If you are going to talk the talk, you are going to have to walk the walk.

Anonymous

The whole world hates a hypocrite - I guess maybe because we all have a bit of hypocrisy in our own lives, and we despise that weakness. Maybe this is we are so impressed with those who actually  walk in the way they talk. One such a man is Jack Carter. Jack is one of those rare ministers who can preach for 45 minutes and make you think he has been speaking for about 10 minutes (I think most of us who preach fancy ourselves with that gift, but only about four in the history of preaching have actually had that ability). One of Jack's most powerful sermons is on how to handle those truly difficult situations that come up in life: His conclusion? You handle them in advance.

This is one of those statements that is easy to say, but hard to do. But, and this is critical for you to understand, Jack has done it. Jack married Nancy, his childhood sweetheart, and they had a beautiful family including a daughter named Chris. Chris was born just about the time that the vaccine for Polio was developed - but it came too late for Chris. Jack and Nancy watched as their sweet child was ravaged by this cruel disease. A few years later, Nancy developed cancer and was taken from Jack.

As if this were not enough difficulty for one man, tragedy was about to strike again. Jack went on a long anticipated fishing trip with his son, Dave, and his two grandsons. A squall came up which capsized their boat in the icy waters of a large lake in Yellowstone, Wyoming. Jack and Dave dived beneath those freezing waters in a desperate attempt to find the boys, but to no avail. Heartbroken and exhausted, Dave slipped below the same waters that had claimed his two boys.

How well would you have handled this string of tragedies? Jack, years later, stated that when he wakes up in the morning and prays to God, all he can say is "Thank you, thank you, thank you, Holy Father, thank you for all that you have done for me. How can he pray in such a way? Because his daughter Chris is a beautiful Christian wife and mother of two. Because Nancy and Dave were devoted Christians. Because Jack looks forward to his reunion with his wife, his son and his grandsons. Because, more than anything, Jack believes in the faithfulness of God - so Jack walks in the same way that he talks.

Jack, my dear friend Jack, has cancer now. As always, he is meeting this new struggle with poise and dignity. Someday he will go home to a joyful reunion. I want to be there, and I hope that you want to be there, too. Until then, may we all walk the walk that God has laid out for us with the poise and dignity befitting true servants of God.

Do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.

James 1:22, NIV