Revitalize Your Church

 "Half the harm that is done in the world,"  said poet,  T.S. Eliot , "is done  by people who want to feel important. They do not mean to harm. There  are absorbed in the endless struggle to think well of themselves."  I've discovered that most of the time, people mean well. Even when  they speak or behave in troubling ways that makes us wonder -- they  mean well.   It's best to give the benefit of the doubt whenever possible.  Yet, at the same time, it is also beneficial for us to examine our  motives, and try to understand more deeply how our behavior effects  others.  Sometimes, winning the argument loses the fight. A marriage counselor once asked a distraught husband,  "Do you want to be happy, or do you want to be right?"  After a frustrating conversation one day, I thought, "What he said spoke so loud, I couldn't understand a word  he meant!"  Perhaps, the best path is mapped out by  St. Fr...

Everyone deals with financial setbacks from time to time.  Money doesn't buy happiness - -but the lack of it can sure bring a lot of stress.  My father, talking about the lean years of the Great Depression, said they pinched pennies so tight, Abe Lincon hollered!  George Washington has hollered in my hands a few times! When facing hard times financially, it pays to remember these are the only times we have.  We need to keep a proper perspective. Here are some important reminders as we face adversity: 1. God is far bigger than the problem. If a financial crisis looms like a mountain, remember -- God is the mountain mover! There's no challenge too great for the Almighty. There is not one situation beyond His ability. Instead of telling God how big your problem is, tell your problem how big God is! 2. Hard times teach us wisdom. Difficult days force us to stop and evaluate where we are, what we're doing, and why we're doing it. Nobody becomes wise with ease....

“If you rely on training, you accomplish what training can do. If you rely on skills and hard work, you obtain the results that skills and hard, faithful work can do. When you rely on committees, you get what committees can do. But when you rely on God, you get what God can do.”  -- Wesley Duewel in Ablaze for God

We either just "go" through life or we can grow through it.  The difference between going and growing is the big "R" --   Reflection! Life is not so much about what happens to us as what happens in and from us. When we take the time to reflect upon our experiences, we learn important lessons from them. Failing to glean truth from circumstances, leads to a long rough journey of difficult consequences. going from bump to bump with a few ditches between.  Reflection brings wisdom and understanding. Why just suffer through difficult experiences, when we can gain something from them? Why waste mistakes? "Experience is not what happens to you," said Adlous Huxley, "It is what you do with what happens to you." My friend, Famous Dave Anderson, made the following observation: "Failure is the hallmark of success. It can be the starting point of a new venture such as when a baby learns to walk, it has to fall down a lot to learn th...

A legendary pianist was once asked, "How do you handle the notes as well as you do?  The artist responded, "I handle the notes no better than others; but the pauses. . . Ah!  That is where the art resides! -- From Rest in the Storm by Kirk Byron Jones