Hopeful vs Hopeless
Family Leadership Men Personal Development Relationships Women Monday, July 25th 2016 Share the goods! During the Korean War, American soldiers were found dead in three basic states. Some were fighting, some were running away, and some were found dead in the bottom of their foxholes with no signs of violence. Those fighting and those running had similar physiologic changes found during autopsy: 1. Blood was shunted to the skeletal muscles and away from the intestines. 2. The pupils of their eyes were dilated. 3. The muscles of their heart were in a state of constriction at the time of death. 4. The airways to their lungs were dilated. Those found dead with no marks of violence had the opposite changes: 1. Blood was shunted to the intestines and away from the skeletal muscles. 2. The pupils of their eyes were constricted. 3. The muscles of their heart were in a state of relaxation at the time of death. 4. The airways to their lungs were constricted. These findings were compatible with sympathetic nervous system discharge for the fighters and runners. The others were compatible with parasympathetic nervous system discharge. The sympathetic part is also called the “fight or flight response” and is a result, in general, of the outpouring of adrenaline. The parasympathetic part is also called the “vegetative” side of the nervous system. These soldiers’ autopsies demonstrated exactly what this discharge would cause – death! The conclusion of the article was that the soldiers who were fighting or running were trying to do something, even if in fear. They had hope of winning or getting away. The soldiers...
Be of Good Cheer
Family Leadership Men Personal Development Relationships Women Monday, January 18th 2016 Share the goods! We can usually cope with something when we find out it’s normal. When a pregnant woman starts to have morning sickness or her feet start to swell she can initially become very upset, but when a doctor tells her that these experiences can be a normal part of pregnancy all of a sudden the woman’s perspective changes and she adapts. She’s still nauseated. Her ankles are still swollen, and she can’t fit comfortably into most of her clothes. She may still be feeling poorly physically, but she’s no longer worried because she understands what’s happening and that it’s all part of the process. If you go through life without understanding that there are some things that you have to go through so that you can deliver what God has impregnated in you, you can get distracted. John 16:33 NKJV says, “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. How consistent is my explanatory style with what the Bible has to say? Click To Tweet Psalms 34:19 NKJV reminds us that, “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.” If you don’t live with the mindset that there are some things in life that you simply must push through, you’ll turn an experience into a crisis—when it’s really just a crossroad! We must continually ask ourselves, “ What’s my perspective on this situation, and what...
Planted vs Buried
Family Leadership Men Personal Development Relationships Women Monday, October 12th 2015 Share the goods! It’s critical that we know the difference between being planted, and being buried. In John 12:24 (NKJV), Jesus says, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.” God wants you to know that you’ve been planted, but satan wants you to think that you’ve been buried. So it’s critical that we know the difference between planting and burial. On the surface, planting and burying look the same; both involve digging into the ground, but here’s the key difference: planting has a future; burial does not. You bury the dead when life is over, but when you plant a seed, you bury it in the ground so that after a period of transformation it comes back up greater than it was when it went down. When you plant a seed, you aren’t burying it to get rid of it, but rather you are planting the seed so that new life may grow. But satan wants you to feel that you’re buried. Buried in guilt. Buried in shame. Buried in regret. And he wants you to remain in buried, stuck in the dark. Just because you may be in a dark place now, it doesn’t mean that that’s your final destination. Click To Tweet Our loving Father God wants you to live with the constant awareness that you have been planted. You didn’t grow randomly. You didn’t just arrive on the scene. You were planted! The sperm...
The Greatest Pitcher
There was a little boy who loved to play in his backyard with his ball and bat. Every day he’d put on his baseball cap, grab his ball and bat and go outside and start tossing the ball in the air. As the ball descended, the boy would say to himself, “I’m the greatest hitter in the world!” Then he’d swing and miss.
Northern Pike
As an experiment, a marine biologist captured a Great Northern Pike fish and put it in an aquarium and created an environment similar to the one that the pike lived in in the Canadian lakes.
Halfway House
One of the great mountains in the alps is very popular with climbers because it has a rest house halfway up. Still and yet, the trek up to this house is not for amateurs, it’s a long climb up to that point.
A Bumpy Ride
Many folks love to fly, but they hate to fly in bad weather. If you fly often you know what I mean. When you fly in bad weather and you look out the window, it’s completely white outside. You can’t see the shapes of the clouds. You can’t see the blue sky
Day Tight Compartments
Family Leadership Men Personal Development Relationships Women Monday, January 30th 2017 Share the goods! Many years ago, there was an article by a famous physician by the name of Osler. He had some wise observations about worry and dealing with the psychological challenges of worry in the lives of people. He made an interesting analogy, he said that ocean liners are designed in such a way that the steel doors are able to be lowered by the press of a button, so that even if the hall of the ship is pieced by some disaster of some sort, they can lower the steel door and close off the hall so that only a portion of the ship is flooded. The doctor went on to make this important application by saying that in the journey of life, it is critical to learn how to lower the door against the tomorrows that may come in to destroy your life and then learn how to lower the door on the yesterdays that can cause you to worry, and learn how to live in a day tight compartment. Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, but rather worry will empty today of its strength. Click To Tweet Listen to what Jesus said, He said in Matthew 6:34, “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” And then in Deuteronomy 33:2, “As your days, so shall your strength be.” No man has ever sunk under the burden of today, but many a man has sunk under the burden of...
Don’t Limit Yourself
Family Leadership Men Personal Development Relationships Women Monday, December 26th 2016 Share the goods! Ivy Grandstrom is a 77-year-old grandmother from Vancouver, British Columbia who recently signed up for the 10-kilometer run, 800-yard run, 1500 meter, and 500 meter run in the world veteran games that take place in Eugene, Oregon. Ivy’s real specialty is not in running, but in beating the odds. You see, she is not only 77 years old, but she is totally blind. She has run competitively for the last 14 years and although she started running in handicapped races, she has started running recently in sighted races and has also run in the USA and Canada Masters Meets. She runs with her longtime friend, Paul Hoeberigs, with a surgical cloth tied to their wrist. Paul runs alongside Ivy and guides her through the race. She has fallen down many times, but she never stays down for long and she has never started a race that she has not finished. Ivy is a 77-year-old blind runner. Usually, the only thing that stops us from accomplishing the things that we set out to do is our own limitations! Usually, the only thing that stops us from accomplishing the things that we set out to do is our own limitations. 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 sin success temptation trials women Help us continue helping others! DONATE TODAY Share the goods!...
Pain that Fuel Your Dream
Family Leadership Men Personal Development Relationships Women Monday, December 5th 2016 Share the goods! For many Christians, we want God’s training program to be a microwave, but more often than not it is a crockpot or slow cooker. Glen Cunningham was born on a farm in Kansas. He attended school in a rural community in the one-room school house so many of us have seen in our travels around the country. He and his brother were given an assignment to stoke and light the fire in the big pot belly furnace in the middle of the classroom. On one particular morning, they were a bit late arriving at the school house and in order to speed up the process they poured kerosene over the fuel supply before they lit it. Unbeknownst to them there were still some live coals from the previous day’s fire. When they poured the kerosene over the fuel supply there was an explosion and a great fire, which caused both of the young men to be seriously injured. As Glen Cunningham was running from the building he looked back and he saw his brother lying on the floor next to the furnace and he instinctively ran back to grab his brother from the fire. Tragically, a few days later his brother died from the burns and Glen Cunningham was burned so badly around his legs that the doctor said he would never walk again. With God, we can turn tragedies into victories. Click To Tweet Certainly no one ever dared to believe that he would run again and that he would run again to break...
Kathy Ormsby
In 1986, Kathy Ormsby was one of our nation’s top women athletes. She was the current record holder in the 10,000-meter run and was on the Dean’s List at North Carolina State.
Stay Focused
There was a young boy who grew up on a farm and was waiting for the day that he could plow his first field. That great day came and his dad said, “I just have one piece of advice as you are plow across this huge field.