KneEmail - a devotional by Mike Benson associated with Forthright Magazine
Kneemail - Adversity
WHEN THE X-RAY comes back and it doesn't look good, remember...God is still faithful... When you read that heart-breaking note from your mate, remember...God is still faithful. When you hear the worst kind of news about one of your...
WHEN WE THINK of Elijah, we never think of him as one who would doubt because he was strong and bold when he encountered the false prophets at Mount Carmel... He proved that God was the true God of...
WHENEVER I FIND myself wading through the pity pool, whining about how hard I have it, how unfair life can be, I am reminded of a phone call that took place several years ago... My cousin, my best friend...
WHAT IF SOMEONE knocked on your door today and asked, "Could I sell you some misery today...? What have all kinds for sale." Would you buy it? Of course not, but many of us, including me, have "bought" it...
IN HIS BOOK The Making of a Leader, Robert Clinton states that "conflict is a powerful tool in the hand of God and can be used to teach a leader lessons that he would not learn in any other...
THE BIBLE ACKNOWLEDGES the problem of anxiety... An awful lot of people's answer to anxiety is medication. I certainly don't want to make light of the very serious issues of anxiety with which many people must cope in their...
THE WORST DEFEAT in a college football game came on October 7, 1916, when Georgia Tech played Cumberland College of Tennessee... The final score was 222 to 0. The much smaller Cumberland players were mauled. Cumberland had discontinued its football...
I CANNOT OVERSTATE how frightning it is to lose a sense of control or influence... People will even choose to stay in familiar situations that they know are not working rather than face the ambiguity of the unknown. Many times...
MY DEAR FRIENDS..., You know around here we are experiencing hardships, but we thank the Lord He is comforting us and caring for us in every way. When we experience misfortune, adversity, distress and hardship, only then do we see...
"STAND STILL, AND see the salvation of the LORD..." Exodus 14:13 These words contain God's command to the Christian when he is reduced to great straits and brought into extraordinary difficulties. He cannot retreat; he cannot go forward; he is...
MARY KAY ASH encouraged her employees at Mary Kay with a an attitude of celebration and blessing... She signed hundreds of birthday cards offering free lunch and a free movie. She commemorated employees' "blessed events" such as weddings and babies...
LAST YEAR WHILE hiking in the mountains of North Georgia, I came across a very large unusually shaped brick... The brick was almost completely covered in green, fur-like vegetation. After I scraped the green goop away, I carefully inspected the...
IT WAS A fog-shrouded morning, July 4, 1952, when a young woman named Florence Chadwick waded into the water off Catalina Island... She intended to swim the channel from the island to the California coast. Long-distance swimming was not new...
IMAGINE A PERSON you love very much... They are a wonderful person and a terrific FRIEND - smart and capable. You have a great rapport, and enjoy the times you are together. You laugh together, and can share sorrows too....
WHY DOES A person enter military service...? Some want to travel and see the world. Others are thrill seekers who find the adventure (and danger) exhilarating. Quite a few choose a career in the service for financial rewards (college tuition,...
THE SALMON NEARLY leaped onto to their hooks... That was a far cry from the day before when the four anglers couldn't even seem to catch an old boot. Disappointed but not discouraged, they had climbed aboard their small seaplane...
NEHEMIAH RETURNED TO the ruins of Jerusalem to restore the city... He rallied the remnant people of Israel, and they immediately began rebuilding the wall. Several naysayers and antagonistic groups attempted to intimidate the workers and stall the work. Then...
HAVE YOU EVER felt truly alone...? After my father died, I gathered with our family at a funeral home to choose the casket and arrange specifics for the memorial service. As I drove away from the funeral home, I made...
WHENEVER YOU FIND yourself going through times of testing, there is always a reason...a very good reason... In fact, there are several reasons. Testing times are to: UNCOVER something: When God allows pressures and trials, it is so that you...
"...THE BEST WAY to manage conflict is to treat it as something normal and bring it out into the open where it can be handled fairly and constructively... Fighting openly keeps conflict from festering in insidious ways and gives those...
IT'S IMPORTANT TO be careful where you place your trust... Some barbers say "trust me" as half of your eyebrow falls into your lap. Some dentists say "trust me" as they drill down deeper than Exxon. Some postal workers say...
BARNA RESEARCH GROUP found that: . Eighty-two percent of regular Bible readers described themselves as "at peace" compared to 58 percent of those who said they never read the Bible. . Seventy-eight percent of regular Bible readers said they felt...
IN ANGOLA, WOMEN had an opportunity to enter a very different kind of beauty pageant... Contestants had to have been injured by land mines. In that African country, 80,000 people are amputees because of land mines, so it wasn't a...
IN THE NEW York Times Magazine, Nancy V. Raine told a story she heard twenty-five years earlier from a friend named George... In those days, work crews marked construction sites by putting out smudge pots with open flames. George's four-year-old...
DURING THE FIRST Gulf War, military strategists dropped bombs at night on our enemies... Even though bombing at night wasn’t as effective because it was harder to hit targets at night, the reason they did so was so that they...
GOD INSTRUCTED MOSES to return to Egypt and lead the Israelites out of bondage (Exo. 3)... The reason given by God for Moses' return to Egypt at this time was that God had "surely seen the oppression of My people...
JESUS TOLD THE twelve to get into a boat on the Sea of Galilee... As they started across the sea, everything was smooth and calm, and Jesus went to sleep. Suddenly a huge wind blasted on the sea and the...
COME WITH ME to worship service in Zimbabwe... It could be anywhere. It is desperately hot and this year the country was hit by a devastating drought. The children are hungry. Many haven't had a meal in two days. Everyone...
WHILE APPEARING ON a panel with other bereaved parents, I was surprised at how much I learned by listening... We were there to help a group of ministers help the grieving, but we ended up learning from one another. One...
ROBERT THE BRUCE became king of Scotland in 1306, when Scotland was at war with England -- and not doing too well... Legend tells how Robert took refuge in a cave to hide from the armies of England. While lying...
I ONCE VISITED the testing room of a large steel mill... I was surrounded by instruments and equipment that tested pieces of steel to their limits and measured their breaking point. Some pieces had been twisted until they broke, and...
WHO? DO NOT feel embarrassed if you have never heard of Dave Karaff... That's really the reason his is a sad tale. He is the scout who signed one of the biggest superstars in baseball, maybe one of the best...
EXHAUSTION OFTEN LEADS to burnout in both business and sports... Occasionally in the church, members work very hard and receive little appreciation. They may begin to feel tired, unappreciated, used -- even abused. The slightest criticism of this person can...
WHY DO BRETHREN fall away...? In some cases, they were so drawn to wantonness and worldliness that they raced headfirst back to their former lifestyles. Many others, however, are drowned in grief, sorrow, discouragement, loneliness, doubt, confusion and external pressures....
YEARS AGO, A farmer owned land along the Atlantic seacoast... He constantly advertised for hired hands. Most people were reluctant to work on farms along the Atlantic. They dreaded the awful storms that raged across the Atlantic, wreaking havoc on...
AT A MEETING of an umpire's convention, some of the participants gathered together for a late-night bull session... The question arose as to how they made difficult calls. One umpire said, "I call them the way I see them." The...