What Are You Crowing About?

A rooster named Chanticleer was a vain bird who prided himself on his accomplishments. He was most proud of the fact that his crowing each morning caused the sun to rise. Every morning he crowed. And every morning the sun rose. 

One morning Chanticleer overslept. When he awoke, he was surprised to see the sun was already up and it happened without any help from him. He then realized he could not honestly take credit for the rising of the sun each day. However, there was something else he could do. Chanticleer declared, “If by my crowing I cannot bring in the dawn, then by my crowing I can celebrate its coming.” (Amazing Stories & Daily Devotionals, Day 319)

What have you been crowing about? When Peter crowed about being more dedicated than the other disciples, the rooster crowed to remind him that he had just denied Jesus three times (Matt. 26:33-34,75). Pride loves to brag about its strength. Humility brags about its weakness. Paul said, “Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may dwell in me” (2 Cor. 12:9).

 It’s tempting to talk about our achievements, but it’s better to keep silent and let the accomplishments speak for themselves. A chicken lays one egg and cackles about it, while a salmon lays ten thousand eggs and doesn’t say a word. Proverbs 27:2 says, “Let another person praise you, and not your own mouth. Let the praise come from a stranger and not your own lips.”

Humility recognizes everything we have comes from God and He deserves the credit for everything He does through us. Jesus said, “Apart from Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). You can’t take credit for what God does, but like Chanticleer, you can praise Him for doing it. That’s humility. Shining the spotlight on God and celebrating all that He has done.  www.kentcrockett.blogspot.com  www.makinglifecount.net  

This week’s VIDEO TEACHING  In this video Dr. Brian Thomas explains how tissues found inside dinosaur fossils disprove millions of years of evolution The Fossilization of Dinosaur Bones (click to watch) 

The Girl Who Always Ate Alone

Jim Burns, author of the book Radically Committed, said that a girl named Marie had been in his classes ever since elementary school. By the time they were seniors, Jim had never spoken to her. 

 

She was smart, but not very attractive. Kids often made fun of her. Marie lived around the corner from Jim growing up, but they never once walked home together.  

  

After Jim became a Christian, the Lord convicted him about loving others as Jesus would. One day at lunch during his senior year, he walked past Marie, who was eating alone. He stopped to ask her a question. She looked at him as if to ask, Why would a snob like you talk to me after all these years?  

The next day he brought some of his friends together to eat lunch with Marie. Their little group ended up eating with Marie for a week, and they invited her to come to a Christian Campus Life Club meeting. After quietly considering their invitation, she cautiously told them, “Well, …okay.”  

 

One day after a club meeting, Marie asked him, “Why are you doing this? No one has ever eaten lunch with me since the seventh grade until your friends sat with me last month.” She had eaten alone at school every day for over five years. Jim told her that he had recently become a Christian and God had moved his heart to reach out to her.  

  

Eight years later, Jim spoke at a Campus Life camp in California. After his talk, one of the leaders walked up to him and asked, “Do you remember me?” Jim knew she looked familiar, but before he could answer, she said, “I’m Marie. I’m now in charge of the Women’s Ministry for an entire county in Southern California.” Then she added, “Thanks for having lunch with me years ago.” 

  

Jim was at a loss for words. He said that all he could do was cry. (MORE Amazing Stories & Daily Devotionals) 

  

Do you know anyone like Marie? Someone who is a loner? Maybe someone who everyone else overlooks? That might be the person the Lord wants you to reach out to by sharing the gospel. You never know what God will do in that person’s life if you’ll just make an attempt to connect. Jesus said, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matt. 22:39). It might begin by talking to someone who is eating alone in the cafeteria. www.kentcrockett.blogspot.com  www.makinglifecount.net

 

VIDEO TEACHING OF THE WEEK  Each week I will post a new video teaching. In this week’s video Allen Parr interviews Dr. Jeremiah Johnston about The Top 10 Biblical Archaeological Discoveries.  (click to watch) 

The Fake Football Playbook

 Just before the 1999 football game between the Oklahoma Sooners and the Texas Longhorns, one of Texas’s student assistants saw a playbook laying on the field. 

He picked it up and was excited to see it contained Oklahoma’s offensive plays. He gave it to Longhorns defensive coordinator, Carl Reese. The Longhorns thought they’d caught a huge break.  

What the Texas coach didn’t know was the playbook contained fake plays drawn up by Oklahoma’s offensive coordinator, Mike Leach. Leach put Oklahoma’s offensive assistant Cale Gundy’s name at the top of it, as if it were Gundy’s copy of OU’s plays. To make it look official, he had it laminated. Leach made up phony plays the Sooners didn’t even have in their system. Then an OU player “accidentally” dropped the sheet where it could be easily found by the Texas coaches.  

Leach knew if Texas believed the fake plays were real, Oklahoma could trick them by calling other plays. The plan worked. Oklahoma jumped ahead 17-0 before Texas realized they had been duped. Texas defensive back Ahmad Brooks said, “That game might’ve been the most bizarre experience I ever had as a college football player…it was complete confusion.” Texas changed their game plan and eventually won the game.  

Mike Leach’s plan would NOT have worked if he handed the playbook to the Texas assistant coach, saying, “Here are the plays we’re going to call.” Instead, he cleverly made the Texas coach think he discovered it on his own. In that way, the plays appeared to be real when they were actually fake. (MORE Amazing Stories & Daily Devotionals) 

 

Satan has “deceived the whole world” (Rev. 12:9) by tricking people into believing his playbook called “evolution”, “gender-affirming care” and “pro-choice.” Isaiah 5:20 says, “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil.” The devil doesn’t openly reveal his plans, but he cleverly lets people discover his playbook, making them think they’ve found the truth. If he can fool them into believing his lies, they won’t lose a football game—they’ll lose their souls.

 

Don’t let Satan deceive you. Always be discerning about everything you hear and read because “we are not unaware of Satan’s schemes” (2 Cor. 2:11). www.kentcrockett.blogspot.com  www.makinglifecount.net  

VIDEO TEACHING OF THE WEEK  Each week I will post a new video teaching. This week’s video disproves evolution. Dr. Stephen Meyer discusses What is Intelligent Design? (Click to watch)