6 Good Reasons We Should Ask Questions

I heard this funny story of two Train Conductors and a passenger. A train had just pulled to a stop and some passengers were landing. Just as the Train was about moving again, a passenger realized he was already at his destination station. Wanting to get off as quickly as he could before the Train built momentum, he approached the Train Conductor who agreed to let him out of the Train. “As soon as I let you out”, the Conductor advised, “run in the direction of the Train or else you might fall”. With that plan, the Conductor let him out and the gentleman started running in the direction of the Train. Just then, another Conductor in the next car saw him running. Thinking the gentleman was running to catch up with the Train, he reached out, grabbed his hand and pulled him back into the Train. As you might expect, the gentleman was furious. He gave the conductor a kick and yelled –who told you I wanted to get into the Train? I just got off the train!

Why ask questions?
Here are some 5 good reasons (6 actually) that I found for asking questions. They are my lessons from some mistakes I made when I did not ask questions and good choices I made by asking [.......]

When Last Did Someone Correct You? (Part 2)

Thank you for allowing me to recommend a few everyday-life teachers to you. If you have not yet read  part 1 of this post, please check it out here for a good background.

Mrs. Disintegrating Families. There are numerous pieces of broken families in Mrs. D. Families' classroom for anyone to examine and learn from. Many families are broken because each member of the family had "I-don't-care" attitude(s). The husband, wife, father, mother and children were always right all the time. So everyone did their own thing and no one told anyone what to do. At first, they called it 'individual freedom' and 'personal space' until they realized that everyone cannot be right every time but it was too late. The family disintegrated and the members fell apart. Doesn't the rising number of disintegrating families teach us that you may be right most of the time but you can't be right all the time unless you are God? Doesn't it teach us that children who are left to themselves eventually become terrorists to their families, nation and world at large? While "having your own way" is not the only reason families fall apart, it is a major one. 

 
Mr. Greedy Potbellies. Whether the greed is for food, money, sex, power, position or fame, the lesson Mr. Greedy Potbellies teaches is the same -if you are greedy you will get busted. Many people have vomited their ill-gotten gains and they stand to teach anyone who is prone to greed that greed gets people busted.

When Last Did Someone Correct You? (Part 1)

I remember only few of my high school teachers but there is one that I will never forget. His name was Mr. Bob (not his real name). Mr. Bob was addicted to "correctness". I can hardly remember any student that got an 'Excellent' grade in his class. The best grade the best student got was "Ok" or "C" grade. If you missed as little as a "caps" at the beginning of a sentence or a "full stop" at the end, it was almost certain that you would do the whole work all over again. I thought he was cruel. I could not be any happier when it was all over and I don't think I miss him very much.

However, one truth stands out of my experience with Mr. Bob: While we do not need people to sit on our necks, pick our faults and tell us what we do wrong all the time, NOT having someone to correct us is far worse. I will explain with a story my mom often told to teach  her kids the importance of accepting correction. [.....]

Just Do It

I am a minister. One day I asked God a question: Father God, "how do I continue to tell people that you can do some thing for them when I know you have not done it for me?"  God said to me. "Son, when I give you a cookie for the person beside you, you don't hold it in one hand and stretch out the other hand asking where is my own. If you do what I ask you to do, I know how to take care of you". I responded quickly "I am sorry Sir, I get it". Sure enough the weeks that followed brought with them a new dimension of God's grace to me that I am still thankful for today.

This week's blog is my encouragement to those of us who are waiting on God for something special -spouse, child, job, good health, restoration, increase, debt freedom or whatever your heart desire may be. Be encouraged and continue to wait faithfully. But while you are waiting, remember that you do not have to be anxious, upset or idle. If God has given you a cookie for the person or persons beside you, obey first, give that cookie away. God is faithful to his promises and won't forget your labour of love.

Every believer is a minister. It's easy to be so absorbed with building a career, family, house, health, ministry, church and business that we forget the actual work God assigned to us. Thankfully however, God has clearly defined the right order of things in his word: First, God's kingdom, then our blessings. If we reverse the order we position ourselves to fall out of God's will. We can see this truth play out between Simon Peter and Jesus Christ in Luke 5:1-9