Are You An Opportunist?

Are You An Opportunist?

Your answer to the question of whether you are an opportunist likely depends on your life experience and the context in which the word is used.  As for the first part (personal experience), most everyone has heard the word bandied about.  Most of us have seen the term used to describe the nature or behavior of another person, as in “she is an opportunist” (noun).  A person who acts that way, is said to be opportunistic (adjective).  Chances are, you yourself have applied this word…

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Looking For Jesus

Looking For Jesus

Many people today claim to be checking out, even “trying out” Jesus Christ.  They are looking for answers, and wonder if Jesus might be the answer for them.  Research has shown that their numbers are growing around the globe—rapidly, in some areas.  Given the perilous and perverse times in which we live, this should come as no surprise.  What IS a bit baffling is the high rate of failures to connect.  This seems rather strange, since the seeker wants to find Him and He very…

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The Truth–Is It In You?

The Truth–Is It In You?

Astral Airlines flight 2400 winged its way eastward toward the first tentative rays of sunlight that signaled the emerging dawn of another beautiful day.  Onboard the aircraft, economy class passenger Richard Sterling awakened with a start, his senses suddenly on high alert.  He had not the foggiest idea why he’d snapped to attention.  Could it have been a troubling dream, he wondered?  If not, what had happened to rouse him and, why did he feel a strong and persistent sense that something, somewhere had…

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You Don’t Know Him Like I Do

You Don’t Know Him Like I Do

Sure, I watched cartoons as a kid—lots of them.  One of the most common plot devices involved characters who hadn’t encountered one another before.  One was a born predator and the other its natural prey—sweet, innocent, and harmless.  The predator, sensing no threat, unwisely drops its guard and even starts to trust the little angel, who soon reveals that its meek and mild persona is just a disguise.  The merry mayhem begins when the presumptive victim asks the audience in a mischievous stage whisper,…

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It’s Just Too Hard!

It’s Just Too Hard!

Some say that the Christian Faith is too simple to be taken seriously by intelligent people. They would have you believe that: 1) they themselves are highly intelligent and 2) they have sincerely tried to take true Christianity seriously but found to their great disappointment, that it was not up to their uncompromising intellectual standards.  They are unbothered by the fact that legions of brilliant men and women down through the centuries—including rafts of skeptics and scoffers—have found it sufficiently challenging…

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And The Door Was Shut

And The Door Was Shut

If you are a fan of big-budget Hollywood “blockbusters,” you are probably aware that in the late 1970’s and 80’s, so-called ‘disaster’ flicks were all the rage.  Throughout the culture, people seemed to have developed a sudden fascination for witnessing death and destruction on a grand scale, with an insatiable appetite for more.   The trend was so strong and by Tinseltown’s fleeting standards so enduring, that social scientists, religionists, pundits and others were becoming concerned.  The Zeitgeist had definitely changed.  But what was the new…

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Sealing The Deal

Sealing The Deal

“The finance director will see you now,” said a pleasant young woman.  “If you’ll step this way.  Here we are.  It’s just through there.” “Thank you.” “My pleasure.  Good luck.” At the ominous word, “luck” the customer’s smile froze.  He shot a double-take at the quickly retreating back of his guide, then rapped hesitantly on the doorjamb of the director’s tiny, cramped workspace.  A large, powerfully built fellow emerged from behind an incongruously small desk and advanced toward him, right hand extended in greeting. “Welcome,” he said…

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Time To Be Fruitful

Time To Be Fruitful

One of the most powerful, enduring, and universal self-delusions is that there will always be enough time to do the things we want or need to do.  If this demonstrably false delusion is challenged, the usual comeback is that if ever we need more time, we shall just have to “find” it.  An equally absurd expression is that everyone “makes” time for what’s truly important, as though by some mysterious manufacturing process that’s always on call in event of a shortage. Strangely, these irrational…

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The Patiently Persistent Program

The Patiently Persistent Program

As everyone knows, a bewildering array of choices exist today for those seeking content that appeals to their individual tastes.  Politics, news, sports, entertainment, instructional fare, it’s all there, most of it on offer 24×7, available at the consumer’s convenience or whim, which is to say, “on demand.”  Almost equally numerous are the platforms and devices for delivery of the selected subject matter.  If you want it, you most likely can get it, from legitimate or illicit sources and those in between, in…

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Coaxed By The Cross

Coaxed By The Cross

My name is Joseph.  I come from Arimathea, in the Judean highlands.  I am a disciple of the Nazarene, Jesus, called Christ.  Ironic that this is the first time I’ve said that out loud.  Until now, I’ve followed him in secret, because…because (God forgive me), I was afraid of the authorities—both the Romans (which goes without saying) and my peers—the leaders of my own people. Yet I am one of them—a prominent member of the supreme Jewish Council in Jerusalem, the Great Sanhedrin. I am one of 71 elites,…

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