By Jim Hays on
12/28/2009 7:20 PM
I heard a preacher tell the story of a young man who went to visit his retired music teacher at the teacher’s apartment building.
The wise old teacher tapped a tuning fork against the table and said, "That is A." From the apartment above, a woman heard the pitch and sang the note.
"She’s sharp," said the old teacher.
He tapped the tuning fork again and said, "That is A ... always has been, always will be. 440 vibrations per second and it will be the same 5,000 years from now."
Sometimes, it feels as if everything around us is changing—sometimes for better and sometimes for worse. Babies...
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By Jim Hays on
12/23/2009 3:01 PM
Away in a manger.
My fear is that, for most of the world, that’s all they see of Jesus. They love the image of a cute little baby lying in a manger… a baby who’s smiling and cooing and looking, well, harmless. They see that image and it fills them with good feelings. They never hear a whimper, never a cry. They never have to change a diaper. He’s the perfect baby.
The problem is, it’s too convenient to leave Jesus in the manger. After the holidays, we can just go about our lives without a second thought of Him. Then, next December, we return to the stable to find that happy, smiling baby.
For many, he’s just part of a nativity scene to be pulled out once a year. Most of the time, he is left in the attic, stored in a box and place right there between the inflatable Santa and the fake Christmas tree.
No longer “away in a manger”, we simply want him “away from me”. Away from the real world. Tucked away … stored away. After all, that tiny baby is part of another time, another...
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By Jim Hays on
12/21/2009 10:53 PM
Photos courtesy of Dayton and Bonita House.
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By Jim Hays on
12/21/2009 10:35 PM
When I was a child in the mid-60’s, John Lennon, the front man for a rock band called The Beatles, made a startling statement. He said, “We (The Beatles) are bigger than Jesus Christ.”
Jaws dropped. Preachers ran to their typewriters to prepare scathing sermons. The media went wild with the quote.
Then, in 1972, the Beatles broke up. Six years later, John Lennon was dead—the victim of an assassin’s bullet.
Bigger than Jesus? No.
Fast forward to 1996. A young golfer by the name of Eldrick Woods was just about ready to turn professional. ...
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By Jim Hays on
12/2/2009 1:39 PM
I got this in an email today: Due to recent budget cuts, the stock market crash, and the
rising cost of electricity, gas, and oil ... the light at the
end of the tunnel has been turned off.
We apologize for the inconvenience.
Sincerely,
The U.S. Government ------------- Isn't it a blessing to know that our Light never has a problem with "power shortages"? "God is Light and in Him there is no darkness at all." --1 John 1:5 
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By Jim Hays on
11/23/2009 5:15 PM
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By Jim Hays on
11/23/2009 12:39 PM
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By Jim Hays on
11/23/2009 12:03 PM
Here are some pictures from the October Youth Devotional….
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By Jim Hays on
11/19/2009 3:24 PM
I admit it. I love my shredder. I am mesmerized by loud machines that destroy things. But I am also fascinated by the process. After a document is run through, there is no way to reconstruct it, no way to put it together again, and no way to know what was originally there. We use it to destroy sensitive documents, addresses, and any material we do not want seen.
I also use it for something else. I use it to destroy my mistakes. If I print the wrong form, misspell a name, or use the wrong name — a quick trip to the shredder and it is as if it never happened. It is gone forever.
But I also enjoy the shredder because there are times when see it as a reminder of what God has done for me. I envision lists of my mistakes and sins kept somewhere by the devil himself. And I picture Jesus taking those lists and running them through the shredder. The evidence of my guilt is destroyed. The list of my sins can never be reconstructed. They are gone forever.
That is exactly what God did when He sent...
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