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Every person has few habits. A few are stranger than others. Truman Capote, who wrote Breakfast at Tiffany’s, wouldn’t start or finish a piece of writing on a Friday. As a rule, he never left more than three cigarette butts in his ashtray, placing any extras in his coat pocket. Franz Kafka, who wrote The Metamorphosis and The Trail, had a rather unique morning ritual. For 10 minutes he would do a series of swings, stretches, and body-weight exercises. That isn't so unusual or unique. However, he had the habit of performing those exercise while standing naked at the window. Habits dictate how we start and end our days. What happens in betweend determines the quality of our lives. Whether you believe Jesus is the Son of God or not, there is no doubt that Jesus has influenced history more than any other person. Follower or not, most of us…

1 Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. 2 He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. 3 And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’ 4 “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’ ” 6 And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 8…

If you had only six months left to live, would you do what you are doing now? Would you live the way you’re living now? Admiral Hyman Rickover was in charge of the original development of naval nuclear propulsion. He was known as the “Father of the Nuclear Navy.” He was also known for his tough interviews. One of things he especially wanted to know was how candidates would act under stress. He kept a chair in his office that had a few inches sawed off the front two legs. When a candidate sat down, they would immediately be off-balance. His theory: If you can't handle sitting in an awkward chair, I'm not going to put you in charge of a nuclear submarine. Former President Jimmy Carter once interviewed with Admiral Rickover for a position. He tells the story in his autobiography entitled, Why Not the Best: The First Fifty…

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. - Romans 5:6-8 While we might readily acknowledge that we are powerless to change our condition and that we were indeed ungodly, we struggle to admit the third truth - that we were sinners. I may make a few mistakes but I’m not a bad person. It’s why we can sing Amazing Grace without really thinking about the words … “Amazing grace how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me.” None of us like to think about how wretched we are. We’d rather live in the self-delusion that compared to others we…