The key to failure is to try to please everybody. Pulitzer Prize winner Herbert Bayard Swope said it like this: “I can’t tell you the formula for success, but I can give you a formula for failure: try to please everyone.” Jesus was anything but a people-pleaser. Case in point: Jesus healed many people, but…
There is a simple reason many of us don’t reach our goal of recovery – we quit too soon. Thomas Edison was right: “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” Scaling Mount Recovery will be the hardest climb of your life. There…
A pastor discovered a small box in the back of his closet, containing three rotten eggs and 100 $1 bills. He asked his wife about the box, and she admitted that she hid it there for the last 20 years. She reluctantly explained the contents. “I placed one egg in the box every time you…
On this day in history – July 22, 1933 – Wiley Post became the first man to fly solo around the world in his plywood monocoque aircraft, the Winnie Mae. It took seven days, 19 hours, which was 21 hours less than his previous record which he had set in 1931 with a navigator, Harold…
Do you ever hit a wall in your recovery? There’s hope! Michael Jordan said, “Obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.” When he hit the wall, the psalmist remained positive. “By…
Let’s consider the parable of the archer. The archer pulls out an arrow and places it in his bow. Then he fires that arrow at a target the arrow cannot see. And the arrow is okay with that. Like the arrow in the hand of the archer, you are secure in the hand of God.…
Two months ago, the Ohio legislature considered a bill that would criminalize “distracted driving.” During a Senate hearing on the subject, a state senator participated in the meeting via Zoom – while driving in his car. Of course, given the topic of discussion, the senator didn’t want his colleagues to know that he was driving…
Don’t focus so much on recovery. Huh? I meant what I just said – don’t focus so much on recovery. Instead, focus on the things you must do that result in recovery. Here’s why. Who you are tomorrow is the predictable outcome of the things you do today. Charles Stanley was right: “Where you are…
Trying to hurt me by bringing up my past is like trying to rob my old house. I don’t live there anymore. Seneca said, “Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.” Carrie Underwood adds, “Every day is a new day, and you’ll never be able to find happiness if you don’t move on.”…
Never let an experience with God come before God himself. Don’t live for the exceptional moments. These unusual touches of glory are surprises, which God only brings our way when he sees that we are no longer in danger of being led away by them. The extravagant can lead to complacency and self-assurance. Oswald Chambers…