Sometime back a young lady came up to a friend of mine and said, “I want to be a sweet little old lady when I get older.  How do I do that?”
            I can imagine myself asking the same question when I was young.  I guess I thought there was a magic age, a time when suddenly I would understand everything and feel wise.  It hasn’t happened yet, and youth left me a long time ago. 
            My wise friend looked at this young woman and said, “The way to become a sweet little old lady is to be a sweet young lady.”
            She is so right.  I can guarantee you that every grumpy old man you know was once a grumpy young one, and every bitter old lady you know was a bitter young one.  You will not suddenly become wise just because you have aged, and you will not suddenly become good-natured either.  It reminds me of something I heard on an audio book recently:  there are no happy endings, only happy people. 
            And isn’t that what we Christians are supposed to be, happy?  Yet it seems I meet more and more unhappy Christians.  Maybe we do not dwell enough on the hope we have—or maybe we simply don’t believe it.  If I do believe in that hope, it will show in the things that do and do not upset me, in the things that do and do not discourage me.  It will show in how I treat people, even those who are not kind or who actively mistreat me.  It will show in the way I put others ahead of myself and my own desires, serving as well as I can in whatever situation I am in.  Isn’t that what a sweet little old lady does, or a kind and pleasant old man?  I have known many in my lifetime.  Christians should always become sweet little old ladies and kind and pleasant old men because they believe that here and now is not the end of the matter.  They understand that very soon they will see a happy beginning that never ends--and they believe it.          
            If you want to be a sweet little old lady when you grow up, start working on it today, whatever your age, or you will never make it in time.


Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who gets understanding, for the gain from her is better than gain from silver and her profit better than gold. She is more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire can compare with her.  Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.  She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her; those who hold her fast are called blessed, Prov 3:13-18.



Dene Ward

We are well over a thousand now—and counting.  I have been writing up these little things so long I can’t watch something happen without thinking the phrase above.  In fact, more than once Keith and I have looked at one another after some oddball event and said it in unison: “There oughtta be a devo in that.”
            “Go to the ant, thou sluggard.  Consider her ways and be wise,” Solomon wrote.  “Look at the birds,” Jesus said, and, “Consider the lilies.”  Both of them taught valuable lessons from the things around them.  The parables were nothing more than every day occurrences with analogous meanings.  Parables were not uncommon in the Old Testament either, and many of the prophets taught lessons with the visual aids of their own lives or actions.  Hosea and Ezekiel come instantly to mind.
            Even the writers of the New Testament used athletic contests, farming truisms, and anatomical allegories to teach us what we need to know about our relationship with God, with one another, and in our homes and communities.  Telling stories is a time-honored and perfectly scriptural way of teaching God’s word.
            In fact, maybe if we started looking at the world that way, at the things that happen in our daily lives as if they had some meaning beyond the mundane, some deeper spiritual use, it might just be that our lives would change for the better.  It might be easier to see where we need to grow, maybe a place we need to make a one-eighty before we get much further down the road.  There is something about watching a dumb animal and thinking, “I didn’t even have that much sense,” that will straighten out your attitude.
            If I have done nothing else for you in all these years, maybe I have accomplished this.  Maybe you have learned to look at the things around you and say, “There IS a devo in that—I need to make a change.”
 
But ask the beasts, and they will teach you; the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you; or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you; and the fish of the sea will declare to you. Who among all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this? Job 12:7-9.
 
Dene Ward

When you come to enjoy baseball later in life as I have, you often take for granted things that were not part of the game in the beginning.  Pinch hitters are usually good hitters who are called upon later in the game to step in for a batter who has not hit well.  Often it is a pivotal moment in the game, two outs with two on, and a last chance to tie or win.  The pinch hitter then substitutes for that player he replaced for the remainder of the game either in his defensive position or in another as the team switches positions to accommodate the pinch hitter's abilities.
            The first Major League Baseball player to collect a pinch hit was 22 year old Jack Doyle of the Cleveland Spiders on June 7, 1892, as they played the Brooklyn Grooms.  He came off the bench for pitcher George Davies.  In spite of his hit, Cleveland lost 2-1.  Doyle had a 17 year career with ten teams.  His best years were 1894 with the New York Giants (.367) and 1897 with the Baltimore Orioles (.354).  He finished with a batting average of .299 in 1564 games with 516 stolen bases.
            There have been many times in my life when I would have loved to given way to a pinch hitter--some rugged health procedures, a few rough times economically, a speaking engagement or two that still haunt me because I did not feel comfortable with my delivery.  But we all know that won't work.  Life happens and the things we learn as we endure it are what make or break us as people, especially people of God.
            But it seems to me that some of us just expect a pinch hitter to step in here or there.  The preacher is often our batter of choice.  "It's the preacher's job to visit," we say, which is nowhere found in the scripture, just in our minds as we watch our denominational friends' "pastor system" and try to copy it and at the same time claim to know the true Biblical definition of a pastor.  Instead, the New Testament squarely lays the visiting obligation on every disciple as he ministers to those in need.  Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means visiting orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you (Jas 1:27).
            Others seem to think that it is the church's job to educate their children in the scriptures.  On two 45 minute sessions a week?  Assuming they bother to take their children to both, and assuming they help them get their Bible lessons and make sure they take their workbooks to class.  It has been my experience that the ones who want the church to do the educating are the same ones who won't do this other minimal requirement as godly parents.  You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates (Deut 6:5-9).  Fathers [bring up] your children…in the discipline and instruction of the Lord (Eph 6:4).
            I am sure you can think of other ways we depend upon a pinch hitter rather than doing what God requires of us individually.  But how about this one?  Another word for a pinch hitter might be "scapegoat."  Any time we refuse to take responsibility for our actions, blaming it on someone who "offended" us, or our culture, or the way we were raised, or anything else we can come up with, we think that that person or thing or system will now be held accountable by God (or society or the law of the land) and we are in the clear.  Simply by saying, "It's not my fault," we have admitted that we made a bad choice, and the one God will hold accountable is the one who made that original choice, no matter how long ago it was nor how many other events happened before or afterward.  If I have gotten myself into trouble, I am at fault.  Period.  That's the way God counts it.
            There are no pinch hitters on God's team.
 
I am the LORD. I have spoken; it shall come to pass; I will do it. I will not go back; I will not spare; I will not relent; according to your ways and your deeds you will be judged, declares the Lord GOD (Ezek 24:14).
He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury (Rom 2:6-8).
 
Dene Ward

“Hi!  My name is Moe and I will be your server today.  What can I get you to drink?”
            We had received a gift card to an Italian restaurant we had never been to before and were using it after a doctor appointment one afternoon.  Moe was slightly shorter than average, but a dark-haired, good looking young man, probably working his way through college, it being a college town.  We enjoyed our meal and Moe served us well.  Our first course came lickety-split and when the second took a little bit longer, he stopped to tell us we were “next” and to see if we needed anything else while we waited—like another loaf of warm bread, an offer we were happy to take him up on.  All through the meal he checked on our progress, on whether we were happy or not, and whether things were prepared to our liking.
            When we had finished and were sated enough to turn down dessert, he stood another moment and said, “Is there anything else I can get you?”  Then a half second later, “I really mean that.  You are the kindest table I have waited on all day and I would do anything in the world for you.”
            I had noticed that the booth behind Keith had called him over half a dozen times, and another table had sent something back.  No one raised a voice, but evidently their words and manner showed they might as well have. 
            And us?  We didn’t really think about what we were doing or how we were acting.  We were just—us.  Maybe it’s that we learned a long time ago that people in the service industry are often mistreated and verbally abused, made to pay for someone else’s failures—in this case, maybe the chef’s—and treated just like furniture as far as any personal interaction goes.  Maybe I learned it from my daddy—he always called people he dealt with by their names, and waiters and waitresses, car salesmen and mechanics all remembered him.
            But Moe’s words of gratitude have made me actually think about what I am doing and saying, trying to be even kinder than usual, and maybe even developing a short—but sweet—relationship with those people.  Isn’t that the way Christians are supposed to treat those who serve them?
            Masters, treat your servants justly and fairly, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven…and stop your threatening, knowing that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and that there is no partiality with him. Col 4:1; Eph 6:9
            Why shouldn’t those passages apply to how we treat waiters and waitresses, plumbers and mechanics, cashiers and pizza delivery guys?  These people serve us as part of their daily work, and we can make or break their reputations with their bosses and even cost them their jobs.  We can also brighten their day if we treat them as we ought to, and who knows, maybe someday we can help bring them to Christ. 
            My boys have worked in service industries over summer semesters.  Even all these years later they can tell you stories about certain customers.  Do you really think it is Christlike to be a customer remembered for his sour disposition and rude words over twenty years later?
            Did you go out to eat yesterday?  How would your server remember you?  If you walked in again today, how would he feel?  How does your cashier at the grocery store greet you?  Does she ignore you unless you go through her line, or does she smile and wave when she sees you walk through the door? 
            So thank you, Moe, for reminding me that we are supposed to be reflections of our Lord to everyone.  Thank you for reminding me that my actions and attitudes can glorify or shame Him.
 
You shall not rule over [your servants] ruthlessly but shall fear your God. Lev 25:43
 
Dene Ward

Keith mentioned a few weeks ago that Sonny James had died.  “Who?” I asked.
            “You know—‘Running Bear,’ and ‘Young Love’—the country singer.”
            Ah!  “Running Bear” I remembered.  It was on the radio nearly every day for a while when I was a young teen. 
           Sonny James was born on May 1, 1928.  Keith found an article and there it was all set out for us:  26 #1 hit singles and 16 #1 hits in a row.  He still holds the record for consecutive #1 hits by any solo recording artist throughout all musical genres.  And I couldn’t remember who he was!
            So, I got to thinking and, it being just passed, I looked up the Oscar winners.  Tell me, do you know who Warren Baxter was?  He won the 1930 Best Actor Oscar for his role in “In Old Arizona.”  I never even heard of the movie.  How about Paul Lukas?  He won in 1944.  Don’t tell me, “But that’s so long ago.”  It hasn’t even been a hundred years.  It certainly isn’t ancient history.
            How about nominees?  Let’s just sit awhile in the Best Actress category.  Ruth Chatterton?  Betty Compson? Jeanne Eagels?  They were nominated in 1928.  May Robson and Diana Wynyard?  They came along in 1932.  Martha Scott?  That was 1941, and Celia Johnson was nominated in 1945.  Okay, let’s make it easier.  How about 1966?  That was Ida Kaminska.  I still never heard of her.  Marie-Christine Barrault was nominated in 1976.  Surely you know her?  Here’s an easy one—1989.  Most of you were probably born by then.  Ever hear of Pauline Collins?  Me neither.
            I bet I could do the same thing with Emmys, Tonys, Grammys, and how about Heisman awards?  Do you see the point?  A huge percentage of these people will never be remembered by most people just a few years from now.  Acting is not that important in the grand scheme of things.  Touchdown passes, slam dunks, and home runs don’t really matter.  Why, oh why, do we lavish our praise and adoration on these people?  Why do we wear their colors and their uniform numbers, dress like they do, talk like they do, and want their signatures on hats and shirts and napkins?
            Think for a minute: who do we remember?  How about a widow who sewed for the poor in the town of Joppa?  How about a Christian couple who were chased out of Rome for being of Jewish extraction, but who kept traveling preachers in their home and even helped teach them and anyone else who came along, even at the risk of death?  How about a wealthy woman in Jerusalem who allowed the church to meet in her home in the midst of a dangerous persecution so they could pray for those in prison?  How about a disciple in Damascus who took his life into his hands to preach to one of the church’s worst persecutors?  How about yet another one who was known for his encouraging ways, who traveled and preached and took young preachers under his wing till they could grow to be mature servants of God?
            I bet you know every one of their names and can find their stories in your Bible.  These are the things that last.  These are the things that no one will forget.  These are the things that will make a difference to lives, and more than that, to eternal souls. 
            And most of these are things we can do, too.  Do you want to be remembered?  Put down the football.  Throw down the novel.  Turn off the DVD.  Pull out the earbuds.  Now go out there and do good to whomever you find, everywhere you can.  You will be remembered—by many, and especially by the One who counts.
 
​…Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. ​For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also…for what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.  Luke 12:33-34; 16:15.
 
Dene Ward

The bugle call "Taps" was written by Gen. Daniel Butterfield to replace another bugle call that the US Army used at the end of the day.  It was first played by Private Oliver Willcox Norton of the 83rd Pennsylvania Regiment.  Before long it spread throughout the army and even into the Confederate Army who heard it being played across the battlefields.  It is now most associated with military funerals.
            Gen. Butterfield was a businessman from New York State whose father founded American Express.  He formed a militia in New York and at the start of the Civil War reported to Washington for service and was appointed an officer.  He had a natural tendency to organize and without anyone asking him to do so, wrote a manual on camp and outpost duty for the infantry.  The manual eventually reached Gen. George McClellan and on April 23, 1862, it was "adopted for the governance of the army."
            It was after that, in the summer, that Gen Butterfield wrote "Taps," and that is where we will hang our hats this morning.
            We don’t travel a lot, but when we do we try to find a group of brethren who share our faith.  Most people call this looking for a “sound church.”  After several unsettling experiences with so-called “sound churches” on the road, I started studying the phrase.  Guess what?  You won’t find it anywhere in the Bible, not in any of the nine translations I checked.
            I have already mentioned a time when we forgot our “church clothes” and had to attend services in jeans and flannel shirts—camp clothes--and the cold reception we received.  Another time I was in a city far away from home for a scary surgery.  We remembered our church clothes, but it didn’t seem to make a bit of difference.  We walked in the front door, went down the middle aisle and sat two-thirds of the way down—Keith must be able to see faces in detail so he can lip-read.  We were at least 10 minutes early.  No one approached us, nor nodded, nor even looked our way.  Finally the woman in front of us heard Keith say, “I can’t believe no one has even greeted us,” and turned around to introduce herself.  After services we slowly made our way down the aisle surrounded shoulder to shoulder by the (still unwelcoming) crowd, stopped at a tract rack for a minute or two, and finally walked out the door before the preacher finally came out calling us to say hello.  It wasn’t like we didn’t give him plenty of time.  No one else even bothered.
            Contrast that to the time we entered a building thinking that we probably didn’t agree entirely with this group because of a few notices hanging on the wall, but were greeted effusively by every single member the minute they saw us.  We were even invited to lunch, while at the previous church I mentioned, living in a hotel between dangerous procedures, no one even asked if we needed any help.
            So when my recent study of faith came upon a passage in Titus about being “sound in the faith,” I decided to check the entire context and see what that actually meant.  Since I must be brief here, I hope you will get your Bible and work through it with me and see for yourself.
            First, the phrase applies to individuals, not a corporate body.  Titus 1:10-16 gives us a detailed and complete picture of someone who is not “sound.”  They are the ones the elders in verses 5-9 are supposed to “reprove sharply” so they may be “sound in the faith” v 13.  Look at those seven verses (10-16) and you will see a list that includes these, depending upon your version:  unruly, vain talkers, deceivers, false teachers, men defiled in mind and conscience, unbelievers (who obviously claim otherwise), those who are abominable, disobedient, and deny God by their works, being unfit for good works. 
            The context does not end just because the next line says, “Chapter 2.”  In that chapter Paul clearly defines what “sound in the faith” means, beginning unmistakably with “Speak the things that befit sound doctrine, that the older men…” and going straight into the way people should live.  Read through it.  Everything he tells the older men and women, the younger men and women, and the servants to do and to be, fit somewhere in that previous list (“un-sound”) as an opposite. 
            If people who are unruly are un-sound, then people who are temperate, sober-minded, and reverent in demeanor are sound.  If people who are defiled in mind and conscience are not sound, then people who are chaste, not enslaved to wine (or anything else), and not thieves are sound.  If people who deny God by their works and are even unfit for good works are not sound, then people who are kind, sound in love, and examples of good works are sound.  Go all the way through that second chapter and you can find a (opposite) match for everything in the first.
            Now let’s point out something important:  if being a false teacher makes you unsound, then being a teacher of good and having uncorrupt doctrine does indeed make you sound, but why do we act like that is all there is to it?  You can have a group of people who believe correctly right down the line but who are unkind, unloving, un-submissive, impatient, and who do nothing but sit on their pews on Sunday morning with no good works to their name and they are still not a “sound church!”  Not according to Paul. Nine out of the ten things on that “un-sound” list have nothing to do with doctrine—they are about the way each individual lives his life.
            I am reminded of Jesus’ scalding words to the Pharisees in Matthew 23:23:  Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you tithe mint and anise and cummin, and have left undone the weightier matters of the law, justice, and mercy, and faith: but these you ought to have done, and not to have left the other undone. Yes, our doctrine must be sound, but doesn’t it mean anything to us that Paul spends far more time talking about how we live our lives every day? 
            Don't get me wrong.  The notes of the bugler do make a difference.  It wouldn't do at all if he played "Taps" when the general was calling for a "charge."  For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle? (1Cor 14:8).  But the bugle is not the weapon of choice for a battle.  If the church is made up of people, then a sound church must be made up of sound people who live sound lives.  That is the weightier matter of the law of Christ.
 
For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified: Romans 2:13.
 
Dene Ward

We have had some cold this winter, more than in recent years.  Over the holidays we had at least two nights in the low to mid 20s, and have had quite a few in the 30s and 40s.  If you are north of the Florida-Georgia line that may not seem too bad to you, but for us, it's noteworthy.  It means when we go out in the mornings for our third cup of coffee and to throw treats for Chloe, we head for the east fire pit rather than sit on the breezy carport.  Even with layers of shirts, sweaters and coats, and even in sunny Florida, those plastic chairs feel cold to the backside, so we pile on the firewood, usually deadwood gathered from around the property.  If the fire is more smoke than flame, a good piece of fat lighter will usually get it going hot and strong, and a handful of pine straw provides the strong, hot, and immediate blaze our bodies crave for comfort. 
            After a few minutes we are finally warming up, both outside and in.  The hardwoods will begin to coal up and suddenly, though the flames may be lower, the heat is much higher.  I often need to turn a bit to the sides to keep my pants and the legs within them from scorching.  Sometimes we even need to push our chairs back a foot or two, and Chloe suddenly prefers to sit to the side on her pile of carefully raked up pine straw rather than right next to us.  When it gets that hot, all you have to do is look up and even on a perfectly still morning, see the leaves on the branches 30 feet above our heads dancing in the heat waves.  Hot air rises, they taught us in science class, and there is the proof of it.
            The Bible uses "heat" as a metaphor for anger, particularly when referring to God's anger.  He let loose on them his burning anger, wrath, indignation, and distress…(Ps 78:49).  But the same figure is used of our anger as well.  ​A hot-tempered man stirs up strife…(Prov 15:18).  Before we go too far along with this, we would do well to remember that anger is not necessarily a sin.  Be angry and sin not, Paul says in Eph 4:26.  But too often, that becomes the excuse du jour, a little too handy and too often used.  Still, we are right to be angry about some things.  ​Hot indignation seizes me because of the wicked, who forsake your law (Ps 119:53), but I fear that too often, our anger has nothing to do with our defense of God, righteousness and justice, but simply of ourselves and what was done to us.
            If a man has a constant problem with anger, the real issue isn't what caused the anger, but the fact that he is simply an angry man.  Anything can raise his hackles at the least provocation, and just like the heat from our morning fire, it will rise to the top, causing turmoil and upset.  It is not just his problem; it affects everyone around him.  As charcoal to hot embers and wood to fire, so is a quarrelsome man for kindling strife (Prov 26:21).  And perhaps worse, Make no friendship with a man given to anger, nor go with a wrathful man, lest you learn his ways and entangle yourself in a snare (Prov 22:24-25).  An angry man is not a happy man and he had rather no one else be happy either.  It should go without saying that he is no fun to be around.
            Many angry men have the mistaken idea that their anger is a sign of strength.  God says otherwise.  A man with a quick temper is a fool (Prov 14:17; Eccl 7:9)).  He has no understanding (Prov 14:29).  He is weak (16:32), and he has no sense (19:11).  That's what God thinks of him. 
            So when you notice the hot air rising, especially within yourself, take a step backwards and reflect.  Why are you so easily angered?  (It can happen to women as well as men, you know.)  What has gotten so deep inside your heart that you can no longer control it?  No bad day or difficult circumstance can ever excuse it.  For some who are deeply damaged, it might require some professional help, but for the average person, it is a choice he makes when he decides to let anger take the controls.  Other people experience the same difficulties and manage to handle them in a righteous manner, including the Lord when he was on this earth.  With him on your side, so can you.
 
Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God (Jas 1:19-20).
 
Dene Ward

We have actually had a bit of winter this year, including several frosts, a good hard freeze, and a winter storm that knocked out the power from 3:00 pm Christmas Eve until about that time Christmas Day.  It worked out well that we had gone to Tampa to be with the kids.  If everyone had come up here, I don't even want to think about 7 people with no running water, no heat, and especially no Christmas dinner!
            But the cold means we have really enjoyed our morning fires and that last cup of steaming coffee.  The smell of wood smoke and the crisp air that nips your nose and chaps your legs even through pants make them all that more enjoyable.  And despite that cold we seem to sit even longer while our cheeks turn red from the heat of the flames as, conversely, our toes slowly freeze into ice cubes inside our socks.  Chloe has even perked up, despite turning 14 this winter and feeling the effects of both arthritis and cataracts.  So between tossing her treats and guzzling the warm dark liquid, we talk.
            And talk and talk and talk—sometimes as much as an hour.  Many a good teaching technique and blog post have come to mind as we bounce ideas off one another.  I ask for help with studies that are more in Keith's area and he asks for help for those I might possibly know more about—which is certainly not many.  Together we hope that our resulting classes are easier for others to listen to and absorb.  Isn't that what Christian couples are supposed to do? 
I            In our earlier years, when sitting by the fire for a cup of coffee was only a Saturday event due to work and children, we also talked about child raising.  As a stay-at-home mom with a home-based music studio, I could watch firsthand our boys' progress, could see any problems that might be developing in their characters, and could then pass that on to Keith so we could brainstorm ideas for correcting those things.  I could correct immediate things and then report to their father what happened.  The father is the spiritual leader of the home and more often than not must delegate some of that authority to the mother because she is with the children more hours than he.  So our talks often centered around the spiritual atmosphere of our home then, but we did talk, even if it meant waiting until the little guys were in bed.  Isn't that what Christian couples are supposed to do?
            We share any problems we have with others and ask one another for advice.  We share experiences and look for support.  We share memories and build our love.  Isn't that what Christian couples are supposed to do?
            Sometimes I wonder how many out there actually do these things.  More than once I have mentioned something to one spouse, knowing the other already knew about it, only to have that spouse say, "What are you talking about?" because the information had not been shared.  If somehow these two do have time together, what do they talk about?  Do spiritual things matter at all, or is it just the mundane?  Do they ever work on building their faith, share a Biblical discovery, make a plan for how to serve others that week, or schedule some family time?  Do they ever sit and just have a good discussion about a Bible topic, with neither one allowed to get upset if he is disagreed with?  Aren't Christian couples supposed to do those kinds of things?
           If you are dating a young man and find that you cannot talk about spiritual things, maybe you should take a second look.  You should certainly talk about how your living will be made, where you will live, and how you will raise your children.  Those can have spiritual ramifications—but if you are only talking about the standard of living you expect, about the number of children you want and your worldly ambitions for them while your hopes for their spiritual destiny never enters the conversation, something is out of whack.  Marrying a man who has no interest in spiritual things at all, who, if he attends services at all, sits there bored with the sermon, never sings a hymn, and gets impatient if you want to attend a women's study, will be the worst mistake of your life.
            If you are both Christians and you have never had conversations like those we have mentioned, now is the time to start.  It may not be too late to make a difference in your marriage and in the lives of your children.  At this point, you will probably need to plan it—make it part of a date night if it takes that, and do it just like any other important appointment you keep no matter what.  It is important.  More than you ever imagined.
 
For they that are after the flesh mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit (Rom 8:5).
 
Dene Ward
             

I started jogging and working out when I was 29.  By the time I was 30 I jogged 30 miles a week.  Oh, to have all that energy again!  I still work out, but several surgeries, medication side effects, psoriatic arthritis, and bad vision make it impossible to do what I used to—not to mention age, which will tell on even the healthiest of us.
            Some days, usually Mondays when I have had a couple days off the elliptical machine, I do well, finishing my chosen program two or three minutes ahead of schedule.  Other days I just plod on through until the programmed timer goes off and I notice that I was a quarter mile short of my programmed distance.  But I got it done.  I sweated and I panted and my muscles burned for the allotted amount of time.  Mission accomplished.  Maybe I will live an extra day because of it.
            Some Sundays I have no trouble at all keeping my mind on the worship. I am full of spiritual pep and vitality.  I sing with gusto and listen attentively to the classes, prayers and sermons, even making connections I never had before, priming myself for more study when I get home.  Other Sundays it’s all I can do to just be there.  My mind is as lethargic as my body.  I hear, but I don’t really comprehend.  When I leave I wonder if it did me any good at all.  Surely God is upset with my poor showing that day.
            Is He?  If the day was difficult, but I made it anyway; if it was a struggle to worship “with the spirit and the understanding;” if the “all” I had to give was very little, was my service to God a failure?  I don’t think so.  We have no trouble understanding the concept of the widow’s mite in a literal way.  She gave all she had that day, and Jesus praised her for it.  Some days the spiritual mite is smaller than others.  If I give it all, why isn’t that what God expects of me?  Won’t God be pleased that I still tried as hard as I could with far less available than usual?  If God goes by effort, I worked harder that day than on any day when it was easy, didn’t I?
            And if this sort of thing worries you, if you find yourself thinking you have failed because you weren’t at your spiritual peak, then you have certainly shown the heart of flesh that God told His people He wanted from them.  You didn’t feel like it, but you still obeyed God’s instructions in your service.  And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh; that they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God, Ezek 11:19-2.  Obedience in spite of it all—that’s the heart of flesh.  A hard heart can shout amen and sing the rafters off the roof in the middle of blatant disobedience.  God made it clear which He prefers.
            By the end of an exercise week I am really dragging.  My legs feel like lead and my lungs seem starved of oxygen.  But I still go at it and get it done.  It still does my body the good I intended.  If you are dragging at the end of some spiritual interval, a time that might have started out with all the vitality you could have wanted but gradually wore down, just keep on plugging.  The energy will return and you will be back where you want to be.  It does not mean that you are not where God wants you to be.
 
Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint, Isa 40:28-31.
 
Dene Ward

If you are familiar with the prophets, you know they often told stories and then made spiritual application.  We can read from Jewish histories that the rabbis did the same thing.  It was a standard teaching method.  In fact, some of the stories had the same elements, just as many jokes begin, “A rabbi, a priest, and a lawyer…”  I have read in at least one source that the rich man and the poor beggar were staple characters in teaching stories all across the mid-east, even as far west as Egypt, one reason we should be careful about calling Luke 16 a “true story.”  Jesus was known as a rabbi because he used some of the same methods.
            I have known people who insisted that preachers and teachers should not “tell stories.”  The Bible has plenty, they say, so use them.  While in the past I agreed more than I disagreed, I have come to a change of mind.  Yes, Jesus used some of the events from the Old Testament in his teaching, but far more often he used the events of every day life in stories we call parables.  So I tell stories too.
            Some people ask me how in the world I come up with the applications to all my stories.  The answer to that is another reason I tell them.  Some of them come easily but often I have to think for awhile to find a spiritual application.  Guess what I am not doing while my mind is busy with spiritual things?  Guess what does not happen while I search the scriptures trying to find pertinent passages?  Far better to spend your time searching for applications to the events in your life than to brood over them, becoming depressed and bitter.  Far better to see a way to improve yourself than to blame others as if the whole world were out to get you and you are the only one these things happen to. 
            Life is the training ground for an eternal existence.  If I cannot become spiritual enough to handle things here, how will I ever become suitable for a spiritual existence with a Spirit Deity?  That is our goal, but the way some of us lead our lives, never learning from them, I wonder if we know it, or even care. 
            Try today to make some spiritual applications from the things that happen to you.  Think about your past and the many times you could have learned a lesson if your eyes and ears had been open to them.  It is really not that difficult.  If I can do it, anyone can.
 
And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why do you speak to them in parables? And he answered and said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. For whosoever has, to him shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but whosoever has not, from him shall be taken away even that which he has. Therefore I speak to them in parables; because seeing they see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. And unto them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, which says, By hearing you shall hear, and shall in no wise understand; And seeing you shall see, and shall in no wise perceive: For this people's heart is waxed gross, And their ears are dull of hearing, And their eyes they have closed; Lest haply they should perceive with their eyes, And hear with their ears, And understand with their heart, And should turn again, And I should heal them. But blessed are your eyes, for they see; and your ears, for they hear. For verily I say unto you, that many prophets and righteous men desired to see the things which you see, and saw them not; and to hear the things which you hear, and heard them not, Matt 13:10-17.
 
Dene Ward