August, 2011 // Posts published in August, 2011
Really Needy
I need something, so I pray. Since I know God is present everywhere, he knows every time I stand or sit (Psalm 139:2). Since he even hears my thoughts, I can be sure he knows what I ask for and understands my good intentions. Why hasn’t he let me have what I’m so strongly believing...
Having More
People can be so busy learning about God, they never make time to climb up into his lap and know him personally. The apostle Paul talks about students in relentless study who never grasp the truth (2 Timothy 3:7). One reason these things may happen could be the world’s message that we live in a...
Acceptable Offering
I’ve often wondered about the story of Cain and Able, how one man’s sacrifice to God was acceptable, but the other man’s wasn’t (Genesis 4:5). The offerings were different in their nature. Able’s acceptable offering was a lamb, and God’s rejection was levied against Cain’s offering from the fruits of the field. Was the reason...
Intelligent Design
Right up front, writers should focus on the heroes who want something crucial, with major obstacles that make readers desperate to find out if they can ever get it, with severe consequences if they don’t. Without that focus, what we have is news, a telling of what happened, which isn’t compelling. In the unfolding of...
Not So Boring
I have two brains, not one. I have what I call “editor brain,” which is the way of thinking I use when I write the way I was taught in school. This brain doesn’t write very fast because he’s constantly questioning the words, editing, and revising. Since what he writes is so much like what...
Guessing the Winner
A few months ago, I talked to a man who speaks professionally, training salesmen to be successful working at car dealerships. He said, out of a hundred people, five might take the principles to heart and be successful, and those five probably wouldn’t be the ones he thought showed the greatest promise. I’ve seen a...
Love Born out of Hatred
When I was a sophomore in high school, my English teacher made me a target of ridicule in front of the class and gave me an F for writing a short story where the first-person teller of the story was killed at the end. I guess she didn’t know Herman Melville, in the original publication...
Reason for Anger
When I was a teenager, my blood boiled in anger whenever circumstances weren’t what I thought they should be. If a black cat crossed my path, the cat had reason to worry, not me, because my reaction was to kill. I knew, if I couldn’t change my inner feelings, I would eventually wind up in...
Still Ticking
I want to know what makes me tick, and I’m still a long way from figuring it out. I don’t know what hides deep within my being, perhaps from childhood traumas and triumphs, which influenced the way I perceive and react to the world. Since I don’t remember what caused me to develop my current...
Shortened Pain
I heard someone say, “When people are bombarded with negative thoughts, they often try to fight the battle alone. I’m working hard to bring my spirit into agreement with what God wants, and then he will fight with me.” Great idea. I’m doing my best as well, but the battle is still tough. My unanswered...
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