stuff

Try Stuff

“I never threw an illegal pitch. The trouble is, once in a while I toss one that ain’t never been seen by this generation.”

__Satchel Paige, Hall of Fame baseball pitcher

If you wait until everyone gets on board, you’re never leave the train station.

If you wait until you know what to do, you’re still be waiting when life is over.

At the end of your life, the embarrassment of spending your life sitting on your hands playing it safe, being a timid soul watching life pass you by is far worse than the embarrassment of falling flat on your face because you dared to try something that wasn’t sure to succeed.

Try stuff.

Take a chance.

Mix things up every once in a while.

If it is not immoral and it might work, help, or improve things…try it for Heaven’s sake.

Why not?

The worse that could happen is you fail and lose face…and if you’ve got a face like mine, that’s not a bad thing.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

The victory doesn’t go to the guy who has all the answers or the gal who never fails, the victory goes to the one who tries.

The ONE THING for today: Try stuff. Either it works or it doesn’t. If it works, like Satchel, you’ve shown this generation a new pitch. If it doesn’t, you’ve figured out one less thing to do next time. Either way, progress has been made.

I chose the picture for this blog because the pitcher is a lefty. We lefties have to stick together. Also, the way he is gripping that ball, I’m guessing that is a pitch this generation hasn’t seen before. And a pitcher with a hole in the knee of his pants…now that’s a rarity. It may mean that he got a hit and even slide in to second base…or that he fell on his face trying a pitch that this generation has never seen before. Either way…good for him.

October 27, 2023 by ourCOG Uncategorized 0

Try Stuff

“I never threw an illegal pitch. The trouble is, once in a while I toss one that ain’t never been seen by this generation.”

__Satchel Paige, Hall of Fame baseball pitcher

If you wait until everyone gets on board, you’re never leave the train station.

If you wait until you know what to do, you’re still be waiting when life is over.

At the end of your life, the embarrassment of spending your life sitting on your hands playing it safe, being a timid soul watching life pass you by is far worse than the embarrassment of falling flat on your face because you dared to try something that wasn’t sure to succeed.

Try stuff.

Take a chance.

Mix things up every once in a while.

If it is not immoral and it might work, help, or improve things…try it for Heaven’s sake.

Why not?

The worse that could happen is you fail and lose face…and if you’ve got a face like mine, that’s not a bad thing.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

The victory doesn’t go to the guy who has all the answers or the gal who never fails, the victory goes to the one who tries.

The ONE THING for today: Try stuff. Either it works or it doesn’t. If it works, like Satchel, you’ve shown this generation a new pitch. If it doesn’t, you’ve figured out one less thing to do next time. Either way, progress has been made.

I chose the picture for this blog because the pitcher is a lefty. We lefties have to stick together. Also, the way he is gripping that ball, I’m guessing that is a pitch this generation hasn’t seen before. And a pitcher with a hole in the knee of his pants…now that’s a rarity. It may mean that he got a hit and even slide in to second base…or that he fell on his face trying a pitch that this generation has never seen before. Either way…good for him.

October 27, 2023 by ourCOG Uncategorized 1

Is your stuff messed UP

Preaching the Gospel to All Nations

October 18, 2023 by ourCOG Uncategorized

stuff i’m learning

On June 1, I started my E90 project to read through the Bible this Summer. One thing I did not not like about this is the fact that I had to put on hold my Bible reading plan that started back in January. Once E90 is finished, I will pick it back up, however.

Only six days in and and I am reading things that I do not remember reading before. I have read through the Bible several times in my life. I have heard it preached and taught my entire life. Today, two things jumped out at me as being fresh. I love when that happens. I would never presume to know nearly everything in the Bible but it is humbling and exciting to feel like you’re grasping a new concept in a new way.

One of the things I hadn’t seen before is that Moses sent his wife and children away for a while to spend time with her parents. This happened while Moses was leading the Israelites through the dessert. I didn’t remember that detail. The idea spoke to me about protecting and preserving our families from certain difficult ministry situations.

The other thing that was fresh to me was the following verses:
Exodus 24:9 Then Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel climbed up the mountain. 10 There they saw the God of Israel. Under his feet there seemed to be a surface of brilliant blue lapis lazuli, as clear as the sky itself. 11 And though these nobles of Israel gazed upon God, he did not destroy them. In fact, they ate a covenant meal, eating and drinking in his presence!

Pretty cool, huh?

The more I read, the more I want to read. Youversion.com told me today that I am about 5.7% complete with my project. That’s fine by me – I am in no rush.

I hope you’re joining in the E90 process.

March 31, 2022 by ourCOG #ourCOG 0

“Come Out of the Stuff” with Jentezen Franklin

The riches of this world can crowd out our relationship with Jesus. We are rightly warned to be careful when we prosper because wealth can be deceitful and cause us to love our stuff more than we love our God. Are you overscheduled and overstressed? Is your life overcrowded with possessions? It’s time to come out of the stuff…

This is “Come Out of the Stuff”. To hear more inspiring messages from Jentezen Franklin, visit http://www.jentezenfranklin.org/watch & subscribe to this channel: http://goo.gl/yfkXHy

Tell us more about what’s going on in your life:
Let us pray with you: http://www.jentezenfranklin.org/contact?f=Prayer
Share your testimony to encourage us and others: http://www.jentezenfranklin.org/contact?f=Story

Stay Connected to Jentezen Franklin:
https://www.instagram.com/jentezen
Posts by Jentezen
https://www.facebook.com/JentezenFranklin

Donate to help us share the gospel around the world through Kingdom Connection broadcasts and other humanitarian outreaches: https://jfmm.secure.force.com/idadonation?id=01to0000000SiGv

July 27, 2018 by ourCOG Video 0

stuff I won’t share at church

Tomorrow, I am preaching at Cross Community Church about Esther in part 2 of Divine Intervention. She is one of the most awesome heroines of the Bible. Her decision to risk her life saved the lives of an entire nation. No wonder she is highly honored by Jewish people still today.

But I have a love/hate relationship with the story. While I honor the way that God divinely rescued the Jews by utilizing a very brave woman, I hate what she had to go through to be in the place where God could use her in such a powerful way.

The key phrase in the book of Esther is “such a time as this.” It comes from Esther 4:14 when Esther’s cousin, Mordecai challenges her to step up and intercede for her people who were about to be annihilated by King Xerxes and Haman. “Who knows if perhaps you were made queen for just such a time as this?” She was waffling on whether or not she should ask the King to spare her people. There was a very real chance that she would die for even trying. Ultimately, she did the right thing and the King changed his decision.

Mordecai is saying to her (my paraphrase) “God has put you into the perfect position at the perfect time. He did this for a reason. Everything you have been through in your life is in preparation for this moment. Don’t blow it!”

Here is where I struggle with the story and what I do not plan to share while I am preaching tomorrow: Everything Esther had gone through was apparently orchestrated by God. If you know the story, you might be squirming a bit, too. Basically, Esther became queen because the king had sex with a bunch of young women in one of his harems and he liked Esther the best. (Reminds me of the disgusting TV show The Bachelor!). Because Esther was the most attractive and apparently the most sexually satisfying to the King, he chose her to replace the queen he had just disposed. Think about it. This kind of degradation of women is a little hard to overlook. She had to be intimate with an arrogant, self-centered and most probably disgusting despot in order to save others. Would she say it was worth it? We have no way of knowing but I would assume she would say it was.

This whole story makes me wonder what all God will allow His children to go through in order to get them where He wants them. A little scary to me. I don’t have the theological answers for this one and I’m not really even looking for them. But I sure don’t plan to open that can of worms to the good people who will be sitting in the chairs at our church tomorrow.