For 12 years, King Saul hunted David like he was an animal. David lived in caves, hid in mountains, and even lived with his old enemy, the Philistines. It happened that King Saul went into a cave where David was hiding. Finally, David had the opportunity to kill Saul and end the reign of terror. Seeing the king asleep, David took out his knife and but instead of killing Saul, he merely cut off a piece of his robe. Saul never even knew it happened. When Saul left the cave, David showed him the cutting and shouted to him, “May the Lord Judge between you and me.” (1 Sam 24:12).

In modern language David effectively said, “Saul, I don’t understand why you are trying to kill me, but I will not raise my hand against you. I will let the Lord handle all of this.”

It is a rare person who can truly agree to disagree and leave everything in God’s hands. We all want all want relief. We all want justice. We all want our own way.

We can be like the little boy who came home from school and told his mother that the bully in class had hit him and that tomorrow he was going to hit him back. His mother told him that vengeance belongs to the Lord and he needs to let God handle it. Little Johnny replied, “Okay, I will give him until Friday.”

Sometimes you have to agree to disagree, but in so doing, you must not be spiteful or hateful. Sometimes you have to let the other person be who they are. You have to say, “May the Lord judge between you and me.”

When David did that, he showed himself to be the bigger man. Sometimes you just have to be the bigger person and let God handle things.

Lonnie Davis

It was Olympic time and I love watching the great athletes. My then six-year-old granddaughter and I were watching the female gymnasts. As we watched a tiny girl do a big tumbling run, I tried to be clever and told her, “I can’t do that.” Instantly she responded, “I know, cause you’re too old.” I just said, “Yes, I know.”

“Too old was just an excuse,” but I used it. Even if I were twenty I could not have done those things, but I needed an excuse. Excuses are a part of the human fiber. Even the great men and women use excuses.

Moses is a great example of this. If this were true of Moses, then certainly it is true for me and you.

Moses spent his first forty years living in a palace. He spent the next forty years working as a shepherd. At eighty he had lived a full and rich life, but just when he may have been looking toward the golden years, God had another plan for Moses.

God’s Plan

From a burning bush God called Moses to go tell the Pharaoh to let God’s people go. It was then that Moses started with his excuses. 

Moses’ Five Excuses

• First there was, “Who me?” (Ex. 3:11).
• Next was “Who are You?” (Ex. 3:13).
• The next one is the real one, “What if I fail?”   Here are his exact words, “What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, ‘The LORD did not appear to you’?” (Ex. 4:1).
• Then came, “O Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.” (Ex. 4:10). Of course the real meaning of this is Moses’ fear of failure.
• Finally he said, “Just send someone else.” (Ex. 4:13)

God’s Answer to Moses’ Excuses

God responds to this excuse by telling Moses that it was not about him. It was about God.

God says, “Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the LORD? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.”  (Ex 4:11-12).

Moses failed to understand that what God called on him to do, God would help him do.

This is the great lesson that we all need to understand. We all make excuses and we all have fear of failure, but we only need to know what God wants us to do.

What God wants us to do, we can do. He will see to it.

Do not ask, “Can I accomplish this?” Ask only, “Does God want me to do this?” When we attempt the things that God wills for us, we will succeed. It is not about us. It is about Him.

Lonnie Davis

According to our best estimate of the calendar, it began on January 25, A.D 45. Christianity was in its infancy. The terrible Roman emperor Caligula had just been succeeded by Claudius. While Claudius made many favorable rulings for Jews and Christians, he forbade Jews and Christians from assembly in Rome. According to the Roman historian Suetonius, Claudius finally expelled all Jews and Christians from Rome.

One Christian couple expelled was Aquila and Priscilla. You probably do not know what it is like to be kicked out of a country, much less to be kicked out because you are a Christian. As Aquila and Priscilla left, they might well have lamented that “sometimes things don’t work out like you plan.”

The real problem is that we often conclude that because things don’t work out like we expect, things must be messed up. Listen to the rest of the story.

Aquila and Priscilla fled Rome and went to the city of Corinth where they set up shop as tentmakers (Acts 18:1-3). While at Corinth, a traveling evangelist named Paul came to Corinth. Since Paul shared the same occupation as Aquila and Priscilla, the Apostle stayed with them for nearly two years. When Paul left, Aquila and Priscilla went with him to Ephesus. In Ephesus they became church leaders and even hosted a house church in their home.

In Ephesus they came in contact with a mighty Jewish-Egyptian preacher named Apollos. The Holy Spirit tells us that he was “eloquent and mighty in the scriptures.” (Acts 18:24-26). The problem was that Apollos did not really know the truth about Jesus. Aquila and Priscilla taught Apollos the truth more fully and he because a great evangelist for Jesus.

Now look at the series of events

A Roman emperor expelled the Jews, including a couple named Aquila and Priscilla. 

• Things didn’t work out like they expected. They expected to be Christian tentmakers in Rome, but God had other plans for them. 
• God’s plan was for them to spend two years working and studying with the great Apostle Paul. 
• God’s plan was for them to host the Ephesians church in their home. 
• God’s plan was for them to convert one of the greatest preachers of all time.

That is not “messed up!” It was God’s plan! God also has a plan for your life.

Lonnie Davis

LI admit to being young and ignorant. I sometimes admit to being old and ignorant. Usually it does not matter, but sometimes it causes you to do stupid things. I remember this one time… Well, I remember more than one time, but one time I was especially ignorant. 

I was in the 10^th grade I did get ready for a date by painting my car. It was a beautiful autumn day and perfect for car painting. The process was simple. First, I washed my 51 Ford (I wish I still had it). I pulled it into the garage, got out cans of paint and a four inch brush. Next I painted the car. Me, the paint, and a four inch brush got the job done in a couple of hours. I was ready for the date!

On that day I learned some great lessons for my own life. I learned:

Ignorance is bliss. I drove the car into the garage, got out the cans of paint, the paint brush, and painted the car because I did not know any better. My neighbor laughed. At the time I thought it was because he thought I was resourceful. I now know he laughed because I was so ignorant.

You can do something stupid if you want. People will not live their lives running around behind you to see that you only do smart things. Your behavior is up to you.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. When I was finished I was proud of the car. Others saw the paint brush ridges in the paint, but to me it was just pretty.

Even when you do dumb things real friends like you anyway. I love “anyway” friends. They are those people who love you even when you do dumb things. Your friend is someone you can relax around and just be yourself. Your friend is your friend even when you paint your car with a brush.

Wisdom comes with age. It does not always come with age. Perhaps I should say age ought to bring us wisdom. There are plenty of old people who have lived their lives doing one foolish thing after another, but walking the road once before ought to give us a little wisdom. I will never again paint my car with house paint and a brush.

Children, especially 16-year-old children, need supervision. It is ridiculous to see a 45-year-old man blame his 75-year-old father for his own behavior. At some point we all need to take responsibility for our own lives, but 16 is not the age.

We should not take life too seriously. If you paint your car with house paint it is not the end of the world. Don’t treat it like it is.

All these lessons (and more) can be learned from painting a car with house paint. If you cannot learn from your mistakes then you will never learn from anything! In fact, the smartest people are those who can learn from someone else’s failures. Now that you know my story you will never paint your car with house paint and a brush. See, you have learned from my mistake!

~Lonnie Davis

When I was about 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 backwards. 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 like God intended. Over the years I saw a few others who could skate backward, but obviously God touches a few people with special talent. 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 revelations, 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 down 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 time before she mastered the skill.

It made me realize that I could have skated backwards 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 old adage, “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.”

It is not just a theory. It marks the difference between ordinary and great.

Lonnie Davis

The hardest trip I ever took was when my oldest was about three. We went from Wichita, Kansas to Houston, TX. Well, that oversimplifies the journey. We went via NM and then El Paso, TX. We were young and thought we want too see things along the way. Because of our indirect route, it took three days of hard driving to accomplish what should have taken one day. I guess you could tell me about your hardest journey also. Some of you have much harder stories than mine.

In today’s article, I will share the story of a really hard journey. The backdrop for the journey is found in Luke 2:1,3:“In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. And everyone went to his own town to register.”

These sound like insignificant words, but in fact are words that turned the world upside down for a young couple expecting a child. The young couple is Joseph and Mary. The decree required Joseph to take his expecting wife on an eighty-mile trek from Nazareth to Bethlehem. The trip was a hard week’s journey over rough and dangerous terrain. They would not return for more than two years and when they did, their world and our world would be changed. It was with these simple words that God began the story of the birth of Jesus Christ. Reading the story of this journey teaches me that even hard journeys can have great lessons.

Three Lessons

 1. God works behind the scenes.

If the Son of God were going to come to earth don’t you think He would come in some grand scene on the most famous stage on earth? Perhaps he would be born in a palace to parents who were royalty. Men would might have done those things, but sometimes God works in small places and in little ways. He had His son born in a tiny town called Bethlehem to a carpenter and his teenage wife.

2. Man does not know ahead of time whether things are good or bad.

Can’t you imagine the consternation of Joseph when he heard that he had to make the difficult journey with a pregnant wife? Mary could not have been excited either. Though now we know that the trip was necessary, they may have thought it was a bad idea. God knew what was best. He still knows.

3. God’s will, will be done.

Joseph and Mary didn’t argue or complain. They obeyed and did the will of God. When faced with hard circumstances, one only needs to make sure what God’s will is and then do it. God never asks you to do a thing without giving you the means to do it. That was true for Joseph and Mary and it is true today.

The next time you find yourself needing to do something difficult, remember the journey of Joseph and Mary. As He was with them, He will be with you.

Lonnie Davis

Life was crashing on Jacob.

He thought his favorite son Joseph was dead.

He thought his son, Simeon, was lost because he was being held prisoner in Egypt.

His family had wealth, but there was no food to buy. What good is money if there is no food to buy? To make matters worse, the only place he might buy food required that his favorite son, Benjamin, be brought to Egypt before his family would be allowed to buy food. Egypt had swallowed up Simeon and now it wanted Benjamin.

Facing true starvation, Jacob finally gave permission to take Benjamin to Egypt. In a spirit of deep despair he wails, “As for me, if I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved.” (Genesis 43:13)

Jacob’s story is a story of understandable but needless worry. We would have all felt just as he did. We all have had times when it felt as though all the world were crashing around our heads. We do not know where to turn and believe that whatever way we go will bring tragedy. For the times when you feel that way, God has given you the story of Jacob, Benjamin, Simeon, and Joseph.

Jacob loved God and all things worked together for good. It is too bad Jacob did not have enough faith to believe that truth. If he had, he would not have come to such a low point and said, “If I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved.”

Looking back, God was working in Jacob’s life.

Looking back, God was planning to feed him and his family.

Looking back, everything was working things out wonderfully well. All of this can be understood looking back.

Looking back, life is more easily understood.

Looking back is easy. Looking forward is hard. Looking back is sight. Looking forward is faith. In our own struggles we must look forward in faith and trust that God is working things out for us. Remember, “We live by faith, not by sight.” (2 Cor 5:7)

~Lonnie Davis

There are some pieces of poetry that affect a person’s life. The philosophy of this poem is worth remembering.

Pray don’t find fault with the man who limps

or stumbles along the road,

unless you have worn the shoes he wears

or struggled beneath his load.

There may be tacks in his shoes that hurt,

though hidden away from view,

or the burden he bears, placed on your back

might cause you to stumble too.

Don’t sneer at the man who’s down today

unless you have felt the blow

that caused his fall or felt the shame

that only the fallen know.

You may be strong, but still the blows

that were his if dealt to you,

in the selfsame way, at the selfsame time,

might cause you to stagger too.

Don’t be too harsh with the man who sins

or pelt him with word or stone,

unless you are sure, yea, doubly sure,

that you have no sins of your own

for you know perhaps if the tempter’s voice

should whisper as softly to you

as it did to him when he went astray,

it might cause you to stumble too.

Rama Muthukrishnan

The Christmas season is upon us. When I was a child I started seeing calls for “Let’s put Christ back in Xmas.” Since some people shorten the name of Christmas to Xmas,  thought this was a call to quit spelling the name without the use of Christ in front of “mas,” i.e. CHRISTmas. Some folks might have meant this, but the deeper meaning was to quit focussing on presents, lights, and parties and think more about Christ during the Christmas season. It is like the saying, “Jesus is the reason for the season.”

Growing up, there were many more misconceptions I had about Christmas. I used to see cards and pictures of the birth of Jesus with the star overhead shining down on the baby in the manger. I heard the story of the wisemen who came searching for him. When the wisemen got to Jerusalem they inquired from King Herod about the location of baby Jesus. It always puzzled me. Why didn’t they just follow the light shining down from the star? Of course I now know there was no beam of light shining down on the manger. The magi (wisemen) were astronomers who could read the skies like a sailor at sea and therefore with the aid of prophesy deduced where the Christ child was born. Such a feat would take education and training and a knowledge of both the skies and prophesy. King Herod was not able to follow the star leading to Jesus.

Years later I found out there many more fallacies about the birth of Jesus. Here are listed just three of them.

1. Jesus was born on December 25.

It is not impossible for Jesus to have been born in the middle of the winter, but it is extremely unlikely. The Bible does not specify a day or month. The Bible does say that shepherds were “abiding in the field” at the time of Jesus’ birth. Winter is a cold time of the year and thus the fields were unproductive for grazing. The normal practice was to keep the sheep in the field at night only from Spring to Autumn. This makes it likely that Jesus was born during a warmer time of the year. December does not fit for the birth of Jesus.

2. There were three wise men. “We Three Kings of Orient”

Maybe there were three or maybe there were ten. No one knows. The number three probably comes from the three gifts – gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Somehow we have just assumed there were three “kings” because there were three gifts. They were not kings at all, but rather wise men or “magi.” They were men who spent their days studying prophesies and their nights studying the stars. They did not necessarily bring three gifts, but rather gifts of three kinds. They may have brought any number of gifts.

3. Mary rode to Bethlehem on a donkey.

Maybe she did and may she did not. The Bible does not say. Read for yourself the accounts given in Matthew 1:18-25; 2:1-12 and Luke 1:26-80; 2:1-20. The Bible only says she came with Joseph. In connection with this I had the image of Mary and Joseph getting into Bethlehem just as Mary went into labor with Jesus. I always pictured Joseph running from place to place hunting for somewhere Mary could give birth. the Bible does not say they got into Bethlehem just in the nick of time. Now I feel confident that Joseph as a wise and thoughtful husband made sure that Mary made the trip weeks before her due date.

I really don’t care if people think there were three wisemen or that Mary rode on a donkey. I don’t even car if people think of December 25 as the day Jesus was born. I just found these interesting and though you might benefit from knowing these things.

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 and with their 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. There are some who have bad luck, but for the great majority that is not the real problem. The real problem is that we spend money on things and stuff and junk, 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 raining day (or a hot summer day in Texas).

Life has many more rules just like that. The wise person will spend the time and take note of what these rules are. If they are wise they will remember them. If they are wise they will live by them. If they are really wise they will write them down.

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

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