Will Rogers on “Hot & Bothered”

Will Rogers“Never let a crisis go to waste,” so says the current administration. We now have the Libyan crisis and the Japanese nuclear crisis . Before that it was the Egyptian crisis, and who could forget the worst ecological disaster ever, the oil spill in the gulf.

Everyone gets whipped up into a frenzy by press reports of riots, radiation maps and gushing oil wells under the sea. But just like Will Rogers says, we “cool off faster than any nation in the world.”

Using a crisis for political gain, however, is about as foolish as using a skunk for perfume. It just doesn’t smell right!  The stench from the economic bailout crisis and the healthcare crisis is getting worse every day.

We might heat up and cool down quickly, but skunk-smell doesn’t go away over night! If the stink is there on election day, people will remember.

Image Information Will Rogers was an expert with the lasso, perhaps the best ever. In this picture he is roping a moving rider from the back of his own horse. The rope is thrown to catch the horse by the legs.

The image was taken directly from pictures at the Will Rogers Memorial Museum archive. I apologize for the quality of the image, but this is exactly what the 1920s photo looked like when I scanned it. In the hundreds of images contained in this iPhone application, I wanted to share as many different Will Rogers photos as possible from as wide a variety of times and situations – movies, cowboy, vaudeville, with famous people, and family scenes.

Will Rogers is a man worth remembering, and quoting. His wit, humor and insight into life will amaze and astonish you. His life will inspire you. Watch for new blog posts from my Will Rogers quotes collection.

I hope you have enjoyed this quote from Will Rogers and the accompanying image taken from the Will Rogers iPhone app. Please visit our blog, twitter, or Facebook page regularly and pass these posts on to friends that might enjoy a bit of wisdom from Will Rogers.

Will Rogers

Longing for God – Psalm 143 NASB 2 Minute Devotional

There have been a few times in my life where I’ve been really thirsty. You know how it feels – throat parched, tongue thick, mouth feels like cotton. Fortunately in our modern world, water is usually nearby at a fountain or faucet.

I’ve seen movies and read books about people who have suffered from severe dehydration and thirst. Perhaps the person is lost in the desert, like the one pictured on the left. There’s nothing but barren rock and scrub brush. No streams, no ponds, no springs, no water anywhere.

I think the Psalmist captures the feelings of a thirsty wanderer in Psalm 143. The spirit is overwhelmed with the thought of finding water. All thoughts are consumed with the search. The mind drifts back to times when the glass was full, thirst was quenched, water was flowing in abundance. Then there is the mirage, the pool of water just ahead of us. We stretch out our hands and stumble toward the illusion.

Can I thirst for God, like the body thirst for water? Does it consume me, does it move me to long for Him and meditate on his blessings in my life?

Dear Lord, let me thirst for you and long for you in all I do. Help me to find the water of life in your scriptures and in the preaching of the gospel, in prayer, in worship, and in service to your people. Amen.

I hope you have been blessed by Psalm 143 and the accompanying image taken from the Psalm Daily Quotes NASB iPhone app. Please visit our blog, twitter, or  Facebook page regularly and pass these posts on to friends that need an encouraging word.

iPhone Psalm Daily Quote NIV for today

Nothing to us seems as permanent as a mountain. This verse reminds us that God is everlasting, from before the mountains were born.

This screen shot comes from the Psalm Daily Quotes NIV iPhone app.

Cast Your Burden on the Lord – Psalm 55 ESV 2 Minute Devotional

Don’t you wish you could be like the sea otter in the picture? Not a care in the world. Even catching food looks like a game for these fun-loving creatures.

Burdens come in many forms, relationships, financial, school work, pressure at the job, child rearing, and many others. They stick to us like Velcro to felt, and in many cases, we learn to live with them.

Suppose you are a busy housewife with a couple of toddlers at home. Exhausted, you answer the door, and a friend offers to watch the kids and pick up the house so you can get some rest. Later, you wake refreshed and find the house clean and the kids happy. Your friend took your burden willingly and gladly.

What relief, what joy, when the burden is cast away! We are not alone, gentle reader. We can cast our burden on the Lord, and He will sustain us. We can put our trust in Him.

Dear Lord, Help me to cast my burden upon you, the cares and worries of this life that weigh me down. Most importantly, lift the burden of sin from my life, that I might know you and trust you more each day. Amen.

I hope you have been blessed by Psalm 55 and the accompanying image taken from the Psalm Daily Quotes ESV iPhone app. Please visit our blog, twitter, or Facebook page regularly and pass these posts on to friends that need an encouraging word.

Will Rogers on “Democrats and the Denounce Bounce”

Will RogersThose poor Democrats, along with the mainstream media, just can’t seem to denounce anything these days without making a mess of it. It looks like they haven’t changed since Will Rogers published this quote in 1930!

Whoever is advising them, doesn’t know the difference between gasoline and water when it comes to putting out a fire. The more Democrats try to denounce former presidents, governors, talk show hosts, and tea party movements, the stronger they get.

Trying to denounce “right-wing” rhetoric for the actions of a homicidal maniac is about as low as it gets, especially considering the inflammatory speech often used by members of their own party.

The lack of credibility is showing up at the ballot box, in newspaper circulation and in nationwide polls. Let them go ahead and keep denouncing. As Will Rogers said: “They are where they are today by picking on the wrong things.”

Image Information: This is an image of Will Rogers (behind the wheel) and his wife Betty in a Model A Ford.

The image was taken directly from pictures at the Will Rogers Memorial Museum archive. I apologize for the quality of the image, but this is exactly what the 1920s photo looked like when I scanned it. In the hundreds of images contained in this iPhone application, I wanted to share as many different Will Rogers photos as possible from as wide a variety of times and situations – movies, cowboy, vaudeville, with famous people, and family scenes.

Will Rogers is a man worth remembering, and quoting. His wit, humor and insight into life will amaze and astonish you. His life will inspire you. Watch for new blog posts from my Will Rogers quotes collection.

I hope you have enjoyed this quote from Will Rogers and the accompanying image taken from the Will Rogers iPhone app. Please visit our blog, twitter, or Facebook page regularly and pass these posts on to friends that might enjoy a bit of wisdom from Will Rogers.

Will Rogers

Will Rogers on “War and the Federal Reserve”

Folks, you just gotta love Will Rogers! Here’s a classic quote about war and the Federal Reserve from 1929 that still rings true today.

The Federal Reserve (The Fed)  is responsible for conducting the nation’s monetary policy to help maintain employment, keep prices stable, and keep interest rates relatively low. The poor folks running The Fed have their hands full, with the prices of corn, grits and gas going up, unemployment going up, and who knows what’s going to happen with inflation and interest rates.

The Fed has to react to an administrations that is trying to run the economy by stimulatin’, regulatin’, legislatin’, and bloviatin’. Businesses don’t know where the administration will strike next.

They tried to stimulate the economy with “shovel-ready jobs,” but the president just admitted that they weren’t quite as “shovel-ready as we expected.” The EPA is going bonkers with new regulations to eliminate the threat of “global warming” by shutting down the coal and oil industry. Congress passed  unconstitutional health care legislation which threatens to destroy the best health care system in the world. The bloviator-in-chief keeps proclaiming “recovery” while the vice-bloviator famously proclaimed: “Just because the stimulus was a monumental failure, doesn’t mean it’s not working.”

And what about war, or wars? This gets a bit confusing these days. Depending on how you define “hostilities” we might be in two, three or four wars. Our Nobel-Peace-Prize-Winner-in-Chief wants us to refrain from “torturing” captured enemy terrorists with water-boarding, but putting a bullet in the brain of a Osama bin Laden is ok. What’s a business to do? If you manufacture water-boards, you are going out of business, but if you make bullets you will survive.

Will Rogers is right, again! Businesses are on a wild roller coaster ride, just tryin’ to stay on the tracks. They’re watching The Fed closely and hoping we don’t get into yet another war, or even another “hostility.”

In this image, Will Rogers is holding his son and spinning his lasso at the same time.

The image was taken directly from pictures at the Will Rogers Memorial Museum archive. I apologize for the quality of the image, but this is exactly what the 1920s photo looked like when I scanned it. In the hundreds of images contained in this iPhone application, I wanted to share as many different Will Rogers photos as possible from as wide a variety of times and situations – movies, cowboy, vaudeville, with famous people, and family scenes.

Will Rogers is a man worth remembering, and quoting. His wit, humor and insight into life will amaze and astonish you. His life will inspire you. Watch for new blog posts from my Will Rogers quotes collection.

I hope you have enjoyed this quote from Will Rogers and the accompanying image taken from the Will Rogers Daily Quotes iPhone app. Please visit our blog, twitter, or Facebook page regularly and pass these posts on to friends that might enjoy a bit of wisdom from Will Rogers.

Spurgeon on “Be Content” ~ 2 Minute Devotional

What’s hip, what’s hot, what ain’t I got? If it’s a cool electronic gadget or faster computer, I want it! I used to lust after an iPhone 4, until I got one recently. Now I want an iPad. After that who knows. Just give me the latest thing on the market.

Modern marketing is not built on contentment! The reason is that our fallen nature is prone to envy and greed. It can never be satisfied. We always want more, more, MORE!

When I consider what Christ has done for me, however, I realize there is nothing more to be desired. His work is complete. I can rest, contented in his love. As a result, I should be content with God’s purpose for me and where he has placed me, along with what possessions has blessed me with. If I can love my neighbor, as Christ loves me, there will be no envy.

Charles H. Spurgeon (pictured with this quote), 1834-1892, was the foremost preacher of the 19th century. His many sermons, devotions, and books bring a unique, inspiring, and spiritual significance to biblical truth. What is most surprising is that Spurgeon had no formal theological training. Even so, he became widely recognized for his insight and prowess in biblical teaching.

I hope you have been blessed by this quote and the accompanying image taken from the Spurgeon Daily Quotes iPhone app. Please visit our blog, twitter, or Facebook page regularly and pass these posts on to friends that need an encouraging word.

Save Me From My Enemies – Psalm 18 NIV 2 Minute Devotional

A group of students from Taylor University were in Egypt for the spring semester, but their stay was cut short by the recent unrest. One of the young ladies is a friend of our family, and we followed the situation closely. We prayed for her safety as Americans were evacuated from Cairo, and the group was finally able to flee to Turkey.

The unrest in Egypt made it dangerous for foreigners and religious groups to stay. Innocent people had been killed at their place of worship. In an instant, you could become an enemy of an angry crowd because of your race or religion. You could be harmless and helpless, as the fawn in the picture, but still become the object of hatred and violence.

I’m sure that Psalm 18 becomes relevant to these students, with the possibility that violence could erupt around them at any moment. They were rescued from violent men and saved from their enemies.

The Psalmists response is praise. Exuberant praise! “O Lord; I will sing praises to your name.” I’m sure these students and their parents are praising God for their deliverance from possible harm.

Our deliverance might not be quite so dramatic, but should our praise be any less? If God can deliver us from small things, then He can deliver us from any thing. We can especially praise God each day for delivering us from our sins through Jesus.

Dear Lord, I praise you for my deliverance and protection. I praise you especially for your great salvation through Jesus Christ your son. Amen.

I hope you have been blessed by Psalm 18 and the accompanying image taken from the Psalm Daily Quotes NIV iPhone app. Please visit our blog, twitter, or  Facebook page regularly and pass these posts on to friends that need an encouraging word.

Will Rogers on Speeches & World Peace

Will Rogers delivers another zinger with this quote. He had a genius for teasing politicians without offending. We also find Rogers’ quotes as relevant today as they were in the 1930s. I don’t like to fish myself, but I’m sure that if I did it would keep me out of trouble!

I took this picture at the Will Rogers Memorial Museum in Claremore, OK this spring. It was a beautiful sunrise behind the statue of Will Rogers.

The museum is a great family destination. The exhibits are great. I couldn’t walk by one of the video exhibits without stopping to watch for a few minutes. It featured a movie showing some of Will Rogers’ roping tricks. Some of his tricks have never been duplicated.

I spent three days in the archives collecting images for the iPhone app. The staff was great and without their help the project wouldn’t have been possible.

I hope you have enjoyed this quote from Will Rogers and the accompanying image taken from the Will Rogers iPhone app. Please visit our blog, twitter, or Facebook page regularly and pass these posts on to friends that might enjoy a bit of wisdom from Will Rogers.

Will Rogers & Expensive Politics

Will RogersIf politics was expensive in the 1930s, what would Will Rogers think about today’s elections? Word is, that over $4 billion was spent this election cycle!

What’s amazing is that all that money was spent, and the unemployment rate didn’t change – except that half of the people running are now unemployed.

Some candidates still can’t figure out how they got beat. In many cases, unemployed workers didn’t have anything better to do than to vote the bums out. In Chicago, dead people generally decide elections. Also, polls can never predict what’s going to happen in Chicago, because dead people never answer the phone. They still can’t figure out what happened in Alaska, because nobody could spell the candidate’s name correctly on the write-in ballot. In some places, TV stations simply forgot to run opponent’s ads, and some states forgot to send out absentee ballots.

I guess some things never change. Elections will continue to be expensive. I have a question though: “How can $4 billion of election “stimulus” money be injected into the economy without any sign of benefit to the country?

Will Rogers is a man worth remembering, and quoting. His wit, humor and insight into life will amaze and astonish you. His life will inspire you. Watch for new blog posts from my Will Rogers quotes collection.

I hope you have enjoyed this quote from Will Rogers and the accompanying image taken from the Will Rogers iPhone app. Please visit our blog, twitter, or Facebook page regularly and pass these posts on to friends that might enjoy a bit of wisdom from Will Rogers.

Will Rogers

Will Rogers on “Economic Moves”

This Will Rogers Quote appeared in his April 21, 1933 syndicated Daily Telegram column. How true it is today!

The economic team of the current administration is leaving the White House after two years of service. At the beginning of the term, these bright economic minds promised recovery and prosperity would result from massive stimulus spending. Now the Fed is talking about firing up the printing presses again to produce inflation.

I’m one of those economic dummies. I can’t tell you exactly what these economic moves will lead to, but I can tell you that in general, they will lead to no good, just like they did in the 1930s. I can also tell you that cutting taxes and pro-business moves from an administration generally lead to good things.

Perhaps voters will turn out to be smarter about economics that we thought. They know a good economic move from a bad one.

Image Information: The image of Rogers is from his 1921 silent film Guile of Women. Rogers plays a Swede named Yal who travels with a friend to America to seek his fortune. After misfortunes in love and business, his girlfriend finally arrives from Sweden.

I hope you have enjoyed this quote from Will Rogers and the accompanying image taken from the Will Rogers iPhone app. Please visit our blog, twitter, or Facebook page regularly and pass these posts on to friends that might enjoy a bit of wisdom from Will Rogers.

Will Rogers

Will Rogers on: “To Inflate or Not to Inflate”

Will RogersWill RogersHow come we’re in such an economic mess with a “sea of [government] economists” and a Treasury Secretary who runs the IRS, but can’t get his own taxes right? These guys just stimulated the economy into oblivion, and now are printing money and raising taxes to make up the difference. Every market that comes to their attention, they have managed to throw into chaos – oil, health care, auto, private aircraft, travel, airline, and the list goes on. It’s like pulling legs off a crawdad! Each missing leg slows it down, until finally it can’t move at all.

Now, Will Rogers was a man of common sense, and I think most of us regular people are as well. We know that you can’t continually spend more than you make and have a stable economy. We know that you shouldn’t overburden industry with regulations that are ineffective and useless. We know that you can’t overtax people and expect economic growth.

And by the way, don’t try to push the class envy, “tax the rich” argument. Can you argue that their money does more good taken by the government in taxes, or spent in the economy? Let them spend! Let them spend extravagantly if they want. That money goes directly into jobs, services and possessions that benefit the economy. Or perhaps you argue that it is better that a bloated government “invest” that money in bureaucrats and bailouts.

So here’s the message to the ivory tower economists, arrogant administration officials and elitist legislators: “Keep your fingers out of my grits [oatmeal for northerners], or you’ll get a fork in the back of your hand!” I think they felt a “poke” in the last election, but they seem to keep coming back for more.

It gets personal when they mess with MY grits. Mess with my job, mess with my salary, mess with my company, mess with my industry, or touch my junk, and suffer the consequences in the next election.

What can we do? For now, just laugh at them, keep spirits up, hope they don’t do much more damage, and vote them out in the next election. Meanwhile, watch your grits!

Image Information: The picture is a movie still from the 1935 Will Rogers movie The County Chairman. Will plays Jim Hackler, a local party-boss in a Wyoming county, who has to decide to do what’s right and lose the election, or what’s wrong and win.

Will Rogers is a man worth remembering, and quoting. His wit, humor and insight into life will amaze and astonish you. His life will inspire you. Watch for new blog posts from my Will Rogers quotes collection.

I hope you have enjoyed this quote from Will Rogers and the accompanying image taken from the Will Rogers iPhone app. Please visit our blog, twitter, or Facebook page regularly and pass these posts on to friends that might enjoy a bit of wisdom from Will Rogers.

Will Rogers

Fill My Heart With Joy – Psalm 4 NIV 2 Minute Devotional

Psalm 4 is a wonderful picture of the joy and peace that come from trust in God. But, how can this be in the fallen world in which we live?

We know, from other Psalms, that the Psalmist has been through great suffering and difficult trials. Yet this Psalm is amazingly upbeat. I think the joy mentioned here is much deeper than a few moments of superficial happiness that may come from wine or drink, or a brief time of pleasure. Such moments don’t fill our hearts with the joy and praise to God mentioned in this Psalm. It takes more than that to cause a person to sleep in peace.

Just like filling a cup with water takes time, so does filling our hearts with the joy and comfort that comes from knowing Christ as savior. Relationships take time to develop to a deeper level, and so does developing a relationship with the Lord. The deep joy will come in time, but you can enjoy as least some measure of it as you heart is filled day-by-day.

If you do not have a relationship with the Lord, you can pray for it right now. You can ask God for help today. If you do know the Lord, pray for a deeper relationship with Him.

Dear Lord, I want my heart filled with the joy that comes from knowing you. I want a peaceful sleep that comes from trusting you. I want to know that my sins are forgiven. Help me to look to you for salvation, and let the light of your face shine upon me. Amen.

Here are a few practical tips for deepening your relationship with the Lord. Read the Bible. It is how we get to know God. A good place to start is the Gospel of John. Seek out christian friends and a church where you can worship God in a community of other believers. May God bless you dear friend.

I hope you have been blessed by Psalm 4 and the accompanying image taken from the Psalm Daily Quotes NIV iPhone app. Please visit our blog, twitter, or  Facebook page regularly and pass these posts on to friends that need an encouraging word.

My heart is not proud – Psalm 131 NASB 2 Minute Devotional

Years ago I was giving a professional presentation. It was a proud moment – to have the attention of my industry peers, to be the expert in my field. The room had a mirrored wall in the back, and several people had laptops open in front of them. As I was presenting, I noticed through the reflection of the mirror that one of the attendees was playing solitaire on his computer! I guess what I was saying wasn’t as important as I thought.

Pride creeps into almost everything we do, yet in Psalm 131 the Psalmist gives us a beautiful image of humility starting with “O Lord, my heart is not proud.” The doe and fawn in the picture convey a beautiful and quiet humility.

What could be more content than the weaned child resting against its mother?

Dear Lord, help me to compose and quiet my soul. Let my heart not be proud. Help me to hope in you from this time and forever.

I hope you have been blessed by Psalm 131 and the accompanying image taken from the Psalm Daily Quotes NASB iPhone app.Please visit our blog, twitter, or  Facebook page regularly and pass these posts on to friends that need an encouraging word.