Perhaps you heard about the man who went to a rancher to buy a horse. He was informed that he had the perfect horse for him. There was one problem with this particular horse. It seems that a Christian trained it. To get the horse to go you had to yell “Praise the Lord!” To get the horse to stop you had to yell “Amen!” The man bought the horse and sure enough, when he yelled, “Praise the Lord” – the horse took off like a rocket. Suddenly the man saw a cliff looming ahead. He became so excited that he forgot the word that stopped the horse. Just in the nick of time he remembered the word and yelled “Amen!” The horse skidded to a stop within inches of the precipice. The man wiped the sweat from his brow and declared – “Praise the Lord!”

If the devil can derail or damage our marriage, he has put a damper on our ministry. Your marriage is your ministry! On Labor Day we celebrate the blessings and the necessity of work. I realize that a good marriage must be constantly worked at, tended to, and nurtured. It must be a ministry priority.

The great comedian and American icon Bob Hope lived to be over 100 years old. No doubt he took his own medicine – “A merry heart doeth good like medicine” (Proverbs 17:22). The amazing thing to many people was that he was married to his wife Dolores for over 69 years.

The headlines on the front page of the Centralia Sentinel shocked me and made me sick in the pit of my stomach. “Divorce Rate In Marion County Is Exceeding High, Says Judge.” It quoted circuit court Judge Sauer, who issued a release of the number of divorces in Marion County that showed an 83% divorce rate. The national rate is appalling enough at 50%. The article also touched on some possible contributing factors.

Families and marriages are in terrible turmoil. Is there hope for the institution of marriage? Yes, for the One who instituted marriage in the beginning not only gives hope, but also gives us the greatest marriage manual in the world – the Bible. Your marriage can make it. This article is for those who want their marriage to work and succeed. It is not for those who are unwilling to work at it or those who are unwilling to change and grow.

The Columbia River gorge in Oregon is breathtakingly beautiful. Multnomah Falls is a popular destination for many hikers and tourists. The legend of the falls tells of a beautiful Indian maiden, the daughter of the chief of the Multnomah tribe. The princess was the only child left to her aging father. The chief loved his daughter dearly and picked out a husband for her, a young warrior who was a prince of the Clatsop tribe, whom she loved. The two tribes came together to celebrate the days of the wedding feast. Just before the feast began, a terrible sickness fell on the men of the tribes killing many of them.

There is a popular television series entitled “Lost”. Although I’ve never seen it, I have been told that it is a very suspenseful and well produced television series. The program began two years ago with the crash of Oceanic Flight 815 that was flying from Sydney, Australia to Los Angels, CA. For some unknown reason the plane breaks apart and crashes onto a remote island. The passengers, through story lines shown in flash backs, bring to the island their baggage of lost faith and being lost in life. The story shows how faith and purpose in life are rediscovered and sometimes lost again.

It is an awful feeling being lost. Were you ever been lost in a crowd as a child? Many people have nightmares about being lost.

Have you ever had your back against the wall with seemingly no way out? Have you ever felt that you were drowning in despair? We all face what we perceive to be impossibilities. Life has it’s cul-de-sac of problems and perplexities when we think we are at a dead end. Difficult people and awesome opportunities confront us all. Many times, we face life’s challenges and say, “why, that’s impossible.” Instead we should listen to God’s angel who told a young virgin girl, “With God, nothing is impossible” (Luke 1:37). She believed the Lord of the impossible.

Every time my wife or I return home there is a joyful celebration. Miki, our golden retriever, greets us with gleeful abandon. Brewser, our little dorky which is half miniature dachshund and half Yorkshire terrier, whom we have recently inherited, stands on her hind legs and twirls around in joy to welcome us home. They enjoy our presence.

What about your relationship with God? Do you exuberantly celebrate His presence and goodness? Judeo-Christian worship has been marked by joyful celebration. Christian doctrine and experience is joy even in the midst of suffering and trials.

A businessman shared that he felt guilty if he took time off from work for fun and recreation. I somewhat identify with him. Early in my pastoral ministry, some people tried to put a guilt trip on me if I spent time with my family or having fun. The values of our western culture would have us to believe that the busy, publicly active, nose to the grindstone person in business, work, or ministry is the most successful or spiritual person.

In our culture there are multitudes of people who live stress-filled lives that end in burn out, disease, or their world coming apart at the seams.

Constantine the Great, emperor of Rome, saw it blazing high in the sky and it changed his life and the course of the Roman Empire. According to Eusebius, while Constantine was fighting his rival Maxentius in 312 he saw in the sky a fiery cross and the words “By this sign conquer.” He adopted the cross as his symbol, killed Maxentius, and issued an edict that Christianity would be tolerated throughout the Roman Empire. Constantine promoted humanitarian reforms and in 321 made Sunday a holiday. He was later baptized on his deathbed. When Constantine lifted high the cross he conquered.

Years ago I came across a placard that read, “Life is fragile – handle with care.” Yes, life is fragile. Several years ago that became more than a slogan and more than a trite cliché. It became all the more too real when grief-stricken, I stood at the graves of my two teenage brothers and a cousin. A drinking driver hit them head-on. Like numerous others, as I stood in the rain that dark afternoon I asked, “Why, God?” One thing I have learned – “Life is fragile.” No one has a guarantee of tomorrow. But there is hope. In high school I had a bumper sticker on my old ’55 Ford that became more than a cliché – “Life is short, but eternity is sure.”

Working in the emergency room of a hospital can be extremely hectic and demanding. Recently my cousin’s wife started a second career as an EMT in the ER. She could tell you how stressful it is at times and yet rewarding.

Perhaps, like me, you feel that you have been in life’s ER for most of your life. Life in the ER is a daily encounter with trauma, tragedy, and tears, but there are also times of joyous triumph. Job was one of the most severely tested men in the Bible. He experienced life in the ER – life full of trauma, tragedy, and tears.

Sometimes I think that I’ve spent most of my life in the emergency room. If not for myself and my family, it seems that supporting others in the emergency room of life has been our life’s ministry. We live in a fallen, imperfect, fragile world. Job spent much time in the emergency room. He concluded, “Man is born into trouble as the sparks fly upward” (Job 5:7). But thank God for the emergency room. It is in the emergency room where help is sought and found. Unfortunately, only an emergency room will motivate some people to seek help, both physically and spiritually.

My cousin flies helicopters. This past Memorial Day I enjoyed having a conversation with him at the annual family barbeque. He recently returned from a tour of duty in Iraq and is scheduled to return in December. Perhaps he thought my question a little strange when I asked, “Did you realize that you were flying over the very cradle of civilization?” He replied that he had been more focused on doing his duty and returning home to his family.

Iraq is intriguing because it is the area of ancient Babylon. The Garden of Eden was located there as well as the Tower of Babel.

I found it in the ragbag! In our house some articles of clothing too worn out to wear or give away are thrown into a ragbag. They might be utilized later in other assorted ways. I could hardly believe my eyes at what I found in the ragbag – my favorite shirt – my high school football jersey – the one that I’d wear almost everyday, except to church, of course. Now how in the world did it get in the ragbag? You’re right – my wife.

After rescuing my shirt from the ragbag, I marched upstairs to my wife and demanded to know what my football jersey was doing in the ragbag.

They swarmed around us. I initially thought they were flies of some sort, that is until my four-year-old grandson started screaming and my son dropped to his knees in pain. My son had consented to help me move some cement blocks away from a fence. We had inadvertently disturbed a bee’s nest. My grandson was stung four times and my son nine times before they could get away.

As painful as that experience was, we can learn some valuable lessons from the bees. We’ve all heard about “the birds and the bees,” but let’s consider some other of the numerous lessons we can learn from the bees.

Halloween is a season when many people love to decorate and dress up in costumes and masks of ghosts and goblins. Many view the day as just good fun and as a spoof on spooks. But some people are plugged into the dark side of evil. For them casting spells, Satan, and works of darkness are very real. In some cultures people live in fear of evil spirits. Some people believe that ghosts are real and haunt certain places.

We could say that evil comes from two sources. One is the evil within man. The Word of God teaches that all mankind inherited a sin nature from Adam.

Jake was a junkyard dog. A bull-terrier mix, Jake was massive, muscular, and mean. During the day Jake was chained up to an old dilapidated dog house that had his name painted haphazardly on the front with white paint. Mostly brown in color, Jake sported scars and scrapes of numerous fights. A couple of hubcaps served as food and water dishes and collected rainwater for him to drink.

At night Mr. T, the junkyard owner, would turn Jake loose to guard the inside of the yard. Sometimes my friends and I would ride bicycles past the side of the junkyard where the corrugated tin covering the fence was missing.

“Jumpin’ Jehoshaphat!” exclaimed Frank as he waved his arms up and down like a goose ready for flight. Frank was an old retired carpenter who worked with us on the farm when I was a teenager. It tickled me to hear him use his favorite expression. One summer day I was on a tractor mowing weeds. I accidentally got into an overgrown weed patch that happened to be the garden of the man who was the milker at the dairy barn. Bob lived in a trailer nearby. When Frank saw where I was mowing, he ran toward me waving his arms and shouting, “Jumpin’ Jehoshaphat! Jumpin’ Jehoshaphat!” Unfortunately he was too late and most of the overgrown garden was a goner. Jumpin’ Jehoshaphat!

Jonah was a powerful prophet of God. One day God commissioned him to preach to the great and wicked city of Nineveh. God saw their violence and perversion and was determined to send terrible judgment upon them.

God’s prophet despised and abhorred the heathen Ninevites. So much so that he booked passage on a ship that would take him as far away from them as possible. He knew if he told them what God had said they might repent and be spared. He wanted God to punish the ruthless Ninevites – not pardon them. So Jonah ran away.

Glorious things have happened on Mt Hermon in Israel. In the gospel of Mark chapter 9 we find the brief but far reaching account of Jesus taking three of his disciples to the top of Mt Hermon. There, before the disciples, Jesus’ appearance was radically changed. He was “transfigured” and his clothes became gleaming white – whiter than any earthly process could ever make them. (Mark 9:2-12 NLT) Then something extraordinary happened – Moses and Elijah appeared and began talking with Jesus. What did Moses and Elijah talk about? They talked about how the scriptures foretold of the suffering and death of Jesus on the cross. (Mark 9:12-13)

How you greet life many times reveals what is in your heart. I once greeted someone with the expression, “Good day.” He replied, “What’s good about it?” When another gentleman is asked, “How are you?” he always responds, “Marvelous!”

Many people do not feel their life is so wonderful. They feel cheated, disillusioned, and disappointed in life. This Christmas season I’ll probably once again watch the movie, “It’s A Wonderful Life.” It’s the story of a young man who was disappointed in the way his life turned out. George Bailey was a dreamer.

Please ask yourself this question – Is God pro-life? Absolutely! There is no doubt about it. God’s Word is unmistakable. “Thou shall not kill” is one of the Ten Commandments. “I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your seed may live” (Deuteronomy 30:19). God is the Creator and sustainer of life.

Once, while discussing the abortion issue with a politician, the remark was made that abortion is a moral issue. I concurred. But is not the law of our land and Judeo-Christian ethics based on the concept of a moral God and moral code?

It’s been said that blood is thicker than water. It’s natural and normal for families to stick together and care for one another. Even though there may be disagreements, imperfections, and family issues that all families contend with, there is an inherent quality that says, “Blood is thicker than water.” Jesus stated that, “Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste and any city or house divided against itself shall not stand” (Matthew 12:25 NASB). Strong, loving families living in peace and unity are vital for the health and happiness of society and the individual. The Psalmist declared “God sets the lonely in families, he leads forth the prisoners with singing; but the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land” (Psalm 68:9).

Business savvy people keep their eyes and ears open for inside information. Investors may value certain information that could give them leverage or a leg up in making a good profit with a timely investment or business deal.

A few years ago I had a friend who had a friend who had a cousin who had a nephew who worked for a large grocery chain. His friend’s cousin had some inside information that the price of coffee was going to increase dramatically because of the weather and weevils in the coffee bean crop of Brazil.

Have you ever had a dream that seemed lost and dashed to pieces on the rocks of disaster or disappointment? Take heart. Many great men and women have had such experiences. But they believed that good things come to those who wait. They learned valuable lessons in God’s waiting room that could not be learned anywhere else.

Abraham was 100 years old before the promised child Isaac was born. Joseph, the dreamer, was sold into slavery by his brothers, unjustly accused of rape by Potiphar’s wife, and thrown into prison for 13 years before seeing his God given dream become a reality.