One of my favorite old hymns is “Count Your Blessings.” The song was written by Johnson Oatman, Jr. and was published way back in 1897. The first two verses and the chorus say: Verse One: When upon life’s billows you are tempest-tossed, When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,...
It’s Valentine’s Day. Many couples are enjoying the special day of exchanging expressions of love through boxes of chocolates, gifts of jewelry, fancy meals at nice restaurants, expressive cards, and beautiful bouquets of flowers. My preferred flowers are roses—any color, but I have...
Many people think being called to God’s service only includes being called to teach or preach. Not so. God’s call to service can be about the use any of our gifts. Take for example the craftsmen called upon to use their gifts in the area of art and design for the construction of the...
At graduations, there’s always that kid who has all the asterisks behind her name in the program indicating how many honors she has received. She makes her way to the podium about ten times to pick up certificates for participation, leadership, and high achievement, not to mention the...
While I was attending Emmanuel Community Church in Gardena, CA some years ago, my pastor, Pastor Frederick Holmes, asked me a question. He asked, “What do you want from life?” Without hesitation I answered, “I want my life to count.” That short conversation became a defining moment in...
In the novel Animal Farm by George Orwell, the animals decide to stage a mutiny against the humans and take over the farm because the humans treated them so badly. They came up with “7 Rules of the Farm” by which they all would live. However, some of the animals were not able to...
One of the toughest things I have to do as a high school teacher is watch students fail. No matter how much I go over the material, insist that they actually do all of the reading and assignments, and warn against procrastination, some students simply don’t believe “fat meat is...
