"Do you go see anyone empty-handed?"

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A grandmother was giving directions to her grown grandson coming to visit her. She said, “You come to the front door of the apartment complex. I’m in apartment 14-T. There is a big panel at the door. With your elbow, push button 14-T. I’ll buzz you in. Come inside, and you’ll find the elevator on your right. Get in the elevator, and with your elbow, hit 14. When you get out, I’m on the left. With your elbow, hit my doorbell.”

“Grandma,” says the grandson, “that sounds easy, but why am I hitting all these buttons with my elbow?”

And the grandmother says, “Well, you’re not coming empty-handed, are you?”

You know, the great thing about God visiting us is that God never comes empty-handed. There are always more than enough blessings for that day. And God knows how to find us without directions!

So when you receive a blessing today, just know that its God visiting you as you listen to life and make a life, not just a living.

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"What do you know? And how do you know it?"

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I told you yesterday about my friend whose dog died and his wife and daughters were away. So his wife told the girls about the dog’s death. Their grief was buffeted by the 10-week old puppy they were sitting. And it was a unique occasion for the mom to talk about death with them.

The mom asked one of the daughters, “So do dogs go to heaven?”

The daughter thought for a moment and then said, Of course not, Mom.”

“Why do you say that?” the mom asked.

“Why Mom,” the daughter. “How can they go to heaven? Everyone knows there’s no such thing as a preacher-dog to do the funeral.”

I never really thought about it that way, have you? But to this little girl, her logic made perfect sense and she just couldn’t understand why her Mom didn’t know this already.

I’ll bet that sometime in your past, you were as sure of something as this little girl, but today, you have a different perspective. Life is like that, isn’t it? Ask God to show you the eternal perspective as you make a life today.

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"Is life a God-thing?"

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I called a friend recently for our standing Saturday morning talk. He wasn’t having a good morning.
“I woke up this morning to find our dog dead,” he said. “So I had to bury him.”

“I’m so sorry,” I said. He went on to tell me that his wife and two daughters were out of town and he dreaded having to tell them. But he had told his wife and she would have to do it alone.

“But something happened,” he said. “Some friends of ours asked the girls to dog-sit their 10-week old puppy for the weekend. So the girls slept with this puppy between them last night and they get to play with him for a couple of more days. Do you think that God sent this puppy to comfort my daughters?”

“Sure sounds like a God-thing to me,” I told him.

When were you hurting from a loss or disappointment and God sent someone to comfort you? Sure, that was a God-thing, too.

Make a life, not just a living today and know that God is with you in all the times of your life.

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"Is your slip showing?"

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Last month I told you about my “illegal operation” computer experience during a presentation. That story prompted someone who listens to life with us through our website at www.ListentoLife.org to write about a presentation experience she had. It seems her presentation included links and one link wasn’t cooperating. So she sat down to work the screen for a moment. She leaned forward in her chair, which had rollers for feet, and you know what happened next—that’s right, the chair flipped out from under her and she sat down, sprawled on the floor. 

She doesn’t have good knee strength which meant she had to get on all fours to try to get up. So here she is crawling along, trying to get up, while her audience is gasping. She tells them, “Don’t worry. Only my dignity is hurt, but what an attention-grabber!”

They all laugh, including her, reminding her that no matter how foolish she looks in life, God looks after her and still loves her through it all.

So no matter what happens to you today, laugh, and make a life, not just a living.

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"Today’s Labor Day. What do you do for a living?"

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It’s Labor Day, that day we annually set aside to honor those who labor in the U.S. So what’s your labor? What do you do for a living?

One day recently a delivery person for a shipping company came by my office. As I usually do with just about everyone, I struck up a conversation about his day.

He told me about a previous stop in delivering a package to an office. The secretary there started telling him about some problem in her life. Even though these folks are on tight schedules, he took the time to listen carefully, and be interested in what she was saying. It was if she had been waiting for him to come so she could unload.

When he started to leave, he said some encouraging words to her, and then said, “I’ll pray for you.”
“You deliver more than packages, don’t you?” I said. “You deliver blessings as well.”

Does your labor deliver blessings as well? Make a life, not just a living as you listen to life on Labor Day for what God has to say.

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