Hope and humor: encouragement from James Watkins

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Hope & humor: January 2010

Welcome to my brand new, shiny "Hope & Humor" blog filled with encouragement to help you through the New Year.

I trust you'll find encouragement through
• encouraging articles
• hopeful humor
• inspiring quotations and
• helpful resources

AUTHOR/SPEAKER JIM WATKINS AS CHEERLEADER

So, think of me as your personal cheerleader. Okay, maybe not the best image—me with pom poms—but every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, I'll attempt to encourage you in the game of life. "Rah! Rah! Rah!"

"Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well"
(The Bible, 3 John 2).

Friday, January 29, 2010

'The Voice of Truth'

What an encouraging song from Casting Crowns (and a perfect follow up to Wednesday's post)!

Email me at jim@jameswatkins.com to recommend an encouraging video. Thanks!

And thanks for visiting "Hope & Humor" this very first month. In February, I'll provide some more encouragement as we focus on love and Lent. See you Monday!

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Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Are you listening to Goliath
or God?

David had a choice in 1 Samuel 17. He could believe the promises of Goliath or God.

Goliath walked out toward David with his shield bearer ahead of him, sneering in contempt at this ruddy-faced boy. "Am I a dog," he roared at David, "that you come at me with a stick?" And he cursed David

FIVE SMOOTH STONES: PHOTO BY JAMES WATKINS

by the names of his gods. "Come over here, and I'll give your flesh to the birds and wild animals!" Goliath yelled.

David replied to the Philistine, "You come to me with sword, spear, and javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of Heaven's Armies—the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. Today the LORD will conquer you, and I will kill you and cut off your head. And then I will give the dead bodies of your men to the birds and wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel! And everyone assembled here will know that the LORD rescues his people, but not with sword and spear. This is the LORD's battle, and he will give you to us!"

As you know, it was Goliath who became buzzard meat.

We have a choice whose promises we will believe: our enemy or our God:

"You're a loser, a worthless failure" or "You're a child of God."

"You can't do it" or "I will give you strength."

"You're out of work and you're going to starve" or "I will provide for you."

"You have six months to live" or "In Me, you have eternal life."

"Your prodigal children are lost" or "I will guide them home."

"No one loves you" or "I love you unconditionally."

"You're alone" or "I am with you."

We have a choice whose promises we will believe: the loser or the winner.

Email me at jim@jameswatkins.com to leave a comment. Thanks!

Monday, January 25, 2010

Amazing things will happen

Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you're kind, amazing things will happen.
Conan O'Brien on his last "Tonight Show."

Email me at jim@jameswatkins.com to contribute an encouraging quotation.

Friday, January 22, 2010

Watkins' Church Dictionary

Bored Meeting (No definition required!)

Byelines Third verse of hymns skipped over in congregational singing

Carnal nurture Replacing sermons with motivational talks

Church growth Side effect of too many carry-in dinners

'damentalist Believer who has lost the "fun" in his/her faith

Geek Orthodox A member of an online church

Helloship Shallow conversation in church foyers often mislabeled as "fellowship"

McMessage Entertaining sermon with little nutritional value

Meology Self-centered doctrine

Messchatology Deriving theology from "last days" novels

Tele-Vision Special revelation given to a TV evangelist when contributions fall behind budget projections

Two-timers Parishioners who only attend at Christmas and Easter

Writeousness Self-righteous attitude of authors who see the speck of dust in their brother's eye, but have a . . . uh, sorry, I'm out of room.

Click for more. And email me at jim@jameswatkins.com to add your own entries. Thanks!

Your entries . . .

Textishioners Church members who spend time on their cell phones rather than listening to the message.
Phi M

Prying Mantises Nosey church members
Jeanette Levellie

New film offers hope To Save a Life

The indie film To Save a Life opens today with a message of hope for suicidal and self-destructive students.

If Web site traffic is any indication, this is such a vital message. Each month on this site, my excerpt from The Why Files on suicide is number 2 in traffic.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Hope from the Word

I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.
Ephesians 1:17-19 NLT

Hope & humor for Quaker Men: January 30

I'll be speaking at the annual "Quaker Men's Ground Hog Weekend" at Quaker Haven in Syracuse, Indiana, next Saturday. I'm not exactly sure what I've gotten myself into by agreeing to speak at such an event, but hopefully we won't see our shadows and can look forward to an early spring!

I'll be speaking from my new book, Squeezing Good Out of Bad. (Click here to read the entire book in just two minutes or less.)

Click here for my 2010 speaking schedule.

Monday, January 18, 2010

Caskets and hope chests

Many years ago, young girls kept "hope chests" where they would store dishes, towel, linens, etc. The wooden boxes were a source of hope and anticipation for their future homes.

I just learned that my friend, Joy McCallum, has incurable brain cancer and has less than a year to live. Joy's husband quoted her on

their blog:

"I'm so tired. It would be fine with me just to fall asleep and go to Heaven. All I can think about is the joy of Heaven. I don't want to fight this."

There is hope as Christians face impending death, which got me thinking that for believers, caskets are in a way hope chests. There is hope and anticipation for a future home—with eternal life and no cancer or long goodbyes.

Thanks for praying for Joy and her family.

Email me at jim@jameswatkins.com to leave a comment. Thanks!

Friday, January 15, 2010

Hope for fulfilling the dream

During the Birmingham civil rights demonstrations, Martin Luther King, Jr. required all protestors to sign a card promising to obey these "ten commandments":

1. Meditate daily on the teachings and life
of Jesus.

2. Remember always that the nonviolent

MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR., AT WASHINGTON CIVIL RIGHTS RALLY

movement in Birmingham seeks justice and reconciliation—not victory.

3. Walk and talk in the manner of love, for God is love.

4. Pray daily to be used by God in order that all men might be free.

5. Sacrifice personal wishes in order that all men might be free.

6. Observe with both friend and foe the ordinary rules of courtesy.

7. Seek to perform regular service for others and for the world.

8. Refrain from the violence of fist, tongue, or heart.

9. Strive to be in good spiritual and bodily health.

10. Follow the directions of the movement and of the captain on a demonstration.

Any hope of fulfilling Dr. King's dream depends on observing those strategies.

Email me at jim@jameswatkins.com to leave a comment. Thanks!

10 AM EST: Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Provide hope for Haiti

News sources are speculating that "hundreds of thosuands" of Haitians could be killed following last night's 7.0 earthquake which "devastated" the impoverished Caribbean nation.

Please help by contributing to your favorite relief organization (mine is World Hope). And here are some resources for dealing with death and grief.

Meanwhile, please pray as though it were your loved ones under the rubble.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Top ten things I (Jim) would do if I were God

I have in my right hand, direct from my home office—soon to be atop Mt. Sinai—today's category:

10. I'd know who really shot JFK, if there really are aliens in Roswell and the identity of KFC's "secret herbs and spices."

MICHELANGELO'S RENDITION OF GOD FROM SISTINE CHAPEL

9. During creation, I'd spend a little more time on northern Indiana.

8. The next person who asked me to eternally destroy something, I'd take them up on their request. Suddenly there would be blinding light, a deafening roar, and a ten-foot-wide crater where that [bleep bleep bleeping] hard-to-start snowblower used to be. People would be a lot more careful what they said if I were God.

7. On the ark, I'd allow only one mosquito.

6. I'd dust off the ten plagues of Egypt and send them upon the Communist rulers, Third-World dictators and terrorists.

5. I'd require that all religious TV and radio programs carry the following disclaimer: "Views expressed by speaker are those of the speaker and do not necessarily reflect the views of God, His Son, or His church."

4. I'd order all kinds of poetic punishments for rapists, pimps and child abusers—none of which can be posted on a family-friendly site.

3. I'd cause all paintings of white Anglo-Saxon Jesus to disappear in the twinkling of an eye. God's Son was born a Jew in the Middle East!

2. I'd enforce an eleventh commandment: Thou shall not forward urban legends or those dreadful "If you love Jesus you'll forward this annoying animated artwork to ten friends" emails.

1. I'd make sure only nice things happen to nice people like you and me!

Okay, okay, it's a good thing that I'm not God. (If I can't even balance my checkbook, I have no business running the universe.) And, nothing personal, I'm glad you're not God either. The omniscient God promises:

I just need to trust that! (And try to enjoy the flat, frozen nothingness of northern Indiana.)

Email me at jim@jameswatkins.com to add what you would do if you were God. Thanks!

Comments

If I were God, I would make everyone the same color and tongue. Maybe then people would understand each other enough to not fight so much.
Ellen D

I'd take all the fat out of chocolate, butter, and ice cream, and I'd give all my kids permanent muscles, so exercise would be unnecessary. (Can you tell I'm trying to cut back on fat and exercise more?)
Jeanette Levellie

Monday, January 11, 2010

When answers aren't enough...

I love Scott Wesley Brown's powerful song "When Answers Aren't Enough There Is Jesus." Here's an equally powerful performance by Kenny Baldwin.

Email me at jim@jameswatkins.com to share an encouraging video. Thanks!

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Friday, January 8, 2010

'In this world you will have trouble'

One Sunday I made the mistake of teaching on John 16:33:

Right after the closing prayer, one family

went out into the sub-zero weather to find that they had left the van's lights on and their battery was dead. Another family discovered their four-year-old had gotten into their van, turned it on and backed over a parking bumper. The worship leader went home to find her husband gone with a note telling her he wanted a divorce. That night the church's hot-water heating pipes froze up and the parsonage's furnace broke down. A parishoner offered to thaw out the church's pipes with a blow torch and caught the building's subflooring on fire. Then things got worse!

The next Sunday, I promised never to speak on that passage again.

"Trouble" seems to be life's default setting: flat tires, kidney stones, IRS audits
. . . the list goes on and on. So, I'm assuming you and I will be facing some trouble this week. But Christ offers us "peace" and "overcoming" victory this week as well. That's why Paul can write:

So, I hope you're having a "but not" week! We will have trouble, but not defeat!

Email me at jim@jameswatkins.com to leave a comment. Thanks!

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

We are saved by hope

Nothing worth doing is completed in our lifetime,
Therefore, we are saved by hope.
Nothing true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history;
Therefore, we are saved by faith.
Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone.
Therefore, we are saved by love.
Reinhold Niebuhr

Email me at jim@jameswatkins.com to leave a comment. Thanks!

Monday, January 4, 2010

Top ten reasons 2010-2019
will be a better decade

I have in my right hand, direct from my home office in Corn Borer, Indiana, today's category:

10. Medical research reveals dark chocolate is good for your heart

9. Bernie Madoff and O.J. Simpson are behind bars

8. Rap music sales have dropped nearly 25 percent since 2005

7. The Mayans had it wrong about 2012

6. Laptop computer prices are decreasing, features increasing

5. JamesWatkins.com now contains 55 percent more hope and humor—and no trans fats!

4. Unemployment is decreasing, home sales increasing

3. Twenty-five years of New Age pop psychology ends September 2011

2. Dr. House is seeing a therapist

1. We're one decade closer to Christ's return

Email me at jim@jameswatkins.com to leave a comment. Thanks!

Friday, January 1, 2010

Don't look back!

We get the name January from the Roman god Janus who, much to his parent's horror, was born with two faces: one facing forward, one looking back. And so, January is a time to look forward to the new year and back at the past.

TIME magazine has looked back and declared the past ten years "The Decade From Hell." They have a point—actually several points: the 9/11 attacks, the stock market crash, double-digit unemployment, home foreclosures, continuing death toll in wars and terrorist bombings, etc. etc. (My personal life has been a bit hellish as you can read in Squeezing Good Out of Bad.) So, I'd agree with TIME's assessment.

But, I also agree with the Bible's admonition: "Do not dwell on the past" (Isaiah 43:18) and "Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead" (Philippians 3:13b).

Remorse and regrets are obvious reasons not to dwell on the past. And, admitedly, there is much for which to grieve. But there are other subtle dangers of looking back:

Obsolescence
We live in such a changing world that if we do things in this new decade the way we did them in 2000—or even 2009—we'll be left in the dust. (If you're an author or publisher, you know that change is happening at warp speed!)

Stagnation
Our personal lives and our relationships can stagnate if we rely on the past. If I'm not growing, I'm dying. And relationships need active care and nurture to grow and mature.

Serious injury
Unless we're Janus, we are going to run into serious trouble—and injuries—if we're walking backward into the future. (Wow! I didn't see that coming!)

So, I agree with Ralph Waldo Emerson's advice:

Don't look back! Keep looking to the future with hope and humor!

I'm sure there are more than three dangers of constantly looking back (turning into a pillar of salt, for one). Email me at jim@jameswatkins.com to share additional dangers. Thanks!

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