Plantation Mindset
The Emancipation Proclamation was signed in 1863, but Texas didn’t find out about it until June 19, 1865, which means there was a two-year gap between the time when the slaves were granted liberty and when they experienced liberty. Nobody told the slaves in Texas they were free. Even though they were legally free, they were not experientially free, so in 1865, blacks in Texas were still walking around behaving like slaves.
The Real Problem
Have you ever opened your refrigerator and all of a sudden a foul odor comes out of the refrigerator? You spray some air freshener in the kitchen and that works for awhile, but sooner or later you have have to deal with the source of the smell.
From the Bottom to the Top
A donkey was walking around and fell in a hole. While it was sitting in the hole a farmer walked by, looked down and started to pour dirt on him. The donkey looked up and he said, “Why did you do that to me?”
Beauty for Ashes
When we hang onto past hurts and wrongs, it causes us to have a victim’s mindset and it keeps us from getting the best that God has for us.
The Summer House
Family Leadership Men Personal Development Relationships Women Monday, February 13th 2017 Share the goods! A woman who was going through a bad time was trying to find rest for her soul. She had lost her husband and felt alone. She was spending time in a summerhouse trying to put her life back together. She was sitting in the middle of a big open room with high arching windows when a bird flew in. It flew up to the ceiling and was trapped. Trying to get out it flew to every window but nothing happened. It flew to where the light was coming in, but it couldn’t get out. It flew window after window, but it would only bang against the window and fall back. It would try to force its way out of the house through every little crack or crevice. She thought in her heart, “Poor bird, why do you not come down lower see this open door and fly out easily?” Tell God how you feel. Let Him bring the strength that is available to you through His Word. Click To Tweet But the bird insisted on wounding itself, flying against all of these clear windows. At last its wings grew tired. It flew lower and lower until finally, it was on the level with the open door. Then, seeing the way of escape the bird finally found freedom. Just then the woman thought, “I am like that bird. Through my pride and self-sufficiency, I have been flying so high to see the window up there, and God has been trying to humble me so that I...
Antiquated Maps
Family Leadership Men Personal Development Relationships Women Monday, February 6th 2017 Share the goods! I heard a story of a group of people who found a 4-month old abandoned German shepherd who was suffering from dehydration. The puppy also suffered from bruises all over its body. The people said that the puppy avoided them and for the first month, whenever they came near it, it would shrink and tremble. When they tried to reach out their hand to pet it, it would cower in the corner because it had learned to expect abuse from the hands of humans. It feared the world that it had come to know. It is the same way with children who develop their perception of the world based on how their first caretakers care for them. If they had good parents then they develop strong trust muscles. If they had bad parents then they develop weak trust muscles and their ability to bond is hindered. It is through these experiences that we draw a mental map of the world and then we order our journey around it. Am I using an old map to live, govern, or dictate my life? Click To Tweet This is not something we do consciously. It is kind of like touching a hot stove and the brain warning us not to do that again. The puppy, however, had not been warned not to touch a hot stove but not to connect with humans. The only problem is that the puppy’s mental map was now outdated. When we are older and are removed from a painful setting, our brain does...
Metabolize Your Life
Family Leadership Men Personal Development Relationships Women Monday, May 2nd 2016 Share the goods! When we do not metabolize or process the events in our lives we prevent ourselves from being able to embrace the new that God has for us. We’re like a computer that has a very small hard drive, say 3GB, and every time we try to upload a new program to our computer it slows down. I once had a computer that took 15 minutes to “boot up.” I would turn on my computer in the morning and then I would take a shower or eat breakfast, or do a whole bunch of other things. I finally realized that my computer was slow because there was no room on my hard drive for anything new. Get ready for the new things God has for you! Click To Tweet In other words, I had to remove some old programs to make room for the new programs. This is how life is for many people. God has some new software that He wants to load onto the hard drive of our life. But because we haven’t metabolized, or processed previous experiences we are unable to embrace what God is trying to do. It could be said that some people spend their whole lives “booting up.” In other words, they never get to run the program of life that God has for them because they are always “booting up.” They never get to the application of the things that God has for them because of unresolved issues that keep them in perpetual “boot up” mode. The goal of...
George Wilson
Family Leadership Men Personal Development Relationships Women Monday, April 18th 2016 Share the goods! A man named George Wilson killed a government employee in 1830 who was caught in the act of obstructing the mail. Since he was not a law enforcement officer and he killed a government employee, Wilson was tried and condemned to death by hanging. But the then president of the United States, Andrew Jackson granted him an executive pardon. George Wilson, however, refused to accept the pardon. The department of corrections did not know what to do. The case was taken to the Supreme Court where Chief Justice Marshall ruled that “a pardon is a slip of paper, the value of which is determined by the acceptance of the person to be pardoned. If it is refused, it is no pardon. George Wilson must be hanged.” And hanged he was. Even if we are opposed to the death penalty, we still cannot but agree with the principle that a pardon granted has to be accepted to become active. This is the point of the gospel. When God forgives us, we must accept God’s forgiveness. But then the gospel goes on to indicate that the way to receive God’s forgiveness is not just to say “Amen, so be it,” but to go out and live a life of forgiveness. Live a life of forgiveness! Click To Tweet MORE TOPICS addiction authority biblical characters career challenges children communication convictions depression discernment emotions failure faith family fear finances forgiveness grace healing identity leadership love marriage men parenting personal development pornography priorities process purpose relationships respect restoration righteousness sex...
Polished Gemstone
Family Leadership Men Personal Development Relationships Women Monday, February 29th 2016 Share the goods! An unpolished gemstone looks no different from an ordinary piece of gravel. To polish it, you need three things: a rock tumbler, some abrasive grit, and at least one other stone. A rock tumbler is little more than a jar lying on its side atop a series of rollers. Inside the jar, you place some abrasive grit, the unpolished gemstone and at least one other stone . When the tumbler begins to roll, the rocks will slowly rise up the wall of the jar and then drop, crashing into one another over and over again. Each time they collide, the grit removes a tiny bit of the surface material on top of the gemstone. Each time they collide the stones become smoother and smoother but it’s a very slow process. What happens if you forget the abrasive grit? The stones will still collide, but without an abrasive grit, there is nothing to smooth the stones. They’ll continue to crash into each other and perhaps even chip or damage each other. However, the finished product will look no smoother than it did when you began. It’s not exactly pleasant to be the other rock in somebody else’s tumbler... Click To Tweet Think about it. Stone is struck thousands of time, but still isn’t polish. And you know what happens if you forget another stone? Absolutely nothing. The lone rock will tumble, but with nothing to strike against, it simply rises and falls. There will still be some abrasion as the stone bounces against the side of...
The War is Over
Family Leadership Men Personal Development Relationships Women Monday, February 22nd 2016 Share the goods! Years ago a report was released about some Americans who went to a remote area in the Pacific islands, and discovered people still fighting fifteen to twenty years after World War II had ended. The people on the island had not heard the news that bombs had been dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and that a peace treaty had been signed, and the war was over. When the Americans arrived and told them that the war was over, the islanders initially didn’t believe them and thought the Americans were trying to kill them. Are you fighting a war that has been over since Christ died for your sins? Click To Tweet Later they discovered how ignorant they’d been—fighting for two decades after the war was over. This is what the sinner discovers after he gets born again. He realizes that he’s been fighting a war that has been over since Christ died for his sins. And when the sinner finally has a revelation of this, he says to himself, “Peace has been won, and I no longer have to go around fighting for myself living with all of this tension on the inside of me! The war is over and I am free!” MORE TOPICS addiction authority biblical characters career challenges children communication convictions depression discernment emotions failure faith family fear finances forgiveness grace healing identity leadership love marriage men parenting personal development pornography priorities process purpose relationships respect restoration righteousness sex sin success temptation trials women Help us continue helping others! DONATE TODAY Share...
The Pocket Knife
A young mountain climber named Aron Ralston was hiking in a remote section of Utah when an eight hundred pound boulder shifted and trapped his arm. For five days, he tried to do everything he could to free himself.
The Game is Half Over
Roy Riegels was a football player at the University of California who played a close game against Georgia Tech in the 1929 Rose Bowl. Playing defense, Roy Riegels tried to tackle a Georgia Tech player and was shoved against another player and got turned around and he started running down the sideline, probably thinking, “This is great!