My father taught me “to expect the best and to prepare for the unexpected.” My father was a railroad man for the Seaboard Airline Railroad, now CRX, for 33 years. He spent years as a switchman until he decided he wanted more for his life and career. He got ahold of the Dale Carnegie book, How to Win Friends and Influence People. He was so inspired that he enrolled in the Dale Carnegie Course. He found a way to impress his bosses by drawing a detailed map of all the unmarked rail spurs that went behind warehouses and manufacturing plants throughout the Miami-Dade County area. He was soon promoted to Assistant Yard Master. He joined the Toastmasters International organization, not to give speeches but to gain self-confidence when talking with people. He became Yard Master. Then in 1965, the unexpected happened.

This all came to mind when I came across a quote from Dale Carnegie this week, “First ask yourself: What is the worst that can happen? Then prepare to accept it. Then proceed to improve on the worst.” That seemed a little grim to me. I liked my father’s admonition better. Expect the best in people, opportunities, and circumstances first and foremost. Likewise, be prepared for the unexpected—the unpleasant surprise, the disappointing result, or the unimaginable experience. In 1965 my father received a call from the railroad company’s office in Birmingham, Alabama. He was offered a new position with the railroad to negotiate contracts with new companies needing to ship their goods. One requirement the company had of him was to learn to play golf. One requirement he had of the railroad was for him to keep his seniority if things did not work out. After four years, he decided to give up golf and go back to the railroad yards. He became General Yard Master over the Atlanta yards, eventually becoming a Terminal Train Master overseeing South Carolina. 

There is a difference in our starting points—best or worst. We are a people of hope. We expect to see the best of life now and in the future. Others are a people of worst-case scenarios. They expect the worst outcome and plan accordingly, hoping against hope that something better happens. I prefer Paul’s prayer for us in Romans 15:13.

Keep healthy. Pray mightily. Enjoy your life today. Expect the best. And let’s experience the love and power of God together while apart.

For my whole life I have successfully avoided quicksand. What happened to all the quicksand? I have never even seen a quicksand pit. My mind went down this profound rabbit hole while studying for last week’s sermon based on Psalms 9 and 10. In those psalms, David writes of falling into a pit set for the prey. I grew up in a time where quicksand was everywhere, according to movies and tv shows. There was quicksand in the jungles, on tropical islands, in the desert, in the deep woods and in the old West. I think even Lassie had to rescue Timmy from the quicksand once. Someone should have kept a better eye on Timmy. The plot was always the bad guys would stumble upon some quicksand and use it to catch the good guys, or for a damsel to become distressed. Someone always showed up to pull them out of the sinking sand. The damsel was always rescued, and the bad guys were trapped in the quicksand until they were arrested or drowned. 

While I’ve never seen quicksand, I have seen sinkholes. Sinkholes and quicksand sort of work on the same principle—agitated water undermines the ground soil. I have also learned that quicksand, sinkholes, and pits are metaphors for the traps we get ourselves into. Take social media, like Facebook and Instagram, for instance. We join in the fun of seeing family and friends, but we can quickly find ourselves sucked into the sinking sands of reposting sort of funny stuff. If we are not careful, we may find our selves “doom scrolling” through some dark alleyways, ridiculing embarrassed people caught (or set up) for shame, or just plain gossiping about people, whether they are famous, family, or friends of friends. Many of those pithy, satirical political posts, and artful humble brags are really designed to undermine other people’s self-esteem and tangle them up in faulty logic and false equivalencies. 

Any time anyone posts something that begins, “I don’t know if this is true or not, but if it is…” is gossiping. Clever gossip is still bearing a false witness. Paul reminds us that we are to be careful (even on social media), for we are witnesses to God’s truth. Read Ephesians 4:25-32. The old hymn reminds us every time we hear it, “From sinking sands He lifted me. With tender hand He lifted me.” 

Keep healthy. Pray mightily. Enjoy your life today. Be careful around quicksand. And let’s experience the love and power of God together while we are apart. 

. Bro. Darryl 

In Psalm 3, King David is upset with his son Absalom for staging a coup to dethrone him. David had to flee for his life from the palace in Jerusalem. David prays, Deliver me, O my God! Strike all my enemies on the jaw; break the teeth of the wicked. He was upset. What a painful thing to pray, even if the wicked deserve it. Broken teeth are no laughing matter. 

When the missionaries learned that it was my 50th birthday weekend, they took me to a moderate restaurant near downtown Ndjamena in Chad. They ordered pizza and cautioned me not to eat the salad. During the dinner conversation I cracked a tooth on an olive pit. It was Saturday night. I was upset. I was scheduled to preach the next morning in the largest church in that capitol city. With much prayer and a couple of aspirin, the service went well. After church they drove me to a small village where they asked the American dentist to have a look. He took me to his small house where he had a vintage 1960’s dental office. He patched up my tooth and sent us back to town. I was thankful. I had to have a crown on the tooth after I returned to Tulsa. One stressful year I told my dentist that I was resigning from his “crown of the month club.” I had four crowns in five months that year. He told me my teeth were getting old. 

During this year of COVID-19, dentists are reporting a major spike in cracked and broken teeth. Not only are their patients not having their regular appointments (and they can understand why), but people are clenching their jaws so strongly, day and night, that their teeth are breaking. People are upset. We are upset with our circumstances, cancelled plans, the state of our politics and the condition of some of our relationships. 

David was honest when he prayed. God can handle our emotions, clenched teeth and all. There are so many of these prayers in the book of Psalms that scholars have given them a name—imprecatory prayers. The name comes from imprecation—to call down a curse, misfortune, or judgment upon someone. Jesus came to show us a better way to live, act and pray. Read Matthew 5:33-48 and trust His way. 

Keep healthy. Pray mightily. Enjoy your life today. Relax your jaw. And let’s experience the love and power of God together. 

Bro. Darryl