People wave the Bible around and say, "My word will not return void." Read the passage and find out the context of the promise. It has nothing to do with laying your Bible on a sick person. If you are working with a sick individual, try to find out what God is saying about the person. Do what you can but it is up to God to heal. You can't force the situation by hitting them with the Bible.

You know, all you need when you are sick is to have someone tell you that you don't have faith. Right?

We Christians get nutty ideas. The only reason God doesn't bring us up short (He does sometimes!) is that He loves us and doesn't want us to get discouraged.

Sometimes we counsel mothers not to come down on their teenagers every time they do something irritating. Teenage youngsters can produce more irritations than ants in the summer.

If you don't want the kid to flee when she is eighteen (or sooner) keep your demands to a minimum. Let a lot of stuff go. He'll outgrow it. Concentrate on what is essential like not using filthy language in the house, playing rock music so nobody can sleep, or coming home drunk or wired on drugs. Don't object to everything they do because it isn't exactly your choice. Do you know what I mean? Let the little stuff go.

This is the way God does with us. When you were a baby you dared God to do something and He did. Then you tried it again when you were older. Nothing happened.

One time when I had been a Christian for about two weeks I had become desperate to know what to do. I had been a believer for such a long time and now I was up against it.

I closed my eyes, opened the Bible at random, put my finger on the page, and then opened my eyes.

Directly under my finger the verse began: "My son, if you will keep my commandments, . . ." The procedure worked unbelievably well in that instance. What are the odds of your closing your eyes, pointing at a verse, and having it say "My son," and so forth. I know enough now not to try that again.

And no, I do not believe in promise boxes. Maybe they work for some but I have found that it is best to keep verses in their context. Did you ever notice that promise boxes do not contain negative statements? Yet the Scriptures contain both Ebal and Gerizim, the negative and the positive. Thus the promise boxes are biased and misleading.

What would you do if you plucked a card from your promise box and it said, "If we sin wilfully after we receive the knowledge of the truth there remains no more sacrifice for sins but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation that will destroy the adversaries"?

You would either say "That's for the Jews" or else you would return the box of "Precious Promises" and demand your money back.

To be continued.