Down Home Wit and Wisdom

Steve Chapman

Description

"The bobber won't bounce if it ain't in the water." This homespun adage and more like it were birthed in the hills of Tennessee, the lake country of West Virginia, and the backwoods of a place near you. Bestselling author Steve Chapman shares more than 70 of his favorite and distinctive quips, including: Sometimes you have to let your feet do the talkin' for your heart. Bad friends help you sow, but you do the reaping. Don't mistake love for stupidity. Garnered during his years as a traveling musician with a band and, later, with his family, each entertaining proverb is followed by a true story that reveals the down-home wisdom in action. Clever, insightful, and entertaining, these maxims will make you smile...and think a bit.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie

Informations

• Publié par: Harvest House Publishers, Inc.
• Date de parution: 01 octobre 2015
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780736963534
• Langue: English

Extrait

HARVEST HOUSE PUBLISHERS
EUGENE, OREGON
Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the New American Standard Bible , 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. ( www.Lockman.org )
Verses marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version , NIV . Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Verses marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible , New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Verses marked TLB are taken from The Living Bible, copyright 1971. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Verses marked ESV are from The ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version ), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Verses marked MSG are taken from THE MESSAGE. Copyright by Eugene H. Peterson 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.
Cover design by Writely Designed, Buckley, Washington
The author and Harvest House Publishers have made every effort to trace the ownership of all quotes. In the event of a question arising from the use of a poem or quote, we regret any error made and will be pleased to make the necessary correction in future editions of this book.
Names and minor details have been changed in the real-life stories shared in this book to protect the privacy of the individuals mentioned.
DOWN HOME WIT AND WISDOM
Copyright 2015 by Steve Chapman
Published by Harvest House Publishers
Eugene, Oregon 97402
www.harvesthousepublishers.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Chapman, Steve.
Down home wit and wisdom / Steve Chapman.
Pages cm
ISBN 978-0-7369-6352-7 (pbk.)
ISBN 978-0-7369-6353-4 (eBook)
1. Christian life-Anecdotes. 2. Life skills-Anecdotes. 3. Aphorisms and apothegms. 4. Chapman, Steve-Ethics. I. Title.
BV4517.C45 2015
248.4-dc23
2014050051
All rights reserved. No part of this electronic publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means-electronic, mechanical, digital, photocopy, recording, or any other-without the prior written permission of the publisher. The authorized purchaser has been granted a nontransferable, nonexclusive, and noncommercial right to access and view this electronic publication, and purchaser agrees to do so only in accordance with the terms of use under which it was purchased or transmitted. Participation in or encouragement of piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of author s and publisher s rights is strictly prohibited.
Dedication
To my dear wife, Annie.
Without you, I d still be staring at a blank screen.
Acknowledgments
All of my thanks goes to my dear wife, Annie, who spent many hours helping me compile the hundreds of bits of wisdom from which these quips were chosen. Her depth of insight about life and how to live it successfully not only was a main contributor to this book, but it has made a lasting and loving difference in everyone around her, including family and friends and especially me.
Contents
Dedication
Acknowledgments
Simple Words, Profound Truth
1. Don t Shoot the Horse You re Ridin On
2. Sometimes You Have to Listen with Your Eyes
3. The Bobber Won t Bounce If It Ain t in the Water
4. The Hungrier You Are, the Harder You ll Hunt
5. Maintaining a Happy Marriage Is a Matter of Math
6. True Character Is Who You Are When Everyone Is Looking
7. Be Better Than Your Old Self
8. Courtesy for Cash Means Strings Attached
9. Being Needed Is Almost as Good as Being Wanted
10. A Great Man Fights for Freedom Even When He Knows He Might Not Live to Enjoy It
11. A Clean Barn Means Nothin s Goin On at the Farm
12. Test Your Children s Social Skills by Inviting Friends Over During TV Time
13. Change the Unacceptable; Accept the Unchangeable
14. Never Brag Before the Battle
15. Don t Mistake My Compassion for Stupidity
16. God Feeds the Birds, but He Doesn t Put Food in Their Nests
17. Givedends
18. God Is the Maker, Man Is the Mixer
19. Everything Said Should Be True, but Not Everything True Should Be Said
20. The 200 for 100 Rule
21. People Are like Flowers, and Some Are Better Suited to Shade
22. The Less You See, the More You Hear
23. Having a Good Reason Doesn t Mean It Should Be Done
24. One Man s Junk Is Another Man s Junk
25. A Heart Will Never Be Right Until It s Right at Home
26. Play or Not, Your Chances of Winning Are the Same
27. If Church Is Comfortable, You Might Need to Move Along
28. There Is No Grace for Borrowed Sorrow
29. The Pews Aren t Sitting in Church; the Church Is Sitting in Pews
30. Greatness Isn t Found in Perfection; It s Found in Recovery
31. Life Is Rigged; We Can t Do It Right Without God
32. Sometimes You Have to Let Your Feet Do the Talkin
33. The Masters Tournament Isn t the Place to Learn to Play Golf
34. Confession Is Good for the Soul-Even If It Sends the Body to Jail
35. Win or Lose People Will Never Be as Happy as Right or Wrong People
36. Friends Help Sow Bad Seeds, but You Reap Alone
37. If You Don t Want It Repeated, Make Sure Kids Aren t Listening
38. Sometimes You Have to Turn a Third Cheek
39. What Others Think About You Is None of Your Business
40. Renaming Sin to Avoid Spiritual Stink Is like Painting an Outhouse
41. Percentages Don t Have to Add Up to Reveal Important Truths
42. If You Keep Giving, Don t Be Surprised When They Want More
43. Let Em Be Boys
44. God s Gifts Are Meant to Be Given Away
45. Just Between You and Me and the Fence Post
46. Goodbye or I ll See You Again ?
47. God Made Babies Cute for a Reason
48. It Takes a Penny to Make a Dollar
49. Good Tired vs. Bad Tired
50. Little Boys and Big Hammers Are a Dangerous Combination
51. If They Believe in You, They ll Invest in You
52. It s Hard to Like Someone You Need When You Don t Like Why You Need Them
53. You Can t Be Pitiful and Powerful at the Same Time
54. You Just Never Know What a Day Will Bring
55. You Can t Eat Everything in Sight and Still Like the Sight in the Mirror
56. Why Pay Retail When You Can Pay Yard Sale?
57. Your Fishin Boat Won t Sink Unless You Let the Lake In
58. Some People Just Need Someone to Listen
59. The Narrow Road Is Narrower Than We Think
60. You Know You re Gettin Old When You Eat Cheap and Then Brag About It
61. Never Start a Home Repair After the Sun Goes Down
62. If You Fight with a Pig, You ll Both Get Dirty
63. It Doesn t Cost a Dime to Dream
64. If You Don t Sharpen Your Ax, You May Fall Before the Tree Does
65. You Choose What You Want to Do, but You Don t Get to Choose What Happens Next
66. Good Health Is the Slowest Form of Death
67. Refusing to Fear God Eventually Results in Fearing God
68. Some of Something Is a Lot More Than All of Nothing
69. If We Break God s Laws, They re Gonna Break Us
70. We Pick Our Own Poison
Notes
Simple Words, Profound Truth

T here is hardly anything more exciting than encountering a bit of wisdom that generates a positive change in the way I live and how I think. When it happens, I know that the light of truth gets a little brighter in my mind and the darkness occupied by doubt, confusion, anxiety, and fear must yield to it.
Most of the life-altering insights that have impacted me have not come in lofty language, hard-to-understand concepts, or long, drawn-out explanations. Instead, many of them are found in simple words that reveal profound truths that are easy to grasp. Better yet, they re very often contained in quips that would fit on a bumper sticker.
Down Home Wit Wisdom is a collection of my favorite brief-but-beneficial insights. I offer them to you not just because they have the potential to change your life for the better, like they have mine, but because I suspect you may be as hungry as I am for the common sense they contain.
Along with each memorable quip, I ve included a short story to illustrate how the wisdom applies to real-life situations. In some stories, the names of the individuals have been changed for the sake of privacy, but their experiences were very real.
In regard to the origin of the quips, some I ve heard from others, and whenever possible, I ve given credit to whom credit is due. Others are just out there in our world, accepted as general wisdom. Some of them are products of my personal discoveries and are in my own words. There is a reality I must admit: Because there is nothing new under the sun, you may have already thought of some of them or heard some of them before in one form or another. If so, let s just consider it a case of great minds running together, okay?
I m thankful that you ve chosen to spend some time with me through these pages. I hope you enjoy the down-home style of these time-tested truths. I especially hope they serve to make your life more enjoyable.
Steve Chapman
1
Don t Shoot the Horse You re Ridin On

I ve had some endurance-testing experiences in my years, including running marathons, riding a bicycle for several hundred miles, and remaining at full-draw with my compound bow long enough to outwait the keen eyes of a huge bull elk. But of all the things that have tried my perseverance, one that was even more challenging than these was helping my children maintain a right attitude while traveling.
My wife, Annie, and I are Christian musicians, and we ve traveled all over the United States putting on concerts, sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ, and offering families hope and encouragement. For many years, when our kids were growing-up, we to