Weekly Thought – November 17, 2015
Fred spoke to the San Angelo, Texas initial Prayer Breakfast in the 1990s. The local newspaper covered it and the article by Ron Durham captures his thinking so well, it is repeated as this week’s thought. Fred spoke to prayer gatherings from coast to coast, offering his distinctive style of Christian thinking from a businessman’s perspective.
Fred’s thoughts are most pertinent to today’s troubled environment.
Mark Modesti, member of the BWFLI team, as well as the BWF Project, Inc. board recently presented at the TED/UPS talks. Click here to hear his wise and challenging words on “Trouble.”
Turbulent Times
Despite indications that the nation is in the Dark Ages morally, there are enough true believers acting out their commission as “the light of the world” to prompt optimism, Dallas businessman Fred Smith told a local audience Thursday.
The remarks from Fred Smith, an author and inspirational speaker, were received enthusiastically by the approximately 600 people attending San Angelo’s version of the National Prayer Breakfast.
Prayer is “a relationship that unites us instead of a doctrine that divides us,” Smith said. At another point he noted that “moral problems spiritual solutions.”
Acknowledging that “these are turbulent times because we are between Christian and non-Christian time,” he compared the situation to a trapeze artist leaving the swing and tumbling through the air reaching for the other swing.
Citing others who agree that the nation is in moral decline, Smith referred to Russian dissident Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s comment that “the Ten Commandments have become the Ten Suggestions.” He then observed that the culture’s materialistic bent only points to “a hole in the soul,” and that “many people have means but very little meaning.”
On the brighter side, Fred Smith cited ministries from inner city Seattle to the nation’s prison to professional sports to indicate a basis for optimism. And he told of people who have said, “I want to move my life from success to significance.”
Smith posed a blunt challenge to members of churches and synagogues to live up to the claims of their faith, noting a recent survey that indicated only 10 % of church and synagogue members show any significant difference in lifestyle.
Smith has served on more than 20 boards, including Cummings, Inc, Word, Inc, Youth for Christ International, and the Zig Ziglar Corporation. He currently serves on the Christianity Today, Inc. board. He holds two honorary doctorate of law degrees.
This week think about: 1) What is my response to our turbulent times? 2) How am I maximizing faith and minimizing fear? 3) What would be my message to a prayer breakfast?
Words of Wisdom: “Many people have means, but very little meaning.”
Wisdom from the Word: “God is our strong refuge; he is truly our helper in times of trouble.” (Psalm 46:1 NET Bible)