Do Unto Others…

Years ago, someone sent me a story about a woman, who decided to have her portrait painted. She told the artist, "Paint me with diamond rings, a diamond necklace, emerald bracelets, a ruby broach, and gold Rolex."

"But you are not wearing any of those things," he replied.

"I know," she said. "It's in case I should die before my husband. I'm sure he will remarry right away, and I want his new wife to go crazy looking for the jewelry."

Don’t Honk if You Love Jesus

I heard about a woman, who was in a car that had stalled at the intersection. Try as she might, she could not get the car started. Behind her was a man, who insisted on honking his horn every few seconds.

Finally, the woman got out of her car, walked calmly back to the man's car, looked into the window, and said, "I'm having trouble getting my car started. Why don't you go up there and see if you can fix it, and I'll sit in your car and honk the horn at you?"

It's a lot easier to honk the horn than to fix the car.

It is a lot easier to criticize leaders than to be one.

Bad Groundhog Day

At our staff meeting the other day, someone told us about a person, he saw on THE TODAY SHOW, who maintained little short-term memory. Every day, she woke up to a new world. She retained little from previous experiences.

We were discussing the implications of that, when someone else said, “What if you had her condition, and each day you woke up, was a bad day?” I gnawed on that a moment, and then it hit me. I know people who do experience that. Everyday IS a bad day. It is a negative day.

For some reason, maybe abuse, maybe a bad childhood, but for some reason, the individual wakes up and decides to experience the same negative day—every day. 

I pity people who live that life.

Bobby Jones--A Man of Great Humility

            Bobby Jones was one of the greatest golfers, if not the greatest golfer, of all time. During the "Golden Age of Sport", the 1920's, Jones reigned supreme with Babe Ruth, Jack Dempsey, Bill Tilden as one of the great athletes. He's the only athlete to ever have received two ticker tape parades on Broadway.

            From 1923-1930 Bobby Jones won 13 of the 21 national tournaments he entered. He won four U.S. Opens and finished second four times. He won all three of the British Opens that he entered. In all of the tournaments he entered, he never missed the cut. And, of course, he is the only man to have ever won the Grand Slam in one calendar year.

            Years ago, I read an article on Jones in SPORTS ILLUSTRATED. I learned that Bobby Jones was a man of great intellect. He earned a degree from Georgia Tech in mechanical engineering. Not satisfied, he earned another degree at Harvard in English literature. Later, he entered Emory University's school of law. After his second year, as a lark, he decided to take his bar exam. He passed.

            You would think, with all his fame and success, Bobby Jones would be a man with tremendous ego. Such was not the case. His habit, whenever he played golf, was not to play with the “big-shots.” Instead, he would habitually go to the course and play with anyone he met, great golfer or lowly duffer.

            But to me, perhaps, the greatest testament to Bobby Jones' humility was when he was a student at Harvard. Obviously, he would have loved to have played on the golf team. By then, he was a world famous champion.

            Harvard rules; however, would not allow a college graduate to play on their team. So Bobby Jones offered to be the team manager. Much to their embarrassment, Harvard officials informed him their team already had a manager. Bobby Jones then volunteered to be the assistant manager for golf team. And that was how he served. He was just glad to be able to help.

            Now how many of us would be willing to do that?

Breaking the Chain

Tony Fears is a great guy and a member of our church. His dad, S. W. Fears, died last year. I attended the funeral.

Tony spoke at his dad’s funeral and told a story that made an impression on me. He gave me permission to use it, and here is the story.

Back in the 1930s, S. W. Fears and his family lived in a boarding house, near downtown Tyler. During this period, when S. W. was around five or six years old, he would enjoy dangling his legs off the front porch of the boarding house and watching the trains go by on the railroad tracks—tracks, which were literally just a few feet away.

One day, S. W. saw a train approaching that was headed out of Tyler. As the train passed, he saw a man inside a boxcar waving at him. He excitedly waved back. It was not until the boxcar had passed that he realized the man who had waived at him, was his father.

Unknown to him at the time, his father was leaving. Leaving for good. S. W.’s father was abandoning him and his mom. His life was going to change forever. He would now be raised by his mother and his beloved aunt.

As you might imagine, this event would affect S. W. for the rest of his life. Ultimately, he chose for it to impact him in a positive way.

When S. W. was a young man, he came to realize that if he was to live a productive life, he had to get rid of the hate and anger that his father’s abandonment had created within him. And so, S. W. made a conscious decision—if he ever had children, he would be the best father that any child could possibly have.

S. W. was determined to be nothing like his dad. He would be a loyal and devoted companion to his wife. He would take the sorry last name, his father had given him, and he would do everything in his power to change it. He would attempt to live his life in such a way, he could bestow upon his children and his grandchildren a name they would be proud to receive. It would be a name deserving respect.

I can tell you, as the preacher to the children and grandchildren, S. W. succeeded. “Fear” is a word that normally does not have a positive connotation. In Tyler, the name “Fears” is a word of honor.

The Butterfly

Recently, re-reading RUMORS OF ANOTHER WORLD by Philip Yancey, I came across a story he shared from Annie Dillard. She tells of experiments conducted by entomologists’ (bug doctors) using butterflies.

The entomologists would take a male butterfly and place before him a painted cardboard imitation of a female butterfly. In repeated experiments, the male butterfly would, with great gusto, mount the cardboard replica. And he would not cease mounting it. In the meantime, a real-life female butterfly would be nearby, opening and closing her wings to gain the male’s attention. But he would not look.

I think pornography is doing something very similar to humans.

How Much is that TV in the Window?

Here’s one for you. Antwone Fisher recently wrote a book entitled A BOY SHOULD KNOW HOW TO TIE A TIE. It is a book of advice for—boys.

In his chapter on finances, Fisher grabbed my attention.  He creates the scenario of a young man, who wants to buy a $2000 television. He is given a “good deal” by a credit card company to receive a card that charges 18% a month in interest. He is told he can buy the $2000 television on his new card and pay only the minimum payment each month--$40.

This is too good to be true. The young man purchases the TV on his new card and begins paying it off-$40 each month.

That new TV will take 30 years to pay off.

The young man will ultimately pay $5000 in interest for a $2000 TV. After thirty years, he will have spent $7000.

In contrast, were that young man to commit $40 to a mutual fund or other stocks averaging a return of 8 % over a thirty-year period (a very realistic possibility), his investment will be worth $64,000. $46,000 will be interest paid to him!

Money. It works for us, or it works against us.

Desire. It works for us, or it works against us.