Paul W. Powell Legacy Library

If we aren’t careful in this materialistic world, we can be misled by appearances and blinded by unseen values. For example, the scriptures say, “How much better it is to get wisdom than gold" (Proverbs 16:16). German philosopher Immanuel Kant said, “Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom is organized life.” A well-ordered life, one that’...

The first thing in all creation that God named as not being good was loneliness. He said of Adam whom he had created, “It is not good for man to be alone.” It’s as true now as it was then. Maybe you remember the song by Elvis Presley, “Are You Lonesome Tonight?”  He sang that song with such feeling that it was one of his longest runn...

I fought a bout with the shingles and lost. Fortunately, it was a mild case perhaps because I had the shingles shot two years ago. I recommend that to you – the shot, not the shingles. I’ve decided an occasional illness is good for me. I didn’t say I liked it; I just said it was good for me. It helps me in four ways: Gratitude: It helps to rem...

A man came out of church one Sunday and said to me, “Preacher, be good to yourself today.” It was his way of saying, “You are important also.”   It reminded me that I had often been better to other people than I had been to myself. I think a lot of people are that way. They have gone through a divorce, failed in business, had a child...

There is an old western painting of a rugged wagon train that has been drawn into a circle for the evening. The men are gathered around the campfire, and the wagon-master has some maps spread out before him. On the map is a heavy black line that traces the zigzag course they have followed. They have swung a little to the left, then south, but always toward the west.&n...

We begin our lives with great hopes and aspirations about our careers, our marriages, our children. Then something happens. Our career goes south, our marriage goes sour, our children go awry, and our dreams are shattered. If that’s happened to you, hang on to hope. Meadowlark Lemon, the old Harlem Globetrotter star, said, “The most useless statistic in...

Years ago, Milton Jowers, Athletic Director of Texas State University and one of the winningest football and basketball coaches in America became a Christian. When he came forward to confess his faith in Christ he said to me, “Preacher, don’t put me on the bench. I want to get in the game.” Some Christians have been sitting on the bench so long that...

Christian author Jill Briscoe tells of going into a child’s room once and seeing a poster on the wall showing a little boy after a football match. At the top it said, “I quit.” And the little boy's body language was saying it all, sitting dejected and alone on the bench. But on the bottom of the poster was a cross and in little letters it said, &ldqu...

I have an old root in my backyard that just won’t die. Every spring I chop it back, and in a few weeks new shoots sprout out of it. Bitterness is like that.  It dies hard. But we must kill it out of our lives completely or it will kill us. (Hebrews 12:15) In a conversation with his soon-to-be-wife, the British reformer William Wilberforcer alluded to...