ARE YOU WILLING TO TRY?

ED BARRETT put on a spectacular performance when his Cedartown football team played Rome, Georgia on October 31, 1930.  In This game Barrett caught four passes and intercepted three.

ED BARRETT WAS A ONE-ARMED PLAYER!

All of us have limitations and obstacles to overcome.

Two choices are available.

I can keep on trying, using my heart and my head, to find a way to accomplish.  OR I CAN QUIT!

If I determine to keep on trying, I might not succeed.  However, by continuing to try, I do something for myself…something that no amount of money can buy…I discover a sense of self-respect that enables me to make my stay upon this earth fully a life rather than a shallow existence.

SUCCESS consists in GETTING UP one more TIME

than I FALL DOWN.

Are you a pessimist?

A pessimist feels bad when he feels good for fear that he will feel worse when he feels better.

George Bernard Shaw observed, “…that a pessimist is

the fellow who thinks that everyone is as nasty as

he is and he hates them for it.”

The pessimist makes difficulties of opportunities

instead of making opportunities of difficulties.

Pessimism is a constant threat for all of us.

TO OVERCOME PESSIMISM, REMEMBER:

God know your name.  You are not a number but a person created in His image.

You can do something to make your part of the world better.  It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.

You will find strength in God when YOU open your heart and your head to Him.  He will run to meet YOU!

You DO have a choice!

“Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life: you stretch out your hand against the anger of my foes, with your right hand you save me…your love, O Lord, endures forever…”

(David, Psalm 138).

David was well acquainted with frustrations, dangers and failures.  He emerged triumphant by recognizing that he had a choice: to turn to God or to surrender to bitterness.

You and I have the same choice.  We can turn to God asking for wisdom to learn from troubles or failures.  Then knowing that He will help us, we can grow even in the worst of times.

Confession:

I can easily say the preceding words…not easy for me

to do them…but if I do observe them,

I will find new strength.

With God in my life,

I AM NOT GOING TO LOSE.

Do you know where you are going?

“If you don’t know where you are going…

                        you will be lost when you get there.”   Yoga Berra

GOD HAS A RELIABLE COMPASS FOR US:

NORTH:  Vision, the recognition of where I want to go.

EAST:  Knowledge, the recognition of what is required to get there.

SOUTH:  Responsibility, the work that must be completed along the way.

WEST:  Perseverance, the power to get up one more time than I fall down.

You and I have the assurance of the Lord Jesus Christ

that this compass will not mislead us. 

He will go with us each step of the way.

"Do you ever speak before you think?"

Remember:  LIFE IS A TERMINAL EXPERIENCE… So what on earth are YOU doing for heaven’s sake?

Before we complain about how expensive education is…

consider what ignorance costs.

FOR PARENTS:  The best home remedy is just being there.

An important discovery:  My problem is that I often say what I’m thinking before I THINK ABOUT WHAT I’M SAYING.

YOU ARE UNIQUE!

The happiest people are those who are producing something…the bored are those who are consuming much and producing little or nothing.

It is true that happiness is a by-product of what we share with others.  While it is not in the power of everyone to secure wealth, office or honors…it is within each person’s power to come to God with a spirit of obedient faith and to be generous in dealing with others.

Happiness and courage are inseparably linked.  Courage doesn't always “roar.”  Often courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, “If God gives me tomorrow, I’m going to try again.”

NEVER FORGET THAT YOU ARE UNIQUE…A non-repeatable event...GOD CREATED YOU THAT WAY.

ARE YOU QUICK OR SLOW?

   “Everyone should be quick to hear, slow to speak

    and

        slow to become angry.”  James 1:29

QUICK TO LISTEN.  James is encouraging us to listen eagerly to

God’s word.  A good listener is wise between the ears.  You and I cannot afford to have “sound proof” heads to the instructions of our Creator.

SLOW TO SPEAK.  The tongue is in a wet place…it can slip so easily.  Trying to “unsay” a cutting remark or a bit of gossip is just about as easy as putting toothpaste back into a tube.

SLOW TO BECOME ANGRY.  Remember “anger” is just one letter short of “danger.”  Angry words can destroy love.  Angry actions can devastate life.