When Sgt. Ray Baarz of the Midvale, Utah, police department opened his wallet, he noticed his driver’s license had expired. Embarrassed at having caught himself red-handed, he had no alternative. He calmly and deliberately pulled out his ticket book and wrote himself a citation. Then Baarz took the ticket to the city judge who fined him $5. “How could I give a ticket to anyone else for an expired license in the future if I didn’t cite myself?” Baarz asked.
What would you have done? How does your character measure up? We need more folks like this in the Lake Oconee area and in our world. Will you be one?
If you haven’t been to the Lake Welcome Center this year, you are missing out. Hope to see you there. Wishing you much love and much light.
—The Rev. David W. Key, director of the Baptist Studies Program, is involved in recruitment, admissions, student life, counseling, placement, and development functions for Emory University's Candler School of Theology. He teaches in the Contextual Education program. He is the founding pastor of the Lake Oconee Community Church at Reynolds Plantation. Contact him at (404) 727-6350 or dkey@emory.edu. His column appears weekly in this space.
Life Lessons
Make sure your own character measures up
- Life Lessons
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We shape our lives in the choices we make
Eleanor Roosevelt once said: One’s philosophy is not best expressed in words.
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God desires for you to use good judgment
Larry Burkett (on his radio program) spoke of a young couple who wanted to buy a home, but felt it to be too expensive for them.
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What’s your decision-making process?
A husband and wife, prior to marriage, decided that he’d make all the major decisions and she the minor ones.
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The folly of human nature
Jerry Lambert tells us the story about a school teacher lost her life savings in a business scheme that had been elaborately explained by a swindler.
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Happy New Year and prosperity in 2012
Frances Havergal wrote this wonderful poem about the New Year.
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A Christmas poem to reflect upon the season
G. K. Chesterton wrote the following poem about Christmas:
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Hoping that you sing with angels at Christmas
Martin Luther, the great Reformer, wrote the following poem about Christmas:
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Make sure to know or find your purpose in life
Social critic Russell Kirk has defined decadence as the loss of an aim or object in life.
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Learn to appreciate people, no matter their status
A man was once boasting to an acquaintance, “We have a whole room full of furniture from France that goes back to Louis the 14th.”
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Mistakes happen so don’t lose sleep over them
A young business owner was opening a new branch office, and a friend decided to send a floral arrangement for the grand opening.
- More Life Lessons Headlines
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We shape our lives in the choices we make






