Here it is after 11:00 p.m. again as I am posted my daily blog / this has been a crazy week. Speaking of crazy…I don’t know if it is just an old wives tell or truth, but I’ve always heard that deaths come in threes and it does seem to me that that is how it happens a lot in my ministry. And oddly enough Campmeeting doesn’t bode well for my parish either. A few weeks ago I was participating in the Alaska Campmeeting and sure enough there were three deaths. And then this week I have been back and forth between the Mauldin Campmeeting and Fort Mill due to two deaths in our church family. And then this afternoon Sonja and I got the news that Deborah Jo White, aka Jo Jo Billingsley \ former vocalist with Lynyrd Skynyrd) and a dear friend of ours had died of cancer. (All three deaths this week have been due to cancer \ I will be so thankful when we get to Heaven where that cursed word is never used again.)
So there you have / a reminder that all of us are on a crash collision course with the face of God.
That is a good lead-in to my affirmations that state how I will face each day. Tonight I add number five of nine.
FIRST: How I will face each day: I will live a life of thanksgiving by remembering and enumerating the many blessings from God upon my life.
SECOND: How I will face each day: I will remember that the only difference between those who have failed and those who have succeeded lies in the difference of their habits. Good habits are the key to all success. Bad habits are the unlocked door to failure. Therefore, I will form good habits and become their slave.
THIRD: How I will face each day: Today I will act on those things that are most important (Mission critical). I shall not get bogged down with triviality or things that others can do at least adequately.
FOURTH: How I will face each day: Today, I will act and I will act NOW. A map has never taken me anywhere, a detailed calendar has never accomplished anything for me – action was required.
FIFTH: How I will face each day: I will not allow my mind to be attracted to evil and despair; rather I will uplift it with the knowledge and wisdom of God.
- I always dread this affirmation. It is the affirmation that I keep a list of people that have had visible moral failures. The list has grown over the years. I have names of preachers, politicians, sports figures, businessmen and others. My reason for keeping this list is not because I have a morbid delight in other people’s failures and pain but I keep it as a reminder that I too must take heed least I fall.
- In several cases I know the inside story that lead to the fall and in every case it was not an overnight decision. They didn’t get up one morning and decide to destroy their life, family, career and good name; no it was, in the words from the movie “Fireproof”, a slow fade.
- That is why today’s affirmation is so important. Everyday we must choose to feed our mind on good things, especially the things of God and we must choose to not feed our minds on other things. Every time you turn on the television, go on line, walk through a store, turn your eyes and thoughts in a particular direction you must make a choice – are you going to feed your mind on the good or the evil. The accumulative effect of this sets the course for your life \ either upward or downward and the stakes are unbelievable high / my sad list is a reminder to this fact.
Life is so simple working in the FMCOG nursery
Well, it’s been a rather challenging week thus far. I covet your prayers for the reminder of the week as I serve the Mark Carlyle family tomorrow and prepare for my messages for the weekend. Thankfully, Sonja and I arrived home safe and will be sleeping in our own bed this evening. So I guess I’d better wrap things up and head upstairs and unpack and then hit the sack.
Love and best wishes to all,
david l. kemp
Quotations of the day:
- “We have not passed that subtle line between childhood and adulthood until we move from the passive voice to the active voice – that is, until we have stopped saying, “It got lost,” and say, “I lost it.” _Sydney Harris, newspaper columnist
- “The Leaders who work most effectively, it seems to me, never say “I.” And that’s not because they have trained themselves not to say “I.” They don’t think “I.” They think “we”; they think “team.” They understand their job to be to make the team function. They accept responsibility and don’t sidestep it, but “we” gets all the credit. This is what creates trust, what enables you to get the task done.” _ Peter Drucker on leadership (From, Managing the Nonprofit Organization)
The ONE THING 