Author: londavis@hotmail.com

In Abraham’s day, a woman with no child had no standing and a man without a son had no legacy. Year after year, Abraham’s wife, Sarah prayed for a child. Year after year her heart was broken. She knew her husband wanted a son and wanted to give him a son, but God had not yet blessed her. Finally, she reached the age when having a child was no longer humanly possible. In such times it is easy for dreams to die.

In the midst of such broken dreams, God reached out to Abraham and Sarah. The Scriptures tell us, “By faith Abraham, even though he was past age — and Sarah herself was barren — was enabled to become a father because he considered him faithful who had made the promise.” (Hebrews 11:11).

“Even though he was past age,” is an understatement. When their child was born, Abraham was 100 and Sarah was 90. If nothing else, one can read that story and realize that nothing is impossible for God. Your dreams are never too big for God.

I do not want to wander as Abraham did with no place to call my own. I do not want to live in tents and ride on camels, but like Abraham, I do want to be God’s friend and receive blessings that are seemingly beyond human possibility. To do this, I must have Abraham’s secret.

What was Abraham’s secret? Read the passage again and you will see. “He considered him faithful who made the promise.” Abraham believed in God and that God was faithful and would keep His promise.

Only when we believe that God is faithful and will keep his promises will we look past the blessings of the earth and see the blessings of heaven.

All the promises that God has made to you in His Word, He will keep. God is faithful. Believe it!

Lonnie Davis

The Frog Who Went to Be with Jesus

When my granddaughter, Gwen was 5 years old, she loved animals. Somewhere she acquired a tiny frog. I guess she did not know that frogs were a plague, but that would not matter to a four-year-old girl. Even if it is a frog, it was still a pet. Little frogs in the possession of little girls do not have a long life span. Before long the frog died and her dad disposed of it. Her mother explained it to her by saying that the frog went to be with Jesus.  She cried and said, “I want Jesus to give me my frog back.”

We all understand that sentiment, not about a frog, but about someone we love who has gone to be with Jesus. The years of 2021-2022 have brought me too many “gone to be with Jesus” moments. We all have lost someone that makes us feel this way.

In the early church, these kinds of thoughts were hurting many in Thessalonica. They grieved for those who had died, or as Paul said, have “fallen asleep.” To encourage them he wrote, “Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.” (1 Thess 4:13-14).

When frogs are gone, they are gone. When Christians “fall asleep” they will wake up. We are not really dead; we have simply gone to be with Jesus. Do not grieve like others who have no hope.

Lonnie Davis

The School in the Forest

 Once there was a man who wanted to help the animals in the forest. He wanted to make things better for them so he decided to start a school in the forest. In his school he had a squirrel, a fish, and a bird. To make their lives better he decided to help each of them become better at what they did not do well. Since the squirrel could climb, but could not swim, he decided to teach the squirrel to swim. The fish could swim, but could not fly so he worked at teaching the fish to fly. The bird could fly, but could not swim so the bird was enrolled in a swimming course.

 Over the next year, the squirrel practiced swimming, the fish worked at flying, and the bird tried hard to swim. At the end of the year, the teacher had a squirrel that was a bad swimmer, a fish that could not fly, and a bird that nearly drowned daily.

 There is a moral to this story. If you are a squirrel, climb. If you are a fish, swim. If you are a bird, fly. Do not try to be something you are not. God gave each of us special talents. Each of us should work to discover our own special talent. Then use it. That is your highest calling.

Lonnie Davis

(Source unknown)

 Once there was a man who wanted to help the animals in the forest. He wanted to make things better for them so he decided to start a school in the forest. In his school he had a squirrel, a fish, and a bird. To make their lives better he decided to help each of them become better at what they did not do well. Since the squirrel could climb, but could not swim, he decided to teach the squirrel to swim. The fish could swim, but could not fly so he worked at teaching the fish to fly. The bird could fly, but could not swim so the bird was enrolled in a swimming course.

 Over the next year, the squirrel practiced swimming, the fish worked at flying, and the bird tried hard to swim. At the end of the year, the teacher had a squirrel that was a bad swimmer, a fish that could not fly, and a bird that nearly drowned daily.

 There is a moral to this story. If you are a squirrel, climb. If you are a fish, swim. If you are a bird, fly. Do not try to be something you are not. God gave each of us special talents. Each of us should work to discover our own special talent. Then use it. That is your highest calling.

Lonnie Davis

Caterpillars Don’t Die

The story is told of a quite happy caterpillar who found that his life was
changing. He noticed that things weren’t like they used to be. Finally one
day he began to crawl out of his skin. He was quite surprised to see that
though he was changing, he was still okay.  Soon he found himself a beautiful butterfly.

He was no longer bound to the trails of the earth below but could fly on the winds above. He was no longer a caterpillar but was now a beautiful butterfly. He soared above, looking down on the old shell that was still down below. He thought how lucky he was to have made such a marvelous change.

As he looked below, he saw some of his old caterpillar friends, crawling
slowly across the old trails that he had crawled. They found his old shell
and began to weep. He tried to shout to them that all was well, that he was
even happier, but he did not seem to be able to reach them. From his lofty
position, he looked down on those he had left behind and watched as they
gathered around his old shell and wept.

He could not tell them that leaving the old shell behind was not the end,
it was just the beginning of the real beauty that God had in store for him.
He knew that someday, they would join him and understand that caterpillars don‘t die, they just become beautiful butterflies.

Anon

The story is told of a sole survivor of a shipwreck who washed up on a small, uninhabited island. Day after day he prayed for God to rescue him. Day after day he scanned the horizon for help. Day after day, he was left alone on the island.

Realizing he needed to make the best of a bad situation, he built a little hut of driftwood to protect himself from the elements. One day, after scavenging for food, he arrived home and found his little hut in flames. It was not much, but it was all he had. Everything was lost. He was shocked with grief and filled with anger. “God, how could you do this to me!” he cried.

Early the next day he awakened to the sound of a ship approaching the island. It had come to rescue him. “How did you know I was here?” he asked. Their answer shocked him even more than the fire. “We saw your smoke signal,” they said.

Romans 8:28 says, “We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

For Believers, even the apparent hard spot is nothing more than a prelude to God’s answer to prayer. The Bible is filled with examples:

• If Joseph had not been sold into Egypt, the Israelites would never have been saved from famine.
• If Peter had caught all the fish he could handle before midnight, he would have cleaned his nets early and gone home without seeing Jesus in the morning.
• If Moses had not spent 40 years in the desert, he would never have known how much he needed God.

What has happened in your life that you see as a hard spot? Someday you will be able to look back on it and realize it too turned out to be just a smoke signal before God’s deliverance.

Lonnie Davis

Sometime ago Liz and I took the grandkids swimming at the health club. Our gym has a giant thirty-foot water slide for the kids. Grandparents are not allowed on it, at least that is my official position. Our little five-year-old granddaughter came over to me and said, “I want to go down the waterslide.” She took a breath and then added, “I wish I was used to it.”

Kids often make profound statements, and this was one of them. It is a profound truth that great opportunities often come with great anxiety.

But, If you will face your fears, they can bring great blessings.

Personally, there have been many things in my life that I wanted to do, that I needed to do, but that I was afraid to do. Sometimes doing the thing was forced upon me and after a while, I was no longer anxious about that previously fearful act. I just had to get used to it.

Everyone at first is afraid to speak in public, lead a prayer, or ride a bike, or drive into the water.

I have often enjoyed listening to others talk about the first time they ever taught or prayed in public. They can usually describe that event in great detail. They were all afraid.

 We must not let fear keep us from doing any number of things we want and need to do.

Winston Churchill said, “If I do that which I fear, fear will leave me.”

Remember the words of Paul to Timothy and to all of us, “Fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.” (2 Tim 1:6-7).

After our then-little five-year-old got used to the waterslide, she had a great time. The next time you have a daunting task before you, just smile and say, “I will get used to it.”

In the end, you will have a great blessing.

Lonnie Davis

At 14, her life seemed out of control. She was making bad grades, bad decisions, and bad friends. She was not uncooperative but certainly did not understand what was to be gained from counseling.

I asked her, “Have you ever seen a car driving down a Texas highway on a hot day in August with its windows rolled down?”

“Yes,” she answered.
“Why are the windows down?” I asked.
“The air conditioning is broken,” she answered.
“Why don’t they fix it?” I asked.
“They don’t have the money,” She answered.
There is one more question, “Why don’t they have money?”

Let me answer that question for the reader. Some have bad luck, but for the great majority that is not the real problem. The real problem is that we spend money on things we don’t need to impress people who don’t really care, then when an emergency arises, we are out of funds. That is a rule.

Life runs on rules. It is a rule that if you do not save for a rainy day, then when the rainy day comes you will suffer the consequences. That is the rule of saving for a rainy day (or a hot summer day in Texas).

Life has many more rules. The wise person will spend time learning the rules.

If they are wise, they will remember them.
If they are wise, they will write them down.
If they are wise, they will live by them.

Remember them or write them down, but you will live by them. Each of them is a life rule that brings success or failure.  You will keep repeating the failure until you learn the lesson.

Lonnie Davis

When I was 11, I lived close to a skating rink. I remember my amazement the first time I saw someone skating backward – BACKWARD! He must have been the best skater in the world, or at least I thought so.

I got my courage up and tried it for myself. I jumped up to aim backward. Plop! Down I went. Obviously, I was not talented enough to skate backward. Maybe it was a fluke, so I tried again. Again, I went down. I turned around and skated frontward as God intended. Over the years I saw a few others who could skate backward, but obviously God touches a few people with special talents. I was not one of them.

Many years later I stood near an ice-skating rink and saw my 11-year-old granddaughter leap into the air, spin two complete revolutions, and skate away. Amazing!

There is more to the story than met my eye. Upon further investigation I learned that young Gwen (the skater) spent one and a half years falling before she was able to do the double leap. At first she fell and fell and fell and fell. One day she finally hit the trick. Over the 18 months she had fallen hundreds of times before she mastered the skill.

It made me realize that I could have skated backward if I had been willing to fall and fall and fall. Instead I resigned myself to skating the ordinary way.

There is a great lesson for all of us – “Those who would succeed must first be willing to fail.”

Let me say that again, “Those who would succeed must first be willing to fail.” That is how you all learned to walk or cook or write or skate. Everything great is at first difficult.

There is a great life lesson in the adage, “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.”

It marks the difference between ordinary and great.

Lonnie Davis