On August 13,1995, there were some notably different approaches to life and death. The Panama City paper carried the stories of three people who died that week. One was Mickey Mantle, of baseball fame. His body couldn’t cope with the effect of alcoholism. In his last days he pleaded with young people, “don’t be like me.” The message on the scoreboard in Yankee Stadium on Sunday afternoon was a tribute to his “man-made records” in baseball. I understand he did accept Jesus as his personal Savior before he died.

Another death was Jerry Garcia, lead guitarist and singer for The Grateful Dead. Phil Lesh beat a drum in San Francisco’s Golden Park for a large crowd of mourners. Garcia’s body couldn’t stand the effects of drugs and he died in his early 50s in a drug rehabilitation center.

The other story in the paper concerned my mother, Mary Mathison, who died at the age of 82. The doctors said she died from an “overworked heart” that just gave out beating. The First United Methodist Church of Panama City was packed with worshipers who celebrated her life and her resurrection. The celebration ended with the whole congregation’s singing of “Victory in Jesus.”

My mother was depicted as a person who always stayed in the background and offered encouragement and support to her husband and two sons. She had a huge heart that poured out love on us and to all people she met. People of all races and from all economic and social levels of life who had been recipients of the love from her big heart were present. After 82 years of giving, her heart just gave out!

Mickey Mantle and Jerry Garcia left behind a lot of wealth gained from those hand-made accomplishments, but it won’t last very long. Mother left behind a long list of people she influenced for Jesus Christ. She helped change the population of heaven. I guess Mickey and Jerry got some of their rewards here – Mother is enjoying her rewards forever and ever, and ever!

In the long run the hand-made tents are not nearly as creative or crafty or as valuable as the house that is not made with hands, eternal in the Heavens! Heaven-made is a lot better than hand-made!

[The above is an excerpt found on page 73 from the book Extra Effort by John Ed Mathison. Extra Effort contains 129 devotional stories and is available through the John Ed Mathison Leadership Ministries.]

Frank Reich, quarterback for the Buffalo Bills, had a different idea. Back in 1984 he had brought the University of Maryland back from a 31-point deficit against Miami. That also was a collegiate record.

Reich’s pinpoint passing and perfect play calling in the second half engineered the comeback. Buffalo scored 32 points to win over Houston! In the postgame interview the first thing Reich said was that he gave the credit to Jesus who was most important in his life.

Later in the locker room interview he said the music to the Christian song Christ Alone, by Michael English, was what gave him the composure and determination to win. He read the lyrics at the press conference. The heart of the song reads, “Though I can pride myself in battles won…by His strength alone I overcome.”

Marv Levy, the coach of the Buffalo Bills, said he was surprised but had faith in Reich. He highly complimented his Christian faith. He said, “It is his faith that gives him so much composure and causes people to believe in him.” Coach Levy said he would never count Buffalo out of any game as long as he had a man with the faith of Reich as quarterback.

The greatest strength in the world comes in our friendship with Jesus Christ. You are never out in any situation when you trust in Him. Sometimes some situations seem hopeless – but “by His strength, I overcome.” You may be down, but in Christ you’re never out!

The Buffalo Bills advanced to the AFC championship game. If your faith is in Christ alone, you will win in the most important game in town – the game of your life. You will always be advancing to the next round. I have read the last chapter of the Bible and seen the final score, and the winners are the people who are running the plays that come from the Head Coach and relying on Him for all their strength.

[The above is an excerpt found on page 42 from the book Extra Effort by John Ed Mathison. Extra Effort is available through the John Ed Mathison Leadership Ministries.]

Graham couldn’t forget that turnover. The Browns were close enough to kick a field goal and win it. Otto said, “I never felt so downhearted in my life. I acquired cancer about 17 years ago and I wasn’t anywhere near as devastated when I had that cancer as I was when I dropped that football. It was our first year in the league and we had a chance to win this thing and I blew it.”

But an interesting thing happened. As Graham came off the field he saw Coach Paul Brown coming toward him. Graham’s stomach tightened. “He and Vince Lombardi were very much alike, except Lombardi would yell and scream at you, where Coach Brown would never raise his voice. He would look at you with those cold eyes that would go right through you.”

Graham said that when he came off the field he was feeling dejected. He was shocked because Coach Brown did not get angry at him, but encouraged him. “He tapped me on the shoulder and said, “Don’t worry, Otto, we’re still going to get them.” Graham said, “I can’t tell you how much that meant to me emotionally.”

The Rams needed only a first down to win the game, but the Browns were so pumped up by Otto Graham’s emotions that they held the Rams and got the ball back to Graham with a minute and 30 seconds left. Graham moved the Browns 80 yards, and with 20 seconds to go Lou Grozza kicked a field goal and the Browns won 30-28!

Otto Graham said, “Paul Brown knew when to kick you in the pants and when to pat you on the shoulder. If he had glared at me, we would have lost. His encouragement gave me so much confidence, and I passed on that confidence to my teammates in the huddle and we went right down the field and got three points. That’s part of coaching people don’t understand.”

We might not play quarterback for a championship team, but we have that same tendency to respond better to encouragement than an angry scolding. Everybody will make mistakes. A little encouragement might turn a “fumble” into a “winning score.”

[The above is an excerpt found on page 66 from the book Extra Effort by John Ed Mathison. Extra Effort is available through the John Ed Mathison Leadership Ministries.]

I checked the thermostat on the air conditioner, and it was in its normal place – the air conditioner was just not working. After a long hot trip, a hot house doesn’t help your mood a whole lot.

When I was finally able to get someone to come out and look at the air conditioner, the man checked it out and looked at me and smiled. He said, “You are not going to believe what’s wrong with your air conditioner.” He pointed to a little twig about an inch long that had fallen into the fan and jammed the fan blade against the casing of the air conditioner. The little twig must have fallen precisely into the one place that would cripple the whole air conditioner. All he had to do was take a screwdriver and release the fan blade.

I looked at that little bitty twig (it was now an expensive twig). You would hardly see it if it were lying on the ground. But that little twig got into the one place that would shut down all the cool air from our house.

How many times do we let little things get into our spiritual life and play havoc? We might think that because something is small, that it is insignificant. Little things in the wrong places can mess up and entire operation. Just observe what happens when a little bit of sand gets into the carburetor of a car.

Conversely, little things can carry a lot of positive influence. Emerson once said that the creation of a thousand forests is in one small acorn. Jesus talked a lot about the salt in food and the leaven in a loaf. One invitation to attend church from you to someone might make all the difference in their lives.

You might feel insignificant because you are the only Christian in your office, or the only Christian in your family, or the only Christian in your circle of friends. Don’t ever forget the power that one witness can make!

Pay careful attention to the little things in your life. An accumulation of the little things ultimately makes the big things!

[The above is an excerpt found on page 73 from the book Extra Effort by John Ed Mathison. Extra Effort is available through the John Ed Mathison Leadership Ministries.]

I don’t know where the crane was used before it was brought to Frazer, but when it arrived it had those large steel balls that are used for tearing down buildings. When I inquired about them I was told that they were called “headache balls” (I didn’t have to ask how they got that name). Each of those big steel balls weighed several hundred pounds.

I was curious about the crane because it would be very helpful in setting the beams to put the roof on our new building. But if the wrong person got behind the controls of that crane, it could be used to tear down not only the new building, but also the existing sanctuary and educational space. In fact, I asked the foreman how long it would take somebody to tear down all of our buildings using that crane. He looked at me and smiled and said, “It could be done in a couple of days”.

Beautiful buildings that have taken months and months and months to build, yet they can be torn down in a couple of days. That just doesn’t seem right. The real Church (not brick and mortar) also takes a long time to build. But that Church can also be torn apart very quickly.

Each of us is like that crane – we have a capacity to build or tear down. Building requires commitment, prayer, and a lot of hard work. Little skill is required for tearing down – all it takes is a jealous heart, an unforgiving spirit, a critical attitude, a tendency to have hurt feelings, “I’m more spiritual than you” communication, a tendency to repeat something that might not be completely true, etc.

Be a part of the building team this year. Replace any “headache balls” with constructive attachments for witness and work.

[The above is an excerpt found on page 45 from the book Fishing for Birds by John Ed Mathison. Fishing for Birds is available through the John Ed Mathison Leadership Ministries.]

On August 13,1995, there were some notably different approaches to life and death. The Panama City paper carried the stories of three people who died that week. One was Mickey Mantle, of baseball fame. His body couldn’t cope with the effect of alcoholism. In his last days he pleaded with young people, “don’t be like me.” The message on the scoreboard in Yankee Stadium on Sunday afternoon was a tribute to his “man-made records” in baseball. I understand he did accept Jesus as his personal Savior before he died.

Another death was Jerry Garcia, lead guitarist and singer for The Grateful Dead. Phil Lesh beat a drum in San Francisco’s Golden Park for a large crowd of mourners. Garcia’s body couldn’t stand the effects of drugs and he died in his early 50s in a drug rehabilitation center.

The other story in the paper concerned my mother, Mary Mathison, who died at the age of 82. The doctors said she died from an “overworked heart” that just gave out beating. The First United Methodist Church of Panama City was packed with worshipers who celebrated her life and her resurrection. The celebration ended with the whole congregation’s singing of “Victory in Jesus.”

My mother was depicted as a person who always stayed in the background and offered encouragement and support to her husband and two sons. She had a huge heart that poured out love on us and to all people she met. People of all races and from all economic and social levels of life who had been recipients of the love from here big heart were present. After 82 years of giving, here heart just gave out!

Mickey Mantle and Jerry Garcia left behind a lot of wealth gained from those hand-made accomplishments, but it won’t last very long. Mother left behind a long list of people she influenced for Jesus Christ. I guess Mickey and Jerry got some of their rewards here – Mother is enjoying her rewards forever and ever, and ever!

In the long run the hand-made tents are not nearly as creative or crafty or as valuable as the house that is not made with hands, eternal in the Heavens! Heaven-made is a lot better than hand-made!

{The above is an excerpt found on page 73 from the book Extra Effort by John Ed Mathison. Extra Effort is available through the John Ed Mathison Leadership Ministries.]

Most folks have a mindset that the economic system of America is a place you can put your faith. That has been shaken somewhat by what has happened in the stock market and in the economic conditions of the world. Many analysts agree that one of the latest huge drops in the Dow Jones was related to the collapse of a big hedge fund called Long-Term Capital Management LP.

I don’t understand a lot of this but this was a group of high-powered brains that devised sophisticated models where basically they predicted what markets would do and used borrowed money to “hedge.” It had a great track record! However, it didn’t predict the current economic condition, and got in trouble.

The people who were making the decisions are some of the best minds in the economic world. There are Myron Scholes and Robert Merton; both had won Nobel Prizes for economics. One teaches at MIT and the other at Harvard. David Mullins is the former vice chairman of the Federal Reserve. Their leader is John Meriwether, who pioneered fixed-income arbitrage at Salomon Brothers and built its trading desk into a huge moneymaker. You would think that leadership like that couldn’t be wrong.

They are brilliant men, but they made some mistakes that required some of America’s financial powerhouses to “bail them out.”

This is just a reminder. We need to truly put our faith and trust in eternal things, not in earthly things. Even the strongest economic system in the world cannot be totally trusted. Matthew 6: 19 – 21 and Matthew 6: 25-34 focus on helping us to invest our money, time, talents, and energy in things that really matter. Our leader, the Lord Jesus Christ, calls the shots and He doesn’t make any mistakes!

The Bible is our best financial guide!

At this time, on a voluntary basis, manufacturers can sell peanut products similar to peanut butter with any amount of peanuts, but they will have to be called “peanut spread” and the label will have to list the percentage of peanuts included. If they fail to meet the nutritional requirements for peanut butter, the name will have to be “imitation peanut butter.”

Now when kids (and parents) eat America’s favorite sandwich, they can be assured of getting the real thing. All imitations must be designated as such.

It’s tragic that there is a lot of living today that goes under the label of Christianity, but does not meet the minimum requirements and is really an imitation. There are too many people who “talk” but don’t “walk” the faith. Too many people limit their Christianity to Sunday. This can be very confusing to new Christians and to outsiders because no one is wearing a label of “imitation Christian” or “Christian spread”.

While peanut butter can get along with 90% peanuts, Christianity requires 100% commitment. Jesus said that a man must love God with all his heart, all his mind, all his soul, and all his strength (Mark 12:30). Jesus talked about the rewards of full commitment when Peter said that they had forsaken all and followed Him (Matthew 19:27). Jesus invites us to “Come after Me”—no place for spread or imitation.

I feel that it is far more important for people to get the real thing when they are looking for Christianity than when they are eating peanut butter. The only kind of spread we need is the kind that gets the Word to more people!

[The above is an excerpt found on page 48 from the book Fishing For Birds by John Ed Mathison. Fishing For Birds is available through the John Ed Mathison Leadership Ministries.]

The calendar is actually a 16-month September-December long-range planning calendar used by church leaders and produced by the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee. It was simply an omission.

Ernest Mosely, the Convention Executive Vice President, said, “The omission does not represent official action of the Southern Baptist Convention.” I jokingly told my friend that I knew the Baptists were powerful, but I’m glad they did not take official action to cancel Easter!

Putting Easter on the calendar doesn’t cause it to happen. Easter happens in hearts of believers. Be sure you don’t inadvertently omit or miss the celebration of Easter – the heart of our Christian faith.

[The above is an excerpt found on page 94 from the book Extra Effort by John Ed Mathison. Extra Effort is available through the John Ed Mathison Leadership Ministries.]

People were told that boomers are opting for shorter, less costly services, eulogies with poems and personal memories, and even post funeral parties. Some want to be buried with their pets. Many are choosing environmentally friendly options such as plain pine boxes or leaning toward cremation.

Celestis Incorporated, a Houston company, will launch the cremated remains into space. It cost about $5000 and the remains are placed in canisters aboard commercial satellite launch vehicles and sent into low earth orbit. The next launch is set for September.

Boomers think that caskets don’t need to be cold and gloomy. One company offers caskets made with shells and dirt from the deceased’s favorite beach or own backyard. 

Baby boomers, baby busters, generation X, and all the rest of us will discover that the solution to death is not found in a funeral, but in Easter. A comfortable casket won’t change our eternal destiny – only our faith in Him who conquered death.

God can make a casket a hope chest!

[The above is an excerpt found on page 114 from the book Extra Effort by John Ed Mathison. Extra Effort is available through the John Ed Mathison Leadership Ministries.]