Expecting the Unexpected

It had been a long time since Horace Walpole smiled. Too long. Life for him had become as drab as the weather in dreary old England. Then, on a grim winter day in 1754, while reading a Persian fairy tale, his smile returned. He wrote his longtime friend, Horace Mann, telling him of the “thrilling approach to life” he had discovered from the folk tale.

Just Do It

We Christians have too many meetings! Where did we get the idea that our goal in the family of faith should be seeing who can absorb the most information? Since when do we equate spirituality with a numb posterior?

Predestined for Service

Painful though it may be for us to admit it here in this great land of America, we’re losing touch with one another. The motivation to help, to encourage, yes, to serve our fellow-man is waning. People have observed a crime in progress but refused to help so as not to be involved. Even our foundational values are getting lost in these confusing days. And yet, it is these things that form the essentials of a happy and fulfilled life.

Slug That Sluggard!

If you’re like I am, life is too busy to add some unrealistic, humongous, impossible-to-achieve-anyway program. Instead, let’s deal with the problem in a straightforward and simplified manner. First, admit to yourself that you could stand a change here and there. Try to be specific enough to pinpoint a couple of particular areas that keep bugging you. Don’t bite off too much, just one or two trouble spots you plan to deal with first.

Out of Order

Doing all things “decently and in order” applies to a lot more areas than theology. It’s remarkable how many guys who have the ability to articulate the most exacting details and nuances of their area of expertise never get their desks cleared off or their workrooms organized. They’re brainy enough to rebuild some complex engine, but the trash under the kitchen sink can overflow until it’s ankle deep, and they aren’t even aware of it. Isn’t it amazing how many men have quiz-kid heads and pigpen habits?

Stop the Elevator

Elevators are weird places. You’re crammed in with folks you’ve never met, so you try really hard not to touch them. And nobody talks, except for an occasional “Out, please.” You don’t look at anyone; in fact, you don’t look anywhere but up, watching those dumb floor numbers go on and off.

Intimate Communication

You who are parents need to think it over . . . to come to terms with this business of communicating openly, tactfully, and intelligently with your children in the areas of intimacy. lt’s a parental task that must be handled with great care and wisdom—but it must be handled. Obviously, it is not to be directed only toward the girls, but to boys as well. Nor should it be communicated only by mothers, but by both parents. God’s beautiful plan regarding conception and birth needs to be shared from a balanced perspective.

The Need for Integrity

Leaders with power and brains are common. So are leaders with riches and popularity. But a competent leader full of integrity and skill, coupled with sincerity, is rare indeed.

Joyful Generosity

Thoughts disentangle themselves . . . over the lips and through the fingertips. I learned that saying over thirty years ago, and just about every time I put it to the test, it works! Whenever I have difficulty comprehending the complicated or clarifying the complex, I talk it out or write it out.

New Hope

Floundering with my father is among my most cherished childhood memories. Armed with a beat-up Coleman lantern, two gigs, a stringer . . . we’d head to the water. When the sky got nice ‘n’ dark, we’d wade in about knee-deep and stumble off into the night.