Author: londavis@hotmail.com

Some years ago, my wife, my daughter, my two little grandkids and I took a short road trip. A short little 275 mile road trip. When I take one of those by myself it is short. When you take them with a wife, a daughter and two young grandkids, it is not so short. I had forgotten what it is like to travel with kids. On our trip there we stopped six times. The first time was for me to get money. The other five times were for kids.

 The next morning I took the kids down for the free continental breakfast. I got food for each kid and then went to cook a waffle. I took it to the table. I went back to cook a second waffle. I got my food and sat down. I had to get up to get syrup. Finally I sat down to eat. I didn’t know about bathroom breaks during breakfast – another interruption. Finally their mom arrived and I could eat.

 What does that have to do with the title “Passages?”

 Gail Sheehy wrote a book called “Passages.” In her work she says that life has many passages. As we grow we change. Life in our twenties is different than life in our thirties. Life in our fifties finds that we have gone through many passages. Life is different.

The wise man wrote, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.” (Eccl 3:1)

 Life changes. It is okay. It is great. Joy does not come because we are in a great place. Joy comes by enjoying the place wherever we are.

 Coming back it was just Liz and me. Going down we had six stops and lots of laughter. Coming back there were no stops and no laughter. I missed the stops.

 Enjoy wherever you are in life. It is all you have. It is the passage you are in. Savor it.

~Lonnie Davis

From Victory to Victory

 Young David arrived at the battle where his older brothers were fighting. He saw the giant Goliath who had been threatening Israel. All the soldiers and even the great warrior King Saul were afraid. Though just a boy, David declared that he would fight the giant. King Saul sent for David and must have been shocked to see how young he was. David was a boy and too young to be drafted for the army of Israel.

 Saul dismissed the idea of a youth fighting Goliath. “Saul replied, “You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a boy, and he has been a fighting man from his youth.” (1 Samuel 17:33)

 It is hard to dismiss a believer and so this boy David answered him, “Your servant was tending his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and took a lamb from the flock, I went out after him and attacked him, and rescued it from his mouth; and when he rose up against me, I seized him by his beard and struck him and killed him.” (34-35)

 David believed that he could kill the giant because with God’s help he had already killed a bear and a lion. There is a great principle here – one victory leads to another. 

Before you can kill a giant, it helps to kill a bear. Before you kill a bear, kill a wolf. Before you kill a wolf, kill a mouse. If you cannot kill a mouse, you are not ready to fight a giant. Victories grow little by little.

 Learn to win the little victories and then when you are confronted by a big battle, you will be ready. When you get ready, God will be waiting for you.

 ~Lonnie Davis

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.”

 – Ephesians 3:20

The last time I flew the airline expected me to pay two dollars for a can of Coke. This was after I paid $350 for a ticket. Surely they can afford to give me a can of Coke. Others must have felt the same way because I watched and almost nobody bought one. They do not serve us peanuts anymore and the seats are too close to each other.

It is easy to focus on the negatives of the day. Another way to look at it is that I live half a country away from one of my kids, but I can get into a temperature controlled car and drive to an airport. Once there, people will take my bags and put me on a 500 mile-per-hour airplane and in less than 4 hours deliver me to my children half a continent away. I am tempted to think that we live in an amazing time, but it is not the times that are amazing, but the blessings and opportunities that God has put before us.

We need to stop and think about how great we have things. Some years ago I watched an old western that had a scene which touched me. The story was set on a Colorado farm in the middle of the 1800’s. The farmer and his wife had a teenage girl. A cowboy drifter came through and stayed with them for a while. By and by, the drifter cowboy and the teenage girl fell in love. At the end of the story she married the cowboy and moved 1500 miles away. As they were leaving, the family wept and wished them well. That still happens today, but in those days that meant they probably would never see their daughter again.

I live very few miles from one of my daughters and my son. I live 1300 miles from my other kids. In less than half a day I can see all of them. I can have breakfast with my nearest children and lunch with my other child. Just a few years ago, such a feat was unimaginable. All of us can tell stories like this.

Today, take a few minutes in your prayers and thank him for all the blessings that he has given you that are “immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine.”

~Lonnie Davis

[Remember this little story the next time you are tempted to see another’s problem and think it is not your problem. There are always consequences!]

Not My Problem!

Once upon a time a rat looked through a crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife opening a package. What food might it contain? He was horrified to discover that it was a rat trap. Retreating to the farmyard the rat proclaimed the warning; “There is a rat trap in the house, a rat trap in the house!”

The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head and said, “Excuse me, Mr. Rat, I can tell this is a grave concern to you, but it is of no consequence to me. I cannot be bothered by it.”

The rat turned to the pig and told him, “There is a rat trap in the house, a rat trap in the house!”

“I am so very sorry Mr. Rat,” sympathized the pig, “but there is nothing I can do about it but pray. Be assured that you are in my prayers.”

The rat turned to the cow. The cow said, “Wow, Mr. Rat, a rat trap! I am in grave danger. Duh?”

So the rat returned to the house, head down and dejected, to face the farmer’s rat trap alone. That very night a sound was heard throughout the house, like the sound of a rat trap catching its prey. The farmer’s wife rushed to see what was caught. In the darkness, she did not see that it was a venomous snake whose tail the trap had caught. The snake bit the farmer’s wife. The farmer rushed her to the hospital.

She returned home with a fever. Everyone knows that you treat a fever with fresh chicken soup, so the farmer took his hatchet to the farmyard for the soup’s main ingredient.

His wife’s sickness continued so that friends and neighbors came to sit with her around the clock. To feed them the farmer butchered the pig.

The farmer’s wife did not get well. She died, and so many people came for her funeral that the farmer had the cow slaughtered to provide meat for all of them to eat.

So the next time you hear that someone is facing a problem and think that it does not concern you, remember that when there is a rat trap in the house, the whole farmyard is at risk.

– Anon

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 Call Taxi Company.”

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

There is a great 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 make it so. If you advertise a thing, live up to the advertisement.

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 bread down occasionally, but they get fixed and get back on track. If you have broken down as a man or woman or even a Christian, get up, fix up, and get back on track. Remember “YOU are the light of the world…let you light shine.” (Matthew 5:14-16).

Remember, we are what we do and not just what we say!

Lonnie Davis

The Eyes of the Lord

I was in the habit of playing golf with two of my elders. On one of those days, after about 30 minutes a twosome of a middle aged man and his twelve-year-old nephew walked up and joined our group. We did not know them, but it did not take long to learn about the man. After a few bad shots, he began to use curse words. I did not know him, but before long he learned that I was a preacher. He acted embarrassed and said to me, “I’m sorry that I talked like that in front of you.”

I was bothered, but it was not his foul language that troubled me. I was bothered by two attitudes of this man.

First, he was sorry about cursing in front of a grown man, but had no concern for the way he was behaving in front of his 12-year-old nephew.

Second, even if he had been concerned about the presence of his nephew, he gave no thought to the presence of the Lord.

I was bothered but not shocked. It was not the first time someone has apologized to me for bad language in my presence. Being a preacher does that to some folks.

Some folks work at behaving like a Christian when they are around other Christians. They are embarrassed when another Christ follower “catches them” acting or speaking in an unbecoming way.

Some Christians are careful to behave before other people, but forget that even when they are alone, the Lord is always present. The Psalmist said, “Where can I go from You presence?” (Ps 139). Faithful Christians know there is no place where God is not. Solomon wrote, “The eyes of the Lord are everywhere, keeping watch.” (Pro 15:3).

~Lonnie Davis

Not too long ago I read a great truth about prayer. It read, “Prayer is the language of faith.”

You wouldn’t like it if I wrote, “If you don’t pray, you don’t have faith.” If I wrote that, you may even stop reading. So, I won’t say that. I will instead write, “If you have faith, you will pray.”

I’m not saying you will pray three times a day while facing Jerusalem, as Daniel did. I’m not even saying you will pray on your knees for one hour every day. Everyone’s prayer routine look different. Certainly everyone’s spontaneous prayer is different. Where and how long you pray does not matter, but if you have faith, you will pray.

It is natural.

God is your Father and you are his child. Fathers and children speak to each other.

It is natural.

Here are two reason we pray.

1. In prayer you build a relationship with your Father. Of course there are some sons and daughters who never speak or have spoken to their earthly father. That is sad. I know because I never got to speak to my earthly father. We build that relationship with the Father by talking with Him in prayer.

2. You have needs that only the Father can fill. If you can help your chlld, you want to do so. Your Father can help and he want to do so. No matter what is going on, He can help.

“Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you “- 1 Peter 5:7

Lonnie Davis

Hearing His Call

My father-in-law was a farmer. He raised cows and pigs. His milk cows roamed all over his acreage. Each evening when it came time to milk the cows, he did not have to chase them down or round them up. He would go to the barn and holler the word “silk” over and over. I did not know what the word meant but I figured that his cows did because they always came to the barn.

 It was such an interesting thing to see so I went out there myself one day and tried the “silk” call. I shouted “silk, silk, silk” for several minutes. Nothing happened and no cows came to the barn. I was wrong about the cows knowing the meaning of the word. They did not know the word; they knew the voice of the farmer. It was his voice they were following. Another voice they would not follow.

 In that same way, Jesus is our leader. He is our shepherd. Jesus said, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” (John 10:27)  Those who love Jesus and belong to Him, hear his voice and follow it. If someone comes and tries to lead them astray, they reject the stranger. In that same chapter, Jesus said, “They will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.” (10:5)

 One of the most emotional pictures in the Bible is the heartbreaking scene of Jesus looking out over the city of Jerusalem and saying, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem… how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.” (Matthew 23:37)

 Jesus still calls us. It is not “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem,” but it is our name that He calls. He calls, “Come to me.” Will you hear His voice?

Jesus also said:

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, 

and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and 

learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, 

and you will find rest for your souls. 

                                                  …Matthew 11:28-29

~Lonnie Davis

I never really liked Pepsi. I was more of a Coke guy. Years ago, Pepsi did a commercial they called, “The Taste Test.” In the commercial they would have random people take a small drink from two unmarked sodas and then ask which the people liked. Most people picked the Pepsi. It was a very effective commercial which amazingly drove Coke to change its formula. I thought the commercial was a hoax.

During that time, I found myself in a line at the Kansas State fair taking the Pepsi/Coke test. I took a quick taste of both and then picked the best tasting one. They lifted the board that revealed my choice. I had picked the Pepsi.

Years later, I was walking through Sam’s and was offered a small sample of low fat gravy on a meatball. It was so good that I bought a big container of the powdered gravy.

Neither of these stories had a happy ending. Pepsi was not and is not my favorite drink. The low-fat gravy sat around the house till we threw it away. I did, however, benefit from those two experiences. From these I learned a life principle. I call it the “Law of the Little Taste.”

The “Law of the Little Taste” says that you cannot really tell much by a tiny sample. You cannot tell if you like to swim by getting into the water for five minutes. You cannot tell if you like a food by having one tiny bite. You cannot tell if you like a job by walking through a factory.

My law is actually a cousin of A 300-year-old statement by Alexander Pope. He said “A little learning is a dangerous thing.” Always gather all the facts you can. The law of the little taste will fool you.

Remember, life is only fully rich when you follow the principle found in Ecclesiastes 9:10, “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might.” Don’t take a little taste of something. Do it with all your might.

~Lonnie Davis

When you reach the age where you have more days behind you than you do before you, you can appreciate the research done by Harvard scientists. According to one report, Harvard scientists have made great headway in the search for reversing ageing.

Here is the quote from one reporter is:

“Scientists at Harvard University’s Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston report they were able to reverse signs of aging in mice by tweaking a gene that protects cells from the harmful, cumulative effects associated with growing old.”

Don’t get excited. No matter what any scientist does or says,

(1) We are supposed to grow old while on earth.

Genesis 3:22 says, “And the LORD God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” We were not made for here. We were made to get ready for there. I am all for living a long life, but ultimately we will grow old here.

(2) Time is relentless hunter.

It eventually catches up with everyoel of us. Even if we could reverse the effects of ageing, eventually this too would pass.

• Methuselah was the oldest. He died at 969 years. (Gen 5:27)
• Jared was the second oldest. He died at 962 years. (Gen 5:19)
• Noah was third oldest. He died at 950 years. (Gen 9:29)
• Adam, the first man lived 930 years and then he died. (Gen 5:5)

Even if we live a thousand years, even that thousand years would pass.

This is not a fatalistic, pessimistic article, but is a story of good news. On Earth I will grow old and so will you, but you are not made for here. You are made for there. When you are there you will never grow old. Scientist will not figure it out. It is God’s plan.

“And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”  (Revelation 21:3-4)

I think one day we may appreciate the story of the old couple who died and went to heaven. They walked around and saw the streets of gold, the heavenly mansions, and all the glory of heaven. Finally the old man said to his wife, “If you hadn’t made me eat all those health foods, we could have been here years ago.”

I am not ready to go today, but I don’t want to live here for ever.

~Lonnie Davis

Be Patient

Ask nearly any one to define patience and they will struggle. Ultimately someone will say something like “patience is being able to wait for what one wants.”

That is not exactly it.

A man doing time in prison is able to wait until his release date, but he has no other choice.

Patience is more than waiting.

Psalms 37:7-8 gives us good incite into the definition of patience. The verse exhorts us:

“Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.

Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret.  it leads only to evil.

Patience means to “Be still before the Lord,” and “Do not fret.”

In patience, there is no anxiety but rather a calm waiting for God to do his work. It means that you do not fret when things do not work immediately. It means to keep your spirit and “Refrain from anger and turn from wrath.”

Patience is not just being able to wait, but being able to wait with the right attitude.

There is a Jewish legend about Abraham and patience.

According to a traditional Hebrew story, Abraham was sitting outside his tent one evening when he saw an old man, weary from age and journey, coming toward him.

Abraham rushed out, greeted him, and then invited him into his tent. There he washed the old man’s feet and gave him food and drink. The old man immediately began eating without saying any prayer or blessing.

Abraham asked him, “Don’t you worship God?”

The old traveler replied, “I only worship fire. I reverence no other god.”

Hearing this, Abraham became angry, grabbed the old man, and threw him out of his tent and into the cold night air. When the old man departed, God called to Abraham and asked where the stranger was.

Abraham replied, “I threw him out because he did not worship you.”

God answered, “I have suffered him these eighty years – although he dishonors me. Could you not endure him one night?”

Abraham would have done well to remember the old word of wisdom, “When you’re tempted to lose patience with someone, remember how patient God has been with you.”

Be patient with someone today!

Lonnie Davis

There was a Christian lady who was diagnosed with a terminal illness and had been given three months to live. So as she was getting her things “in order,” she contacted her preacher and had him come to her house to discuss certain aspects of her final wishes. She told him which songs she wanted sung at the service, what scriptures she would like read, and what outfit she wanted to be buried in. The woman also requested to be buried with her favorite Bible. Everything was in order and the preacher was preparing to leave when the woman suddenly remembered something very important to her.

“There’s one more thing,” she said excitedly. “What’s that?” came the preacher’s reply.

“This is very important,” the woman continued. “I want to be buried with a fork in my right hand.”

The preacher stood looking at the woman, not knowing quite what to say. “That surprises you, doesn’t it?”, the woman asked.

“Well, to be honest, I’m puzzled by the request,” said the preacher.

The woman explained, “In all my years of attending church socials and potluck dinners, I always remember that when the dishes of the main courses were being cleared, someone would inevitably lean over and say, “Keep your fork.” It was my favorite part because I knew that something better was coming.

I just want people to see me there in that coffin with a fork in my hand and I want them to wonder, “What’s with the fork?” Then I want you to tell them: “Keep your fork. The best is yet to come.”

-Anon

Jesus got angry, or so every angry person would have you believe. Folks who make this statement are usually trying to justify their own anger. After all if Jesus got angry, then no one can blame me for being angry. The problem is that this statement is grossly overstated.

 To prove their point, angry people use the story of Jesus driving the money changers out of the temple (Mark 11, Matthew 21, Luke 19, John 2). Before anyone accuses Jesus of anger in that story, he or she ought to read the story again. Nowhere do the Scriptures say that Jesus was angry. Jesus was bothered. Jesus was troubled. Jesus was determined to stop unrighteousness. Jesus was not angry.

 This is easily seen when a person looks at what anger does. Anger puts a person in an impaired mental state and reduces one’s ability to grasp ambiguity or see any nuance in a situation. Anger gives us an adrenalin rush which clouds our ability to make judgments.  This is not the emotion that Jesus was experiencing when he drove the crooked merchants out of the temple. Jesus did not “lose it.” With a clear mind, Jesus removed scam artists from the temple area.

 There is one time in the Bible that says Jesus experienced anger. In Mark 3, the Bible says that Jesus “look around…in anger.” Read the text and you will find that the only way you know Jesus felt anger is that the Scriptures tells us so. He did not hit anyone. He did not call anyone a name. He did not shout at anyone. He did not get red-faced. He was angry, but he dealt with it quietly and then he helped a man.

 If you want to be angry like Jesus, that is your example.

 ~Lonnie Davis

Why do you read the Bible?

The other day I was reading some old notes about why we ought to read the Bible. The notes were the usual things that preachers share:

(1) It is the inspired Word of God,

(2) It tells us about God,

(3) It contains the answers to life’s question.

To that list I want to add another. “Appetite comes with eating.”

The full text of this old French proverb says, “Appetite comes with eating; the more one has, the more one would have.”

That may not seem like a reason to read the Bible, but after you think about it, it will make sense.

When I first read this proverb I too raced through it and did not see the great truth in it. Later I began to reflect on it and realized the life principle in it. Its meaning is simple.

Appetite comes with eating. If you are watching your weight and want to avoid eating a donut tomorrow, do not eat one today.

If you want to avoid eating a second piece of cake, do not eat the first piece.

“Appetite comes with eating; the more one has, the more one would have.”

There is a spiritual application to this.

If you want to be more spiritual, start acting spiritual.

If you want to build a great prayer life, start a small prayer life. It will grow.

If you want to get into the habit of worshipping God faithfully, go to church next Sunday, then go the next and the next.

In time it will all seem normal to you. Appetite comes from eating.

Once I was teaching Matthew 5:6, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” One of the class members asked, “How can you develop a hunger for righteousness?” It was then that my mind ran back to this old proverb, “Appetite comes with eating.”

If you want to become more spiritual tomorrow, practice spiritual things today. One does not become a great prayer warrior in one day. One does not go from casual acquaintance with the Bible to deep knowledge in one week. Begin today to make small spiritual things. It will make the big spiritual things feel more natural tomorrow.

Appetite comes with eating.

~Lonnie Davis

When my youngest daughter was barely a teenager, she was very afraid of the dark. One night she was upstairs and in the middle of the night heard a sound downstairs. She grabbed the phone, pulled the cover over both her and the phone. She then dialed 9-1. After that she held her finger over the last “1.” She was prepared to call for help!

 In my own private time, I love long prayers. I love public prayer at church. Prayers around the beds of the sick are special to me. All of these are wonderful, but I especially love those who’s prayer life includes keeping the finger over the “1” button of prayer.

 David was such a man. Read the Psalms and you will be convinced of that fact. Often the Psalms will speak about wonderful things or even troubling things and then out of nowhere will be a one-sentence prayer. Nehemiah also had this skill. His enemies would attack him and he would suddenly and abruptly prayer. His prayer was always short and to the point. It did not have all the fancy beginnings and endings. He prayed like a man who knew that God was right beside him and would hear him.

 I think this is what the Holy Spirit had in mind when he exhorted us to be “instant in prayer.” (Rom 12:12 KJV)  Instant in prayer does not mean that with each step we take we say another prayer. It means that we live with our finger over the last button of the “phone” to God. It means that we do push that button many times.

 Go ahead and push call God with a brief prayer, a one-sentence prayer.

God is ready to hear you.

~Lonnie Davis