The Argentinian pastor Juan Carlos Ortiz stood up to preach one Sunday and read three words of Jesus, “Love one another.” Then he sat down. After a few minutes Ortiz got up and again said, “Love one another” and sat down. The congregation began to stir nervously. So, Ortiz got up a third time and said, “Love one another” and sat down.

A man in the front row leaned over to the next man and said, “Is there anything I can do for you?” Gradually people from across the congregation began to reach out to one another to share and pray and cry and give to one another’s needs. They …

We live in a world where there is an oversupply of words with a corresponding undersupply of learning.
John Maxwell made an interesting observation when he said, “The illiterate are not those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn.”
Speaking as a pastor, I came to the conclusion some years ago that if all I did was preach about what people should be doing, I was in danger of hardening people’s hearts and causing them to become sermon tasters and sermon critics. My words were just the beginning of the process of communication.
I now have come to understand that there are three steps to the process …

I have much to be thankful for my father who grew up in a harsh environment, left school at a very early age and then with great determination and courage sacrificially worked hard to provide for our family.  For him, life was a great battle full of challenges, injustices and opposing forces.  I remember him impressing on me to be careful not to “stick my neck out”, or it could get chopped off. Such was life.

I remember my father teaching me to drive a car.  Before we started, he told me how I would be setting out on roads that were filled with dangerous drivers who could cause serious …