Live Up To The Name

Alexander the Great, one of the greatest military generals who ever lived, conquered almost the entire known world with his vast army. One night during a campaign, he couldn’t sleep and left his tent to walk around the campgrounds.

As he was walking he came across a soldier asleep on guard duty—a serious offense. The penalty for falling asleep on guard duty was, in some cases, instant death; the commanding officer sometimes poured kerosene on the sleeping soldier and lit it.
The soldier began to wake up as Alexander the Great approached him. Recognizing who was standing in front of him, the young man feared for his life.
“Do you know what the penalty is for falling asleep on guard duty?” Alexander the Great asked the soldier.
“Yes, sir,” the soldier responded in a quivering voice.
“Soldier, what’s your name?” demanded the General.
“Alexander, sir.”
The General repeated the question: “What is your name?”
“My name is Alexander, sir,” the soldier repeated.
A third time and more loudly the General asked, “What is your name?”
A third time the soldier meekly said, “My name is Alexander, sir.”
The General, Alexander the Great then looked the young soldier straight in the eye. “Soldier,” he said with intensity, “either change your name or change your conduct.”
“However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name.” 1 Peter 4:16

Waiting

A company offered tours through the historic district, led by guides dressed in Colonial clothing. While leading a group, one of the guides, tripped and fell, breaking his wrist. He went to the hospital and as he sat waiting in the emergency room, a policeman walked by. Doing a double take at him in his 18th-century garb he asked, "Just how long have you been waiting?"


No one likes to wait. I don’t like waiting in line, for Christmas, test results, or even for my favorite team to finally make the playoffs. Waiting goes against every ounce of my being, it tears at my soul. Okay maybe I’m being a little dramatic, but you get the idea, I do not like to wait. So what is the value of waiting? It says in Proverbs 8 that there is a blessing in waiting.

“32 Now then, my children, listen to me; blessed are those who keep my ways. 33 Listen to my instruction and be wise; do not disregard it. 34 Blessed are those who listen to me, watching daily at my doors, waiting at my doorway. 35 For those who find me find life and receive favor from the LORD. 36 But those who fail to find me harm themselves; all who hate me love death.” Proverbs 8:32-36 NIV
The blessing of waiting is found in what you are waiting for. If you are waiting for others to step up and serve in your church or in your community you will be disappointed. If you are waiting till you feel like it before you finally clean out the garage; you again will be disappointed. Whenever we sit back and wait for the world to live up to our expectations we will always be unsatisfied. As you can see from Proverbs 8, whenever we wait for God there is no sitting around, in fact it is the opposite. When we wait for God we begin to find a strength that we did not know we had. We find that strength thru listening, watching, and joining God in the work that He does each day. Lately I have been trying to get Jackson and Abby to do a better job of listening to others. The other day Jackson was waiting in the car rider line; however he was not listening, therefore he did not hear his name called. He missed it and I had to go around into the office to get him. He ended up waiting longer because he was not listening. Whenever we wait for God we must learn to listen because He calls us each day to new opportunities to grow, to serve, and to be with Him.

The Persistent Weirdo

About five years ago after I had moved to White House, Brandi Taylor told me that she had just taught my daughter’s Bible class about the Parable of the Persistent Widow. Abby, my daughter misunderstood her and thought Brandi said “Parable of the Persistent Weirdo”. We had a good laugh over that; not only because it sounded funny, but also because we all know people who are persistently weird. As you know I am trying to sell my house; which is not easy to do in this market. The other day we had a showing for our house, so we had to leave in order for the perspective buyers to be able to look all round it. We were gone for a while and figured that they would have been gone by the time we got back; so it was interesting when we got back to the house and saw that they were just leaving. We didn’t want to appear weird by pulling in right after they pulled out; so Stacy said “let’s keep driving, that way we won’t look so weird”. So we drove right past our house. Jackson then said “why are not stopping at home, what are we doing?” To which Abby replied, “we are trying not to look weird.” For me it is too late, I am weird, but I am not alone, most of you are too. The apostle Paul said …


“5 For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. 6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.” 2 Corinthians 4:5-6 NIV

Thankfully our message is not just about us; what a short and weird message that would be. Our message is Jesus, His perfection shines over our imperfection to give us lives filled with God’s glory. Therefore before you talk about yourself, talk about Jesus, His message is so much better than ours alone.