Excellence may become the forgotten attribute in our casual-obsessed culture. We seem to be mired in a mundane malaise of mediocrity.

The Philippine Islands are a main source for expensive pearls including “The Pearl of Allah,” which was proclaimed to be the world’s largest pearl at the time it was discovered.

Child training is the most obviously neglected element in raising children today. To be more precise, intentional and purposeful training is the most neglected element. The truth is every day through every social interaction with our children, we are training them in ways good or bad. By what we allow and or do not allow, we are conditioning and building habits and character traits into the lives of our children. The question is not if we are training, but how we are training. Sometimes, the question may even be: Who is training who?

A few days ago I received a call from my credit card company’s fraud department. As I spoke with the representative, he began to verify some recent activity on my account. As he went through the list, there were two charges that I did not recognize. One was for $1.75, it was an online purchase from some company in the United Kingdom and the other was also an online purchase of over $1,200.00 to some construction company. I assured him those were not mine and he informed me that I was the victim of credit card fraud and my number had been stolen. He then immediately shut down my account and had new cards sent overnight for my wife and me.

I believe it is the goal and desire of every Christian parent to raise children who will love the Lord, the church, and mom and dad. Certainly this is no easy task and requires much prayer, grace, and deliberate effort.

I don’t mean hand off all your work. I mean, if there are those who can and are willing to help you, prioritize those tasks that only you can do and ask someone else to do those other tasks that someone else can do.

Sermon outline: This is an abbreviated outline.The complete sermon is downloadable at the bottom of the post.

Recently, one of the missionaries sent from our church laboring in Europe contacted me. He was discouraged because there was a recent decline in the attendance of his work.

Sermon outline: This is an abbreviated outline with the complete sermon downloadable at the bottom of the post.

For the past 21 years, it has been the joy of my life to be married to my wife, Teri. Together, the Lord has blessed us with seven children and years of wonderful memories and experiences.