King David had seen battles, bears, and giants who carried spears and wanted him dead. Yet in all these conflicts, he knew how to trust in God. He wrote, “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.” (Psalm 20:7)

The meaning of this verse is that in his battles, even with a giant, he didn’t depend on his own weapons, he knew to lean on God.

Trust is not a natural thing. We need to know that things will work out as they should. Once as I was on a plane about to take off, there was a lady sitting across the aisle from me and she started weeping. She was openly, but silently crying. The flight attendant stooped beside her and tried to give her assurance. Finally, she encouraged the lady to take an anti-anxiety pill. Between her tears, the lady responded, “I already have.”

When we sit in a chair, we want to know that it will hold us. When we take a trip, we want to know that our car is able to bring us back home safely. When we fly on a plane, we have to trust and have confidence that the plane will bring us home safely. The need to trust is all around us.

Trust is also a fundamental aspect of our relationship with God. We are called to trust in God’s plan for our lives and trust that He will guide us in the right direction. Trust in God means that we surrender our fears and doubts, and put our faith in His promises. Proverbs 3:5-6 says “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” 

Trusting in God will bring peace.

As God’s children, we should not trust our chairs or our cars more than we trust God.

Lonnie Davis

The Power of Pennies, or how small things turn into big things.

You’ve heard the old adage, “A Penny Saved is a Penny Earned?”

One penny? Really?  Yes!

Remember the question of Zechariah 4:10, “Who dares despise the day of small things?”

Some years ago I was counseling a family, who despite their good income, was always broke. I asked the father, “Can you save a dime out of every dollar?” Without hesitating, he responded with a firm “No.”

He was right! If a person is always broke, they are not saving a dime out of every dollar. The question did not ask if a dime can be saved, but rather “Can YOU save a dime?” He knew his story.

I changed the question and asked again. “Can you save one penny out of every dollar?” He quickly affirmed that he could.

The problem with that answer is that I knew the truth, but he did not. The correct answer is that he could NOT save a penny. If he could save even a penny, then he would not be in debt. If you take all you can earn and all you can borrow on credit cards and spend it, then you are broke. If you never learn to save a penny then you will live hand to mouth and die penniless.

Yes, a penny saved is a penny earned, because you will always start the next day of your life with one more penny that you didn’t have last yesterday.

This story works much better if you save a dime.

A man or woman who earns $40,000 dollars a year and saves a dime a dollar, will have $4,000 to start off the next year.

Many folks can’t do that. According to a 2021 survey, 58% of American families do not have $1,000 saved. Resolve to be better than that. Save a dime. If you can’t, then start with a penny.

Lonnie Davis

Somewhere I read, “If you would be successful, do the things that are hard and lonely.” Everyone can do fun things, social things, or easy things. Anyone can watch a football game with a friend or go to a movie with a special person. These things are fun and social for most of us. Doing them will bring us no lasting success. 

Few people are willing to do the hard things, the lonely things. Few people are willing to spend time alone memorizing math formulas so those who do are thought of as smart. Few people are willing to set up at night with the television off and memorize passages from God’s word. To get ahead in your job or any part of your life, be willing to do the hard and lonely things. The fact that they are hard will mean you will be lonely in doing them, but doing those things will set you apart from the crowd. Do not curse the hard circumstances, but rather relish them as opportunities for victory.

Abraham Lincoln was reared in poverty. It was hard, but he was willing to overcome it. Franklin D Roosevelt was a victim of polio. Beethoven, one of the true musical geniuses of the world, was completely deaf. Their problems, their almost impossible circumstances simply meant they must work harder. They did the work, the hard and lonely work. We will always remember them. Never give up just because something is hard. The fact that circumstances are hard is what allows your victory to be great.

In the 17th century Anne Bradstreet put it beautifully, “If we had no winter; the spring would not be so pleasant; if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.”

There is a blessing to be gained from overcoming hard days.

Lonnie Davis

The title of this article ought to capture your attention. We all carry stress. We hate stress. Even folks who claim they work better under stress, don’t wake up on vacation and say, “How can I build stress today? 

Stress is not the standard setting for a healthy life. It gives us high blood pressure. It causes us to fret.  It even causes comfort eating, which causes weight gain. Maybe America is fat because we carry so much stress.

So what is this “great stress reliever?” Is if the faithful following of Ecclesiastes 9:10

“Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might.”

This is not a text that simply exhorts us to be a diligent worker at our job. It is also about doing what needs to be done when it needs to be done. It is about fixing the broken places when you first find they are broken.

Sometimes we only fix urgent things. We treat things like a slow leak on a car tire. If we just put air in that slow-leaking tire, we won’t need to worry about it for another week or two. So – we air up the tire and kick the problem down the road. Then one day what could have been fixed at our own timing becomes an emergency on the side of the road while traffic is busy and people somewhere are waiting on us. This is a stress-inducing situation. It could have been avoided if only you had done “whatever your hand finds to do” with your might and good timing.

I am saying this, not just to you, but also to me.

Lonnie Davis

The story is told of a lady who worked as a maid for a rich family. It was Christmas time and all the rich folks got gifts. Gifts included: a new television for one, a car for another, and a Rolex watch for another. Getting such nice gifts should have made them happy, but all they did was gripe, i.e. wrong color or “not exactly what I wanted.”

The maid was troubled by this and finally spoke out. “I can’t believe you can be unhappy with those wonderful gifts.” Pausing, she finally added, “If I just had one hundred dollars, I would be the happiest person in the world.”

The rich man gave her one hundred dollars and said, “Okay, here is $100.”

Of course, the maid was happy. She took the hundred dollars, thanked them, and skipped out of the room. As she got out of sight, she put the money in her pocket and said, “I wish I had said two hundred.”

Now this is just a story, but you have probably seen or done much the same thing. Truthfully, many folks are never satisfied. If we put our house or car up for sale and it sells too quickly, we say, “I probably didn’t ask enough.” If we ask for a raise and get it, we fret that we should have asked for more.

The point of this story is to remind us not to allow ourselves to fall into this trap of thinking. It can and does bring discontentment and unhappiness. When you find yourself in this situation, check your heart. Are you just wishing you had said two hundred?

Most of all, remember Ecclesiastes 5:10. “Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. This too is meaningless.”

Contentment is not just a word. It is a skill. Learn it.

Lonnie Davis

Choosing Your Table

Today’s thought is one that I share so that my kids and my kids’ kids might remember it. I call it “Choosing your Table.”

I read the story of one young girl who announced her lofty life ambitions to her family. One by one the family members laughed at her improbable dreams but when she told her grandfather he had true words of wisdom. 

He said, “Life is like a big casino with many different gambling tables. There are $5 tables, $50 tables, and $1,000 tables. If you choose a $5 table and win big you will not do as well as if you win big at a $1,000 table. Your success depends on the table you choose.”

One thing we should take from this is not to be envious of the one who chose a higher stake than you. It was your choice. Always set your dreams high, you cannot reach if you never try. 

As you start your day, you should pray with the Psalmist: 

“May he give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed.” Psalms 20:4

Of course, as you set your dreams and goals you must always remember 1 Corinthians 10:31, “Whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”

Lonnie Davis

The story is told of one man who was called to bail his son out of jail. As he left for the jail, a nosey neighbor said, “If he were my kid, I’d leave him in jail.” The father answered, “If he were your kid, I’d leave him in jail too.”

One of the curses of being the oldest child is having kids before your siblings and listening to them tell you how to raise your child. You hear famous words like, “When I have kids, they will not…” One of the joys of being the oldest child is watching your younger siblings have children and seeing those children do exactly what their parents said they would never do. It is easier to discipline and control other people’s children better than you can your own.

To understand the principle behind this, one must read 1 Peter 4:8, “Love each other deeply, because love covers a multitude of sins. To be able to look past others’ faults, love them deeply. ”My kid’s sins are not as bad as yours kids sins, because I love my kids and “love covers a multitude of sins.” It is the way of love to look past faults and imperfections.

Mothers and fathers succeed or fail as parents because of this principle. Without this principle, the imperfections of those with whom we live nearly 24-7 become so glaring that the faults will drown out the good.

Husbands and wives succeed or fail as life-mates because of this love principle. Without this principle of love, the wonder of marriage changes to “I wonder what went wrong.”

Look one more time at that great text, 1 Peter 4:8, “Love each other deeply, because love covers a multitude of sins.”Now read it again and this time stop after the word “covers.” It now reads “Love each other deeply, because love covers…” Yes, it does. Love covers…whatever. That is the secret of living together in happiness. That is the principle of “love covers.”

Lonnie Davis

A father’s life is full of surprises. The other day I read the story of a father who walked up on his son and his dog. The dog, a full-grown Labrador named Kelly and the four-year-old boy named Josh had a wonderful relationship. Though the dog and the boy loved each other, the dog often had to put up with the boy. Josh loved to hug the dog. Kelly would take as much as he could, but would invariably turn around and nip at the boy to make him turn loose.

One day the father walked up just as Josh had Kelly in one of his big hugs. He had his arms around the dog and his head tucked into the dog’s body so that Kelly could not bite him so easily. As Dad walked by he noticed that Josh’s eyes were closed and heard him say a little prayer, “Dear God, please don’t let Kelly bite me.”

It was cute but the dad could not miss a chance to teach a lesson about prayer. “Josh,” the father said, “God would be more apt to answer your prayer if you would let go of the dog.”

We too are like the little boy holding on to the dog that he knows will bite him and praying that the dog won’t bite. We do things that will bite us, but don’t want to feel the bite. What do we do to stop the biting? We pray. I am all for prayer. It is the greatest thing in the world, but usually the answer is prayer plus something else. That something else is to stop doing the thing that is going to bring us pain.

We pray for a happy marriage and then neglect one another. We pray for peace and live life at a frantic pace.

On and on the list could go. Each of us should examine the things that we pray for and then decide what we can do to help make the prayers come true. Keep on praying, but do your part too.

Lonnie Davis

It was a Sunday morning. As I was getting ready for church, out of the corner of my eye I saw something red flying in my bedroom. I looked again and caught a quick glimpse of a wasp. I am a waspaphobic (I made up the word, but it is a fear of being stung by wasps). I quickly grabbed something with which to kill the wasp. Turning my head for just a minute allowing the wasp to disappear from sight. I closed the door and began my hunt. Nothing!

As it was getting time to go to church I was sure to keep the door closed when I left. Sunday afternoon was dedicated to a wasp hunt. Nothing! My wife even hunted him a time or two. Nothing! A few hours later and it was time for bed. With great trepidation I crawled into bed.

How does one sleep with a wasp in the room? The answer is “lightly.” When I did not see the wasp for two days and soon convinced myself that he went out of the house the same way he came into it. Tuesday morning at 2 AM I woke up and saw him back in my room. Just as quickly as he came, he disappeared again. I sat on the edge of the bed holding a fly swatter until 3 AM. It wasn’t until Friday that I saw and killed him. There was peace in my house again.

So, where did this wasp come from? Here is the answer: While I was gone on a vacation, the top part of my upstairs window, slide down a couple of inches. It was not noticeable, but someone pointed it out. When I saw the problem, I fixed it. In this story, I learned the three-step method for fixing problems.

1. Discover the source of the problem. You can find it yourself or get someone who sees it more clearly than you, but you have to find the source before you can fix it.

2. Fix the problem. Knowing the window was open won’t help unless I shut the window.

3. Clean out the consequences. I made sure there were no more wasps in the house.

Problem solved! Of course, it could come back, but this process works.

Discover, fix, and clean.  It is a process that works on just about any problem.

~Lonnie Davis

May 15, 2011

Years ago a farmer advertised for hired hands. 

As the farmer interviewed applicants for the job, a short, thin man, well past middle age, approached the farmer. “Are you a good farm hand?” the farmer asked him. Well, I can sleep when the wind blows,” answered the little man. Although puzzled by this answer, the farmer, desperate for help, hired him.

The little man worked well around the farm, busy from dawn to dusk, and the farmer felt satisfied with the man’s work. Then one night the wind howled loudly. Jumping out of bed, the farmer grabbed a lantern and rushed next door to the hired hand’s sleeping quarters.

He shook the little man and yelled, “Get up! A storm is coming! Tie things down before they blow away!” The little man rolled over in bed and said firmly, “No sir. I told you, I can sleep when the wind blows.”

Enraged by the response, the farmer was tempted to fire him on the spot. Instead, he hurried outside to prepare for the storm. To his amazement, he discovered that all of the haystacks had been covered. The cows were in the barn, the chickens were in the coops, and the doors were barred. The shutters were tightly secured. Everything was tied down. Nothing could blow away. 

The farmer then understood what his hired hand meant, so he returned to his bed to also sleep while the wind blew.

What is the lesson we should learn? Here it is: The storm will come!

Do your work in such a way that when the storm comes, you can still sleep.