The Encouragement Blog

Christmas colors are red and green. Yet why is it that this time of years causes The Blues?  The Blues; despair, longingness, unmet expectations, fear of hoping for something that Santa doesn’t deliver…The Blues. Christmas time, the Holidays, all the schmaltzy Hallmark movies, the expectations of romance and family harmony are rolled into one big Madison Avenue advertisement for happiness…yet,

Thanksgiving Day is a favorite holiday for most Americans. It is loved by most because it involves copious amounts of really good food, desserts, football games and a little wine. Of course, for some of us, it also means dealing with family members like crazy Uncle Ralph or siblings that are on opposite sides of the political spectrum. Still, most

What does the Cross tell us about ourselves and about God? If we broke the law but received a summons in the mail from the NYPD, we might not consider our crime is not all that serious. If we found out that the NYPD had put out an APD (All Points Bulletin) on us, we would immediately know it is

  There is a moving story about a young girl in Chicago who was killed by a stray bullet during a drive-by shooting. Her organs were donated to six different persons. Each person came together with the mother of the slain girl to celebrate their happiness and joy because recipients had been given new life because of the death of

We have been unpacking 1 Corinthians 13, Paul’s treatise on Love, and looking specifically at what Henry Drummond taught in his essay on this chapter entitled, “The Greatest Thing in the World.”  This month we approach one of the hardest virtues: “Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth” We have summarized it: Good Thoughts. What is

Jesus and the Apostle Paul place a great deal of emphasis on being a “Son” of God and being called into “Sonship” with Christ (See Matthew 5:9; Luke 6:35; John 12:36; Romans 8:14 & 9: 26; Galatians 3:26 & 4: 4-6). For many women, these passages and references to the Son and Sonship irritate and sometimes cause women to turn

All of us remember when someone believed in us and by doing so, restored us and made us a better person. Maybe it was the football coach who called the same pass play after we dropped the touchdown pass on the exact play moments before. Or, after we burned the birthday cake our mothers kindly gave us another Betty Crocker

We are all bombarded with self-help programs; programs to treat violent anger, addiction, and other behavioral abnormalities. Sometimes our anger management classes bump into our 12-Step AA and NA schedules. If we are not in group therapy, we are in book clubs that discuss Stephen Covey’s Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. Most of these give good advice and counsel.

As we unload what Henry Drummond wrote in his essay on Love entitled; The Greatest Thing in the World, we come to a BIGGIE…Good Temper/Bad Temper. Little needs to be said about Good Temper since we all know how pleasant and wonderful it is to around someone who is Good Tempered. They are kind, patient and really cut us a

Many people around the world admire Jesus. They like Jesus because they feel He taught a moral and ethical philosophy that is in tune with their lifestyle and outlook on life. Jesus’ teachings of loving your neighbor as yourself, forgiving others and treating others, as you would like to be treated, resonates with people as wisdom and words to live