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Oh yeah, Brenna was furious! No doubt about that. Absolutely amazing how the very air around her sizzled and, at the same time, made everyone nearby feel like they had just stepped into a sub-Arctic meat freezer. The words blazing from her fire-pit mouth could strip a rhino down to his thin under-skin. Had it been able to speak, the desk that she pounded on with both fists would have pleaded to be burned for firewood to escape the abuse. What on earth was wrong with the woman? What disastrous...
Ever been looked squarely in the eyes and bluntly told you are a bitter, angry person? Probably not. After all, who in their right mind wants to be within 12 feet of a bear and throw heavy stones at that huge, furious mass of muscle and bone? Nobody wants to face that. Facing that bear would be the equivalent of standing in the same room with you while telling you this truth. “You are hard to be around. You always find a way to be angry … always. It never seems to matter what the subject hap...
Losing is not for the faint-hearted. It takes its toll on your mind, your emotions and your body, no doubt about it. It literally takes a champion at heart to lose, because you have to have a lot of courage to face the battering of your self-esteem, and your finances, and your heart. If you’re currently in the middle of losing, or have ever been the loser, I have a few things to say to you. First of all, don’t feel like the Lone Ranger on a dead horse in the desert. You are not the only one str...
Don’t kid yourself. You ain’t ever gonna be that strong, that good, or that important to anyone in your world. It doesn’t matter how hard you try, or how great you believe that you are. In fact, that attitude can cause you to wear yourself out trying to be the Grand Man in the Cape. And at the same time, you just might be coming across as the pompous know-it-all who-thinks-he-can-do-it-all to those around you. Superheroes are just … not. Sure, in the comic strips they can have it all, be it a...
Father’s Day has rolled around again. Hmmm … do I write about the importance of Dad in every kid’s life? Giving every daddy-loved adult who reads this the warm fuzzies as they relive and remember how Dad was present and accounted for, as they grew up? But pour boiling oil in the gaping wound of every reader out there whose dad was in the wind during their growing-up years? Do I run the high risk of bringing back to the surface all the pain and resentment of many who were ignored or outri...
You may have been racing to get out of your marriage. You could hardly wait until your signature was still wet on that divorce decree. Maybe or maybe not. Instead, maybe you were one of those spouses who fought desperately to hold on to your marriage but lost it anyway. But now, like it or not, a divorce is in your rear-view mirror. And as you drove away from that part of your life, celebrating or sobbing, you very likely discovered something. That no matter how long and how far you drive,...
A heavy angry fist slammed down on the desk. To say the least, anyone near that room would have definitely understood that things were not going well with the owner of that fist. Wouldn’t have to study the scowl on his face or hear the frustrated cursing that erupted from his mouth. Larry was married going on 23 years. He and his wife Marsha had a son finishing his education at the local university, and their daughter was turning 17 next month. They owned their nice home, and Larry had a good j...
Some of us are Planners. Meticulous and rather ridiculous methodical planners, we spend a lot of time laying out our life like a checkerboard square. We know what we will be doing today, this week, next month and exactly where we plan to be on our checkerboard by the end of the year. We have car insurance, home insurance, life insurance, loss of income insurance, and probably insurance for not having insurance. There is a plan in place for every piece of life. You better believe that we have...
You are one talented and gifted person – no doubt. When He tucked you into your mom’s womb, your Creator handed you some abilities that are expressly yours. You may be one who socializes easily, able to talk the horns off a billy goat. Or you could be gifted with the ability to effortlessly make and manage money. You may be a tremendously talented artist. Maybe easily having sweet little babies like an assembly line is where you shine. Teaching may your slot. Or you may be able to repair any...
One of Andy’s fondest memories is early morning coffee with his mom. Coming in from doing farm chores, he would find her pouring for both of them. Then when he went off to college, he would return on the weekends and continue their habit of having coffee together before all the others got out of bed. Even after marriage, when we would go back home to visit his mother, he still enjoyed having that first cup of coffee with her in the early morning. Great time for me to sleep in! The following w...
Hmmm … this is evidently an often-thought-about and frequently asked question, along with many other thought-provoking ones, like: If a baby dies, does that infant go to heaven automatically? And will that child be that age for eternity? Others have questions such as Will we be working in eternity? If so, will it be the same kind of work we were trained to do while down here on earth? (I could feel the shudders of moms of two-year-olds as I typed those last two questions). Other questions i...
Do they bother you? Do walls and fences cause claustrophobia in you? How about locked doors and gates? Do they bring about a fierce need to find the key and escape? The obvious answer for most of us is, “Well, it depends. Am I trapped inside those barriers, or protected by them? That’s totally logical thinking. But the problem is that we humans are not always logical, especially when it comes to our freedom. One tiny whiff of a suspicion that we are trapped in a situation and some of us can beg...
If you work and work hard, you will understand this topic – exhaustion. Too much constant physical or mental work, with no relaxation for your body and brain, can bring on serious exhaustion. And that kind of tired, with no time for recuperating, is dangerous for you. You run the risk of pushing too far over the edge, which can easily mean that you end up being grounded for a while, which is ultimately more costly for you than stepping-away time would be. Anyone with half a brain can u...
Yes, you failed. It ended badly for you – bankruptcy, nervous breakdown, divorce, the loss of any relationship with your kids, or maybe a physical adventure that went sideways and ended in your getting to know the fine folks of your local hospital. Endless possibilities come to mind when it comes to the ways we can lose at life. And the loss doesn’t just stop with the actual thing that happened. Like waves from a rock thrown into a pond, the repercussions just keep spreading. The hurt eng...
Back in the ancient days of Fred Flintstone and no cell phones, when he was a young dad and a wet-behind-the-ears pastor, Andy had a habit. No, not a habit like we refer to today, but he unconsciously used a certain phrase – constantly. “I’m sick and tired of…” was the opening statement to just about anything that bothered him, in or out of the pulpit. Abuse of children, eating English peas, lazy politicians, endlessly freezing weather – you name it. He had a negative opinion and those aroun...
We were created by our God to be different from each other. We all have different personalities, likes, loves, dislikes and downright detests. Unfortunately, too much of the time the “detests” are each other. Why? Maybe it’s because we see our outlook on life as the only plausible way to view life. “And the rest of you morons are totally wrong about so many things.” That makes you and me really difficult to be around much of the time. Think about it. How many people in life have you ever comp...
Ever suddenly been transported back in time by just a whiff of a lingering smell in the air? The sight of a house? A quick glimpse of a stranger’s profile who instantly reminds you of someone in your past? Or the taste of a certain food that suddenly takes you back to Grandma’s kitchen? Probably! Unless you suffer with complete amnesia, you have memories. Memories can flare instantly, caused by the basic human senses of taste, smell, touch, sight and hearing. All of us know what it is like to...
Enjoy feeling anxious and blue? Concentrate on what is happening in the world now, that’ll do it for you – the impossible price of food and housing, crooked politics, illegal drugs, riots, disease, murders, kids molested. If that is your idea of living the good life, then my friend, you certainly have it made. But there’s probably not too many of us who would agree with you. Most people like a sense of order and normalcy, and all this out-of-control scary stuff can bring on feelings of helpl...
How do you navigate in this scary world? The way I see it, for most of us it is a matter of one of three possibilities. You either walk by sight – looking at what is in front of you and making a decision from what you see; by instinct – which I call pure gut reaction to things that have already happened in your life; or by trust in your Creator – the one who knows all, before it ever happens. Sight: your response to seeing what is actually out there, and then acting in your own best interests. E...
Remember the old TV cartoon “Popeye The Sailor Man?” He had a favorite saying: “I yam what I yam and dat’s all I yam.” And poor old Olive Oyl could never get him to see himself any other way. A popular song put out in the last few years made me remember Popeye and how wrong he was. The lyrics have a repeating line in the chorus: “I am who I am because the I AM tells me who I am.” Word salad? Not at all. Broken down, that one sentence says so much about you. Those seven little words are say...
Does it seem to you that God is always saying “No” or “Don’t do that” or “Thou shalt not”? If you think that, you are not alone. Many people feel the same way. Seems as if all He wants to do is stop them from enjoying life. And it also seems to them that if they do ignore His “I said no,” and go ahead with a little fun, He is always nearby to drop a 50-pound anvil on their head. No wonder people make fun of those who insist that “God is loving; just look in the Bible and you can plainly read th...
If you are in the habit of consulting only yourself, trusting your own instincts and believing that you will know in your heart what to do when the time comes, then you have a big problem. In Proverbs 28:26, the Bible says, “He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool: but whoso walketh wisely, he shall be delivered.” Translated into plain 2024 English? “You can’t trust your heart to always tell you the truth. It lies.” So, if we can’t believe in our self completely, then when it is time to make...
You probably woke that fateful morning, assuming everything would probably run along on the accustomed track. Never dreaming – or nightmaring – that particular day would be so much different than you expected. After all, even with all of life’s ups and downs, usually a person can know what to reasonably expect. You eat, sleep, communicate with loved ones, work your job and attempt to find pleasure in hobbies or with your friends as much as possible. Oh sure, there are the really bad times...
Have you ever watched a volleyball game and witnessed an entire team suddenly duck under the net and join the other team? Gasping for a breath of hope that isn’t there, they had finally thrown up their hands in despair and crossed to the other side of the net. Just gave up, gave in and joined the enemy. As much volleyball as I have watched and played through the years, no matter how bad one team is trouncing the other – and that has been witnessed, believe me – I have never seen that happe...
Take a good look. It’s always there, part of a healthy, whole hand. Hold up your hand and you’ll see it – the one digit that is pointing the opposite of the other four fingers every time. Oh yeah, you can force it to go along with all the others, but you do have to work at it. Usually, it just naturally sticks out to the side, like “a sore thumb.” It’s always just a little different and obstinately curving away from all the others - but it sure serves a great purpose. Try this. Tuck away the th...
