Walking The Walk

  "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland." ~Isaiah 43: 18-19 Somebody asked me a very hard question this week, and it’s not the first time I’ve been asked this question. How do you start over?   I’ve been there, and it’s a tough place to find yourself. There’s a lot of ways people find themselves in this place. Some of you feel stuck because of broken relationships. Perhaps you’ve had a marriage that ended badly, or a friendship that has dissolved in conflicts, or problems in your family that are broken beyond repair. Many of our problems we cause ourselves because we’ve made bad decisions. We’ve made a poor career move, or made bad decisions about money, or fallen into a destructive habit that you can’t seem to break. But I have good news for you. It’s never too late to begin again.   In fact, God specializes in fr...

What would it take to make you happy?  Do you ever think about that?  Most people do.  Most people have a mental list of things they'd need to be happy.  It's a mental wish list.  I call it the "if only" list . . . If only I could get more time to myself I'd be happy. If only I had a promotion at work with a nice raise and an office with a window--then I'd be happy! If only I had a bigger house in a nice neighborhood, then I'd be happy. Or maybe it's just one big thing.  One big achievement that you believe is the key to everything.   But the truth of the matter is, there isn't one thing on this earth that will make you happy.  There is not one thing or a hundred things on this earth that will make you content.  There is nothing on this planet that will give you the peace you're looking for.  Because that's not where peace and happiness come from.  I could give you a hundred examples of very wealthy, and very successful people ...

Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”  ~Isaiah 30:21  (Continued from Part 2) I've always had a favorite hymn--" Blessed Assurance ." It was a favorite in the first church I attended, and we sang it frequently. That church is gone now, but every time I hear " Blessed Assurance " it takes me back to when I found God in that little church so many years ago and was baptized.  For me, nothing takes me back to a time and a place so quickly as music.  It's remarkable to me how music speaks to us in a language all its own. It's no wonder that music is such an important part of our worship--especially in the Baptist church.  So there I was sitting in the front row, next to my friend John, waiting for the time to come when I was to go up and deliver the message. I was nervous.  I was sweating.  I was feeling a little nauseous at times. All pretty common for me every time I h...

"So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it." ~Isaiah 55:11 My youngest daughter had to face a very harsh reality this week.  She had her feelings hurt in a very mean way.  She was excluded from an event that she never should have been excluded from, for very dubious reasons. She was never told about the event, but after the event, it was splashed up on social media where the participants had to know she would see it, or my wife and I would see it and be upset that we were left out.  I think Valerie and I were as upset over it as she was. I knew I was going to write about this, but I've been struggling with how I was going to write about it.  I've been upset for several days.  It's not the first time, and we've accepted the fact it won't be the last time. It's been an ongoing struggle for many years. Valerie and...