Join us as we explore the Book of Proverbs in 31 days!
Ever wish you were better at life?
Better at relationships or self-direction or even finances?
Or maybe you've wished there were some secret toolbox you could access for when things get really hard.
Good news! There is such a thing.
Solomon was the wisest man who ever lived, and he was kind enough to pass along some of his wisdom in the book of Proverbs. For the month of August we are going to explore a chapter of his book each day to see what we can learn and put to use. We'd love to have you join us.
For the past several months it's been pretty much impossible for all of us to be together, yet we think it's super important that we all stay together. That's one reason we are inviting "you" to be a part of "us" as we tackle this project together. Our goal is to get as many people involved as possible, so we hope that you will sign up. Each morning we'll hit your inbox with a fresh email reminder along with some inspirational thoughts to help you add some new tools to your box.
Day 31 - Proverbs 31
by: Kim Rushing
01/31/2022
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Day 30 - Proverbs 30
by: Kim Rushing
01/31/2022
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You've heard a "three wish" joke before. The jokes follow various formats, but usually go something like this:
Three men are stranded on a deserted island when a lamp washes up on shore. A genie pops out and offers each man a wish.
Man #1 wishes to be in Paris, and he is immediately transported to Paris.
Man #2 wishes to be in New York, and sure enough, he finds himself in NYC.
Man #3 is now lonely so he wishes he and his friends could be together again...
But what if you
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Day 29 - Proverbs 29
by: Kim Rushing
01/31/2022
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When I saw this cartoon, I had to laugh and hopefully you got a chuckle out of it too. If there is one thing this guy in the cartoon will get it is a “stiff neck”. The past five years or so I’ve have had a problem with getting a stiff neck if I sit on the couch wrong or if my pillow is too flat. But there is a difference between having a stiff neck and being stiff-necked. In today’s proverb verse one right away talks about it.
Proverbs 29:1 (NIV) A man who remains stiff-n
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Day 28 - Proverbs 28
by: Kim Rushing
01/31/2022
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Does anyone remember the Ford Pinto?
Maybe you owned one. If so, we're glad you're alive to remember. Not everyone who drove a Pinto was so fortunate.
Back in the late 60's/early 70's Ford designed and released their entry into the subcompact car market. And over 2 million people bought one of the three models available. But then the accidents started happening. And Pintos started catching on fire or even exploding. People started asking questions.
Design flaws in the
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Day 27 - Proverbs 27
by: Kim Rushing
01/31/2022
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The neighborhood where I grew up had a lot of kids.
Randy Dykema - he lived right across the street and was my best friend (on a totally unrelated note, my parents planned to name me Randy until the neighbor's "stole" the name).
Sue Wells - she lived next door and she played baseball with all the boys, and she was better than most of them.
Doug Kennedy - he and my brother were the world's biggest Tigers fans and listened to most of their games on the radio.
Fremont Utter
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Day 26 - Proverbs 26
by: Kim Rushing
01/31/2022
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Dogs vs. cats
In 2018 the General Social Survey for the first time asked people about their pet ownership. They uncovered some interesting data:
The percent of people who said they were very happy by type of pet owned...
36% dog owners28% of dog and cat owners18% of cat owners 32% of people who did not own petsNow, I find these numbers interesting. Obviously they tell us that a person has more chance of being very happy if he/she owns a dog. So get a dog. Or don't - you c
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Day 25 - Proverbs 25
by: Kim Rushing
01/31/2022
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When I (Brent) was a kid we lived in northwest Indiana, right outside of Chicago. Many days my dad would come home for lunch and ask if I wanted to go to the Cubs game. If we ate fast and traffic was good we could get there in time for the first pitch (they played a lot of afternoon games because Wrigley Field didn't have lights). The Cubs weren't any good, so the tickets were plentiful. Still, with all those trips to see the Cubs, I grew up a White Sox fan.
So you ca
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Day 24 - Proverbs 24
by: Kim Rushing
01/31/2022
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Growing up as a High School kid I (Mark Manzer) went to a camp in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan called Gitche Gumee Bible Camp. My family only lived 45 minutes away so we would be up there a lot volunteering or going to evening services. My older brother Tim was one who was always looking for ways to pull pranks on people so the summer he worked at Gitche he would look for ways to prank the “downstate kids”. One Saturday night he convinced me to be apart of his plans…
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Day 23 - Proverbs 23
by: Kim Rushing
01/31/2022
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I love Colorado. Absolutely love it.
Except for one thing. I am not all that fond of driving in Colorado. Especially on some of those mountain roads. Especially on CO 82 between Aspen and Buena Vista. There are two reasons for that.
1. The road gets very skinny in some places and you have to drive far closer to the edge than is appropriate in my estimation. In fact, in some places it is so skinny that if you meet a car coming from the other direction, one of you has
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Day 22 - Proverbs 22
by: Kim Rushing
01/31/2022
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Proverbs 22 brings us to the end of Solomon's 375 proverbs, although there are more to come. The section ends in the middle of the chapter, verse 16, before introducing a new section entitled "Thirty Sayings of the Wise."
In general, this section seems to be thematically about generosity--giving to the poor, oppression of the poor, and what ultimate wealth looks like. There are a few verses that don't align with the theme (for example, verse 13 gives an incredible excuse f
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Day 21 - Proverbs 21
by: Kim Rushing
01/31/2022
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I suppose that if you dug back through anyone's ancestry far enough you might find a person of some significance somewhere in the family tree. In my case, that person is James Longstreet, a general who served in the Civil War for the Confederacy.
While Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson were the most known of the South's generals, Longstreet was just beneath them seniority and was a major player. His legacy, however, was tainted by his performance at the Battle of Gett
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Day 20 - Proverbs 20
by: Kim Rushing
01/31/2022
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The past five or so months have been difficult for sports fans. First, the college basketball conference tournaments were cancelled, then March Madness fell victim to the pandemic. The NBA and NHL seasons were suspended. Major league baseball was postponed. All this left viewers with nothing to watch - and nothing to argue about. (My brother resorted to watching marble racing, and I'm being serious.) Finally, golf reappeared, and little by little other sports have co
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Day 19 - Proverbs 19
by: Kim Rushing
01/31/2022
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Let's just get right to the point today.
Today's wisdom:
Don't be in a hurry!
That's difficult to hear, especially in today's world.
Author Richard Swenson wrote this:
"Just take a look at our lives...We send packages via Federal ExpressUse a phone company called SprintManage our finances with QuickenSchedule our appointments in a DayRunnerDiet with Slim FastAnd swim in trunks made by Speedo!"
We're definitely in a hurry. But is this wise?
19:2
It is not good to have zeal withou
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Day 18 - Proverbs 18
by: Kim Rushing
01/31/2022
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Some older readers may recognize the name Paul Harvey. He was an iconic radio broadcaster made famous by his daily three-minute segments called "The Rest of the Story." The set-up was simple. Harvey would tell a familiar story but add an unknown twist at the end. For example, he once told the story about an old monastery down in Texas that became a bar, and was nicknamed "The Cottonwood" because of it's location in a grove of trees. But then the bar was bought by the
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Day 17 - Proverbs 17
by: Kim Rushing
01/31/2022
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For whatever reason, my wife has always wanted to see a bear. In person. In the wild. Several summers ago we vacationed in the Smoky Mountains and did a lot of hiking – so seeing a bear on her wish list. We found a few animal prints in some mud that we were pretty sure were bear tracks, but we never saw a bear.
So you can imagine her disappointment when the other day she heard someone talking about his recent visit to the Smokies and his encounter with a bear. Really.
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