Who Are You With?
Excellent or Praiseworthy is posted on Monday and Thursday nights. “The Lord is king. He is clothed with majesty and strength. The earth is set firmly in place and cannot be moved… The Lord rules supreme in heaven, greater than…
Safety First
Excellent or Praiseworthy is posted on Monday and Thursday nights. “When I lie down, I go to sleep in peace; You alone, O LORD, keep me perfectly safe”. — Psalms 4:8 I don’t know what scares you, but there are…
Forgiveness . . . Here’s How
Forgiveness is such a counter-intuitive response to someone who does something wrong to us.It really doesn’t make any obvious sense to let people who offend us get away with it. What does seem to make sense is harboring our offense, letting it grow into bitterness and then releasing it as revenge.Many of us imagine Hollywood-like revenge scenarios. In our imaginings we are calm and cool and deliver a long, moving and convincing speech to someone who is undeniably a villain.We see a look of recognition in their eyes as they fall to our stinging, yet completely justifiable blows. They realize that we are completely right and that they are getting their just desserts . . . with extra syrup. Oh how Satan has us fooled!
More Power!
Excellent or Praiseworthy is posted on Monday and Thursday nights. “But when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you will be filled with power, and you will be witnesses for Me in Jerusalem, in all of Judea and Samaria, and…
A New Year Every Morning
Excellent or Praiseworthy is posted on Monday and Thursday nights. “…my spirit is depressed. Yet hope returns when I remember this one thing: The Lord’s unfailing love and mercy still continue, fresh as the morning, as sure as the sunrise.” …
God’s Body Shop
Early in my military career, I worked in a vehicle workshop. When a vehicle was involved in an accident on operations or during an exercise, there was only one level of repair we offered – combat repair. If the vehicle’s body was damaged we would hit the damaged parts with a sledge hammer until they either fell off altogether or were out of the way of the wheels so we could drive the vehicle away. Once a damaged vehicle was back in a standing workshop, then we moved from combat repair to restoration. A skilled trades-person would rebuild, re-mold and replace panels until the vehicle looked new. In some cases, the restoration was nothing short of amazing.
Sometimes we settle for combat repairs in our life when what we really need is restoration…
Prayer Wars
I don’t know about you, but I have never really felt like I was much of a prayer warrior. I should be, particularly as a member of the military who should understand the need to ask for resources to fight battles, and as someone who has deployed – prayer being an essential connection and help to my wife and family when I am away. I would call myself more of a prayer firefighter – when there was a fire I would reach for some prayer and try and put the fire out with it. Not really what God had in mind for a healthy prayer life. I was using prayer only as a reactive weapon rather than realizing that it was even more effective as a preemptive weapon.
What surprised me was that the tool I most needed to start praying better was right in front of me.
A Little Respect
Excellent or Praiseworthy is posted on Monday and Thursday nights. “Love one another warmly as Christians, and be eager to show respect for one another”. — Romans 12:10 Aretha Franklin sang that all she wanted was a little respect –…
Words Count
Excellent or Praiseworthy is posted on Monday and Thursday nights. “Kind words bring life, but cruel words crush your spirit.’’ – Proverbs 15:4 I grew up in a home where we watched our language, and using a swear word would…
Plan G
I think I’m like a lot of military professionals in that I pride myself in being able to make a good plan. After all, I’ve had over 20 years of training and practice in making plan after plan and having them tested, refined, tested again, criticized, tested again, refined and the final test of all, executed. We in the military should be good at making plans, and not just one plan either. We have Plan A, Plan B and Plan C, each of which have branches (contingency plans) and sequels (follow on plans) – all designed to ensure that when we set out to achieve our mission, our execution is robust and effective. The success of our plans in achieving a mission is where the rubber hits the road in the military. It can accelerate or decelerate our careers. It can lead to honor or to shame. Plans are pretty important, and I haven’t restricted my planning only to what I do in the military.