown of
marriages among Christians. But I'm convinced, after counseling
hundreds of couples for over two decades, that a major factor in
the failure of marriages is the passivity of men...
March 3: Never Mistake
Your Wife for a Hat
In his book, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a
Hat, Dr. Oliver Sacks, a neurologist, tells the story about a
man, Dr. P., who suffered from a disorder called visual agnosia.
Dr. P., a well-known musician and teacher, possessed excellent
musical and reasoning skills. But because he had visual agnosia
he mistook one object, or body part, for something or someone
else...
March 10: Don't Be Like
Hanz Blix and Hide the Smoking Gun!
Britain and the United States will today press the
chief UN weapons inspector to admit that he has found a "smoking
gun" in Iraq. Such an admission could persuade swing voters on
the Security Council to back the March 17 ultimatum...
March 17: Prayer-Driven
Decisions
If the greatest leader of all time--the only man
who lived without sin, who never made a bad decision, who lived
in perfect harmony with his Father--if that man needed to
discuss decisions with God prior to making them, how much more
do we need to spend significant time in prayer before an
important decision...
March 18: Pray For Our
Leaders and Armed Forces
As you read these words millions of families are
worrying about the dangers of war. They are anxious about their
own welfare and that of their loved ones. Many said a tearful
goodbye to a husband, wife, father, mother, brother or sister
who were deployed to the Gulf Region. Those left behind wonder
if a terrorist attack will materialize here in the United
States...
March 24: Pray For Our
President As He Prays For Wisdom
While watching Fox News this afternoon I heard a
reporter make a passing comment that probably slipped by most
viewers. A single six letter word caught my attention. The word
jumped out of a brief update on the President's morning at Camp
David. A member of the President's cabinet, according to the
reporter, said he had met with the president and they had
"prayed" and then been briefed on the war.
March 31: A White House
Briefing
A couple days ago I attended a two-hour White House briefing
aimed at updating national Christian leaders and soliciting our
prayers and the prayers of those we serve. It's impressive to
enter such a historic building and walk the same halls that
great men and women of the past walked down.
April 7: A Lesson From
The Gazelle
In a scene from the television show, Animal
Planet, a compelling image shows a herd of gazelles grazing in
the middle of a meadow. The golden grass is two, maybe
three-feet high. The sky is heavy and gray, with hot clouds
hanging like old sheets. The graceful gazelles with their ringed
horns, that curve backward and inward, are focused on the grass,
not the danger that lurks close by.
April 14: Buffalo
Soldiers
Last night I watched an interview with Colonel Ted
Martin, division commander of the 4th Infantry Division--proudly
called the Buffalo Soldiers. For weeks our nation's most
powerful fighting force waited in ships off the coast of Turkey
while the war raged in Iraq.
April 21: The Empty
Tomb
I've often said if someone could produce the body
of Jesus I wouldn't be a Christian. In fact, if somebody could
convince me the evidence against the bodily resurrection of
Jesus outweighed the evidence for his resurrection, I would
abandon the faith in a minute.
April 28: Greater Than
Extraterrestrial
God is the reality I believe men seek in the
extraterrestrial. He exists apart from and above his creation.
Perhaps that's why the word "holy" is used more often as a
prefix to God's name than any other attribute. I think most
people believe the words holy and pure are synonymous. They
aren't. The word "holy" describes the essence of all of God's
attributes of which purity is an element.
May 5: Sow to the Spirit
Nobody in the last decade has spoken louder for
the value of values and integrity than William J. Bennett,
Author of The Book of Virtues, and the founder of Empower
America. Bennett has frequently appeared on Fox News and CNN. He
makes $50,000 a speech and usually talks about the importance of
high moral values.
May 12: Seeing the
Invisible God
I used to ask God to show himself to me. He never
did. I can't help but think my faith would be stronger if an
angel, or angels, would appear to me as they did to Elisha's
servant.
May 19: Seize the
Opportunity
Webster tells us that an opportunity is a
"favorable juncture of circumstances." In other words, an
opportunity occurs when the elements needed for progress come
together at the same time.
May 26: A Call to
Commitment
You were designed for commitment just as surely as
a ship is built for the open seas and a plane for the sky. If
you've never devoted yourself to Christ, you're like a clipper
ship tethered to a dock or a jet tied down in a hanger. All of
your spiritual potential is at rest, waiting to be unleashed.
June 2: Why Do Bad
Things Look So Good?
Have you ever wondered, "Why do bad things
sometimes look so good?" While there are numerous reasons none
is more important than the fact that evil spiritual forces in
the universe have the power to give off limit experiences a
glitter that attracts.
June 9: The Healing
Power of Tears
Crying isn't something many men do easily. Yet in
John 11:35 we read that at the grave of Lazarus "Jesus wept."
June 16: Live As Though
Nothing Else Matters
Every dark and evil character created to evoke
fear in readers and movie goers is only the devil's shadow. No
battle scene from the Lord of the Rings compares with the
ferocity of the angelic conflict. Even the dreaded Borg, of Star
Trek infamy, would be assimilated by the devil and his army of
demons. The masses slaughtered by Hitler, Lenin, and Stalin
represent a fraction of the lives destroyed by Satan.
June 23: Finding True
Happiness
On December 17, 1850, Captain Allen Gardiner and
six companions landed at Patagonia on the southern tip of South
America. They had made that long journey to bring the gospel to
a people so primitive that evolutionist Charles Darwin said they
existed "in a lower state than in any other part of the world."
June 30: Nothing is
Hidden
It's been going on for years and nobody seemed able to do
anything about it. A staggering 57 million computer users are
involved in one of the most pervasive illegal activities in
world history. Until this week it seemed like nobody could, or
would, catch them.
July 7: A Lesson from
the Ermine
For centuries the garments of European rulers and
judges have been lined with the white fur of an Ermine. The
story behind that custom is one of the most unusual practices of
the animal kingdom.
July 14: A Small Change
in Trajectory
Suppose an out of shape and overweight man
approached a personal trainer and said, "I want to get in
shape." He showed the trainer a picture of what he wanted his
body to look like--washboard abs, steel pecks, and biceps like
giant hogs wrestling in sausage casings.
July 21: Kobe's Mistake
Most of the world has seen Kobe Bryant's admission
of the "mistake" of adultery. What we haven't seen is how he
broke the news to his wife. Did she hear about Kobe's mistake
while watching the news on TV? Or, maybe a friend called to
comfort Vanessa only to find out she hadn't heard about the
mistake. It seems more likely that Kobe told her himself.
August 4: God is Here
Astrophysicist Dr. Hugh Ross suggests we imagine
that the two-dimensional image on a television screen actually
consists of a living two-dimensional world. If you placed your
fingertip on the screen, what would the people in the
two-dimensional world see? Your fingertip would be a flat,
round, two-dimensional image that would look like a dot. No one
in that world would be able to see or comprehend depth any more
than a blind person could comprehend color.
August 11: Cultivate
Compassion
When two blind men cried out to Jesus, the crowd saw them as
intruders who needed to be silenced--irritants that needed to be
brushed away like pesky flies. Jesus saw them in a radically
different light. Matthew tells us that "Jesus had compassion on
them and touched their eyes. Immediately they received their
sight and followed him."
August 18: Avoid a
Power Failure
Most of us have faced the inconvenience of losing
power for a few hours or maybe even a few days. If a car battery
failed we may have been stranded. If it was a power outage due
to an ice or wind storm, we may have suffered through a dark and
cold night.
August 25: Stand Up For
What's Right
So the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that a monument
of the Ten Commandments must be removed from the court rotunda.
The raging cultural cross currents and contradictions boggle the
mind.
September 1: What's
Integrity?
The word integrity speaks of someone who is "whole or complete"
and has the same root word as does the word integrated. A man of
integrity has taken the principals that govern his life (like
the Ten Commandments), internalized them and integrated them
into every area of his life.
September 8: Listen For
God's Direction
The time will come in every man's life when he
will decide whether or not he's going to trust God. Until that
moment his faith in God will have been a convenient source of
comfort and encouragement. When the test arrives, God may seem
crazy and his demands absurd. The test will force you to either
follow human reasoning and abandon God's direction or abandon
human reasoning and follow God's direction. There will be no
wiggle room. No place to compromise. It will be God's way or
your way.
September 15: Don't Let
a Two-Inch Board Stop Your Locomotive
Motivational speaker, Zig Zigler likes to point
out that the largest and most powerful locomotive in the world
can be held in place by a one-inch block of wood. Placed in
front of the eight drive wheels of the locomotive, the block
will hold it motionless. Yet that same locomotive, with a full
head of steam, can crash through a steel-reinforced concrete
wall that is five feet thick.
September 22: Sometime
You've Got to Rebuke
Sometimes an exhortation may take the form of a
chisel that chips off a rough edge. While the process is
painful, it may be necessary. That's why the Apostle Paul urged
Timothy to not only "correct" and "encourage" but to "rebuke" as
well. Occasionally a rebuke is the most loving thing a leader
can give, even though the word refers to a stern and sharp
correction or reprimand.
September 29: Deal With
Bitterness Now!
Absalom seemed like a born leader. Not only was he
the son of a king, he possessed Hollywood good looks and a
winsome personality. His sensitivity to the felt needs of the
masses enabled him to win their hearts and loyalty. He knew how
to scratch the masses where they itched.
October 6: Throw Away
the Mask
A man of integrity isn't like a weathervane that
changes direction with every shift of the social winds. He's
like a compass that is internally magnetized so it always points
north regardless of what's happening around it. He is honest at
work and at home. He keeps promises even if it means a financial
loss. He speaks well of his clients in their presence and behind
their back. He doesn't treat his wife with respect in public and
belittle her behind closed doors. A man of integrity doesn't
switch masks to win the favor of the audience he's playing for.
In fact, he works to throw away all masks.
October 13: Let the
Master Play Your Life
The great composer Mendelssohn visited a cathedral
in Europe that housed one of the most magnificent organs in the
world. The cathedral organist was sitting at the organ playing.
When he finished Mendelssohn asked if he could play it. The old
man said, "Sir, we don't let strangers off the street play our
organ." Mendelssohn persuaded him and as the notes of the master
echoed off the wall of the cathedral the old man listened in
silence. He had never heard such beauty. When the master
finished the old man asked who he was. When he found out he
said, "What an old fool I am. I almost prevented Mendelssohn
from playing our organ."
October 20: Is The
Light Red or Green?
It may be you need to know right now if God is
releasing you from your current job or some other
responsibility. If you're in that situation, I'd suggest there
are four lights that must be green before you move on.
October 27: Look in the
Mirror
If we're not open to correction then we run the
risk of becoming inauthentic. The religious leaders of Jesus'
day had developed an elaborate system of rituals (masks) that
enabled them to appear better on the outside than they were on
the inside. Over time they convinced themselves they were truly
righteous people since they so diligently obeyed all of their
man-made rules.
November 3: The God of a
Second Chance
Maybe you feel God has placed you on a shelf
because of something you've done? If so, then I want you to
consider that God may be going to use you to accomplish more in
the future than you have in the past. If such a thought seems
far-fetched--then remember this fact--You serve the God of a
second chance.
November 10: The
Hardest Part of Decision Making
If the greatest leader of all time who was without
sin, who never made a bad decision, who had unlimited resources
at his disposal and who lived in perfect harmony with his
Father--if that man needed to discuss with God decisions prior
to making them--how could you or I possibly hope to make a wise
decision without spending a lot of time in prayer? We cannot!
November 17: Get Mad
Without Getting Into Trouble
We're living in an angry age. The morning
newspaper and the nightly news are grisly reminders to the fact
that ugliness, random anger, short temper and bad manners are as
much a part of life in the city as traffic jams. Hardly a week
goes by without a reminder of the seething rage that exists in
our society.
November 24: Six
Reasons Not to Worry About Tomorrow
I've got a close friend who is a chronic worrier.
I asked him once if he ever noticed that most of the things he
worries about never happen. He smiled and said, "Yeah, I
noticed. And it just goes to prove that worrying works."
December 1: A Spiritual
Paradigm Shift
A paradigm defines the way we view something. For
instance, if a man walks around looking at life through
binoculars, he'll view everything as big and close. A paradigm
shift occurs when he puts down the binoculars--suddenly the
world looks very different.
December 8: The ABC's of
Management
In their book, Putting the One Minute Manager to
Work, Dr. Ken Blanchard and Dr. Robert Lorber identify the ABC's
of management and reveal some startling facts.
December 15: Spiritual
Role Models
Role modeling is crucial. Indeed, the significance
of role modeling is underscored by a study involving the cadet
wing of the Air Force Academy. Each cadet squadron is supervised
by an active duty officer, called the air officer commanding (AOC).
Cadets were asked to select what they believed the AOC's primary
role to be.
December 22: God is
Approachable
Make no mistake about it: Many people fear God and
think he's about as approachable as King Kong. They recall the
story of Moses and the terrified Israelites at Mt. Sinai when
God revealed himself with, "thunder and lightning flashes, and a
thick cloud upon the mountain and a very loud trumpet sound, so
that all the people in the camp trembled" (Exodus 19:16). The
God would could create and control such powerful physical forces
as thunder, lightening and clouds doesn't seem too welcoming.
December 29: Take the
Challenge
You were designed for commitment just as surely as
a ship is built for the open seas and a plane for the sky.
Without a deep commitment to God and his purpose for your life,
you'll be like a clipper ship tethered to a dock or a jet tied
down in a hanger. All of your potential is at rest, waiting to
be unleashed.
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