Harry Whitt on the Journey with Jesus
It is funny how some things stick in our brains forever and others flee like a bird. I have never forgotten the statement of my good friend and Christian brother Kenny Gilbreath, who related the phrase his uncle always prayed in every prayer, “Lord, give me a grateful heart.” I have often thought about that phrase and the profound meaning of it.
Continue reading “Having a Grateful Heart”
Over two years ago, I was lying on an emergency room bed and upon reading my EKG, the medical staff said, “You are having a heart attack right now!” They made short work of prepping me for a heart catherization and one stent and twenty-seven months later I am doing well. In that moment, I had a deep, profound sense of peace. Live or die, I was at peace with God.
Continue reading “Perspective on Living”
The uncertainties of life would drive a sane person mad if they obsessed about it. We tend to tuck the doubts and fears in a back corner of our minds so we can have (as my Appalachian kindred would say) “walking around sense”.
Continue reading “Certainty of God”
My grandson and I went out a few nights ago and cooked up a little hot chocolate on a campfire. While sitting around the fire, the smoke seemed to chase us. We would move our camp chairs to escape the smoke and you know where the smoke went next, right? Yep, we were like smoke magnets. When we went back inside for the night, we smelled like we had been roasted.
In the world we live in, the smoke seems to be chasing us. It’s hard to get away from the clamor of the world.
Continue reading “Smell the Smoke”
Over the years I have tried to apply balance to my life and encourage it in others. I have found that those who like to view themselves as radicals do not like the concept of balance. Balance sounds like compromise to the radical. I try to be very choosy on which mountains I am willing to die on; molehills are not mountains.
Continue reading “Balance”
If I’m travelling on the road and dog tired, the “Vacancy” sign in the motel window promises a hot shower and a bed with clean sheets. On the interstate to somewhere the “Cracker Barrel sign in two miles” puts hope in my stomach and cheers me on to the next exit. But what about rest for my soul?
Continue reading “Where to Go at the End of the Road”
When I get up in the morning and look in the mirror, I see the man who gives me the most trouble in life—ME! It would be easier to blame my parents, my wife, my siblings, my co-workers, or society in general, but I need to take responsibility for my own failures, brokenness, and, yes, sin.
Continue reading “Resurrection of Personal Responsibility”
I was raised in a working-class family who had risen out of Depression Era poverty. Most of our neighbors were either poor or slowly rising to middle-class status. Our exposure to rich people was rare.
Continue reading “Work With Your Own Hands”
Do you have a speck in your eye? My eye is feeling a little scratchy! Jesus talked about people having specks and planks in their eyes. These specks and planks can cause a lot of “speckulation” about other people.
Continue reading “Some “Speckulation””
I remember watching action-hero cartoons as a child and the general theme would be a bad guy wanting control over the world and a super-hero good guy would save the day. The same plot repeated itself in every show; the bad guy almost prevailed but in the end the good guy saves the world. What works in the fantasy world does not always play out in the real world. Most of us are apprehensive about the future.
Continue reading “Don’t Let Them Divide Us!”