Editor: Richard (Dick) Innes
Published by: ACTS International
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Vol. 19 – No. 3217 August 24, 2017
Thought for the week: "The purpose of life is a life of purpose." – Robert Byrne
"By perseverance the snail reached the ark." – Charles Spurgeon
"Many men owe the grandeur of their lives to their tremendous difficulties." – Charles Spurgeon
"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel." – Maya Angelou
"In reading the lives of great men, I found that the first victory they won was over themselves ... Self-discipline with all of them came first." – Harry Truman
"Sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes. It is best to admit them quickly, and get on with improving your other innovations." – Steve Jobs
"If you think you're too small to make a difference, try going to bed with a mosquito in the room." – Unknown
"Opportunity often comes disguised in the form of misfortune, or temporary defeat." – Napoleon Hill
A father and his small son were out walking one day when the lad asked how electricity could go through the wires stretched between the telephone poles. "I don't know," said his father. "I never knew much about electricity." A few blocks farther on, the boy asked what caused lightning and thunder. "That too has puzzled me," came the reply. The youngster continued to inquire about many things, none of which the father could explain. Finally, as they were nearing home, the boy said, "Pop, I hope you didn't mind all those questions." "Not at all," replied his father. "How else are you going to learn!"
"To live content with small means; to seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion; to be worthy, not respectable, and wealthy, not rich; to study hard, think quietly, talk gently, act frankly; to listen to stars and birds, to babes and sages with open heart; to bear all cheerfully, do all bravely, await occasions, hurry never. In a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, grow up through the common. This is to be my symphony."1
In 1937, Amelia Earhart set out on a 29,000-mile flight around the world...
With only 7,000 miles remaining, she took off from Lae, New Guinea, in search of Howland Island, 2,556 miles distant in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Her last radio reports were received by the Coast Guard Cutter Itasca positioned just offshore the mile-and-a-half long island. At 7:42 a.m., the ship picked up the message, "We must be on you, but we cannot see you. Fuel is running low. Been unable to reach you by radio. We are flying at 1,000 feet." One hour later they heard the final words, "We are running north and south." Rescue efforts commenced immediately, but the $4,000,000 operation covering 250,000 square miles ended in disappointment. Amelia Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, were lost at sea.
Thought: Spiritual lostness involves a dangerous disorientation of the spirit. When a person is lost, it means he has lost touch with truth and reality. Important values have vanished from his radar screen. He is misguided in his beliefs and off course in his behavior. Lostness is losing one's way in life, morally, ethically and spiritually. And unless one repents, the repercussions are everlasting.1
"For what advantage is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost?" (Luke 9:25).
I read about one poor man who lived in the country and broke his leg in an accident...
That meant he was laid up for a long while, unable to work. His family was large and needed help.
Someone got up a prayer meeting at the church to pray for this family. While the people were praying and asking God to help the family, there was a loud knock on the church door. Someone tiptoed to the door, opened it, and there stood a young farm boy who said, "My dad could not attend the prayer meeting tonight, so he just sent his prayers in a wagon."
And there was the wagon loaded with meat, potatoes, apples, and other things from the farm.
Take a look around. Business, education, politics. If there's one thing we don't have enough of, it's good leaders—men and women who have the vision and the ability to change things for the better.
Former Air Force General William Cohen wrote a fine book called The Stuff of Heroes in which he identified eight laws of leadership. Here are his rules:
1. Maintain absolute integrity.
2. Know your stuff.
3. Declare your expectations.
4. Show uncommon commitment.
5. Expect positive results.
6. Take care of your people.
7. Put duty before self.
8. Get out in front.
His laws embrace important competencies like knowledge, communication skills, commitment, optimism, caring, and a powerful sense of duty. But General Cohen also recognized that the foundation of a successful leader is character, including trustworthiness, honor, and courage.
The best leaders draw on these moral qualities to influence others through inspiration, persuasion, trust, and loyalty. They do the right thing despite the costs and risks and do it not because it will yield approval or advantage, but because it's the right thing.
In these cynical times, it's easy to think such leadership is unattainable; yet in every walk of life there are hundreds of men and women—parents, teachers, coaches, civic activists—who fit this mold. What's more important, every one of us could be among them.
This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.
"I [God] will send the hornet ahead of you to drive the Hivites, Canaanites and Hittites out of your way."1
In much younger days I used to play a guitar (long before they became as popular as they are today) and sing. One of my favorite songs was the "Hornet Song" that went something like the following:
When the Canaanites hardened their hearts against God,
And grieved Him because of their sin,
God sent along hornets to bring them to terms,
And to help His own people to win.
Now the hornets persuaded them that it was best
To go quickly and not to go slow,
They didn't compel them to go 'gainst their will.
But they just made them willing to go.
If a nest of live hornets were brought to this room,
And the creatures allowed to go free,
You would not need urging to make yourself scarce,
You'd want to get out, don't you see!
When Jonah was sent to the work of the Lord,
The outlook was not very bright,
Why he never had done such a hard thing before,
So he backed out and ran off from the fight.
Now, the Lord sent a big fish to swallow him up,
The story I am sure you all know,
God didn't compel him to go 'gainst his will,
But He just made him willing to go.
Chorus:
God doesn't compel us to go, oh, no!
He never compels us to go,
God does not compel us to go 'gainst our will,
But He just makes us willing to go.
So here I am today ... many years hence ... doing with my life what I believe God wants me to do—and finding it incredibly fulfilling. "God's hornets" for me involved an accident on a construction site that put me in the hospital for a few days and out of work for a few weeks while recuperating. God had to put me flat on my back so I would stop and hear what he had been trying to get me to hear for about three years. While in the hospital I "heard" God's call—loud and clear—and "knew that I knew that I knew" what I needed to do. That was to go back to school and train for a lifetime of Christian ministry. How thankful I am today for the "hornets" God has sent into my life on several other occasions as well.
Suggested prayer: "Dear God, thank you that your call to each one of us is persistent, so please give me hearing ears and a listening heart to hear you call so that I will know without a doubt that I am fulfilling my God-given life purpose to the very best of my ability. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus' name, amen."
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