14 JOKES AND 14 COMPLIMENTS

For the last two weeks Wanda and I have shared one joke and one compliment each day with each other. Right after our morning devotions and prayer we have taken another few moments to make each other laugh and feel better. That is 14 jokes and 14 compliments.

Laughter is like medicine and compliments makes one glow. We have decided that we will continue doing this regularly.

We have so much to be thankful for and we both desire to do everything we can to bless each other. That is the best way to live. Loving, laughing, lifting each other up. 14 jokes and 14 compliments help do that.

Wanda said that she had too many compliments to choose from to share with me. Now that is a very good feeling. Wow! I feel that way too. We're blessed!

And the jokes were really funny too!

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One of our wonderful church members, Roger Brooks, passed and went to heaven this past Sunday. Roger was 85. His wife told me that she was going to see a neighbor and told her husband that she would be gone for a few minutes. He sked her to come and sit in his lap, and she did. They kissed, and then she left. Later when she returned home, he had gone home to glory. Their last moment was a sweet kiss and hug. What a wonderful way to remember your last moment with your spouse - a kiss and a hug and then gone to heaven.

HAIL MARY

The last play of Sunday's Jacksonville Jaguars game was the best play. Tied with just seconds to go, the Jaguars threw a fifty yard pass hoping for a miracle. Yes, miracles happen. The other team's defensive player leaped high and slammed the ball toward the ground, but a Jaguar play caught the ball and walked one yard to score as the time ran out.

Talk about a fantastic finish, this game had one whale of a finish.

That goes to prove that one should not give up until the game is totally, completely over because the last play could produce a miracle.

They call such plays a Hail Mary play. It is one long pass hoping for a miracle. It is a play with a prayer.

Sunday it worked.

SHOW ME YOUR PASSION

What is it that you are most enthusiastic about? What do you love? What lights your fire? What is it that you just can't live without?

Those are pointed questions that I can answer for you. All I need is to look at your daily planner, or calender, or at least have you write down what you do with your time.

We gravitate to what we love, have passion for, and simply cannot live without.

Show me what you do with your time and I will tell you what you love. It is just that simple. We do what we want to do. We lean toward what we love. It is heard in the talk of our day, the view of our eyes, the actions of our hands and feet.

Like to eat?

Like to read?

Like to hunt, fish, gold?

Like to sew?

Like to travel?

Like to motorcycle?

Like to be with family?

Like to do God?

Like sleep?

Like to couch potato?

Like to work?

Like to goof off?

Like to computer?

Like to football, basketball, or baseball?

Like to Facebook?

Like to zoom the Internet?

Like to talk?

Like to pray?

Well, you get it. Show me what you do with your time and I will show you your passion.

So what is the take-a-way today?

Answer this question, what's first in your life?

I WON!

Getting exercise is tough for preachers. Have you ever noticed how many preachers are overweight and in poor physical shape? Our jobs are too sedentary, too mental, and so lacking physical exertion. Now preaching admittedly does put some physical demands on the body, but not much.

Through the years I have done all kinds of things to try to keep in shape. With all those chicken dinners and banana puddings, it is never easy. So what do you do?

I have ridden bicycles, jogged, ran, walked, jumped rope, done yard work, gone to exercise centers, played tennis and basketball and golf and softball and football and calisthenics and pushups and workout videos and on and on the list goes.

Now I am walking and jogging and playing basketball and working in my yard.

Guess what?

I have beaten my music pastor and youth pastor the last two weeks in basketball. They won the first week, but I have made a comeback and have won the last two weeks. I am 61 and the music pastor is 21 and the youth pastor is early 30 something.

That is 40 years and 30 years difference. Not bad. Not bad.

I shall toot my own horn for now.

You know the verse: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that tooteth not his own horn, verily it shall not be tooted!"

ONE EXTRA HOUR

Wow, wouldn't it be nice to have an extra hour every day. I really love the time change each November when we gain one hour. It makes the few days following easier for me. I am not really a morning person, though that is changing more and more. This extra hour is helpful.

What did I do with the extra hour?

Well, it comes a mid-night on Saturday night. That gives an extra hour to prepare on Sunday for church. It makes the day for better and not as stressed getting out of the house to church. It is nice.

What would I do if I had an extra hour each day? Or one extra hour each Saturday? I know that isn't going to happen, but that would be great.

Time is a huge commodity. We all have the same number of hours and minutes in each day. The issue is what will we do with our time, and how will be use the time we have?

The next few mornings will be a little easier for me. I love this time change. I just desire to use the time I have in the best possible manner.

MORE LAUGHTER AND LOVE

Is laughter better when it happens spontaneously or intentionally? Can you plan to laugh? Is planned laughter lessor laughter?

Why would I ask that, you might wonder?

Wanda and I have made a commitment to love and laugh with each other more. We are on a two week journey of telling each other a joke and compliment daily. It is planned, programed, and happening. And it is special.

Yes, laughter can be programed. Just look at your television, movies, and comedy clubs. It is all programed and planned. They even have piped in laughter to accentuate the mood. It helps to have a few people in the crowd who laugh and therefore encourage others to laugh with them. Laughter promotes laughter.

Watch the kiddies. They have a giggle box that is always turned on. Everything is funny. They just laugh and their little buddies and friends laugh with them. And life goes better for them.

Adults need that. Couples need that. Marriages need that. Everyone shouldn't take life so harshly seriously. Yes, there is a time to cry, be sad, and mourn, but there is time enough in life for all of that. God's Word teaches us to laugh.

So, Wanda and I are laughing together even more.

In fact, her compliment to me on Thursday was that I had a good sense of humor.

Thank you Wanda.

How is your sense of humor? Is it broke? Is your face in an upside down smile?

TWO COMPLIMENTS

Wanda and I are on a two week journey to build each other up. Isn't that what we are supposed to do in marriage? Build each other up?

As I write this post beginning on Monday, we have told two jokes each and shared two compliments to each other. I don't have time to write the jokes, but they were funny and we laughed hard. That makes for a nice beginning to a day. Of course, we have our morning devotion and prayer together. That is the best.

So what did I compliment her on?

Day One: I told her how much it meant to me that she diligently worked on finding unique ways to please me. She is a wonderful wife.

Day Two: I told her that I loved the fact that she liked things to be clean. I have a clean house to live in and she is a clean, sweet smelling lady.

What did she compliment me on?

Day One: She said that I was a very kind person. She loved the kindness I show her and others.

Day Two: She said that she appreciated that I cared about changing and doing things uniquely to please her. She said that it touched her that I cared enough about her to do things differently if that is what she desired.

We have twelve more days to go. I think we'll just laugh and love and love and laugh. Doesn't that make life go better.

Everyone needs a compliment all along. I know I do.