Showing posts with label What I Am Reading. Show all posts
Showing posts with label What I Am Reading. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 8, 2024

A Word For Wednesday, The Ingredients For God's Glorious Church

Good Morning! Thank you for joining us today. We are so happy to bring you A Word For Wednesday. A few moments ago I posted A Word for Wednesday on our YouTube Channel. Please give it a listen and leave us a comment here or on YouTube. 

Today I am telling a short story from C. Roy Angel in the last chapter of his book, Baskets of Silver with a beautiful application within the story.

God's church is a glorious church and it is God's will that we are beautiful ingredients of that church. We may not qualify at all in our current state, but God's grace will cleanse and shape us to be exactly what we are supposed to be. When God is finished with us we will be proper ingredients of God's beautiful church.

I hope you have a super day.

Davy

Wednesday, June 9, 2021

A Word For Wednesday Part 3 The Cross In The Christian Experience

A Word For Wednesday
I published A Word For Wednesday a few minutes ago on our YouTube Channel. Please leave a comment and let me know what you think. I appreciate the feedback we have been receiving over the last few months since I began this series. Thank you for your kindness.


This is the final installment of my comments on The Cross In The Christian Experience by William M. Clow. Specifically, I am reading from the excellent sermon The Cross And The Memory of Sin. I have recorded this in three parts and today is Part 3.

I love this sermon and I hope that you do too. If you enjoy this, please subscribe, thumbs up the video and share it with someone or several someones.😍 Thank you for stopping by today.

Davy 

Wednesday, June 2, 2021

A Word For Wednesday Part 2 The Cross And The Memory of Sin

It is unusual for me to post to YouTube three days in a row unless we are in revival, but that is the way it worked out yesterday. I posted Sunday morning's service on Monday evening and a water baptismal service from Sunday afternoon yesterday. I do not want to burn you out.

A Word For Wednesday
I published A Word For Wednesday a few minutes ago on our YouTube Channel. Please leave a comment and let me know what you think. I appreciate the feedback we have been receiving over the last few months since I began this series. Thank you for your kindness.


I am reading and commenting today from The Cross In The Christian Experience by William M. Clow. Specifically, I am reading from the excellent sermon The Cross And The Memory of Sin. I have recorded this in three parts and today is Part 2.

I love this sermon and I hope that you do too. If you enjoy this, please subscribe, thumbs up the video and share it with someone or several someones.😍 Thank you for stopping by today.

Davy 

Wednesday, January 6, 2021

A Word For Wednesday (1)

Today is the first in what is hopefully a series I am calling A Word For WednesdaySome weeks it may be a sermon, a sermon excerpt a sermon illustration or anything else considered "preachy". I am a preacher after all.😊

These posts may be written text within the post or in video format. Today's A Word For Wednesday post is a video I recorded a few weeks ago. At nearly 29 minutes in length, it is a touch longer than I intend these to be, but it is still a learning process for me.

Please extend a little grace to me and check this out. I am reading an old sermon and loving every second of it. This particular sermon brought me under conviction and I wanted to be generous and share.


It is from The Keswick Week 1965. The sermons is called "Two Complimentary Characteristics of Sin" by K. F. W. Prior. Give it a few minutes to grow on you and share if you like it.

Please let me know IF you like this and would be interested in more videos like it. IF you Never want to hear anything like this again, feel free to gently let me know that too.😁

Thank you for stopping in, friend. Do not be a stranger, come back soon.

Davy

Sunday, July 12, 2020

Our View Out The Front Window 7/12/2020

This is our view out the window at Flying J in Tulsa, Oklahoma.


May God bless you on this Sunday.

Sunday Morning Sanity
(This is from Mushrooms on the Moor by FW Boreham. You can read to whole excellent essay HERE. You must scroll down to it.)

There was a man who dwelt in a very comfortable house, with a large, light, airy cellar. The river ran nearby. One day the river overflowed, the cellar was flooded, and all the hens that he kept in it were drowned. The next day he bounced off to see the landlord.

'I have come,' he said, 'to give you notice. I wish to leave the house.'
'How is that?' asked the astonished landlord. 'I thought you liked it so much. It is a very comfortable, well-built house, and cheap.'

'Oh, yes,' the tenant replied, 'but the river has overflowed into my cellar, and all my hens are drowned.'

'Oh, don't let that make you give up the house,' the landlord reasoned; 'try ducks!'

Wow! I appreciate Bro. Travis Martin for reminding me of this story. Thank you for stopping by today.

Davy

Thursday, January 30, 2020

The Volunteer

What I am reading right now
War is always a waste of human life and human potential. It is always horrible and the human cost is deplorable. WWII was particularly painful in the unbelievable numbers of lives lost in every single country that was involved.

There were horrible loss of lives in every category, soldiers, prisoners of war, members of resistance forces and civilians. Every race, every language, every religion and every generation suffered because of the awful war that covered the globe.

In Monday's post, I focused on one small corner of Poland and the unbelievable suffering that was inflicted upon humanity and the staggering amount of murder that was perpetrated there. Auschwitz-Birkenau, the German extermination camp in eastern Poland will stand throughout all of history as a black mark of hate, hostility and evil.

Auschwitz-Birkenau is certainly not the only horrible place filled with vile hatred in WWII, but the numbers of the dead it produced cause it to stand out above the rest as a monstrosity of evil unmatched in all of the debaucheries of its time.

I have wept and wept the last several days as I have read the stories of survivors and those that did not survive. I have been amazed at some of the comments on these stories. Many of them are too vile to print. Here is a mild comment.
Why celebrate the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau on January 27, 1945, after 75 years? 
Why not let the memory die and the pain cease?

That kind of thinking is almost incomprehensible to me. We must never forget that kind of evil. We must continually remind mankind that unrestrained evil, unfettered hate, uncontrolled sin will bring us down to the basest level of human existence.

As I quoted Monday, Roman Kent, an Auschwitz survivor as he spoke five years ago at the 70 anniversary celebration of the liberation, said, "We survivors can not, dare not to forget the millions who were murdered. For if we were to forget, the conscience of mankind would be buried alongside the victims."

Brothers and Sisters, we can not afford to kill our moral compunction and bury our conscience. A thousand times no! There is good in the world. There is evil in the world. And we must constantly remind ourselves and others that there is a drastic difference between the two.

Read God's Word.

Isaiah 5:20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

How do we get confused about what is good, what is evil? Is that darkness I see or is it light? Is that bitter to my taste or is it sweet? There should be no confusion about polar opposites, but the world around us is confused.

That is why I write about these things. War may rise as the result of a series of errors or mistakes, but when men devise plans to kill other men and make them suffer in the most degrading ways while they die, that is not a mistake or an error. The is evil, pure evil.

During many hours of research and reading over the last few weeks leading up to Monday's post, I learned of a new book published in 2019 about a man that was purposely captured so that he would be put into Auschwitz.

Witold Pilecki was part of the Polish resistance and he was assigned to find out all he could about the purpose of Auschwitz-Birkenau and to form a resistance cell inside the camp. He assumed a fake identity, put himself in the path of a roundup and within days he was in Auschwitz.

Within minutes of arrival, he knew he had made the biggest mistake of his life. The atrocities that were inflicted upon prisoners were so unspeakable that he barely believed he could even survive, much less smuggle out information or form a band of resistance inside the most horrible place on earth.

Witold kept meticulous records and the Polish underground and the British government were informed of his secret reports from Auschwitz. I dare not attempt to tell his whole story here, but after the war, he resisted the Soviet occupation of Poland and was arrested and executed. The world did not know the extreme sacrifices he had made.

His story and all of the records were kept under lock and key by communist Poland until communism fell in 1989. The book, The Volunteer, was written by Jack Fairweather after five years of painstaking research and hundreds of interviews. 


The Volunteer was published in 2019 and I am reading it one chapter at a time now. The book is intense and it is gut wrenching. I would not recommend it for young people without the supervision of a parent, but it describes hatred and evil in a way that most of us should read.

I bought a hardcover on Amazon for $21, but it is available in paperback and in digital Kindle format. I wanted the hardcover because I suspected I would keep this book in my collection. In all of the many hundreds of books in my collection, very few of them were purchased new and even fewer of them were priced at $20, but I do not regret this purchase at all.

I am trying to read this only one chapter at a time. It takes a while to wrap my mind around each chapter. Therefore I am not even 1/3 of the way through The Volunteer, but I highly recommend it.

That is what I am reading. Thank you for stopping by.

Davy

Tuesday, March 19, 2019

Leading Like A Lion

From time to time I post about what I am reading currently. I heard recently that our dear friend, Pastor David Webb, had written a book that is published and available on Amazon and other retailers. I ordered it right away and it arrived while we were in Alabama. It is a hardback book with a dust jacket entitled Leading Like a Lion.


I received it and read it cover to cover that evening. It is full of helpful spiritual insights in sermon and story form. Bro. David Webb is a friend, but he is also a Godly man, great Pastor, a tremendous family man and a visionary. We need more men like him and I believe he is helping to raise them up. 

I have been encouraging some of the great minds among the conservative Pentecostals to write books and leave a heritage behind. I do not remember having that conversation with Bro. Webb, but I am glad he is writing. I hope Bro. Webb's book is the beginning of an avalanche of good books to come from him and others.

Leading Like A Lion is hardcover with a dust jacket so it is a little pricier than I usually pay for a book. I have many hundreds of religious books and most of them I have purchased used and invested very little in them. This book is very nicely done and will be a nice addition to your collection once you have read it. 

I have seen Leading Like a Lion on Barnes and Noble, several listings on Amazon. Some of these listings include shipping, others do not. You can also by it in digital format from Barnes and Noble as a Nook Book.

That is what I have been reading and enjoying.

Davy

Saturday, May 19, 2018

Pursuing Virtue

Hey Friends,

Happy Saturday, I hope you have had a fantastic week. We have been thoroughly enjoying our time in the beautiful mountains of Virginia. We have one more week to enjoy this state. We plan to savor every moment.

Revival starts tomorrow with Homecoming at Bible Holiness Church in Elkton, Virginia. We are excited to be here through Friday with Pastor Brent Gabbard and all our friends at BHC! I am anticipating great things from God this week. You are invited to join us for revival if you are in the area. It is always great to see friends.

Pursuing Virtue

Several weeks ago I learned about a new blog called Pursuing Virtue. It is a collaboration of five Christian ladies to encourage and inspire all of us ladies to pursue virtue. 

They are writing some good posts and bringing in special guests to write at times as well. It has already been encouraging to me.

These are the collaborators at Pursuing Virtue.


I have known Anita Miles virtually all my life. She is the lady in the front in the picture above. She told me about the new venture as we were visiting a PFYC last month.

You can read the vision for Pursuing Virtue by clicking hereYou can also click here to see a video they posted about their purpose of the blog.

“Pursuing Virtue is a collective effort to share our thoughts on inner beauty. We also want to discuss the scriptures behind the standards and grow in our faith together, all while creating a community for godly women. We are all in this pursuit together and we hope this blog will unify, encourage, and inspire Godly women to live boldly and unashamed.”

They usually have a new post every week. You can sign up to be notified by email every time there is a new post. I have really enjoyed each installment and I wanted to pass this site on to our millions of readers. 😀

You can visit Pursuing Virtue by clicking here. Please take a moment to check them out. Pass on the word to your friends who may also find encouragement there. We are not in this journey of life alone. It is wonderful to have Godly inspiration along the way. 

Thanks for stopping by to visit today. I am thrilled you took a moment of your precious time here with me. I hope you have a wonderful weekend. May God blesses you. 

Odie 

Saturday, January 20, 2018

Chronological Bible Reading Plan

Our revival that was scheduled to begin tomorrow at Cedar Creek near Citronelle, Alabama has been canceled due to a widespread flu outbreak, including Pastor Darius Templeton. We are sad to miss Cedar Creek this time around, but there is not much you can do about the flu raging through. I pray they all get well quickly.

Odie's Saturday Evening Post

Hey Friends,

This is Odie checking in from Alabama. As you read at the top of this post, the revival at Cedar Creek this next week has been canceled. We have some plans in process right now and we will let you know if we are going to be preaching some where else.

I really look forward to a fresh start every January. I like a new start with my Bible reading. A couple of tools that I love using on my Apple devices are Blue Letter Bible and Holy Bible (King James Version) by Pal Reader.  




These are both great apps and easy to use. I like the fact that once they are downloaded, cellular data and WiFi are not required to use them. Click this link for the Free Blue Letter Bible.

Click here for The Holy Bible. The Holy Bible app is under $5. The highlight of this app is that it has Alexander Scourby reading the complete Bible. Dad first wrote about this application here a couple years ago.

I decided this year to read the Bible in chronological order. I am following the plan on Blue Letter Bible and it is supposed to put the recorded events in the Bible in the order that they actually occurred. I am enjoying this method a lot. It really has been a nice change for me. 


I like being able to keep track of my progress on the Blue Letter daily reading calendar. You can find the Blue Letter Chronological plan online here.


I love reading along while listening to Alexander Scourby in Holy Bible app.


Several years ago for Christmas I bought Dad a hardback Chronological Bible. He wrote about that Bible here, in this post. I know he enjoyed reading through the bible with it.

That is what I am reading right now. Have you ever read the Bible in chronological order? Thanks for stopping by today. Have a great weekend.

Odie

Thursday, May 14, 2015

Looking Beyond Our Borders

I often come under conviction while reading of men and women that have given all to follow the call of Christ and to spread the Gospel of Christ. It is so easy for me to get caught up in my little world and my little struggles until I lose sight of the price others have paid and are paying for their faith.


That is not to diminish my very real problems in spreading the Gospel but my difficulties are so "First world." Most of the obstacles I face involve logistics, transportation and provisions along with more personal items related to health and family.

I have never even considered the cannibals in the place God has sent me or the people in the next state over that have killed every missionary that has ever tried to reach them. I have not buried my wife and my children because they were cut down by strange diseases in pursuit of souls for the kingdom of God.

I am thankful I face a different set of problems. I do not feel guilty for never having to flee to avoid being boiled and eaten for lunch. Yet I do not want to forget what others have done, what others have faced and what others are enduring even today. I must not grow complacent and over confident and reach the place that I feel that God some how owes me more than it seems He has given others.

I try to stay up to date on some of what Christians are going through today by reading Voice of the Martyrs. I was reading last month and came upon an article concerning missionary James Chalmers. I was cut to the heart.

As a young man he answered the call and gave himself to win souls. God blessed him. God rewarded him for his labor. God gave him converts. Yet something stirred in James Chalmers to win even more. When others would perhaps have settled and enjoyed the fruit of their labor, he pressed on in pursuit.

My prayer since reading the short synopsis of his life has been,

O, God, give us a hunger for souls. Do not allow us to become comfortable in our victories but give us courage to look beyond our current borders that we might win others to Christ.

Now, God may not send you to Africa, friend. God may not send you to the foreign mission field at all. God may not send you to evangelize, Pastor. Young person, God may not call you to a pulpit ministry. But rest assured God has called you to win souls. God has called you to look beyond your own borders.

Doing that may be as close as reaching across your back yard fence with a hand of love and fellowship to your neighbor or helping that couple load their groceries at Walmart or praying with the waitress that is crying in the corner. You could visit the family that is grieving, slip a piece of money to the family that is struggling or pray with the young person that is drowning in despair.

The point is, there is something for each one of us to do. Let's go do it. Let's win some one to Christ this month. Let's spread our faith. Let's break out of our comfort zone. Let's take a chance for Christ. 

You need some inspiration for the task? Read the story of James Chalmers below. He never lost his thirst for souls. It may seem as if it ended badly for him but he has been in Heaven for over 100 years and I would say he feels like it ended just fine.

Thanks for reading.

Davy

He Has Joined a Great Assembly

James Chalmers was a carefree, high-spirited Scottish boy. “I dearly loved adventure,” he later said, “and a dangerous position was exhilarating.” Perhaps that’s why he listened carefully one Sunday when his minister read a letter from missionaries in Fiji. The preacher, tears in his eyes, added, “I wonder if there is a boy here who will, by and by, bring the gospel to the cannibals.” Young James said quietly, “I will!”—and he wasn’t even yet converted.

In 1866, having been converted and trained, he sailed for the South Pacific as a Presbyterian missionary. Chalmers had a way with people. “It was in his presence, his carriage, his eye, his voice,” a friend wrote. “There was something almost hypnotic about him. His perfect composure, his judgement and tact and fearlessness brought him through a hundred difficulties.” Robert Louis Stevenson, who didn’t like missionaries until he met Chalmers, said, “He is a rowdy, but he is a hero. You can’t weary me of that fellow. He took me fairly by storm.”
In 1877 Chalmers sailed on to New Guinea. His ministry was successful there. Packed churches replaced feasts of human flesh. But as the years passed he grew lonely. He was delighted when young Oliver Tomkins came to join him in 1901. The two men decided to explore a new part of the islands, and on Easter Sunday they sailed alongside a new village. The next morning, April 8, 1901, Chalmers and Tomkins went ashore. They were never seen again. A rescue party soon learned that the men had been clubbed to death, chopped to pieces, cooked and eaten.
News flashed around the world. “I cannot believe it!” exclaimed Dr. Joseph Parker from the pulpit of London’s famous City Temple. “I do not want to believe it! Such a mystery of Providence makes it hard for our strained faith to recover. Yet Jesus was murdered. When I think of that side of the case, I cannot but feel that our honored and noble-minded friend has joined a great assembly.”

Wednesday, April 1, 2015

What I Am Reading Lately

What have I been reading lately? I hope it will not surprise you to discover that I have been reading the Bible a lot lately. Not only reading it, but listening to it being read as I read it. I love that. I have been listening to Alexander Scourby read the King James Version on an iPhone app that Bro. Darius Templeton told me about when we were preaching for him in January. I am absolutely loving it and have told several people about it.

In this app you can go directly to the book and chapter you want and listen at regular speed, slow it down or speed it up. I listen most of the time at a slightly increased speed but listening to Scourby read at regular speed is an absolute joy. I listen while I walk. I listen while I am driving long distances and I listen as I read along for my morning devotions.

Alexander Scourby was the first to record the whole Bible. He first recorded it for the American Foundation For the Blind in the early 1950's. It took nearly four years to complete it. He finished it in 1953 and it was known as The Talking Bible. It consisted of 169 records and was over 84 hours long! Wow! What a set of records!

I first bought the Bible on cassette tape in the mid 1980's and it was Alexander Scourby's voice reading the Bible to me. I wore that set out years ago. I have owned other sets since then but nobody could read it like Scourby.

Our friend, Sis. Esther from Boston purchased a set of MP3's for me a few years ago with Scourby reading it. I have listened to that on my computer a lot since then but I could never successfully transfer those files to my iPhone. I mentioned that to Bro Darius and he told me about this app.

Bible KJV (Book and Audio)   - PalReader
                          
I think that link will take you to iTunes. The app is $3.99 for iPhone, iPad and iPod and it is well worth it in my opinion. Several friends and acquaintances have downloaded it and are using it and are very pleased. I think you will like it too.

Think about this. The whole Bible on my iPhone. That is the equivalent of 169 long play record albums on my phone and constantly at my finger tips and my phone has enough room on it for the same information to be on there 12-13 times! Incredible. 

The Bible is my life. I happily make my living preaching from the Bible. I must be familiar with it. I  could, should and must know it better. But long before I was a preacher I realized there was life within the pages of the Bible. It is the Word of God. It is powerful. I need to consume the Word of God not so that I can have something to say in the pulpit but I must hunger and thirst after God's Word because my soul needs the life and nourishment it contains.

David said, Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee. Psalm 119:11 Oh, God, help me do that! Happy is the Christian that will hide the Word of God in his heart.

Are you consuming the Word of God? Do you struggle as you read it to keep your mind focused? Does that cause you to get discouraged and then feel guilty because you are not reading the Bible? Maybe hearing it spoken while you read it will help you hide its truth deep within your very being.

God bless you all today.

Davy

Thursday, January 8, 2015

Do You Know Pastor Darius Templeton?

A few years ago I put up a few posts called "Do You Know (Insert Name Here)?" and they proved to be very popular posts. I never intended to do those posts super often but I did intend to do them more often than I have. Why? Because we are blessed to meet so many incredible Christian men and women that most people know nothing about and I would love for you to get to meet them.

Some people think the church is full of nothing but hypocrites and weak minded types. We have met all types in the church but we have been abundantly blessed to become acquainted with some genuinely saved and sanctified folks in churches all over the US and beyond. We are privileged to serve God with amazing men and women that are dedicated and sold out to Christ.

I know some people are down on everybody but we regularly leave a church saying, "Wow, those are super great people!" There is no way we could introduce you to all of them that we know but at least we can try to hit the highlights!

I was reading a great devotional written by a good friend online the other day and I said to myself, "I need to tell somebody about him and this devotional." So that is what I am doing today.

Do you know Pastor Darius Templeton? This is him below with his precious wife Sis. Kim at their church in October, 2013.



Bro. Darius was raised in a preacher's home in Connersville, Indiana. He came to our home church, Dryden Rd. Pentecostal Church as a young man and won the heart of one of our best young ladies, Sis. Kim. He stayed at Dryden Rd. for many years, eventually becoming the Youth Pastor and working under Bro. Bennie Sutherland for several years. He became what seemed like an indispensable part of our home church.

Four or five years ago Cedar Creek church near Citronelle, Alabama came calling and Bro. Darius has served as their Pastor ever since. We hated to lose him at Dryden Rd. but we knew he would be a great Pastor at Cedar Creek. He is doing a fine job and the Allentown fellowship of south Alabama is blessed to have Bro. Darius and his family there.

I admit that I am a little biased toward Bro. Darius but it is hard not to be. Bro. Darius is a fine Christian gentleman. He is a man of integrity, character and discipline. On top of all that he is a tremendous preacher. He has applied himself to the Word of God and he preaches it faithfully.

Bro. Darius has started posting a devotional on the Cedar Creek church's website and I am enjoying it very much. They are short and thought provoking and they are well worth the time and effort to read them. I suggest you bookmark Bro. Darius's devotional and check it every day. He will surely tell you something that will profit you spiritually.

Do you know Pastor Darius Templeton? He is definitely worth getting to know and this is a fine chance to do it.

Thanks for reading.

Davy

March of 2014 at Cedar Creek



March of 2014 at Cedar Creek

Saturday, September 20, 2014

Eight Twenty Eight

Hello my friends!  Odie updating today. I am typing this early because we should raising the tent in Richton, Mississippi this morning.  I hope you had super week. We had an amazing time in Millry, Alabama. I am sure that next week we will have some pictures of the tent coming down in Millry and going back up in Richton.

Pastor Lamar Chapman and Midway Assembly did a great job hosting the revival this week. The people of Millry really want to see their community won to Christ. It is wonderful to work with folks hungry for more of God! Many area churches were very supportive of revival. We are thankful for all the local help! It was a huge boost to us. 

The Lord met us in a special way each service!   Thank you all for your prayers for revival in Millry. The weather was warm but bearable. The rain held off and we were able to have all seven services under the tent. That was a huge blessing in light of the forecast for heavy storms early in the week.

Several months ago I came across the site of Ian and Larissa Murphy. I do not know them personally but their story has encouraged me. Their resolve has strengthened my faith in God.




Ian and Larissa met in college and had big dreams. Life intervened and threw them for a loop. Ian suffered a life changing brain injury in a car accident. In the midst of this unexpected curve the family held onto Romans 8:28 

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to [his] purpose.  

On 8/28/2010 they were able to fulfill their dream of marriage. On 8/28/2014 their book released. You can read a free chapter and buy the book at the link.

Eight Twenty Eight When Love Didn't Give Up is a story of dedication, determination and devotion. I shed several tears while reading the book.  To me it is a blessing when I can be reminded that I can overcome overwhelming obstacles!  I am reminded again that there are others out there whose battle is way tougher than mine. I have a ton to be thankful for!

I appreciate Ian and Larissa sharing their story. I am praying for them.

Ian and Larissa, you inspire me!

Have a terrific weekend.  May God bless all of you!

Odie

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Anti-itch Meditation

I have been reading a preacher's blog for a few years and I have only shared him with a very few close friends. His name is Jeff Weddle. He is funny, smart and mixed with a splash of sarcasm. I can only take sarcasm in very small doses but this is the correct amount. He is not right on every thing but he freely admits that and I find that very refreshing.

This is an excerpt from a great post he put up a couple of weeks ago. You can read the whole thing HERE.
Kids are dumb and this cannot be changed. All a dad can hope for is that their dumb is released in better ways than the dumb that kids will come up with. It is my contention that if you do not show kids how to be properly dumb they will be in jail very soon.
At the same time a dad gets on a kid’s level, dads are also supposed to raise kids to a higher level. Again, God is my example. God knows our frame, He remembers that we are dust, so what did He do? He became dust like us.
But His purpose for getting on our level was to raise us to His level–the heavenly took on an earthly body so we in the earthly body might be made heavenly. Kids need to see how an adult acts and handles consequences of dumb.
But please, please, please adults, understand that the Kingdom of God is filled with those with childlike faith. Being mature and an adult does not mean we don’t do crazy stuff–it means we do totally awesome crazy stuff.
Isn't that great?

I read a whole lot of good stuff that I would like to link to but ultimately I do not because I do not want to lead millions of readers with impressionable minds to blogs and stories on sites that also contain lots of incredibly rotten doctrine. That's not the reason I have not shared this guy. I kept him to myself because even I have selfish moments.

I hope you enjoy Anti-itch Meditation.

Davy

Friday, July 20, 2012

Robert Hardy's Seven Days

Charles Sheldon wrote "In His Steps" over one hundred years ago. In that book he coined the phrase "What would Jesus Do?" or WWJD as the fad was a few years ago.

He wanted the church to live with that question hanging at its heart door every moment of every day. The book was a best seller all over the world and still is a big seller.

But "In His Steps" is not Charles Sheldon's best book by a far piece in my opinion. I think I have read every book he wrote and I think he wrote several that were better.

Charles Sheldon pastored a church in Topeka, Kansas. On Sunday nights he would read his books to the congregation one chapter at a time. Afterward the book would be published.

Often newspapers would publish the latest chapter after it had been read in his pulpit. It is my understanding that some technically was overlooked in the weekly publishing of the chapters of "In His Steps."

This caused that particular book to become the domain of any publisher. So this great book was printed by dozens of publishers simultaneously around the world. I am sure it was a publishers dream come true to be able to print a book in great demand and not pay the writer anything. It was probably a nightmare to Mr. Sheldon.

20 years ago I searched long and hard for a couple of Sheldon's rare books. I have spent many hours scanning shelves in used book stores all over the US.

It was a great day when I finally found my very own copies of some of the hardest to find.

The advent of the Internet brought a whole lot of rare books to the market and eventually the prices came down too. A book that took me months to find can be found online in moments, ordered, shipped and received in two days.

And with shipping included the book is still cheaper than it used to be. I am glad for the convenience and the lower prices but it kind of took the fun out of it.

I was telling Bro. Caleb Bontrager about one of my favorite Sheldon books. While we were talking he pulled it up on his phone and found it for free on Kindle.

Wow! That is amazing. A book I searched months for was loaded on my phone in about 60 seconds.

I read it over the next few days and it was just as good as I remember. I heartily recommend it to everyone.



I certainly do not go as far as Christian socialism as Mr. Sheldon did but I know our Christian experience should radically change every area of our lives.

Download "Robert Hardy's Seven Days" from Kindle and let me know what you think.

Davy