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Spiritual Disciplines

Can’t Get No Satisfaction? Focus Your Faith on the Future Rather Than the Past (Phil. 3:12-14) – June 14, 2009

At a recent Reach Group gathering, a young mother at Highland was telling us how one of her girls has not been to the zoo in many months. The little girl does not want to go to the zoo. Why? “She had a bad experience,” the mother told us. The mom described how, one day, she was at the zoo with her daughter and they were looking at the elephants. All of a sudden the mother heard her daughter crying. She looked over and saw this sight: the daughter had stuck her head through the fence in front of the elephants and now could not pull her head back out of the fence. The mother frantically tried to twist and turn and tug and pull. But the fence would not release the daughter’s head. The mother called her husband and told him to come to the zoo immediately. Emergency personnel had to be summoned. They had to cut and bend that fence. What started as a quiet family trip to the zoo became a public and frantic emergency. Finally, they got the little girl’s head out of the fence. And, it’s for that reason the little girl has not been back to the zoo. “She had a bad experience.”

Read More »Can’t Get No Satisfaction? Focus Your Faith on the Future Rather Than the Past (Phil. 3:12-14) – June 14, 2009

Can’t Get No Satisfaction? Focus Your Faith on a Person Rather Than Piety (Phil. 3:1-11)

A couple of years ago the Associated Press told the story of Stan Caffy. Stan had met the love of his life and asked her to marry him. His girlfriend said, “Yes!” As the two of them began to prepare for the wedding and their lives together, they both cleaned out their garages. They didn’t want to have to move any junk from their current homes to their new home. They packed up all that old trash and took it to Goodwill—old clothes, bicycles, tools, computer parts and other things. One of the pieces of junk in Stan’s garage was a faded and tattered replica of the Declaration of Independence. It has been hanging in his garage forgotten for about a decade. He gave that to Goodwill as well. Days later a man named Michael shopped at Goodwill and purchased that tattered replica of the Declaration of Independence. He paid $2.48 for it. But Michael later discovered that this was no piece of junk. It turned out to be a rare copy of the Declaration of Independence made in 1823. What Michael purchased for $2.48 he later auctioned for $477,650. What Stan has originally treated as trash turned out to be valuable treasure. Sometimes we confuse trash and treasure.

Read More »Can’t Get No Satisfaction? Focus Your Faith on a Person Rather Than Piety (Phil. 3:1-11)

Can’t Get No Satisfaction? Focus Your Faith on Effort Rather Than Earning (Phil. 2:12-13)

Several years ago our family experienced two different kinds of graduation ceremonies. The first was my daughter Jordan’s graduation from the Sycamore View Church of Christ Preschool. Each year they hold an actual graduation ceremony for those leaving the preschool for Kindergarten. The children wear robes and caps. They are presented with a certificate. A multi-media presentation shows pictures of the kids over the years. The ceremony is so popular that you have to arrive an hour or two ahead of starting time if you want to get the best seats. The second graduation ceremony was my graduation from the Doctor of Ministry program at Harding University Graduate School of Religion. I had just completed four years of college, three and half years of master’s work, and another three years of doctoral work. It was the last degree I would probably ever earn.

Read More »Can’t Get No Satisfaction? Focus Your Faith on Effort Rather Than Earning (Phil. 2:12-13)