By GARY ANDREWS
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Being an emotional person and unable to hold back tears when something happens, whether good or bad, is a trait that many people have. I am one of those people and my sister is the same.
Tears of joy always fill my eyes when I am watching television and it is relating a story of a veteran coming home and seeing his family for the first time in many months. To see the tears of joy from his family, wife, and children brings out my tears because of the feelings that are going on at that time.  I guess I relish in the fact that tears of joy were shed when I had the opportunity of coming home from Vietnam and seeing my family and girlfriend, who is now my wife of 42 plus years. These are tears of happiness and no one should ever be ashamed of shedding them.
Then there are tears of sadness when someone is hurt or we lose a loved one. There have been  /times when I have had to be strong for my wife and my children in the loss of a parent and grandparent. Many times after this I have been by myself and shed many tears over these losses because I also lost loved ones. Crying is not anything new for me because I have done this all of my life. Through my years in the newspaper industry I have seen and witnessed stories of children being burned in house fires that I had never met and probably would have never met had their tragic stories not had happened. There have been stories of teenagers killed in automobile accidents and I grieved hard for the parents because I wonder how I could have lived had I lost one of my children. Even for these I have shed tears and prayed many times for the parents and grandparents. Most of the time I would shut the door to my office and take 15 or 20 minutes to sit behind my desk and regain my composure before I would speak to anyone. Having time alone with God is the best medicine for understanding that anyone could ask for.
In Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 we read that God has given us a time for every purpose under heaven.  We may not understand these times and our emotions are God given and we should show them without fear or reservation. Even the day I retired and left the newspaper industry for good I was happy and sad all over. I had tears of happiness and sadness at the same time but I understood this was one of the seasons that God had given me and I was to make the change.
One of the biggest moments of my entire life was when each of my children and two of my grandchildren walked the aisles of the church and publicly professed their acceptance of Jesus as their Lord and Savior. My eyes were full of tears, as was my wife’s, because we know that without any hesitation that when we leave this world we will rejoice in heaven because our children will be joining us at their appointed time. These were tears of great happiness.
When someone sees you shedding tears do not be upset or try to hide them. Tears are natural and God’s way of us showing emotion. There is an old saying, “Tears are words the heart can’t express.” How true this is. Remember tears are a language that God understands.
Prayer:  Lord thank you for another day of life and the opportunity to witness happiness and sadness. Guide me in the direction you would have me go and let me be the one that will lead someone to you. Thank you for the emotions that you have allowed me to have. Amen.
(Suggested daily Bible readings: Sunday – Ecclesiastes 3:1-22; Monday – Judges 10:11-14; Tuesday – Psalm 126:1-6; Wednesday – 2 Timothy 1:3-7; Thursday – Jeremiah 31:7-9; Friday – Revelation 21:1-4; Saturday – John 15:9-17.)
Gary Andrews is the author of Encouraging Words: 30-days in God’s Word. To obtain a copy go to his website www.gadevotionals.com.

By GARY ANDREWS
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Over the past several years there has been a pattern of social and worldly segments of the United States changing the opinions and even the constitution of this great country. Biblical Christians seem to be pushed further and further in the background and I feel this is because we refuse to speak up and take a stand.
I remember several years ago one family moved into a small community where the school system was rated one of the best in the state. Everyone got along well, the churches were flourishing, and each morning the students were allowed to pray over the school intercom. There was prayer at all sporting events and no one ever complained.
The children in this family enrolled in school and it wasn’t long before one of the parents complained about the prayer. The superintendent of the school stood firm on his conviction of Christianity however in the long run, with the help of the ACLU, the parent won her petition to stop prayer in the school.
There are many incidents like this going on in our Christian nation. Is it possible that we have become a nation of “lukewarm” Christianity? Is a possibility that one day our Christian heritage as we know it will only be something in history books because we as Christians did not have the faith to fight for God’s laws that He gave us to live by?
Revelation 3:15-16 tells us, “I know your works, that you are neither cold not hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.”(NKJV)
All of us need to realize that once we are saved we are accountable to God for our actions. It doesn’t matter what people think about us because we are responsible to God. One day each one of us will stand before Almighty God. He knows our hearts, our thoughts, and our every move.
How will He judge us on what we did to keep our nation a God fearing nation? From the inception of time God has allowed non-Christian leaders and others to take control of nations and lead them to the path of destruction. Only when Christian leaders called on the name of God did nations once again flourish and provide for its people. Our nation seems to be on the path of destruction unless we as Christians stand up for God’s law and not let man’s law overcome the world.
The legal system that said the community school couldn’t have prayer in school did allow that school to use it’s gymnasium to hold prayer services before school began. Almost every day it was a full house because it awakened the Christians in that community and surrounding areas to what had just been taken from them. Guess who attended the services? The children of the person that complained about prayer over the intercom.
What will you do today to further the kingdom of God in our nation?
Prayer: Father thank you for the time you have given me on this earth and for this Christian nation. I pray that I will your messenger to all that I come in contact with. Amen.
(Suggested daily Bible readings: Sunday – Nehemiah 8:1-12; Monday – 1 Timothy 1:3-11; Tuesday – Deuteronomy 17:8-13; Wednesday – Galatians 3:21-25; Thursday – Psalm 18:1-3; Friday – 2 Timothy 4:1-5; Saturday – 1 John 2:15-17.)
Gary Andrews is the author of Encouraging Words: 30-days in God’s Word. To obtain a copy go to his website www.gadevotionals. com.

By GARY ANDREWS
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My daddy always told me that “if you tell the truth, you never have to remember what you said.” How true this statement is even though many people would rather lie to you than face the truth.
I remember a time when I was a teenager and one of my brothers and I was wrestling in the hallway of my parents’ home. Being from a family of one girl and five boys sometimes these little skirmishes got to be pretty rough. Most of the time we could get away with these matches, when my parents weren’t home, and they would not suspect anything, unless one of us told on the other.
This particular day we hit the wall and punched a hole in the sheet rock and there was no way we were going to tell dad that we were fighting. I made up a story and told my dad, which he didn’t really believe, and hoped that we would get away from the sure punishment that would come should he find out the truth. The problem with my younger brother, since he wasn’t in the fight, is that he told dad what happened.
The truth seems to always find its way to the top. Being in the newspaper industry for 35 years I believe I have heard about every excuse there is to keep from printing the truth. For some people lying is just second nature to them and many will tell absolute fabrications instead of the truth, even when the truth would be easier on them.
Many of today’s politicians will expand or delete important numbers concerning their campaign, especially when they are running for office. They will tell you how they have fulfilled their promises as an incumbent or tell you how they are going to fix problems if they are elected. More times than not these promises have been broken and as a challenger you have no idea of how or what you will do once you are in office. All you are doing is speaking words and telling people what you want them to know.
This goes on in businesses, schools, churches, and many other places where the truth should be spoken at all times. All of us need to remember what we are told in Proverbs 19:5; “A false witness will not go unpunished, and he who speaks lies will not escape.”
How very true this is. Over my years of watching people fall to the wayside, many times this has come at the expense of their own speech. Having been on the receiving end of someone lying to me has caused me great pain and anguish of what I had to do when the truth came out. For me it was not fun and for them it was devastating because they were taken out of their field of work and it caused many to suffer, not just the one speaking.
When I busted the wall in my dad’s house and I told him a lie I expected the rod of instruction would come at me hard and often. To my surprise my dad looked me straight in the eye and told me how disappointed he was that I lied to him. This hurt me more that any whipping would have because I hurt him in my lying.
Never tell anything but the truth and you will never have to remember what you said. There is always one person who knows the truth and that is Jesus and one day you will tell Him why you were untruthful, unless you confess your sins to Him before hand and ask for His forgiveness.
Prayer: Please guide me Father in a path that I will always be truthful. Let me understand that my trust in you is always sufficient and I never have to depend on my selfish ways. Amen.
(Suggested daily Bible readings: Sunday – James 3:1-18; Monday – Deuteronomy 19:15-21; Tuesday – Matthew 26:59-64; Wednesday – Psalm 5:1-12; Thursday – Mark 14:53-59; Friday – Micah 6:9-12; Saturday – Daniel 11:20-28.)
Gary Andrews is the author of Encouraging Words: 30-days in God’s Word. To obtain a copy go to his website www.gadevotionals.com.

By GARY ANDREWS
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Several years ago I had the opportunity of coaching a ladies softball team. This was a slow-pitch team and there were many good athletes on this squad. In fact, most of them had played ball in community college and just wanted to continue playing as long as they could.
We were a good team and won a lot more games than we lost. These ladies would get down and dirty when it came to running, fielding, and even sliding into base. They had winning attitudes and it bothered them when we did not win.
After each game, I as their coach plus many of the players, would analyze our play and determine what we could improve on. It always came back to the same solution. Did we do the little things right? Were we a team that perfected the basic skills of running, catching, hitting, and throwing the ball?
If all of us would stop and think about it our lifestyle, integrity, character, attitude, and discipline is defined by the same standard we used with this ball team. Are you doing the little things that really matter?
Some of the time we get so busy in activities and work that we forget about the small things that makes life better. On occasions we seem to get up on the ‘wrong side of the bed’ and our attitude suffers all day long. When this happens we forget who we really are and dwell on what we do, whether it is our job or some other facet of life. We need to always remember that God values us for who we are and not what we do or are known for.
Our character suffers when our attitude is misplaced. The people you meet wants to know the real you and not some off-base, off-color version of you. We need to always remember than others determine our reputation, but we determine our character.
None of us need to get caught up in worldly attitudes or situations. Only you can protect your integrity and honesty and when you do this everybody will take notice. Many times when we fail it is because we planned to fail and not succeed.
The ladies ball team that I coached was successful because they wanted to be successful. In their practice sessions we used game like procedures and I never allowed them to get lazy. The secret to their success was their discipline to do the basics and the small things right. All of us have to realize that to succeed in life our first step must be commitment and make up our mind to discipline ourselves. Each morning we are allowed to wake up we should get our frustrations out of the way before we go into the world. It is our decision to what attitude we will have each and every day and to make every day a success because we paid attention to the little things. We all need to heed what the Psalmist tells us in chapter 25: 21; “May integrity and uprightness  protect me, because my hope is in you.” (Life Application Study Bible).
When we put our hope and trust in the Lord and lean on Him for everything that happens in our life then we are going to be disciplined in what we do and make sure all of the small things are taken care of.
Prayer: O God I praise you for every thing. Your blessings are tremendous and I pray that I can be the person you want me to be. Amen.
(Suggested daily Bible readings: Sunday – 1 John 4:7-11; Monday – Genesis 22:1-14; Tuesday – Hebrews 11:4-7; Wednesday – Isaiah 7:1-9; Thursday – Luke 9:57-62; Friday – Psalm 31:3-8; Saturday – Ezekiel 22:29-31.)
Gary Andrews is the author of Encouraging Words: 30-days in God’s Word. To obtain a copy go to his website www.gadevotionals. com.