Intentional Encouragement

     I read this morning about common household lubricant that I have used many times both in my work and my personal projects.  WD-40 is great for loosening nuts, bolts and hinges; for preventing rust, and (according to one web site) for 2000 other uses.  It's like duct tape...you always have to have some around and it's good for lots of things.      I learned that WD-40 was developed in 1953 by Norm Larsen, who was attempting to create a formula to prevent corrosion in nuclear missiles, by displacing the standing water that causes it.  He made 39 unsuccessful attempts, but on the 40th try, Norm got his Water Displacement formula correct.  Water Displacement, 40th formula, or WD-40 was first marketed in 1958.  The original name of his company was the Rocket Chemical Company.  The name of the company was changed in 1969 to WD-40 Company after what was then its only product.       I'm...

     How about some simple thoughts this week?  Are you meek?       Some years ago, I read in "Our Daily Bread" about a man named J. Upton Dickson, a fun-loving fellow who said he was writing a book entitled "Cower Power."  Supposedly, he also founded a group for submissive people.  It was called "DOORMATS."  That stood for "The D ependent O rganization o f r eally m eek a nd t imid s ouls."  Their motto was "The meek shall inherit the earth...if that's OK with everyone else."  Their symbol was the yellow traffic light.      I'm confident none of that is true, but it does sort of describe our view of what meekness is, right?  We picture someone who stays out of everyone's way and apologizes for everything...even what they didn't do.      But Jesus was, by his own description, "meek and lowly of heart."  Moses was the meekest man on earth.  Neither of ...

     "Moses spent his first forty years thinking he was somebody. He spent his second forty years learning he was a nobody. He spent his third forty years discovering what God can do with a nobody."      When I read about the great heroes of the faith, I am impressed to see that all of them thought themselves to be "nobodies."  In fact, in some cases, they spend a good deal of time learning how little they are before they are used of God in any significant way.  I think of the example in the quote above, but also of David, tending those sheep in the wilderness.  Abraham lived in the desert when God called him and travelled a great distance before he came to the place of God's blessing.  The entire nation of Israel (after they left Egyptian slavery) spent 40 years in the desert learning the lesson that God was the one who was in charge and who had everything figured out.  Over and over again, we see people spending time le...