Having a farm background, I know how important it is to mend fences. It is sometimes a tedious and tiring job, but to neglect it can result in tragedy and loss. When we lived in South Dakota, a rancher friend had several sheep. When a sheep would find a hole in the fence and go through it, the whole flock would usually follow. Occasionally one would get stuck and die struggling to get out. It is imperative to be ever vigilant in mending fences.

Multitudes of marriages and human relationships have been damaged and destroyed because of the neglect of mending fences. We must constantly work at mending relationship fences in marriage, family, church, and the work place. Let us consider seven steps to healing of marriage and human relationships.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

As a child, no one had difficulty picking Roger Loomis out of his family’s photos. He was the one with the big head. From infancy, through adolescence, his head grew disproportionately with the rest of his body.

Classmates would sneak up from behind, hit him on the back of his head and yell, “Fathead!” He laughed on the outside, but inside the nickname cut like a knife.

Years of ridicule and abuse could have set Roger off in a rage, sending him on a shooting spree, taking his anger out on whoever happened to cross his path. Perhaps he could have simply withdrawn from society, or dropped out of life through suicide or drugs or alcohol.

Have you felt like giving up lately? Here’s hope for you – our great and mighty God loves you and has a way out. Hang on! Don’t give up hope.

We live in a world of trouble, terror, and trials. Since the sin and fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, the serpent of old has engendered strife and stress, fear and failure, depression and destruction. Jesus told us, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they might have life and might have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).

It was the most painful and stressful period in my adult life. It was a wilderness experience, “the dark night of the soul”.

“RSVP”, the letter said. After 35 years, I wondered how many would be at my high school reunion. Already many of my former classmates have died or moved far away from our old hometown. Even though the scheduled date is not a convenient time for me, it would be interesting to go just to see whom I would recognize and remember. But I just couldn’t show up on a whim, I have to make a reservation.

Many wedding invitations include RSVP. One would be foolish and very disappointed if he simply showed up at an airline and expect to buy a ticket and immediately board an airplane.

Who is your hero? Dirty Harry or Holy Jesus? Dirty Harry takes aim at a perp and, challenging him to flee, intones, “Go ahead, make my day.” That is the moment in which his personality is defined. He will achieve personal fulfillment if he can kill the evil villain.

Jesus Christ, holy and innocent suffered reproach, abuse, flogging, and crucifixion. “Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously; who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree…” (I Peter 2:22-24) Jesus cried out from the cross, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34).

Bird watching is an interesting hobby. I get excited when I observe an exotic, rare, or large bird. I am in good company – both David and Jesus were bird watchers. But I tend to ignore or take for granted the humble sparrow. A sparrow is perhaps the most ordinary, colorless, and numerous of all bird species. But these common unspectacular birds are hardy, adapt, and thrive in almost any locale and climate.

God takes special interest in the sparrow. Jesus taught us that our heavenly Father takes note of each sparrow that falls to the ground.

Depression is not a paper tiger – it is real and can be deadly. I have battled bouts of depression through various seasons of my life. If you are facing depression, you are not alone. Great and godly men and women have battled and defeated depression by the grace of God. In the Bible we see Moses, Job, Naomi, Elijah, David, and Solomon along with a host of saints down through history who succumbed to depression. The good news is – you can defeat depression.

I’ve noticed that one of the first steps to defeat depression is to identify its cause. Here are some common causes of depression identified by psychologists.

This spring yellow daffodils pierce winters gloom and song birds arrive to sing their songs and build their nests. Relay for Life committees plan and execute their annual fundraising events to help those fighting cancer.

As one among eight million cancer survivors, I would like to share some lessons in conquering cancer.

First – LIFE IS SHORT – ETERNITY IS SURE. In Christ we can be more than a survivor. We can hang onto God’s promise, “Despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ who loved us” (Romans 8:37 NLT). The King James Version says, “We are more than conquerors.” Paul goes on to say, “And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from his love. Death can’t and life can’t” (Romans 8:38 NLT).

We can learn so much from children. They see life from a totally different perspective. A little girl was sent upstairs by her father to empty the wastebaskets, but she returned so quickly that her father said, “You couldn’t have emptied all the baskets in this short of time.” “They didn’t need to be emptied, Daddy,” she replied, “They just needed stepping in.”

Children can teach us to enjoy life. As we grow into adulthood, we tend to forget how to celebrate the simple things in life – like running through puddles after a rain storm; catching fireflies; or laughing with exuberance. It’s been said that laughing is the best communication of all.

A few weeks ago someone posed the question “Are we having fun yet?” to me. Many people don’t enjoy life. God wants us to celebrate and enjoy the journey of life. You may gasp at the thought, but God wants us to have fun. I believe God had fun creating the world. After each creation event in the book of beginnings, Genesis, we read, “And God saw that it was good”. Many Christians are on their way to heaven but few seem to be enjoying the trip. Jesus said, “The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they might have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows)” (John 10:10 Amplified Bible).

My son Chris lives in the state of Washington surrounded by majestic snow capped mountains and the splendor of God’s magnificent creation. But 70 miles away looms Mt St Helens and the threat of an erupting volcano. Scientist say that Mt Ranier will someday erupt sending an avalanche of molten lava and debris cascading down through the Seattle – Tacoma area into the Puget Sound. But the residents stay! Why? They hope that it will not happen – at least not in their lifetime.

Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; For His mercy endureth forever.” (Psalm 118:1) Thanksgiving is more than turkey, table talk, or the things we have accumulated. Thanksgiving is an attitude of the heart; it’s unique to the Judeo-Christian religion. V. Raymond Edman, a former president of Wheaton College, wrote, “Paganism has no note of Thanksgiving in its worship. Its people may have prayer wheels and make pilgrimages, but they have no song of praise. They have fetishes erected for fear of evil spirits, but they know nothing of a feast of gratitude for God’s goodness. They have idols, but no ideals that show God’s mercy and grace.”

Many senior citizens feel forsaken and forgotten by family and friends. Seniors struggle with poor health and age related issues. Our neighborhoods and nursing homes are full of seniors who face a sense of loneliness and abandonment. But the Psalmist gives us hope and comfort from God’s Word. “O Lord, you alone are my hope. I’ve trusted you from childhood. Yes, you have been with me from birth; from my mother’s womb you have cared for me. No wonder I am always praising you! My life is an example to many because you have been my strength and protection . . . I declare your glory all day long. And now in my old age, don’t set me aside. Don’t abandon me when my strength is failing” (Psalm 71:5-9 NLT). (Psalm 73:23-26)

It’s been said that a picture is worth a thousand words. To many people, Christmas is a portrait of peace. We send and receive Christmas cards with serene nativity scenes of contented animals in a cozy stable. The picture of a white Christmas with a sleigh riding through a winter wonderland with happy, singing carolers fills our minds. Strains of “silent Night” bring a calm nostalgic glow to our hearts. “Silent night! Holy night! All is calm, all is bright, ‘Round yon virgin mother and child, Holy infant so tender and mild, sleep in heavenly peace, sleep in heavenly peace.”

How healthy is your heart? It seems that seldom does a week go by in which I don’t hear of a friend, neighbor, or family member who has suffered a heart attack or some heart problem. We all know how vital a healthy heart is to life. Although genetics is sometimes a factor, there are lifestyle changes that we can make that will lead to a healthier heart. The American Heart Association reports that eating the right foods, exercise and fitness, and educating ourselves concerning certain risk factors such as smoking and being overweight can help prevent heart attacks and heart disease.