Running a 5K isn’t easy. The course stretches 3.1 miles long and can be filled with hills and headwinds. Successful runners know it takes a good pair of running shoes, plenty of training, and unflinching endurance to finish strong.
And it doesn’t hurt to have a good running partner, either.
Suffering is an inescapable part of life that everyone faces. That’s what makes encouragement and hope so important. The question then becomes, “Can hurting people find life-changing hope at your church?”
Or would they be better off going to this public bathroom to be encouraged?
When a lifeless body was pulled from the dark waters of a lake near Dublin, Ireland, Joseph Scriven’s world turned upside down. It was his fiancée, the woman he was supposed to marry the following day. This tragedy – and plenty like it – plagued him most of his life.
But out of his woes came a song that has encouraged millions around the world.
When realtors visit homes that have been foreclosed, it’s not uncommon for them to find messes, damages, or even bug infestations. They might even find an abandoned pet. But one realtor in Milwaukee had the surprise of his life when he found a dead body.
Talk about a hard resale….
2,000 years ago, Jesus preached a sermon on a mount that has changed millions of lives since. In 1984, Tommy Lasorda, manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, delivered a “sermon on the mound” of his own…and it changed the life of Orel Hershiser.
It was so definitive in fact, that Hershiser even got a new name.
I love grilling. I love smoking BBQ. In fact, I love doing anything that involves searing meat on an open flame! That smell and the crackling sound – mixed with the taste of an ice-cold refreshing IBC Root Beer – compels me to break out my manly utensils of culinary creation on a weekly basis.
But while grilling the other day, I had a revelation about our fellowship as Christians.
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