THE CHALLENGE OF AIMING AT ALWAYS

In all my years as an evangelist, when my wife and I were on the road traveling, we would sometimes be aware of certain places before we even arrived there.  Any place that had a paper mill fit readily into this category.  They stunk. 

The smell leaked through every crevice.  It invaded the air conditioning system.  And we always looked at each other and knew what the other one was thinking, “How can anybody live with such a smell?”

To live there one is to become accustom to it.  Just driving through is something else.  To live there one is to become accustom to it.  Just driving through is something else.

It is the same with sin.  Live with it long enough and it doesn’t stink anymore. 

At the time we often  had cars that had over 150,000 miles on them.  Obviously, we were trying to squeeze out the last vestige of mileage, but finally there would come a time when they beyond Band-aide treatment.  Their motors on a regular basis developed new an imaginative ways to cease and desist.  Finally, we would admit, what we had already known for quite a long while, they needed to be replaced.  And when we did, things vastly improved.

      Repentance and regeneration are like this.  It requires admitting that some portions of our lives are beyond repair.  That what is needed is even more than a giant overhaul.  What is needed is a replacement of that which was old and at best inefficient - our sins, with something new and shining bright - God’s forgiveness.  Fact is, there is a phrase ready and waiting to describe the process.  It is called Being Born Again. 

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FOR THANKSGIVING DAY 2017

 

BE THANKFUL.  IT’S THE ONLY WAY TO GO

The winter of 1618-1619 had for the Pilgrims been miserable with a capital M.  It had been survival of the fittest and too many had not been fit enough to survive.  But now it was the next fall, and time to harvest not just their crops which had grown with great abundance but also hope and thanksgiving.  With help from their Indian neighbors, everyone gathered together for a three day feast of vegetables, venison, turkey and a great faith in the God that had sent them across the seas. 

And so, the first Thanksgiving Feast in this new land took place.

On November 26, 1789, President George Washington issued a proclamation for a nation-wide day of thanksgiving.  He made it clear that this day should be one of prayer and the giving of thanks to Almighty God.  It was celebrated by people of all religious denominations and everyone agreed that it was good. 

And so, the first official Thanksgiving Day in this new country took place.

In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln made his own proclamation.  Made it more specific, proclaiming that the last Thursday of November should be set aside as a day for giving thanks to God. 

And so, a precedent was set for America to now annually celebrate a national day of thanksgiving.

During Franklin D. Roosevelt’s stay in the White House, when the last Thursday of November was also the last day of the month, he changed it to the third Thursday and then for a few years never could seem to settle on a specific week - much to the wrath of a tremendous number of people.  Finally, in December 1941, after receiving millions of complaining letters, Congress passed a law officially naming the fourth Thursday of November. 

And so, all Americans would henceforth celebrate a unified Thanksgiving Day. 

The matter was settled. 

What had been settled from the very first Thanksgiving Feast was that we all were to give thanks to God.

      Thanksgiving?  Thanksgiving is a memory contest in which God comes out on top.

      The greatest enemy to having a thanks-giving spirit is forgetting some of the reasons why you should be thankful.  Think about it.  You did not get up this morning and have to worry about being blown up by a bomb on your way here.  There are millions in Iraq who go through this every single day.

       

      You consider a Thanksgiving service to give special meaning to the day.  There are millions who could not come even if they wanted to.  They are too physically ill.  There are other places where to attend a Christian service in the morning may find you in a prison cell by evening.

      So be thankful.  It is the finding of a light and who wants to chase after darkness.

MANAGE YOUR ANGER, DON'T LET IT MANAGE YOU

An evangelist, speaking at an Annual Conference, said, “You people don’t really care about other people, about those beaten down by poverty, about some little children hungry all day long, about the homeless or lonely old people in nurses homes, you don’t give a BLANKITY BLANK about anyone but yourselves.”  And where I just said BLANKITY BLANK he used two very vulgar words.  You could have cut the silence with a knife.  He continued, “Do you realize what you just did?  You were made terribly angry when I used those BLANKITY BLANK words but you weren’t angry at all at the injustice being practiced around the world.  You got angry but you just got angry at the wrong thing.”

 

There is nothing wrong with anger…just wasted anger.  I’m not saying that swearing from the pulpit is either commendable or to be recommended.  I am saying that anger rightly aimed will hit one whale of a lot of good bulls-eyes and wrongly aimed is a terrible waste

 

An oft-repeated proverb reads, “You can tell the size of a man by the size of the thing that makes him mad.”

           

    

     Like the mother who went berserk one afternoon when she was told by an older child that her little four year old had taken a magic marker and written all over her new wall paper.  Without viewing the damage she charged up the stairs and entered his room screaming at the top of her lungs.  "Do you realize what you have done, you little monster?  I saved for months to be able to help make our house beautiful and now look what you have done!”  She raved and ranted as the little boy cowered in the corner.  Finally, exhausted from spanking him, yelling at him and belittling him, she charged out of the room, slammed the door and charged downstairs  to view the disaster area.  And there it was.  In big capital red letters, “Mummy, I love you.”

            

     To paraphrase Jesus words in the Garden of Gethsemane after Peter had drawn his sword and cut off the nearest ear.   The exact quote, of course, is  “…all who draw the sword will die by the sword.”  There is a thing called justice in the scheme of things.  And there is a thing called patience.  And there is Jesus looking over our shoulder.

           

      Some people keep a list and check it twice and not always while being very nice.  It consists of they are currently mad at.  They love with their fingers crossed.  Patience is an eight letter curse word. 

           

      Remember Lucy in the comic strip Peanuts? In one of her monologues she said, “I have examined my life and found it is without flaw.  Therefore, I’m going to hold a ceremony and present myself with a medal.  I will then give a moving acceptance speech.  After that, I’ll greet myself in the receiving line.”  She concluded somewhat sadly, “When you’re perfect, you have to do everything yourself.”

           

      Come to think of it…this is one of the chief causes of so much of our ongoing angers…everyone else isn’t as perfect as we are.

 

(THREE RECENT THOUGHT PIECES ON WYRICK’S WRITING’S “Wisdom is” Who Wins if You Do Nothing but Battle Life?”  “A Journey Through Grief”

 

 

Click below to bring up this Wyrick’s Writings blog

 

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DO YOU HAVE A BLOG OR FACEBOOK?  IF YOU ENJOY THESE WRITINGS COULD YOU CALL ATTENTION TO THIS BLOG?  IF YOU DO, THANKS IN ADVANCE

WYRICK WRITINGS… Serialization of another of his books SIXTY PLUS AND NOT HOLDING 

To read this book

 

CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING URL

http://wyrickswritings.blogspot.com

Each week there is also a serialization of his novel RUST ON MY SOUL and serialization of another of his books 60 PLUS AND NOT HOLDING

MANY OF THE IDEAS IN THIS BOOK FOR BETTER LIVING ARE GOOD FOR ANY AGE. (This book is about dealing positively with the challenges of getting older and fosters the belief  that “If we would have new knowledge, we must get a world of new questions.”  (Susanne K. Langer)

 

TO VISIT Neil’s other blog WYRICK’S WRITING (A variety of serializations; a novel on Sunday and Tuesday and Thursday varying subjects) (3 times a week added to)

 

CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING URL

http://wyrickswritings.blogspot.com

****************************

To view his One Man Dramas on film (see by millions, live and on film and on video)(Martin Luther, Ben Franklin, Charles Wesley, Abraham Lincoln)

CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING

 

http://www.speakerneil.com/

********************************

THE ANGLE OF YOUR WRANGLE

 

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There are over 600 stories and commentaries on this blog. It is added to daily.

 

"Daddy,” the little boy asked, “How does war start?” “Well,” answered his daddy, “In World War I the Germans marched into Belgium and…” His wife interrupted, “You’re wrong. The Archduke was assassinated. You’ve got the wrong war.”

 

“Who did our son ask? Just shut up and stay out of this.” Now his wife was beginning to steam, “If you weren’t so dumb I wouldn’t have had to say anything.” As their anger escalated the little boy broke in, “You don’t have to say any more. I have the answer.”

 

Ecclesiastes 7:9 explains what really happened, “Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger resides in the lap of fools.” or as Will Rodgers once commented, “Anyone who flies off in a rage is going to have a very rocky landing.

 

Someone once said of Jesus, “He had to be divine. No mortal man could have been that patient.” Indeed, Jesus could not have loved so much if He had not been patient so often.

 

People get mad about the strangest things. Not too long ago, one of the inevitable poll takers asked 100 college women and 35 college men to list the things that made them angry. The 100 women listed 274 items. The 35 men 251. A sampling of the list makes you wonder whether you should laugh or cry. They got mad at:

1. People at red light.

2. People at green lights.

3. People talking too much.

4. People talking too little.

5. People out to get me

6. People who don’t pay any attention to me.

           

Anger? Anger is a wind that blows out the lamp of the mind and the wind blows strong these days. Indeed, not that long ago U.S. News reported that a serious crime is committed in America every six seconds, most of them because of anger. The average man loses his temper 6 times a week, the average woman 3. Many psychologists argue that anger out of control is the cause of most depression.

           

What is more important than how often we get angry is what we get angry about? To seek to learn how to be angry at an idea, but not at people. Yes, there is such a thing as righteous indignation, but most indignation is not righteous, just indignant.

 

(THREE RECENT THOUGHT PIECES ON WYRICK’S WRITING’S “Wisdom is” Who Wins if You Do Nothing but Battle Life?” “A Journey Through Grief”

 

Click below to bring up this Wyrick’s Writings blog

 

http://wyrickswritings.blogspot.com

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DO YOU HAVE A BLOG OR FACEBOOK? IF YOU ENJOY THESE WRITINGS COULD YOU CALL ATTENTION TO THIS BLOG? IF YOU DO, THANKS IN ADVANCE

Quotes from tomorrow’s One A Day blog entitled

Don’t Live By Dismal-Crystal-Ball-Revelations

 

Fields don’t get plowed. Lives get ruined and shortened. Health gets ruined. And for all the good healthy opportunities around us…they don’t do half the good they could if our attitudes aren’t up to snuff…

 

ALREADY SUNDAY on his other blog WYRICK’S WRITINGS… Serialization of another of his books SIXTY PLUS AND NOT HOLDING

To read this book

 

CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING URL

 

http://wyrickswritings.blogspot.com

 

Each week there is also a serialization of his novel RUST ON MY SOUL and serialization of another of his books 60 PLUS AND NOT HOLDING

MANY OF THE IDEAS IN THIS BOOK FOR BETTER LIVING ARE GOOD FOR ANY AGE. (This book is about dealing positively with the challenges of getting older and fosters the belief that “If we would have new knowledge, we must get a world of new questions.” (Susanne K. Langer)

TO VISIT Neil’s other blog WYRICK’S WRITING (A variety of serializations; a novel on Sunday and Tuesday and Thursday varying subjects) (3 times a week added to)

 

CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING URL

 

http://wyrickswritings.blogspot.com

****************************

To view his One Man Dramas on film (see by millions, live and on film and on video)(Martin Luther, Ben Franklin, Charles Wesley, Abraham Lincoln)

CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING

 

http://www.speakerneil.com/

********************************

HOPE

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEND THIS BLOG TO A FRIEND GO TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS BLOG AND CLICK ON THE ENVELOPE.

There are over 600 stories and commentaries on this blog. It is added to daily.

Hope has been called foolish, Pollyanna, unrealistic by some. Actually, it is getting on with life rather than choosing paralysis.

It is believing in better tomorrows rather than imagining a terrorist hiding around every corner. It's getting back on planes, and eating out in restaurants instead of supping on paranoia. It is you and I looking for a place to let the best in us come alive.

This story appeared in the Dec. 8, 2001 edition of The Miami Herald. An 11-year old boy was told five months before that he had two to five days to live. His skin was ghostly white. Tubes were everywhere - his body, skin and bone.

He suffered from a rare form of muscular dystrophy. He was asked "Would you like a new toy? A favorite food?" "No," he replied, "but I would like for someone to publish my poems so others can find in them the strength and resolve I've found."

Fast forward to many days beyond the two to five days he had been given to live and he could be found at a Barnes and Noble Bookstore in Alexandria, Va. This same little boy, Mattie Stepanek, signing copies of his newly published book, "Journey Through Heartsongs, the sequel to his first book Heartsongs," a best seller. Two books in less than half a year.

He was supposed to be dead.  Instead, the color returned to his face. Bouncing up and down in his wheelchair the optimism of hope gave him new life. He finally succumbed but I point out that while he lived longer than any of the doctors thought he would, he never thought small, not at all.

    

The door of hope will never open if you have replaced it with a wall of despair.

            Hope is the centipede who never gives up on trying to pus his or her best foot forward.

            Hope stands in utter darkness and patiently persistently waits for dawn.

            And what would I wish for you on yet another day we share  I would wish you may never forget and always hold dear the thought “that those who want to sing will always find a song.”

            And this closing thought “If you knew that hope and despair were paths to the same destination, which would you choose?  ~Robert Brault

(THREE RECENT THOUGHT PIECES ON WYRICK’S WRITING’S “Wisdom is” Who Wins if You Do Nothing but Battle Life?”  “A Journey Through Grief”

 

Click below to bring up this Wyrick’s Writings blog

 

http://wyrickswritings.blogspot.com

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

DO YOU HAVE A BLOG OR FACEBOOK?  IF YOU ENJOY THESE WRITINGS COULD YOU CALL ATTENTION TO THIS BLOG?  IF YOU DO, THANKS IN ADVANCE

Quotes from tomorrow’s One A Day blog entitled

 

  PREPARATION IS A KINDNESS    

 

An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of pain.

   

ALREADY STARTED on his other blog WYRICK’S WRITINGS…Serialization of another of his books SIXTY PLUS AND NOT HOLDING 

To read this book

 

CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING URL

http://wyrickswritings.blogspot.com

Each week there is also a serialization of his novel RUST ON MY SOUL and serialization of another of his books 60 PLUS AND NOT HOLDING

MANY OF THE IDEAS IN THIS BOOK FOR BETTER LIVING ARE GOOD FOR ANY AGE. (This book is about dealing positively with the challenges of getting older and fosters the belief  that “If we would have new knowledge, we must get a world of new questions.”  (Susanne K. Langer)

TO VISIT Neil’s other blog WYRICK’S WRITING (A variety of serializations; a novel on Sunday and Tuesday and Thursday varying subjects) (3 times a week added to)

 

CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING URL

http://wyrickswritings.blogspot.com

****************************

To view his One Man Dramas on film (see by millions, live and on film and on video)(Martin Luther, Ben Franklin, Charles Wesley, Abraham Lincoln)

 

CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING

 

http://www.speakerneil.com/

********************************

REKINDLE YOUR POWER OF POSITIVE THINKING

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEND THIS BLOG TO A FRIEND GO TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS BLOG AND CLICK ON THE ENVELOPE.

There are over 600 stories and commentaries on this blog. It is added to daily.

       A group of elderly men were sitting around and one of them in particular had a very worried look upon his face.

“Why do you look so weary, worried and worn out?” asked one of his friends.

“I’ve become an optimist,” came back the reply. “And that’s your reason?  That’s your excuse?” “Do you think it’s easy being an optimist?”

       It requires work to think positively.  The effort of “often prayer.”  The labors of reading positive books and positive stories and positive blogs such as this one.

       Effort is the father of emotional efficiency.  Let’s put it that way.  And…

       Spring forward but don’t fall back and I’m not talking about Daylight Savings Time.  It’s called the Power of Positive Thinking Time and while it’s been around for a long time there are still people who haven’t given it a proper chance.  If you’re one of those people; reconsider…

            That the power of positive thinking is terribly diluted when it is approached timidly.  It is not for just tipping a toe in the water but for complete emersion.  Negative thinking is alive and well and when you are trying to do your very best and aim for the center of the bull’s-eye you will always have around you negative people who are trying to steal the target.

            So steal their negative thunder.  Shoot them with your positive thinking as well as the target.  Hit them with positive phrase quotes such as “I chose to see opportunity in every difficulty…not difficulty in every opportunity” or “I’m sorry if I am annoying you with my positive thinking” or “the secret to success is learning how to fail without giving up.”

            It has been two and one half decades but I will never forget when I got a letter from a publisher accepting my novel RUST ON MY SOUL.  What made it so satisfying was that I had been sending the manuscript off for twenty years and he was the 78^th publisher.  “Will you ever give up on trying to get your novel published?” my wife would ask and I would reply, “Sure will…on the day I die.  I will then have run out of time.”   I’ve had 8 other books published.

            Would you invigorate your storehouse of positive thoughts.  Then think some silly positive ones that will produce an image you can’t otherwise get out of your mind.  Imagine yourself pitching at full force positive thoughts to a catcher who happens to be you.  The image is outrageous enough to make it easier to keep coming back to it.  Try it…your psyche will like it.

            Shine on your old parade rather than creating a shadow and a shower from a cloud you’ve produced above your head.  Negative thoughts do that…take away what ever sense of humor you have or ever will have.

            You have spent your life not getting what you want.  What about all the things you haven’t wanted that you haven’t gotten either.  There are a host of illnesses and accidents that haven’t coming knocking at your door.  You are still alive which means an obituary notice would certainly be premature.  Take the time to add to this list…it will be time well spent.

            Some things you can’t change and never will be able to change, so consider changing your attitude toward them. 

            I don’t know who said it but it is a thought worth engraving on your subconscious, “Every thought is a seed.  If you plant crab apples, don't count on harvesting Golden Delicious.”

            And tonight, go outside and look up at the stars, all around them is darkness but they never notice.  They are too busy making light.

(THREE RECENT THOUGHT PIECES ON WYRICK’S WRITING’S “Wisdom is”  “Who Wins if You Do Nothing but Battle Life?”  “A Journey Through Grief”

 

Click below to bring up this Wyrick’s Writings blog

 

http://wyrickswritings.blogspot.com

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

DO YOU HAVE A BLOG OR FACEBOOK?  IF YOU ENJOY THESE WRITINGS COULD YOU CALL ATTENTION TO THIS BLOG?  IF YOU DO, THANKS IN ADVANCE

Quotes from tomorrow’s One A Day blog entitled HOPE

Hope has been called foolish, Pollyanna, unrealistic by some. Actually, it is getting on with life rather than choosing paralysis. It is believing in better tomorrows rather than imagining a terrorist hiding around every corner. It's getting back on planes, and eating out in restaurants instead of supping on paranoia. It is you and I looking for a place to let the best in us come alive.

This story appeared in the Dec. 8, 2001 edition of The Miami Herald. An 11-year old boy was told five months before that he had two to five days to live. His skin was ghostly white. Tubes were everywhere - his body, skin and bone.

He suffered from a rare form of muscular dystrophy. He was asked "Would you like a new toy? A favorite food?" "No," he replied, "but I would like for someone to publish my poems so others can find in them the strength and resolve I've found."

Fast forward to many days beyond

   +++++++++++++++++++++++++

ALREADY STARTED on his other blog WYRICK’S WRITINGS… Serialization of another of his books SIXTY PLUS AND NOT HOLDING 

To read this book

 

CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING URL
http://wyrickswritings.blogspot.com

Each week there is also a serialization of his novel RUST ON MY SOUL and serialization of another of his books 60 PLUS AND NOT HOLDING

MANY OF THE IDEAS IN THIS BOOK FOR BETTER LIVING ARE GOOD FOR ANY AGE. (This book is about dealing positively with the challenges of getting older and fosters the belief  that “If we would have new knowledge, we must get a world of new questions.”  (Susanne K. Langer)

TO VISIT Neil’s other blog WYRICK’S WRITING (A variety of serializations; a novel on Sunday and Tuesday and Thursday varying subjects) (3 times a week added to)

 

CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING URL

http://wyrickswritings.blogspot.com

****************************

To view his One Man Dramas on film (see by millions, live and on film and on video)(Martin Luther, Ben Franklin, Charles Wesley, Abraham Lincoln)

CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING

 

http://www.speakerneil.com/

********************************