The Nominees Are...

If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones.
—Luke 16:10

Red carpet conversations, borrowed jewels on actors, shallow comments considered profound by the watching masses, who wears which designer, who looks best. Welcome to the Academy Awards—the annual festival of fashion that reminds me each year of who the real heroes of life are. They don’t walk red carpets!

When I think of people deserving an award, it has nothing to do with how much money they raised at the "Box Office" or whether or not they had the best musical score accompanying their daily work, or whether they had the best dressed award for daily style.

No. While interesting and entertaining, the Academy Awards have little to do with our daily lives.

Taking a good look!

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test my thoughts. Point out anything you find in me that makes you sad, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.
—Psalms 139:23-24 TLB

When was the last time you took a good look at life; family, health, finances, work or the future?

It isn’t always an easy thing to do nor is it necessarily fun! I have at times the unique ability to look and look and see the same thing over and over. I also have at times the ability to explain in what I think is unassailable logic why some things cannot change.

I don’t know about you, but I find that having another set of trusted eyes is most helpful. The other set of eyes help me to see not only what is but what can be!

Every Relationship Begins with "R"

Show respect for everyone. Love your brothers and sisters. Fear God.
—1 Peter 2:17

Aretha caught our attention: "R-E-S-P-E-C-T. Find out what it means to me…"

So what does it mean? According to the dictionary, respect looks like this:

re⋅spect (noun): esteem for or a sense of the worth or excellence of a person, a personal quality or ability, or something considered as a manifestation of a personal quality or ability: "I have great respect for her judgment"

The Superlative Bowl!

Finally, all of you should be of one mind. Sympathize with each other. Love each other as brothers and sisters. Be tenderhearted, and keep a humble attitude.
—1 Peter 3:8-9

Did you have a fun time with friends last evening watching the "Super Bowl?" My wife and I certainly did as we enjoyed the friendly banter, the commercials, the game, and time with new friends.

What is "super" about the "Super Bowl" other than what we call it? Here are a few interesting facts: the average NFL salary is $770,000, the price of a 30 second commercial has dropped recently to $2,600,000, the viewing audience numbers some 106,000,000, the attendance was 103,219, the winning team members each got a bonus of $88,000, and the losing team each got $44,000. These might qualify for a title with a superlative!