Planning a New Hope

  An Important Tool in Winning a Battle Unmet hopes and dreams are often the sources of frustration and lack of fulfillment for many people. The account of the young shepherd boy David killing the giant Goliath is an incredible story of a seemingly insignificant individual going against a person who was a threat to the lives of the Israelites.             Giants to most of us are not the same as what David was fighting. Rather, these colossal problems are generally in the form of possibly finding a job, keeping a job, living our lives to the fullest, jealousy, illness, relationships, or any enemy that threatens us in some way.             How can we, as David did, slay these giants in our own lives? David showed an understanding of himself and made several wise decisions before going to war with the giant and over the next few weeks I will be covering these choices. T...

  And He (Jesus) said to them, “Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you If you have faith as a mustard seed, You shall say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ And it shall move; and nothing shall be impossible to you. Matthew 17:20 (New American Standard Bible) The Need Is Great To help people in need the grocery store has a policy where the customer can choose to round up to the next dollar and donate their change. After rounding up and donating my twenty-eight cents, a story from the past came to mind.             It was during the time when Houston became home to many of the Vietnamese Boat People, those who fled Vietnam in the late 70’s. I was attending a large church one Sunday morning when the minister announced that even though he didn’t normally take up a second offering, that day he was making an exception. He told how one of the janitorial staff was saving his money to ...

  Dead Ends? I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, To present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. Romans 12: 1-2 (New American Standard Bible)                           Two of my most frightening experiences had to do with dead ends.   It was late when the meeting in Kingwood, Texas ended, but I assumed finding the freeway would be no problem. Wrong! After some driving, it soon became apparent the road was leading me deeper into an isolated area. Having just seen one or two cars, my suspicion was that this dark wooded section was a place where drug deals went down as well as other undesira...