This Week's WOW 5/20

Here are some inspirational thoughts on this graduation weekend.

Pastor Rick

Defeat is not the worst of failures. Not to have tried is the true failure.

George Edward Woodberry

A good reputation is more valuable than money.

Publilius Syrus

When you are laboring for others let it be with the same zeal as if it were for yourself.

unknown

This Week's WOW 5/5

 

Today’s WOW is mostly for women, although men will benefit from reading it too.  It is a recent article from Mark Gungor (Laugh Your Way to a Better Marriage).  Below are a couple of paragraphs.  If you want to read more click on the link or paste it into your browser to go to his web site.  Blessings.

 

Pastor Rick

 

Don’t Change The Guy

Way too many women are dating guys thinking they can change or morph them into the man they want him to be. It would be far better to just find a guy that is more of what you want. If he’s a frog, you aren’t going to turn him into prince charming. You need to move on. I don’t know what it is in the female psyche that makes women think that the bum will be different when they are married.

If you don’t like the fact that he isn’t a devoted follower of Jesus, or that he smokes or is a slob, or whatever—you fill in the blank—but think by some “magical cosmic force” he’ll be different once you are married, you are fooling yourself. Women will say they want a solid Christian man, someone with a good job and a wonderful mother but date a guy who stays in bed and watches TV rather than going to church, can’t hold a steady job and whose mother is a banshee. Then they think these things will go away, won’t matter or that they can change him. These ladies are in for a ton of misery.

Follow this link for the rest of the article:

http://www.laughyourway.com/blog/cannot-change-the-guy/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=MarksBlog&utm_campaign=20110224

This Week's WOW 4/20/11

A MODERN PARABLE

By Pastor Carol

The infamous “tax day” has just passed, and with that I am reprinting a “confession” written by an Internal Revenue Service agent. 

“The other day I checked a queer return.  Some guy with an income under $15,000 claimed he gave $1872 to some church.  Sure, he was within the 20% limit, but it looked mighty suspicious to me.  So I dropped in on the guy and asked him about his return.  I thought he’d become nervous like most of them do, but not this guy.

“Have you a receipt from the church?” I asked, figuring that would make him squirm.  “Sure,” he replied, “I always drop them in the drawer.”  And off he went to get his checks and receipts.

Well, he had me.  One look and I knew he was on the level.  I apologized for bothering him, explaining that I have to check on deductions that seem unusually high.  As I was leaving he invited me to attend his church.  “Thanks,” I said, “but I belong to a church myself.”  “Excuse me,” he replied, “that possibility never occurred to me.”

As I drove home I kept wondering what he meant by that last remark.  It wasn’t until Sunday morning when I put my usual dollar in the offering plate that I understood.”

~+~+~+~

Like it or not, when Jesus was asked about paying taxes, he said

 “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”

ODE TO UNCLE SAM

Paying income taxes

I always get annoyed.

But then I think

Things could be worse –

I could be

UNEMPLOYED!

~+~+~

This Week's WOW 4/13/11

Your Character Matters

By Pastor Donnie

In a discussion I had with someone recently about how to really live a life of integrity and actually step up to being a Christian man, we started to discuss the importance of accountability.  We started developing questions based out of a book titled Character Counts by Rod Hanley.  These questions we developed were personalized ones that would help us stay accountable to one another.  Often we believe that we can do this Christian walk alone – “It’s just Jesus and me” we tell ourselves but we were not meant to do this life alone.  We need others to sharpen us and to help us develop because we are not called to be mediocre Christians but rather we are supposed to be people of excellence in all that we do.  Here are a few of the questions that we developed that would help us live lives of excellence in every aspect of our lives, not just the “spiritual” ones.  They are simple questions but if they are followed, they can yield some amazing results in our lives.  I encourage you to talk to someone this week about holding you accountable.   –

            Are you setting aside time for God?  What did you get out of your time?

Have you done 100% at work?

Have you taken care of your body – exercise, eat right, sleep enough?

Has pride stopped you from succeeding this week?

Last week my pain was when _________

My growth from last week was __________

Growth I desire for next week is _____________

This Week's WOW 4/6/11

Friendship Power

by Pastor Rick

Here are a couple of thoughts on the subject of friendship and its power that I have had in my files for a long time.

"Life is to be fortified by many friendships.  To love, and be loved, is the greatest happiness of existence." Sydney Smith

"Friendship is the springboard to every other love.  Friendships spill over onto the other important relationships of life.  People with no friends usually have a diminished capacity for sustaining any kind of love.  They tend to go through a succession of marriages, be estranged from various family members, and have trouble getting along at work.  On the other hand, those who learn how to love their friends tend to make long and fulfilling marriages, get along well with the people at work, and enjoy their children." Alan Loy McGinnis The Friendship Factor

This Week's WOW 3/30

 

CAPABLE HANDS

By Pastor Carol

“Come unto me all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”  ~~Jesus

I had a unique experience a few weeks ago.  I was on the platform preparing to lead the pastoral prayer when the eyes of my heart saw a people with care-worn faces and sagging, drooping shoulders.  It wasn’t just a few sprinkled here and there, but from side to side, front to back, almost without exception.  My spirit clearly realized that so many of you are carrying burdens on your shoulders from your own personal world that are heavily weighing you down, be they financial, health, relational, family, the uncertainty in the world, on and on the list could go. 

It’s easy to “put on a good face.”  I can do it myself at times.  But underneath the facade is a tug of war going on.  We attempt releasing our burden to God, He reaches out to take it, we pull it back.  He is tugging on it because we asked Him to take it, but we tug harder and eventually we win, putting it back on our shoulders to carry and continue our worry.

I’ve used the following verse before in a WOW, I believe it bears repeating:

As children bring their broken toy with tears for us to mend,

I brought my broken dreams to God because He was my friend.

But then, instead of leaving Him in peace to work alone,

I hung around and tried to help with ways that were my own.

At last, I snatched them back and cried, “How can you be so slow?”

“My child,” He said, “what could I do?

You never did let go.”

May I encourage you to just release those peace-robbing issues to God.  Allow Him to work in His own way and time, knowing He can be trusted!   I’ve learned that God is never late, but He is seldom early.  In the meantime, let Him fill you with peace and rest, which will result in joy-filled faces and straight, square shoulders again.  There is no safer place for our cares than in His capable hands.

~+~+~+~+~+~

WOW 3/16/11

 

Here are a couple of paragraphs from one of my favorite authors about success and fulfillment.  Enjoy!

Pastor Rick

“To reach a dream – and to be fulfilled in the process – one needs to be proactive, in bad times as well as good.  One of the things I’ve observed about successful people over the years is that they do what is right no matter how they feel, and by doing right, they feel good.  On the other hand, unsuccessful people wait to feel good before they do what is right. As a result, they neither do what’s right nor feel good.

            “When you are traveling . . . toward your dream, the majority of the time you will not feel like doing the right thing to enable your dream to come true. You’ll need to do it anyway. . . . If you can always do the right thing – despite how you feel, despite the circumstances, despite what others might say or do in response – you will be satisfied with yourself. And that, at the end of the day, will do a lot to determine whether you feel fulfilled.”

John Maxwell