Today is a revisit of a “Christmas Classic” from earlier. How does a blog become a classic? 1) It is your blog, your site, you pay the server charge and you can call it whatever you want 2) You have no time to write today So enjoy a classic from Christmas past… One of my contributions with this modest little blog is to continually ask the tough questions. While listening to  “Away in a Manger” at a recent Christmas program my inquiring mind kicked in. You likely know verse three of the song. The cattle are lowing The poor Baby wakes But little Lord Jesus No crying He makes As I listened an important series of difficult and probing inquiries popped into my head. What noise, exactly, were the cattle making when they started lowing? Was this normal cow talk? Did lowing just sound better than mooing in the lyric or is lowing a more spiritual and reverent cow sound? And then the most important question came to
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As I watched the news this morning I marveled at the maturity of our elected representatives. A t-shirt from the good folks at despair.com came to mind. THE TIME FOR ACTION IS PAST. Now is the time for senseless bickering. So I went in search of something a little more uplifting. And I found it. It was a story about Faith. Regular readers of the humble ramblings know that faith is a regular topic of discussion here. This time faith is the name of one of God’s creatures. The Associated Press tells the story.  Born without front legs to a junkyard dog around Christmas 2002, Faith the puppy was rejected and abused by her mother. She was rescued by Reuben Stringfellow, now an Army E-4 specialist, who had been asked to bury other puppies in the litter. “Can we fix her? Stringfellow, then 17, asked his mom. “No, but maybe we can help her,” she said. So Reuben turned Faith over
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I am a little too old and lot too cynical to be swept away by the latest fad in Christendom. I have sat on the sidelines while Jabez prayed, millions were purpose driven and others found their best life. I guess I was just left behind. Others were incredibly excited by one or all of these phenomenons. So I was more than a little surprised to find that God rocked my world through a ministry I knew little about just a couple of years ago. Their books and materials have not become an entire section at your local Christian superstore. And that is a shame. Because they have a message that needs to be heard by most of us. The organization is called Leadership Catalyst and they have an incredible book called TrueFaced.  I don’t think I have ever had a book (not included in the original 66) impact me as much as this one. Here is how strongly I
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Last Sunday I was involved in the White Rock Marathon. For 26.2 miles I plodded along the course laid out from west side of downtown Dallas, around White Rock Lake and back. I have to tell you that is not easy being a spectator at a marathon! All of that driving from point to point to get a glimpse of the runners. Whew! At this point I am happy that I am out of hitting range from our son Scott and his lovely bride Caroline who actually ran and finished their first marathon on Sunday. Joni and I had the privilege of being at various cheering points to encourage them and take some pictures. I was inspired by their commitment to this race and their nearly year long preparation for this single event. Lots of getting up at 5 AM for training runs and heading out on weekend mornings for very long runs. All of that dedication paid off. We waited
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Truth can be so annoying. If annoying truth was a Jeopardy category it might look like this… “I’ll take Annoying Truths for $100, Alex.” This famous preacher said,  “Give me five minutes with a person’s checkbook, and I will tell you where their heart is.” “Who is Billy Graham? I’ll take Annoying Truths for $200, Alex.” This missionary to India said, “You can give without loving. But you cannot love without giving.” “Who was Amy Carmichael, Alex. I am getting very uncomfortable with this topic so let’s take “Sins that make you worse than me for $100.” Money is an uncomfortable topic for followers of Jesus. One anonymous writer noted that a lot of people are willing to give God the credit, but not too many are willing to give Him the cash. Twenty-nine years ago a man in Kansas City made a choice to give away the cash. It was a choice that changed his life and the lives of thousands more. The Associated Press
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One of my favorite Christmas stories happened during the horrors of war. The Christmas carol “Silent Night” was responsible for a wartime Christmas truce.   I researched the story and found that it is true. So here is a nice Christmas story for your Christmas celebrations to share at Christmas gatherings during this Christmas Season (was that anti-pc sentence a little too obvious?). I would normally post a story like this a little closer to Christmas Day but I found out there is a movie depicting this event and I thought you might be interested in acquiring or renting it. There are some cautions for parents contained in this review in Christianity Today but the positives seem worth the investment. Here is the story that inspired the film. The year was 1914 and soldiers were having to spend Christmas Eve night on the battlefields of France during World War I, the Great War, as it was called. After only four months of fighting, more than a million men had already perished in the bloody conflict. The bodies of dead soldiers
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Thanksgiving this year was spectacular. Great food. Football. And then a football movie. Sweet! To be fair, The Blind Side is much more than a football movie. It is the true story of Michael Oher. Michael was taken from his mother and bounced from place to place in one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in Memphis. A white couple (Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy) take Oher in and rest of the story is a heartwarming journey that examines the power of love, affirmation and stability. Oher was a first round pick by the Baltimore Ravens in the 2009 NFL Draft. I loved the movie. I highly recommend seeing it and please don’t wait for the DVD. I urge you to get out and support this movie because it  portrays Christians and family values in a positive light. In the words of Mel Allen, “How about that!”.  I was hit from my blind side by an interview that Sandra Bullock did with World Magazine. Here is an excerpt from the piece written by Megan Basham. Sandra Bullock,
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