http://www.madetomatter.org/apps/articles/default.asp?blogid=4631&view=post&articleid=76003&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0
Monday, September 19, 2011 • Randy Kilgore • Evangelism
Trudging from my father's pick-up truck to stand as we read words over his casket, I felt as if I were once again the Stage Manager in Thornton Wilder's classic play "Our Town." In fact, some of those who shared the stage with me in our high school production were buried right there; and I felt at times as if they were whispering to each other the words of the graveyard scene in Wilder's incredibly timeless play.
http://www.madetomatter.org/apps/articles/default.asp?blogid=4631&view=post&articleid=75617&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0
Wednesday, July 20, 2011 • Randy Kilgore • Evangelism
Bib overalls, salty language, and raucous laughter; just the sounds the nurses expected from the crowd gathered in my father's hospital room: Two old truck drivers, one former country/western singer, one millwright, two farm wives and me.
http://www.madetomatter.org/apps/articles/default.asp?blogid=4631&view=post&articleid=75512&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0
Thursday, July 14, 2011 • Randy Kilgore • General
I looked down to the field where cancer first made its effects known to us just a few short months before. Three of us were raking a field, and Francis was laughing as hard as I ever saw him laugh. As usual, I was the cause of that laughter. Grumbling about the crows and rabbits rousting his garden, Francis called them "d--- rascals"; and the stunned look on my face caused him to burst out laughing. "Preachers shouldn't swear," I said in shocked disbelief at what I'd just heard. He wanted to answer, but he couldn't because he was laughing too hard. "Oh, Randy," he'd say as he tried to catch his breath, but then he'd look at my face and bust out again.
Suddenly, he grabbed his side and winced; Francis never winced.
http://www.madetomatter.org/apps/articles/default.asp?blogid=4631&view=post&articleid=75429&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0
Friday, July 8, 2011 • Randy Kilgore • Humility
What if Jesus asks you to be completely unimportant and insignificant? What if He chooses to use you as a conduit to set someone else up to complete His work? What if He piles glory and honor on somebody half as faithful to a relationship with Him as you are? Can you take it?
http://www.madetomatter.org/apps/articles/default.asp?blogid=4631&view=post&articleid=75313&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0
Wednesday, June 29, 2011 • Randy Kilgore • Strength in Despair
George Lacy was a public school teacher when he and his wife Minnie decided to take their vocational skills to the mission field. In 1903, the couple and their five children journeyed to Saltillo, Mexico to organize and operate a school for girls, the Madero Institute.
Joy turned to sorrow in December, 1904, when a daughter fell ill with Scarlet fever.
http://www.madetomatter.org/apps/articles/default.asp?blogid=4631&view=post&articleid=75110&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0
Tuesday, June 14, 2011 • Randy Kilgore • Coping with failure
Did God make that ball skid on the Astroturf so Bobby Bonner couldn't reach it? Or did God merely let it slide by, knowing it would be used by others to question Bonner's ability? Is God's plan for your life-our lives-felled at the whim of a shift in the wind or someone else's sinfulness?
http://www.madetomatter.org/apps/articles/default.asp?blogid=4631&view=post&articleid=74996&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0
Tuesday, June 7, 2011 • Randy Kilgore • Rest
God never honors laziness, selfishness or self-indulgence; His call to Christians is one of action and activity in sacrificial pursuit of service. Yet none of that is why we were created; nor is it how He measures our worth. For God loves us more than our most noble labors.
http://www.madetomatter.org/apps/articles/default.asp?blogid=4631&view=post&articleid=74902&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0
Wednesday, June 1, 2011 • Randy Kilgore • Serving others
Even the darkest moments in human struggles are often lit by selfless acts.
http://www.madetomatter.org/apps/articles/default.asp?blogid=4631&view=post&articleid=74783&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0
Tuesday, May 24, 2011 • Randy Kilgore • Hope
Shortly before 10 a.m. on Saturday, May 21, the sun burst out of the clouds, blessing the courage of a risky decision by Gordon College's leadership to host their graduation ceremonies outdoors. Given the nearly unbelievable stretch of sunless, rain-swept days of the prior month, it seemed incredibly brave. But indoor graduations severely restrict who may attend, and this was to be a celebration unfettered by those restraints.
http://www.madetomatter.org/apps/articles/default.asp?blogid=4631&view=post&articleid=72860&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0
Monday, February 21, 2011 • Randy Kilgore • Forgiveness
"They're never going to be able to forgive me, are they?"
--The man who years earlier murdered a neighbor in a drunken stupor;
--a recovering alcoholic whose family refuses to believe "this is the time I really mean to change";
--a daughter whose last words to her father were venomous and hateful, spoken only hours before a hemorrhage claimed his life.
What do we do when we realize someone we've wronged will not forgive us? How do we cope with mistakes we've made that destroy relationships, and even lives? How do we keep them from disabling us spiritually; how do we keep others (including Satan) from using them to disable or discourage us?
