Author: londavis@hotmail.com

A father’s life is full of surprises. The other day I read the story of a father who walked up on his son and his dog. The dog, a full-grown Labrador named Kelly and the four-year-old boy named Josh had a wonderful relationship. Though the dog and the boy loved each other, the dog often had to put up with the boy. Josh loved to hug the dog. Kelly would take as much as he could, but would invariably turn around and nip at the boy to make him turn loose.

One day the father walked up just as Josh had Kelly in one of his big hugs. He had his arms around the dog and his head tucked into the dog’s body so that Kelly could not bite him so easily. As Dad walked by he noticed that Josh’s eyes were closed and heard him say a little prayer, “Dear God, please don’t let Kelly bite me.”

It was cute but the dad could not miss a chance to teach a lesson about prayer. “Josh,” the father said, “God would be more apt to answer your prayer if you would let go of the dog.”

We too are like the little boy holding on to the dog that he knows will bite him and praying that the dog won’t bite. We do things that will bite us, but don’t want to feel the bite. What do we do to stop the biting? We pray. I am all for prayer. It is the greatest thing in the world, but usually the answer is prayer plus something else. That something else is to stop doing the thing that is going to bring us pain.

We pray for a happy marriage and then neglect one another. We pray for peace and live life at a frantic pace.

On and on the list could go. Each of us should examine the things that we pray for and then decide what we can do to help make the prayers come true. Keep on praying, but do your part too.

Lonnie Davis

It was a Sunday morning. As I was getting ready for church, out of the corner of my eye I saw something red flying in my bedroom. I looked again and caught a quick glimpse of a wasp. I am a waspaphobic (I made up the word, but it is a fear of being stung by wasps). I quickly grabbed something with which to kill the wasp. Turning my head for just a minute allowing the wasp to disappear from sight. I closed the door and began my hunt. Nothing!

As it was getting time to go to church I was sure to keep the door closed when I left. Sunday afternoon was dedicated to a wasp hunt. Nothing! My wife even hunted him a time or two. Nothing! A few hours later and it was time for bed. With great trepidation I crawled into bed.

How does one sleep with a wasp in the room? The answer is “lightly.” When I did not see the wasp for two days and soon convinced myself that he went out of the house the same way he came into it. Tuesday morning at 2 AM I woke up and saw him back in my room. Just as quickly as he came, he disappeared again. I sat on the edge of the bed holding a fly swatter until 3 AM. It wasn’t until Friday that I saw and killed him. There was peace in my house again.

So, where did this wasp come from? Here is the answer: While I was gone on a vacation, the top part of my upstairs window, slide down a couple of inches. It was not noticeable, but someone pointed it out. When I saw the problem, I fixed it. In this story, I learned the three-step method for fixing problems.

1. Discover the source of the problem. You can find it yourself or get someone who sees it more clearly than you, but you have to find the source before you can fix it.

2. Fix the problem. Knowing the window was open won’t help unless I shut the window.

3. Clean out the consequences. I made sure there were no more wasps in the house.

Problem solved! Of course, it could come back, but this process works.

Discover, fix, and clean.  It is a process that works on just about any problem.

~Lonnie Davis

May 15, 2011

Years ago a farmer advertised for hired hands. 

As the farmer interviewed applicants for the job, a short, thin man, well past middle age, approached the farmer. “Are you a good farm hand?” the farmer asked him. Well, I can sleep when the wind blows,” answered the little man. Although puzzled by this answer, the farmer, desperate for help, hired him.

The little man worked well around the farm, busy from dawn to dusk, and the farmer felt satisfied with the man’s work. Then one night the wind howled loudly. Jumping out of bed, the farmer grabbed a lantern and rushed next door to the hired hand’s sleeping quarters.

He shook the little man and yelled, “Get up! A storm is coming! Tie things down before they blow away!” The little man rolled over in bed and said firmly, “No sir. I told you, I can sleep when the wind blows.”

Enraged by the response, the farmer was tempted to fire him on the spot. Instead, he hurried outside to prepare for the storm. To his amazement, he discovered that all of the haystacks had been covered. The cows were in the barn, the chickens were in the coops, and the doors were barred. The shutters were tightly secured. Everything was tied down. Nothing could blow away. 

The farmer then understood what his hired hand meant, so he returned to his bed to also sleep while the wind blew.

What is the lesson we should learn? Here it is: The storm will come!

Do your work in such a way that when the storm comes, you can still sleep. 

Everybody needs somebody. There is a great verse in Ecclesiastes 4:9-10

“Two are better than one.”

Wait! That doesn’t seem right. We live in an age that emphasizes doing things yourself and being self-sufficient. Despite this modern philosophy, it is right.

The wise man continues with this verse to explain, “If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up.”

Sometimes we all need help. I read a cute story that emphasizes this.

An out-of-towner drove his car into a ditch in a desolated area. Luckily, a local farmer came to help with his big strong horse, named Buddy. He hitched Buddy up to the car and yelled, “Pull, Nellie, pull!” Buddy didn’t move. Then the farmer hollered, “Pull, Buster, pull!” Buddy didn’t respond. Once more the farmer commanded, “Pull, Coco, pull!”

Nothing.

Then the farmer nonchalantly said, “Pull, Buddy, pull!” And the horse easily dragged the car out of the ditch. The motorist was most appreciative and very curious. He asked the farmer why he called his horse by the wrong name three times.

The farmer said, “Oh, Buddy is blind and if he thought he was the only one pulling, he wouldn’t even try.”

A funny story but it really does illustrate how we all need someone. We need someone to pick us up when we fall. We need someone to help us work when we are discouraged or tired.

I believe this truth is why the Hebrew writer said, “Forsake not the assembling of yourselves together.” (Heb 10:25). We are made for family. We are made for pairing and grouping. We are strongest when we assemble together for whatever our cause is.

So, who is your somebody? Find that one and be loyal to them. Be a friend. Be a family. Be that someone that not only needs them, but the someone they need too.

Team up and then “Pull Buddy pull.”

Lonnie Davis

Have you read the book, “Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus?” That is a cute title, but the book got it wrong. It’s not that close!

Men and women are completely different species. Since we are so different, how do we learn about each other? It is complicated. Truthfully, no one really knows the person they marry. If they think they do, wait 10 years and ask them if they knew each other when they first married. The secret to a good marriage is that marriage is not about marrying the person you love, but loving the person you marry.

Along the marriage journey there are many lessons to be learned. The first lesson is this: “Your marriage is not your parent’s marriage.” I know, I know, one thing you wanted was a marriage that was different than your parents. Whatever your intentions, when you first married you probably had expectations learned from watching marriages around you. Even that of your parents.

I remember learning this in my own marriage. When I was a kid, money sometimes got tight around the house and even ten dollars could make a difference. When things got hard, my dad would go to mom and ask if she had any money hidden away. Amazingly, she often did. Mom had a practice of saving a few dollars here and there and then hoarding it away for a rainy day.

When Liz and I got married, I thought that is what wives did. We were both in college and finances were tight. The first time we ran out of money, I asked my wife and asked if she had any money hidden away. She looked at me like I was from Pluto or maybe was Pluto. In her house that is not what happened and that is not what she did.

I did not explain all this to her at the time, but I learned that she and I would have our own marriage. It turns out that it was better because it was ours. Through the years there have been many more lessons, but this was the first one. Our marriage was our own and would be what we make it.

Lonnie Davis

Sometimes I identify with Jesse James, you know the gunslinger of the old west. Let me explain.

When I lived in Virginia, every year I dreaded the first week of April. On the first day of April, I would start driving like a criminal. I don’t mean I drive fast or recklessly. I mean I would drive down the street very cautiously and look for hidden policemen around every corner. You see, my inspection sticker expired at the end of March. I had a whole month to get my car inspected, but sometimes I didn’t notice it is expired, sometimes I would forget, and sometimes I was going to do it tomorrow.

So, for several days I would drive like a criminal. Finally, several days into April, I would get a new sticker. It took all of 30 minutes and I got to sit and read while they did it. I always vowed that next year I would be better. 

There are a couple of lessons I learned from this experience:

#1. Procrastination never does any good. 

I’ve never saved a dime by having an expired sticker, but I have had to take time out of my day, drive to the courthouse, and show the lady behind the window my receipt for my new sticker. Ugh! I would not have had to do this if I had only handled things in a more timely way. Remember, that which you do immediately you actually do!

#2. There is joy in a clear conscience. 

Conscience is not our only guide, but your conscience has to be right. Solomon wrote, “The wicked man flees though no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion.” (Pro 28:1)  A tainted conscience will make you do things that are unhelpful and may be downright hurtful to your journey.

After getting the new inspection sticker, when you pull out of the parking lot with that new sticker all neatly installed it feels really good. It doesn’t feel good to drive like a criminal.

~Lonnie Davis

I love the fellow who told an atheist, “Sir, you are worse than a fool.” Then he explained, “The Bible says ‘The fool has said in his heart there is no God.’ You are worse than that. You have said it out loud.” 

Ruth Green is one such example of atheism. 

Ruth Green was born in 1912. In the early 1960s she was stricken by cancer and decided to read the Bible “cover to cover.” 

Ms. Green claims to have been brought up as a Christian, but after two years of reading the Bible “cover to cover,” she decided that there is no God. Shortly thereafter she wrote a book called “The Born Again Skeptic’s Guide to the Bible.” 

In the midst of her ranting about “no God” she wrote, “I am pleased as punch no longer to believe in a God…who can choose his companions in eternity and prefers Jerry Falwell and Tammy Bakker over Albert Einstein and Marie Curie.”

One obvious response to her is to note how brilliant she must be to rant against the ignorance of silly men like Sir Isaac Newton, Nicholas Copernicus, Sir Francis Bacon, Galileo, and Albert Einstein. All of these men believed in God.  Ruth Green thought she was too brilliant to believe what those men believed.

Ruth Green was not unlike many atheists today.  She learned a little and thought she learned a lot. Alexander Pope wrote, “A little learning is a dangerous thing.” It still is.

In 1981 Ruth Green committed suicide. Godlessness is hopelessness.

~Lonnie Davis

Having only had old-fashioned wood-burning fireplaces, when Liz and I moved into our Virginia house, I was excited to see that it had gas logs. No more would I have to haul wood. No longer would I have to smell smoke in the house. Never again did I have to fool with an old-fashioned wood fireplace.

When the first cold front hit, we hit the gas fireplace. It was beautiful. I turned it high enough so that I could see the flames dancing. The warmth in the room was amazing. Midway through the second month something else hit – the gas bill. It was huge! I figured they got it wrong and kept using the fireplace while I waited for the next bill to normalize. The next bill arrived and it turned out that the high bill was normal. Since then those gas logs are mainly used as decoration.

Later, I looked at that seldom-used fireplace and thought about the lessons from the fireplace. Here are two great lessons:

Lesson 1. A person usually does the wrong things until learning better. Ignorance is not bliss. I used the gas logs during the first and second months but then I learned the lesson. I now use them only sparingly.

Lesson 2. If one keeps doing the wrong things, one must be ready to pay the bill. I paid the bill until I came to grips with the lesson. One can drive fast, burn gas logs, or waste money, but those who do must pay the price. The bill will come due. Remember what John Wayne said, “Life is hard; it’s harder when you’re stupid.” (Sands of Iwo Jima, 1949).

We had that fireplace for many more years and seldom used it. I guess the gas still worked. It is only a guess because I wouldn’t know for sure.

I learned the lesson! What lesson have you learned the hard way?

~Lonnie Davis

Imagine you are standing in front of a blank canvas, with a palette full of colors and a brush in your hand. You have the freedom to paint whatever you want on this canvas – you are the architect of your own creation. In the same way, you are the architect of your own life and happiness.

If we doubt this, reflect on the words of Jesus, “Ask and it shall be given unto you. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened to you.” (Matthew 7:7-8)

With God’s help, you do create your own picture. Even if you are 40 or 80, you still have a blank canvas called the future. What will you paint? What will you do? What will you ask of God?

The choice is yours. 

God has conspired with you to make it so. I love the haunting words from “Life’s Scars” by Ella Wheeler Wilcox. 

“I bargained with life for a penny,
And life would pay no more,
However, I begged at evening
When I counted my scanty store;

For life is just an employer,
He gives you what you ask,
But once you have set the wages,
Why, you must bear the task.

I worked for a menial’s hire,
Only to learn, dismayed,
That any wage I had asked of life,
Life would have willingly paid.”

Lonnie Davis

I call them “Wise-Words.”

You know, those words that are so wise that you feel like they must be in the Bible somewhere. 

Here is one of my favorite: “A luxury once tried becomes a necessity.” In my family, I can start that quote and any of them can finish it. I thought about this truth a lot during the 2008 Olympics. I enjoy watching it on my plasma television in high definition. I cannot imagine watching it on an old black-and-white television or even a 32-inch color TV.

It was long ago, but I remember once when a friend used the phone in our house and was talking to his wife. I heard him say, “They even have a color TV.” Now that which seemed to wonderful to him has become a common possession. We can’t go back to how things used to be. So here is that Wise-word, “A luxury once tried becomes a necessity.” We get so used to luxury that it becomes ordinary to us.

I read about one young bride who was showing her great-grandmother all of the modern conveniences in her kitchen. She showed her a garbage disposal, dishwasher, ice maker, and trash compactor. When she got through she asked her great-grandmother which modern convenience she liked best. Her great-grandmother replied, “I think I like running water the best.”

Not only does a luxury once tried become a necessity, but it also becomes an expectation and an entitlement. We must remember to be appreciative or else our possessions will possess us.

Lonnie Davis

Some of you remember the famous “Cookies Monster.”

In one of his scenes, he is set up to decide between three doors. He can have door #1, which is a beautiful mansion, door #2, which is a million dollars, or finally, door #3, which is a cookie. True to his name, you know what he chose. He chose the cookie!

Life gives us many such choices. We get to choose between the good and the bad, or even the good and the best. We choose between the easy thing and the right thing. We chose between healthy food and fast food. Honestly, this list could be expanded to every time we have to choose to read, exercise, rest, play, study, or whatever. Life is filled with the choices we get to make.

Wisdom is the ability to make the right choice. Where you are in life and where you will be tomorrow is all about your willingness to make the right choices. Unfortunately, too often I have chosen the cookie.  

The brother of Jesus, James said, “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.” (James 1:5).

For more than 50 years I have told people that I wanted to grow to be a wise old man. I wish I had been a wiser young man, but as long as I have life, I can still hope for that final goal. Maybe today’s thought will remind us of the need to be wise and not to choose the cookie.

Lonnie Davis

Do you remember the “Easy Button?” Serval years ago, a business promoted its ability to fill your needs by talking about how using them is having an easy button.

I love the “Easy Button.” I wish that every time I had a job to do or faced a difficult task I could just hit an easy button and everything would magically get better. Unfortunately life does not work that way. 

In 425 B.C. any businessman could have sold many such “Easy Buttons” to the Jews living in Jerusalem. In those days Cyrus of Persia allowed Nehemiah to return to Israel to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. As the Jewish people began to rebuild the walls, the nations around them began to threaten them. Fearing attack, they could have made the threat go away by simply quitting the great work. Instead they chose something else. They chose to fight through the threats. The Bible tells us, “Those who carried materials did their work with one hand.” (Nehemiah 4:17a) Why would they work with only one hand? The Bible gives us the answer. They worked with one hand and “held a weapon in the other.” (4:17b)

They did what they had to do to get done what had to be done.

Anytime you start to do something great you will always find people who will try to stop you. The reasons vary from jealousy to who knows what. Great workers know they have to overcome great obstacles. It was true in 425 BC and it is still true today.

If you are not struggling in your work, then you are not challenging yourself. For true greatness there is no “easy button.”

~Lonnie Davis

In 2009 Ms. Thompson was arrested for burglary of a children’s medical center in Torrance, California.

Hers is an unusual case for several reasons: First, because the burglar was a woman. By far the great majority of burglars are men. Second, because she was given three years for her crime. Too many people walk from such nonviolent crimes. Third, because she is eighty!

In explaining her crime, she told the court that if the she had more money coming from the government she would not have to steal. Wow! Her crime is the governments fault.

Unfortunately, she is not the only guilty person to blame their sins on someone else. Here is the problem with her excuse: she was also arrested for theft in 1965, 1977, and for burglary in 1980, and 2008. Her criminal record started 55 years ago, yet this one was the fault of the government for not giving her more money.

She is not so different from most folks. When caught in sin we seek someone else to blame. It is the fault of our mother, our father, our husband, our wife, or whoever else we can find. Until we are willing to accept responsibility for our own actions we are certain to keep messing up.

Many years ago, a teenage girl in our congregation ran away from home. After about a week she came to see me. She told me how hard things had been. She told me that the only thing she did wrong was that because she was hungry and had nothing to eat she stole some food. In reality her excuse for stealing was a snow job. She did not fool me; she fooled herself. She did not steal because she was hungry and desperate for food. She stole because her pride was too great to call her family or even me.

We love to make excuses, but what we need to do is confess our sins and behave righteously.

After the 80-year-old woman was sentenced to three years she said to the judge, “I feel guilty for asking this, but is this a solid three years or is it just half time?” When caught she blamed. When sentenced for her crime she tried to escape the pain.

Don’t do that!

~Lonnie Davis

Liz and I used to play a little game we called “Who Would You.” The game went that we could invite anyone from history to dinner. Now, who would you invite?  We had to decide to list anyone who was not from the Bible – otherwise, dinner would always involve God and Jesus. We would then have room for Moses and Elijah and folks like them. Eventually you would have a dinner that involved people like George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and maybe Albert Einstein. It was a fun and creative game. You too have probably played such a game.

Jesus said, “When you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” (Luke 14:12-24). Well, it was just a game and so we just enjoyed it our way.

Nowadays when I play this game it ends a little differently. Of course any of us would put God and Jesus at the table, but the rest is different. If I had such a meal now, I would invite my wife of 55 years, my brother and his son, and my best friend Doug. I lost them all to eternity and it would be wonderful to sit with them again. It is funny how time makes a difference in what we call wonderful. 

I love the old saying, “Every day is a ‘good old day’ when you have enough faith to realize it.” That includes today.

By the way, we will all have that meal again. As King David said about the infant that he lost, “Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.” (2 Samuel 12:23). For Christians it is never over. The dinner awaits.

Lonnie Davis

I was coming home from work one day when I saw it coming toward me. It was an old, dirty, inexpensive car. Since I was waiting to turn I had to want on him. As he passed by I saw that he had one of those magnet signs on his car. To protect the guilty, I’ll just paraphrase what his sign said. It read, “First Class Taxi Company.” 

“First Class” I laughed to myself, “then I’d hate to see second class.”

There is a great life lesson in that sign. Here it is: just because someone says something doesn’t mean it is so. Even if they advertised it, it still doesn’t mean it is first class. Then I began to examine myself in light of this thinking. What am I advertising about me that isn’t so?

People judge us by what we claim. I’ve never been criticized and called a bad track star because I don’t claim that I am a good one (or even a bad one). I know I am built more for comfort than for speed. However, I do claim to be a Christian as do many of my friends. Since we claim to be Christians, we need to be certain that we live up to the claim.

I am not saying we are perfect. Even great-looking, first-class cars can break down occasionally, but they get fixed up and get back on track. If you have broken down as a Christian, get up, fix up, and get back on track. Remember “YOU are the light of the world…let your light shine.” (Matthew 5:14-16).

Lonnie Davis

I’m Scared 

It was the worse broken leg I had ever known about. What made it worse was that it was on my brother. There is an old saying, “minor surgery is done on you and major surgery is done on me.” Well, I am not him, but it was a major injury. The doctor set his leg in a cast. It went from his foot and ran up to his hip. For two months all he could do was sit in a chair. After two months they took the cast off and put him in a special boot. For four more months he wore that big, clumpy boot. Nearly six months after the accident and many trips to the doctor, he made one more trip to the doctor.

“Doc,” he said, “this boot is ugly and never matches anything. Can I get another boot to match it?” The doctor said, “Take the boot off and quit wearing it.” “Doc,” he asked again, “all I am asking for is a matching boot.” Again the doctor said, “Take the boot off. You don’t need it anymore.”

After six months, surgery, casts, and reinforced boots, it was over. It was almost over. There was one more problem, “Doc,” my brother said, “I can’t.” Then he quietly said, “I’m scared.”

“I’m scared” are not the words of a coward. They are the words of all of us. Fear does not just make us want to wear an ugly boot, it permeates our whole life.  When the disciples saw Jesus walking on the water, they were afraid. Jesus quickly called out to them, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” (Matt 14:27) Over and over Jesus urged his followers to “Fear not.” (Matt 10:26; 12:31, 28:5; Luke 5:10; 12:5; John 12:15)

We believe in God. We trust that he will help us through the “valley of the shadow of death.” We claim that we will “fear no evil, for thou art with me,” but still we are afraid. What if I fail? What if I lose my job? What if food prices and gas prices go so high I can’t afford them? What if I? What if I?

For all those “What if” questions, Jesus has a word, “Don’t be afraid?” When Peter tried to walk on water and then began to sink, Jesus caught him, “’You of little faith,’he said, ‘why did you doubt?”

Do not doubt. Only trust Him. As the old saying goes, “Nothing is going to happen to you today that you and God cannot handle.”               

Lonnie Davis

It has been more than 150 years since Stonewall Jackson died, but one story about this famous general is still remembered.

The story says that General Stonewall Jackson’s army found itself on one side of a river when it needed to be on the other side. After telling his engineers to plan and build a bridge so the army could cross, he called his wagon master in to tell him that it was urgent the wagons cross the river as soon as possible. The wagon master started gathering all the logs, rocks, and materials he could find. Long before daylight, General Jackson was told by his wagon master that all the wagons and artillery had crossed the river. General Jackson asked where are the engineers and what are they doing? The wagon master’s only reply was that they were in their tent drawing up plans for a bridge.

There are many interesting lessons that can be drawn from this old story, i.e., Timing of the essence, leaders should trust their team members, and taking initiative is important. The most important lesson I see from this story is this:

Help often comes from unexpected sources. The fact that the wagon master was able to build a bridge using unconventional materials and methods shows that help can come from unexpected sources. It is important to keep an open mind and be willing to try new approaches to succeed.

This reminds me of Isaiah 55,

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

This reminds me that if you will just start, God will help you in ways that you had not expected. God’s thoughts and ways are so great that we cannot imagine them.

Once you know what you need to do, just start and you will have help that comes to your rescue. Get ready, get set, but don’t fail to go!

Lonnie Davis

What does a star in a book margin mean?

Well, I don’t know about you, but for me it means, “here is a special note.”

Later, I  can scan the book and read the starred passages and remember the good parts. 

I didn’t invent this system. It was started by God. He put stars in the night sky to teach us of his power.

As Psalms 19:1 says, “The heavens declare the glory of God. The expanse shows his handiwork.”

When you look up into the night sky and learn more about God’s work, you have to be impressed with his power. 

We are a part of the Milky Way galaxy which contains billions and billions of stars. Our sun is just one of those stars. Our universe is so big that if you got in a spaceship and traveled at 186,000 miles per SECOND, it would take 93 million years to cross it. And we don’t even know if that is the limit of its size. God is truly all-powerful.

When we look up and consider God’s creation. We would do well to remember Romans 1:20

“For the invisible things of him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even his everlasting power and divinity.” 

A star is a book is a simple device of man, but God’s stars teach us about Him.

Look up and learn.

Lonnie Davis.