Growing up in the South without air conditioning in the 50’s and 60’s was normal for most folks. You do not bemoan the lack of anything if you never have had it; most people in those decades did not have air conditioning in their houses or cars. We had window fans, that gave us a little reprieve on the dog days of summer. Our vehicles had only “4-60” air conditioning—roll all the windows down and drive 60 mph.
Continue reading “The Wind”Pressing Forward
Difficulties and hard times can either be a ball-and-chain of the past dragging us down or a catapult to launch us forward into the future. We all have made bad decisions, took some wrong turns and yes, sinned.
All of us have had some hard knocks brought on by no fault of our own, some delivered by bad people meaning us harm and sometimes even good people making bad decisions.
Continue reading “Pressing Forward”Tick-Tock (not TikTok)
I remember as a child hearing the tick-tock of an old mantel clock in the home of one of our elderly kinfolks. At the top of the hour, the clock would make a gong for the number of the hour. It was always a little creepy to me. The passing of time is kind of weird when you think about it, like the whittling off of your life second by second.
Continue reading “Tick-Tock (not TikTok)”Be All You Want To Be—NOT!
Picture the scene: A slick speaker on a well-lit stage with a captivated audience hanging on every word. He gracefully paces across the stage, looking over the group when he emphatically declares, “Everyone of you can be all you want to be!”
So, anyone in the audience can be an NFL quarterback or maybe an author with a book on the New York Times bestseller list? Okay, what about a rock climber, rodeo bull rider, or maybe an astronaut?
Continue reading “Be All You Want To Be—NOT!”Waiting
No one likes to wait, yet we do a lot of waiting in our lives. One of the first things we learned in school was get in line—and wait.
While you are waiting, here are seven considerations about waiting:
Do not let anxiety spoil your patience. Waiting takes patience and waiting develops patience. Since you are going to do a lot of waiting in your life, you need to allow patience to grow without the burden of anxiety. Remember the old saying, “A watched pot never boils.”
Pray believing, wait in faith. You should not wait to pray; pray and wait. God can and does answer some prayers instantly. Other times, you will have to wait for God’s answer to materialize. If you have prayed about a certain thing, leave it in God’s hands. Worrying about the outcome is counterproductive to faith.
Stay busy while you wait. Maybe you have prayed about something big, yet there are smaller options within reach. If that is the case, while you wait on God for the big thing, do the smaller things. I believe God will honor those small steps.
Occupy your time, until it is your time. If you are not careful, you can wallow in the weariness of waiting while overlooking the opportunities within reach. “One bird in hand is of more value than two in the bush.”
Prepare yourself during the wait. There are many different quotes about opportunity and preparedness. Here is one I use (not sure if it is an original), “Opportunity is a door that opens for the prepared.” Whatever opportunity you are waiting on, prepare for it today.
Consider God’s timing in the wait. There will always be those who have a purpose from God, but their foolish zeal will cause them to step through the door too soon. They spoil the process and outcome of God’s purpose by their unwillingness to wait on God’s timing.
Is it worth the wait? It is sad but some folks wait for a happening that will never come. Unrealistic desires waste a lot of time and emotional energy on nothing. We need to be realistic about God’s desire versus our expectation. Do not wait on a pipe dream. Godly wisdom will separate the real and foolish dreams.
Do not waste a wait. There are 525,600 minutes in a year. No one has more or less than anyone else regardless of their status, income, education, or location. You should protect your time and current opportunities. It is important to do something while you wait, whether it is a short wait or a long one. Don’t miss the bus waiting on a plane.
My final word, I never have regretted waiting on Jesus, His timing is worth the wait and His purpose is eternal.
Wait on the LORD; Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the LORD! (Ps. 27:14 NKJV).
Yours on the Journey,
Harry L. Whitt
Weeds
I was once visiting with an American mission group in Haiti. One of the leaders knowing that I had a background in agriculture asked my advice on the best spot in their compound for a garden. The answer was easy, “Wherever grass grows the best!”
Continue reading “Weeds”Yesterday’s Door is Shut!
Regret is a bad dream on a never-ending replay loop. I think most of us have some of those past events or choices of which we regret. “I wish I hadn’t done that!” or “I wish I would have made a better choice there!”
I know this is a rhetorical question, but I must ask it anyway, “Can we go back and change it?” Of course, the answer is an emphatic, “NO!” There is nothing we can do to change the decision or the action of the past. That door is shut and cannot be opened.
Continue reading “Yesterday’s Door is Shut!”Something To Live For
If you look around to the craziness around you, you could easy get depressed and say, “What’s the use?” People in every era and in most lives lived could say at one point, “What’s the use?”
Throughout every point of history there have been people who have given up even though they had it relatively easier than most people around them. The difference was their lack of hope and purpose.
Continue reading “Something To Live For”Words With Action
The words that a person speaks does not really define who they are but what they do is a true indicator of who they are.
Many in our present culture are under the illusion they can change the world by posting a Tweet in 280 characters or a Facebook meme while sipping on a mocha latte. It takes a little more action than that!
Continue reading “Words With Action”Tag Along With Me to Jail
I have been involved in local jail ministry for the most part of thirty years. It is not glorious work. It is not scary as some might think. I have never felt threatened and most of the guys are usually respectable and appreciative.
The jail we visit is set up like a dormitory with bunks on two sides and tables in the middle. Lately, our jail ministry team has been alternating weeks and I have been going alone twice per month.
There is nothing fancy of what we do. No fanfare, no bells and whistles. Just an old buzzard of a preacher telling the story of Jesus to a bunch of jail birds.
Continue reading “Tag Along With Me to Jail”
