Thoughts and Considerations

                                       THE URGENT DUTY OF A DISCIPLE OF JESUS   “I Am the Vine, and you are the branches. He that abides in Me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit, FOR WITHOUT ME YOU CAN DO NOTHING.” John 15:5 “He has shown thee, oh man, what is good and what does the Lord requires of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God.” Micah 6:8 “I therefore so run, not as uncertainly, and so I fight, not as one that beats the air; but I keep under my body and bring it into subjection, lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway/disqualified.” 1 Corinthians 9:26-27 INDEX: THE GROOMING OF OUR CHARACTER? THE BALANCE BETWEEN GOD’S SOVEREIGNTY AND OUR RESPONSIBILITY THE STRUGGLES WITHIN, AND YIELDING TO CHRIST JESUS ENDURED A LIFE LONG BATTLE UNTO PERFECT OBEDIENCE  SOME AREAS OF NEEDED SCRUTINY AND DISCIPLINE:   CHARACTER TRAIT # 1 - BEING TEACHABLE AND CORRECTABLE                  

                                                CAUGHT IN A SPIRAL                                                (For the Local Newspaper)   A potentially dangerous situation in flying is being caught in a spiral. Now recovering from a spiral is very simple, and depending on the stage, rather easy. A spiral occurs when the aircraft is on a banked descending slope. If the aircraft is allowed to continue unchecked it will continue to gain speed and the slope will continue to tighten. In theory, it can get to the point where the pilot will be unable to break out of the spiral and thus plunge to disaster. In the simplest scenario, to recover from a spiral the pilot merely needs to level the wings, and reduce the airspeed by returning it to a level flight pattern. If this is the case, what makes a spiral such a concern? When flying by visual flying rules (VFR), nothing, until you are in a situation where there is no visibility, as when flying in clouds. When there is no visibility, it is

                                       Hate – the Cancer of the Soul and Society                                (For the local newspaper but not yet submitted)   I realize that this is a harsh subject, and most of us feel immune to it, but like a cancer it can grow in us unwittingly, and before we detect it, it can have a firm and lethal grip on us, not only as individuals, but as a society.       Hate can grow from different directions and for various reasons. The scary thing about hate is that it grows subtly and even unnoticed. Initially it may begin as a hurt, an offense, resentment, or a disagreement. Possibly the cause may be justified to some extent, but be assured, hate is easily fed, and if well nurtured it can become a dangerous monster, both to yourself and to others.    True, there are things we should hate, but before God Almighty, they must be qualified, like what He calls sin and evil, ESPECIALLY OUR OWN SIN. If we struggle to hate our own sin, there will be far less opp