A ROCKY FOUNDATION

A Scottish pastor once called on an aged saint. She handed the minister a Bible and asked him to read a portion to her. As the minister turned the pages he noticed that in the margins had been written the letters T and TP. He asked the old lady what these letters signified. She answered, “Observe that they are always placed opposite some promise of God. T. Means “tried,” and TP means “tried and proven.” She had learned to feed on God’s word. She had appropriated the promises to herself ( Gleanings in Exodus by Arthur Pink ). Psalm 34 is a song of gratitude sang by David after God brought him out of a “close call” situation. The song is founded on his personal experience and it is a joyful address to his companions and to all who will read his words. David had found protection from God and he had evidence of his goodness. He is now recommending to others lessons derived from his own experience. The entire Psalm repeats the theme, “I’ve received God’s blessings, you can too!” In v...

                                          Ted Bundy a serial killer granted an interview to Dr. James Dobson. At the time of the interview he was on death row in Florida and was scheduled to die there a short time later. Ted had one thing on his mind and wanted to let the public in on his secret. He became addicted to pornography at a young age, and his obsession with it led him to a life of crime and brutal murder by the age of twenty-seven. He spoke of how he became hooked by exposing himself to explicit material and from that point, he led a life out-of control. His obsession was fairly tame and soft-core, but it engulfed him over time and became stronger and stronger. Soon, he was insatiable, and he needed more and more pornography and more hard-core material. When that no longe...

   An Eskimo fisherman came to town every Saturday afternoon. He always brought his two dogs with him. One was white and the other was black. He had taught them to fight on command. Every Saturday afternoon in the town square the people would gather and these two dogs would fight and the fisherman would take bets. On one Saturday the black dog would win; another Saturday, the white dog would win but the fisherman always won! His friend asked him how he did it. He said, “I starve one and feed the other. The one I feed always wins because he is stronger” ( Billy Graham 1988). In Philippians 4:6 Paul tells the Philippians not to be anxious about anything but to pray about everything. He assures them that if they do this, his peace would guard their hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Phil 4:7). Paul’s final technique for overcoming worry is to control their thought life. Since worry and anxiety are conditions of the mind, one of the best remedies is to push them aside wit...