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Dear SCC & Friends, Many a man proclaims his own loyalty, but who can find a trustworthy man? ~Proverbs 20:6 Update #49 It’s been a number of years since we remodeled our kitchen and family room. At the time, we searched out several contractors and finally settled on one referred to us by a good friend. The contractor and his workers were very good. My dilemma was his estimate was so much higher than other contractors, and I had to ask…

Dear SCC & Friends, If you have run with footmen and they have tired you out, then how can you compete with horses? If you fall down in a land of peace, how will you do in the thicket of the Jordan?~Jeremiah 12:5 Update #48      Did we sign up to compete with horses? Did we plan to fight it out in the thicket of Jordan? “Come to Jesus, and He’ll take care of all your problems” or “Why is…

Dear SCC & Friends, In all labor there is profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty. ~Prov. 14:23 Update #47      Have you ever been asked to do something with little or no desire to do it? This has been particularly true for me in terms of calling or vocation. At some point in your life you probably heard, “You’d be perfect for this job or you’ll do great…I knew you were the right person for the job.” The clincher is,…

Dear SCC & Friends, There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven…A time to weep, and a time to laugh… ~Ecc. 3:1, 4a Update #46 Irony is one of my favorite forms of humor…It’s expressing a sense contrary to that which the speaker intends to convey. Yogi Berra, the Hall of Fame catcher for the New York Yankees was known for his malapropisms…using an incorrect word in place of another, resulting in…

Dear SCC & Friends, The sorrows of those who have bartered for another god will be multiplied. ~Psalm 16:4a Update #45      Bartering is as old as human history. A traveler to the Middle East will tell you that their entire modern culture works on bartering or haggling over prices. In fact, bartering (trading) remains the main way of doing business in most places in the world. It may be my competitive nature, but I love the give and take of negotiating price…

Dear SCC & Friends, I have been young, and now I am old; yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, or his descendants begging bread. ~Psalm 37:25 Update #44      A relationship with Christ is a relationship that no one can have for you. Others can help encourage and strengthen, but always it comes back to 1st person singular…Who do you say that I am? I remember praying as a teenager, “I may leave you, but please don’t ever leave me.”…

Dear SCC & Friends, There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven.~Ecclesiastes 3:1 Update #43      He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart, yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end. I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and to do good in one’s lifetime;…

Dear SCC & Friends, Update #42      About that time Caesar Augustus ordered a census to be taken throughout the Empire. This was the first census when Quirinius was governor of Syria. Everyone had to travel to his own ancestral hometown to be accounted for. So Joseph went from the Galilean town of Nazareth up to Bethlehem in Judah, David’s town, for the census. As a descendant of David, he had to go there. He went with Mary, his fiancée,…

Dear SCC & Friends, Here’s what I want you to do: Find a quiet, secluded place so you won’t be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God…~Matt. 6:6 (The Message) Update #40 The first time I remember praying fervently was out of my need. My dad was an infantry officer in the army, and it looked like he might be going off to…

Dear SCC & Friends, …in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 Update #38      This Thanksgiving has me thinking about a mission trip I was on a few years ago. We had spent several days in a very poor mountain village in northern Cuba. I was the guest of a local pastor, and by 10:00 p.m. was very tired and ready to sleep from a full day of travel and ministry. As…

Dear SCC & Friends, I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go; I will counsel you with My eye upon you. Do not be as the horse or as the mule which have no understanding, whose trappings include bit and bridle to hold them in check… Psalm 32:8-9a Update #37 Last Sunday I asked if anyone had ever accused you of being stubborn? Ouch! Let’s take a different tack…Has anyone ever complimented you for…

Dear SCC & Friends, …for we have regard for what is honorable, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men. ~2 Corinthians 8:21 Update #36      This week’s update is dedicated to prayer and thankfulness for our nation and its people, for our churches and institutions, but especially for our veterans and their families. Patriotism takes many forms, but none more so than to thank and honor those who went before us to secure…