Encouragement

After five minutes sitting in our fort, Randy said, “How about we go pop bottle hunting?” He could have stopped at “How about we go–.” Yes, let’s go.
It was a smart decision. We could collect two cents for every pop bottle we found and turn that into candy at the local store. Our underground fort could never match that return.

Imagine this scene: Dougie and Cindee Gangler have a beautiful young daughter named Phoebe Darling. She’s twelve years old (her preferred pronouns are ‘who’ and ‘whose,’ but that’s another story), and when she was five years old, her bedroom housed over three hundred stuffed animals, all sitting facing an actual stage situated along the far wall. After all, Phoebe was a star in the making.

On our refrigerator at home dwells a magnet stating, “Dorothy was right. There’s no place like home.” At face value, I could list other places which have no comparative competition. For example, there’s no place like a barber shop. Or there’s no place like the inside of a silo.

When did you hear God’s voice for the first time? It happens to every Believer. I’m poking along, minding my own business when—POW! The heavens open and this deep voice bellows, “Dan, it’s me!” At first, I answer, “James Earl Jones?”

Pity the poor atheist. His life is a straight line from birth to death. At death, his straight line of life takes a horrible plunge. He now realizes his grand mistake. He asks for a ‘do over.’ God declines. Then he suggests a substitute punishment, like maybe twenty push-ups?

When you’re good, you’re good. Arrogance had me believing there were no boll weevils in my cotton.

Like April’s two donkeys, a thankful Believer always keeps his eyes on his Life-giver. He succeeds because his faith trumps everything, including in the infallible truth he will eventually join his Life-giver for all of eternity.

You look in a mirror. A smile brightens your face. You’ve never looked better or happier. Letting out a happy sigh, you even wink at yourself. No more pressure to commit good deeds. Yes, I said ‘commit.’ Tomorrow, your plan is to sleep until 11, then go to WalMart in your pajamas.

Far, far better to examine a person’s character rather than how he looks physically. So what do we know of Jesus?

The foundation of our ‘living hope’ isn’t found in us. We can have no anticipation in any ‘living hope’ we create. It is only found in Jesus, and we simply have to trust in Him. He fulfills His promise: “For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”