Editor: Richard (Dick) Innes
Published by: ACTS International
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Vol. 9 – No. 3907 September 29, 2007
Thought for the week: "The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires." – William A. Ward
"By perseverance the snail reached the ark." – Charles Haddon Spurgeon
"Thank you, God, for this good life and forgive us if we do not love it enough." – Garrison Keillor
"What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us" – William Morrow
"Opportunity never knocks; it is within you." – Denis Waitley
"There are three kinds of people: Those who make things happen; those who watch things happen; and those who wonder what happened!" – An old American military saying
"I attribute my success to this: I never gave or took an excuse." – Florence Nightingale
"Those who travel the high road of humility are not troubled by heavy traffic." – Alan Simpson
My six-year-old son came running into the house, crying and shaking his right hand. Sobbing, he told me he had been bouncing the basketball and it had bounced into the end of his fingers. From the way he was crying, I knew he just needed a kiss-it-better cure. His crying subsided and as he turned to go back outside, he said absently, "or was it this hand?"
"It is not what we read, but what we remember, that makes us learned.
It is not what we intend, but what we do that makes us useful.
It is not a few faint wishes, but a lifelong struggle, that makes us valiant."
Then Jesus took his disciples up the mountain and gathered them around. He
taught them, saying:
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are the meek.
Blessed are they that mourn.
Blessed are the merciful.
Blessed are they who thirst for justice.
Blessed are you when persecuted.
Blessed are you when you suffer.
Be glad and rejoice for your reward is great in heaven.
Then Simon Peter said, "Are we supposed to write this down?"
And Andrew asked, "Are we supposed to know this?"
And James asked, "Will we have a test on this?"
And Phillip said, "I don't have any paper."
And Bartholomew asked, "Do we have to turn this in?"
And John said, "The other disciples didn't have to learn this."
And Matthew asked, "Can I go to the boys' room?"
And Judas asked, "What does this have to do with real life?"
Then one of the Pharisees who was present asked to see Jesus' lesson plan and inquired of Jesus, "Where is your objectives and lesson plan?"
And Jesus wept.
James T. Garrett, God's Gift, CSS Publishing Company.
I'm a ham radio operator and when I heard the following story coming over the air waves, it really made me think!
"Well, Tom, it sure sounds like you're busy with your job. I'm sure they pay you well but it's a shame you have to be away from home and your family so much. Hard to believe a young fellow should have to work 60 or 70 hours a week to make ends meet. Too bad you missed your daughter's recital."
He continued, "Let me tell you something, Tom, something that has helped me keep a good perspective on my own priorities."
And that's when he began to explain his theory of "A thousand marbles."
"You see, I sat down one day and did a little arithmetic. The average person lives about 75 years. I know, some live more and some live less, but on average, folks live about 75 years.
"Now then, I multiplied 75 times 52 and I came up with 3,900 which is the number of Saturdays that the average person has in their entire lifetime. Now stick with me Tom, I'm getting to the important part.
"It took me until I was 55 years old to think about all this in any detail," he went on, "and by that time I had lived through over 28 hundred Saturdays. I got to thinking that if I lived to be 75, I only had about a thousand of them left to enjoy.
"So I went to a toy store and bought every single marble they had. I ended up having to visit three toy stores to round up 1,000 marbles. I took them home and put them inside of a large, clear plastic container right here in the shack next to my gear. Every Saturday since then, I have taken one marble out and thrown it away.
"I found that by watching the marbles diminish, I focused more on the really important things in life. There is nothing like watching your time here on this earth run out to help get your priorities straight.
"Now let me tell you one last thing before I sign off with you and take my lovely wife out for breakfast. This morning I took the very last marble out of the container. I figure if I make it until next Saturday, then I have been given a little extra time.
"And the one thing we can all use is a little more time.
"It was nice to meet you Tom, I hope you spend more time with your family, and I hope to meet you again."
You could have heard a pin drop on the radio when this fellow signed off. I guess he gave us all a lot to think about. I had planned to work on the antenna that morning, and then I was going to meet up with a few hams to work on the next club newsletter. Instead, I went upstairs and woke my wife up with a kiss.
"C'mon honey, I'm taking you and the kids to breakfast."
"What brought this on?" she asked with a smile.
"Oh, nothing special, it's just been a long time since we spent a Saturday together with the kids. Hey, can we stop at a toy store while we're out? I need to buy some marbles."
Lots of parents are filled with pride when they talk about how bright, beautiful, and/or talented their children are. I'm certainly no different. I look for every chance to show pictures of my kids and regale my captive listeners with anecdotes of their charm and cleverness.
Years ago, a proud mom named Gail Silvers wrote me about a quality in her adopted six-year-old son Kyle—his loving heart. Apparently, Kyle has a poetry of love and kindness in his blood. When he was five, he told his mom, "When I kiss you, it means my heart is going into my lips to tell you how much I love you."
She told me of the time when she and Kyle were on their way home after a five-hour stint with Meals on Wheels and they stopped to render aid to a woman whose car had broken down. In her car were three children, including a two-year-old baby.
When Kyle's mom told him the family needed some help, he replied, "There's a baby in the car who's scared because their car is broken. I have to talk to her."
His mom told him the little girl didn't speak English, and he said, "Mommy, do you think she speaks love?"
Kyle went to the baby, talked quietly with her, hugged her, and kissed her cheek. Then he entertained the two-year-old with a 10-minute slapstick routine that even took Gail by surprise.
As the baby and everyone else laughed, it was clear that Kyle's instincts were right. The baby knew how to speak love, a universal language we all ought to speak more often.
This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.
Jesus said, "You are to go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone, everywhere."1
Dr. Leighton Ford tells the story of when his young daughter got lost years ago.
"I was minding the children while my wife was shopping. Debbie Jean had returned from school and was playing with her four-year-old brother in the back yard. When I called them to come in, Debbie Jean was missing.
"I walked up and down the street calling her name—fearing the silence.
"Later (after she was found) I reflected on the incident. During the nearly two hours that Debbie Jean was missing, nothing else mattered. In my study were books to be read, letters to be answered, articles to be written, planning to be done—but it was all forgotten. I could think of only one thing: my little girl was lost.
"I had only one prayer and I prayed it a thousand times: 'O God, help me to find her.'
"'How often,' I ask myself, had I felt that same terrible urgency about people who were lost from God?"
Suggested prayer: "Dear God, give me a passion for those who are lost without Jesus. Please use me today and every day to be as Jesus to someone who needs the Savior and grant that they, seeing Jesus in me, will want you for themselves. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus' name, amen."
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