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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Pray for faithfulness in the midst of life’s challenges
Oswald Chambers, in his book “Run Today’s Race,” taught us that faith for my deliverance is not faith in God.
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Don’t put off the most important thing
As Douglas MacArthur said, in war all tragedy can be summarized in two words, “too late.”
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What are you delaying in your life?
In the early ‘90s, U.S. News and World Report told us that Chicago learned one price of neglecting the underpinnings of all its economic growth.
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Find a community and become a part of it
Harry Emerson Fosdick reminds us that the Great Wall of China is a gigantic structure which cost an immense amount of money and labor.
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Let God be your passion
A woman rushed up to famed violinist Fritz Kreisler after a concert and cried
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Pray for God’s will and nothing else
At a meeting of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Bobby Richardson, former New York Yankee second baseman, offered a prayer that is a classic in brevity and poignancy: “Dear God, Your will, nothing more, nothing less, nothing else. Amen.”
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Not too early to make Easter plans
Fritz Kreisler, the famous violinist, once said
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God calls on you to overcome your obstacles
Do you have a lot to overcome in your life? David Livingstone, the pioneer missionary to Africa, walked over 29,000 miles during his ministry.
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Are you coasting in life?
Bertoldo de Giovanni was the pupil of Donatello, the greatest sculptor of his time, and he was the teacher of Michelangelo, the greatest sculptor of all time.
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Will your soul take the high road or low?
John Oxenham wrote the following poem:
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Pray for faithfulness in the midst of life’s challenges


