Water, water, everywhere.  Three times the amount of rain fell on Baton Rouge as fell in Katrina!  7 trillion gallons of water deluged over 40,000 houses. With water comes “mold.”  There is a race against time to remove anything wet.  Hundreds of volunteers are stripping out churches, homes, and businesses before black mold takes over.

Do you have “mold in your soul?”  It is a creeping, silent enemy in your heart.   It is a hidden disease, thriving on the darkness.

Here are 5 basic steps to eradicate it:

It’s been tough this week to watch piles of clothes, furniture, appliances, and TVs out in front of every home on my street.  It’s dark.  It’s difficult. 40,000 homes are under 4-8 feet of water.  Nine megachurches are totally flooded.  Not one church had services last Sunday.

Jacob was in a dark place.  Running from his brother, he found a rock to sleep on.  There, in a dream, he saw God. (Gen 28)

How can you find a blessing in a dark place?

It seems we have all been a little shellshocked.  What a summer.  Terrorist attacks and campaigns.  Shootings and tension.  Now, it has come home to me more than ever.  I have lived on Bethany Church’s North campus property for 53 years.  I’ve never seen anything like what happened there this weekend.

How quickly your world can change.  From a calm, lazy summer Thursday afternoon to 25 inches of rain and emergency evacuation.  I was speaking in Austin, Texas, Saturday when I got word from Melanie that she had grabbed our vital documents and loaded a boat for higher ground.

Here are some helpful thoughts to think when you are in a personal disaster like this: 

On time is what every airline strives for.  I’m told the Swiss run a news story if a train is a few minutes late!  What difference does it makes to be “on time” and how can you hit that elusive mark?  I can help you with that.

Every Wednesday morning at 7:30 for six years I met our Governor and his staff for a Bible study.  One morning, I WOKE UP at 6:50!  In eight minutes I was up, showered, dressed and out the door!  I walked in breathing hard with five minutes to spare…and learned a valuable few lessons. 

Here they are:

Your prayer life is the most important part of your Christian life. My prayer life greatly improved when I studied the prayer life of Jesus Himself.  

If you are struggling with prayer, here are ten lessons directly from Scripture about when and how you should pray:

I’ve been married to Melanie, the woman of my dreams, for 40 years.  I’ve observed how she quietly, but powerfully, has shown her leadership prowess.

It's a shame that many of us men fail to realize the incredible potential in the godly leadership of a woman.  Deborah, the prophetess, was a “judge” over Israel (Judges 4).

What can Deborah teach us about leadership that works in a godly woman?

Here in Baton Rouge, the unthinkable happened this past Sunday morning:  three police officers dead and three wounded.  From Dallas to Nice to Baton Rouge, we are all on an emotional roller coaster of tragedy.

How do we cope?  Where do we find the courage to keep loving, keep forgiving, keep giving?  Jesus repeatedly told those in distress to "take courage."  It was a COMMAND:  "TAKE courage."  Don’t leave it laying on the ground, pick it up.

Here are a few ways you "take courage" when you are in a time of deep distress: 

It’s crazy.  The images of carnage.  The blatant anger.  The hurt and frustration.  The escalating conflict and animosity between races and with authorities.  What is the solution?  “Hesed.”

Here are some practical ways we can show God’s “hesed”:

The whole world is upset about borders.  From Brexit to the Middle East to the Ukraine, borders are shifting.  Some propose tighter borders and others want them totally removed.   John Kerry recently referred to a "world without borders."  Someone said that he left that speech, got into his armored car, anddrove behind the walls to his home! During the Katrina crisis, we had 900 people sleeping on the floor of our church. Visiting our church, President Bush remarked about a strip of blue tape we put on the floor between each person's private "space."  In nine months with Katrina evacuees we never had ONE fight.

Here are three areas I have learned to maintain proper borders:

We are in a stressful time.  Political changes are unnerving.  Our enemies are gaining strength.  The economy is fragile.  Diseases are coming out of nowhere.  Travel has become dangerous.  It’s always good to come back to my “true north”:  “how big is my God?”  I was recently in Colorado.  I was dwarfed by the massive 14,000 foot mountains.  Mt. Everest in the Himalayas is 2 1/2 times their height!

If you are feeling small, take a look at five BIG THINGS about God in Isaiah 40:

I have six children:  five sons and a daughter.  I have seven grandchildren with more on the way.  I’ve been raising children for 37 years.  I can help you do that if you need help.  It all starts with a father.  Mine just died at 97.  His life, ministry, and legacy is legendary.  Many of you did not have a “Bro. Roy.”  

I’m going to teach you what I learned from him and a few things I learned on my own about raising kids.

Steph Curry is the rage of the NBA.  He’s the greatest three-point shooter of all time.  He, his wife Ayesha, and their little girl Riley have become a model family for America.  What a lot of people don’t know, however, is that his parents led their family in a half-hour Bible devotion every morning before school.  I’m concerned about the families I see. We raised our six children with the Word of God at the center.  That’s probably why all six of them are involved in the ministry.

Here are five easy ways you can surround your family with Biblical truth:

Everywhere I go, people ask me, “How can I marry someone, like Melanie, who will stay together with me for a lifetime?”  Now, after 40 years together with her, I think I can help you in that. 

How to Marry the Right Person for Life:

I hate cruise control.  I hate it but I love it.  But I hate it.  It is so limiting.   It requires me to go only at a certain pace.  I love it because I can relax and just ride.  I hate it because I want to get there ahead of the guy in front of me! In our world today, everyone is in a hurry.  Patients are dying in hospitals because of the haste to move on to the next patient.  Everyone is on the move.  We are squeezing every second out of one activity to pour into the next one.

Think about these things when you are galloping toward your next ferry that is about to pull out:

Stress is killing people.  Guilt is not far behind.  In between those two extremes is a simple word:  “No.”  Getting that word out is the hard thing.  We hint, we beat around the bush, we psychologize.  We stay mad because we couldn’t say that word.  We avoid certain people and events because we can’t say that word.  Business leaders, parents, pastors, and politicians all have a difficult time saying that word. Your world will change when someone shows you how to say “No.”  I’ve battled it for years.  After all, they’re my friend.  What if I ruin a relationship?  Didn’t Christ teach me to serve?  What if their reputation tells me that what they borrow will never be returned?  How can I add another thing to an already overloaded schedule?  Stress or guilt?

Here are a few helpers to help you get that word out:

How do you know if you are going in the wrong direction or making a wrong decision?  Is God able to get your attention?  Have you ever “gone over the cliff” and you never had a clue you were close to the edge?  Balaam was a prophet in the Old Testament.  He was headed in the wrong direction (Num. 22).  God used his donkey to try to tell him.  Balaam was too hardheaded to listen and he finally lost his life. I have seen four ways God uses people to warn me that I am moving in a wrong direction.  If you don’t read on, you may be close to the cliff and not even know it!  

The donkey in the story did four things that people also do who are trying to warn you of a wrong direction:

Thursday,  May 8th, 1976 was a big day.  It was my 23rd birthday and the day my bride came walking down the aisle…40 years ago.  I have to stop and reflect on why I made a good choice.

Here are the reasons that came to my mind this week:

40 years ago this week, I got married.  Two weeks later, I was in Africa with my bride.  I spent the better part of two years with her in the “bush” of Ghana and Nigeria often with no electricity and no running water.  Why have I invested 35 million dollars of the Lord’s money overseas in the last 33 years (and almost that much in local missions in the U.S.)?

As I reflect on this last forty years, here are a few thoughts that come to my mind:

My Daddy had a famous phrase:  “Keep it simple, hang loose, travel light.”  I remember a time I was helping my daughter move home from London.  She had at least eight suitcases.  We were trying to get on the subway for the airport and I found myself at the bottom of an escalator sprawled on the floor with all eight piled on top of me!  WE HAVE TOO MUCH STUFF. 

It convicted me to unload in several areas:

So many spiritual leaders are competing these days.  Visibility, getting noticed, and ranking is huge.  Being the biggest, fastest growing and having the largest audience seems to be all that matters.  Where did all this come from and where will it end? 

Here is how I keep that focus continually: