THE TENTH DAY OF JANUARY IN THE YEAR OF GRACE TWO THOUSAND AND SIXTEEN. A number of gracEmail subscribers report a common frustration associated with new year's resolutions. They resolve to achieve various stated goals, attain at least limited success for a time, then completely run off the rails. Do I have any tips on ways they can increase their determination, effort, and results? * * * As I see it, merely upping the effort is not likely to help in this situation because the problem here is not lack of intensity. More likely, people break resolutions because they are not aligned … [Read more...]
Family Notes 06/01/2016
THE SIXTH DAY OF JANUARY IN THE YEAR OF GRACE TWO THOUSAND AND SIXTEEN. Feedback to gracEmail for Sunday, Jan. 3 The most recent previous gracEmail, published on Sunday, January 3, 2016, and titled "Knowing so much but so little," was unusually well-received by many subscribers, who responded in appreciable numbers with feedback intended to encourage, inspire, and inform--and who accomplished with flying colors all they intended to achieve. You touched my heart, and reminded me how incredibly blessed I am to enjoy the constant support of such a band of brothers and sisters as … [Read more...]
KNOWING SO MUCH BUT SO LITTLE
THE THIRD DAY OF JANUARY IN THE YEAR OF GRACE TWO THOUSAND AND SIXTEEN. The second year of high school found me enrolled in a vocational class in commercial printing. A loud, smelly machine called a Linotype made a "line o' type" from melted lead. The printing "press" inked the type with hard rubber rollers and "pressed" paper sheets against the type like a giant rubber stamp. My first assignment was to clean the rollers with gasoline and a large cloth. I saw what looked like six or eight large ink rollers, scrubbed them with a vengeance, then asked the boss to check my work. A quick … [Read more...]
Family Notes 30/12/2015
THE THIRTIETH DAY OF DECEMBER IN THE YEAR OF GRACE TWO THOUSAND AND FIFTEEN. GracEmail subscribers Chester and Angela Woodhall mark forty-five year mission milestone Britishers Chester and Angela Woodhall, long-time gracEmail subscribers, are celebrating their 45th year as missioners taking the gospel to countries across the southern parts of the African continent. It is thought they might be among the longest-serving missionaries from Churches of Christ presently on the field. As newlyweds nearly a half-century ago, Chester and Angela went first to Zambia, previously known as … [Read more...]
NO ONE-DIMENSIONAL PEOPLE
THE TWENTY-SEVENTH DAY OF DECEMBER IN THE YEAR OF GRACE TWO THOUSAND AND FIFTEEN. When I was a child, there was a man at the other end of the block whom we kids named "Grouchy Grubbs." Whether he disliked boys and girls in general or only those who were his neighbors we did not know, but he certainly did not like little Fudges, Dunnavants, Chandlers, Kuykendalls, Chumleys, Rollingses, Curtises or Williamses--the families with children growing up on Chandler Drive. He was a one-dimensional man with a single attribute. He was grouchy. His grouchiness contrasted sharply with the … [Read more...]
Family Notes 21/12/2015
THE TWENTY-FIRST DAY OF DECEMBER IN THE YEAR OF GRACE TWO THOUSAND AND FIFTEEN. WHAT WILL MATTER It is easy to find people willing to praise the old-fashioned virtues, more difficult to locate folks who demonstrate those virtues year after year by their lives. I know no one who does that more consistently, more humbly, and with more enthusiasm and good cheer than my dear friend, gracEmail subscriber Dwain Evans (dwainevans@att.net). Dwain recently forwarded a beautiful video that is sure to bless. Enjoy it at: player.vimeo.com/video/89476173 LITTLE PORTION BAKERY John Michael … [Read more...]
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF CHRISTMAS
THE TWENTIETH DAY OF DECEMBER IN THE YEAR OF GRACE TWO THOUSAND AND FIFTEEN. The greatest miracle associated with the birth of Jesus, I suspect, is not the conception of a child in Mary's virgin womb. No, the greatest miracle in this story is the incomprehensible accomplishment that Christians call the Incarnation--a bona fide reality driving all that happens later and making it all possible. But does it really matter that in Mary's baby Jesus, the Son of God became a man? Indeed it does, and to answer this question is to discover the true significance of Christmas. Except for … [Read more...]
Family Notes 16/12/2015
THE SIXTEENTH DAY OF DECEMBER IN THE YEAR OF GRACE TWO THOUSAND AND FIFTEEN. COLE, SINATRA, AND SHELBURNE Picture your most comfy chair, your favorite beverage, and a private concert of standards like "Moonglow," "The Very Thought of You," and "The Way You Look Tonight." This musical treat awaits you on the latest CD from singer and gracEmail subscriber Curtis Shelburne titled "For Sentimental Reasons." On it, Shelburne faithfully delivers a dozen such classics, wrapped in pure, mellow tones reminiscent of Nat King Cole with a touch of Sinatra-style light jazz. And that is no … [Read more...]
WE SOW BUT GOD GROWS
THE THIRTEENTH DAY OF DECEMBER IN THE YEAR OF GRACE TWO THOUSAND AND FIFTEEN. In a previous gracEmail I told of speaking, in a B'Nai B'rith program, on the Christian understanding of the Old Testament. As we moved into Q&A from Lecture, I urged these Jewish men to consider the claim of Jesus of Nazareth to be the Messiah foretold by the Hebrew prophets. A gracEmail subscriber who read the report now inquires further: "But what of your audience? Obviously they did not stone you. But did they believe you?" * * * The gentleman who invited me to take part in the B'Nai B'Rith program … [Read more...]
Family Notes 09/12/2015
THE NINTH DAY OF DECEMBER IN THE YEAR OF GRACE TWO THOUSAND AND FIFTEEN. USES PRAYER JESUS TAUGHT gracEmail subscriber Roger Harper, who happens to be a priest in the Church of England, proposes using as a conversion prayer the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples to pray, and he explains as follows: May I suggest an alternative prayer for beginning the Christian life? Our Father, in heaven, hallowed be . . . Jesus commanded us to pray using the Our Father . . .' words. He introduced it with an imperative. Jesus commanded us to teach disciples to obey all that He commanded. We … [Read more...]
