Joe Barnett

A true friend will keep a secret.            —Proverbs 11:13 “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.” Don’t count on it. When confidential information is shared with you, is it safe? Do you leak it—even with the stipulation, “I’m going to tell you something, but you must promise not to tell […]

The right word at the right time is like precious gold set in silver.               —Proverbs 25:11 Cassandra Warren wrote the wrong address on a wedding invitation. It came back to her with this handwritten note: “I wish I knew you—this is going to be a blast. Congratulations—go have

Let the little children come to me.                   —Mark 10:14 J.C. Rigney was a sweet old man who loved children. He always had a pocketful of gum that he gave to kids who crowded around him after church. Some of them, residents at our Children’s Home, had

There is no other God like you.                —Micah 7:18 Micah gave no ground to complainers who griped that God was hard to understand and impossible to please. “Shall [we] come before him with burnt offerings?” they groused. “Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten

Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might.    —Ecclesiastes 9:10 My life has purpose and pleasure, partly because of those who dreamed big and had the passion and persistence to make those dreams come true . . . A shaft of light illuminates the page I’m reading. Thanks, Thomas. A

We are God’s workmanship.          —Ephesians 2:10 God has a customized path for your life. First, is his determination to make you like Jesus (Rom 8:29). Second, like Jesus, you take ownership of why you’re here: Jesus was here, not to do his will but to do the will of him who

As he thinks within himself, so is he.                  —Proverbs 23:7 Every church has had, now has, or will have a pessimist in its leadership. Thankfully—at least where I’ve been—optimists are in the majority. I was soapboxing about pessimists in a Leadership Seminar several years ago, when a

[He] has freed us from our sins by his blood.                            —Revelation 1:5 There was a breathtaking surprise in Robert Smith’s May 19, 2019 commencement address at Morehouse College. He told the cap and gown-clad graduates, “We’re gonna put a little fuel in

[God] comforts us in all our troubles.                 —2 Corinthians 1:4 “We did not get favorable news today,” the note began. The dear lady was informing me of the doctor’s verdict concerning her husband’s health. The prognosis is grim; her faith is strong. “I know God has a

The cheerful heart has a continual feast.                    —Proverbs 15:15 Thinking you could use a smile, I opted for a small bouquet of grins today. Richard Lederer collected a bunch of answers to test questions by students from eighth grade through college. Here’s a sampling. In the