Editor: Richard (Dick) Innes
Published by: ACTS International
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Vol. 9 – No. 4007 October 06, 2007
Thought for the week: "The basic question is not how much of our money should we give to God, but how much of God's money should we keep for ourselves." – J. Oswald Sanders
"An army of deer led by a lion is more to be feared than an army of lions led by a deer." – Attributed to Philip II of Macedon
"The key to realizing a dream is to focus not on success, but significance —and then even the small steps and little victories along your path will take on greater meaning." – Oprah Winfrey
"We will receive not what we idly wish for but what we justly earn. Our rewards will always be in exact proportion to our service." – Earl Nightingale
"Give me a lever long enough, and a prop strong enough, I can single-handed move the world." – Archimedes
"Courage is doing what you're afraid to do. There can be no courage unless you're scared." – Eddie Rickenbacker, aviator
"If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude." – Maya Angelou
"Fix the problem, not the blame." – Japanese proverb
I heard a story recently about a young girl who wrote a letter to a missionary to let him know that her class had been praying for him. But evidently she'd been told not to request a response to her letter because the missionaries were very busy. So the missionary got a kick out of her letter.
It said, "Dear Mr. Missionary, we are praying for you. But we are not expecting an answer."
Adrian Rogers told the story of a lady who took a course in first aid: "They were having testimonials about first aid, and she stood up and said, 'I want to give a testimony. The other day out in front of my house, there was an automobile accident. An old man driving his car lost control, went over the curb, and hit an oak tree head-on. He was thrown out into the street. His skull was fractured, he had compound fractures in his limbs, and he was pumping his life's blood out on the asphalt.' She said, 'It was horrible, but I remembered my first aid. I remembered if I would put my head between my knees I wouldn't faint.'
"That's the kind of Christianity a lot of people desire. We just want to put our head between our knees and say, 'Oh, I'm so glad I'm a Christian, so I can live in this horrible world.' It is a horrible world, and our Lord has put us here as His representatives. Opportunities to serve Him are everywhere."
A man and his wife were having some problems at home and were giving each other the silent treatment.
The next week, the man realized that he would need his wife to wake him at 5:00 AM for an early morning business flight to Chicago. Not wanting to be the first to break the silence, he wrote on a piece of paper, "Please wake me at 5:00 AM."
The next morning the man woke up, only to discover it was 9:00 AM and that he had missed his flight.
Furious, he was about to go and see why his wife hadn't awakened him, when he noticed a piece of paper by the bed. The paper said, "It is 5:00 AM. Wake up."
Communication—such a vital part of keeping marriages healthy! Show me a married couple having problems and I'll show you a couple that's having difficulty communicating. The greatest of problems can be solved with good communication. Even the smallest of problems can be insurmountable without it!
Remember when you were dating? You spent a lot of time talking to each other. You could spend hours on the phone at a time, sharing your opinions and your preferences, or just talking about what's going on. But then you get married, you get to know each other and you tend to quit talking and quit listening (especially husbands).
Strong families communicate often. They talk about anything and everything. They also listen to each other. If a member of the family isn't communicating, they find out why. "What's the problem? Let's talk it out, let's solve the difficulty."
Be willing to talk. Be willing to listen. And, perhaps most importantly, make time for both. In our hectic world where everybody is running in different directions all at the same time, we need to make time to be with each other and communicate.
"Pleasant words are like a honeycomb, Sweetness to the soul and health to the bones" (Proverbs 16:24).
Alan Smith, Thought for the Day
Helen Street Church of Christ
Fayetteville, North Carolina. www.tftd-online.co
Some years ago, Laurence J. Peter wrote a book about inefficiency in the business world. He called it: The Peter Principle: Why Things Always Go Wrong.
He sent the manuscript to McGraw-Hill. Their publications editor rejected it, saying, "I can foresee no commercial possibilities for such a book and consequently can offer no encouragement."
Peter sent his manuscript to 29 more publishers, and 29 more publishers rejected it. They agreed that its market value was limited.
After 30 rejections, you'd think that Peter would give up on his manuscript. But he didn't; he sent it out one more time—this time to William Morrow and Company. This time it was accepted.
And how did the book do marketwise? It sold over eight million copies. Not too bad for a book that 29 publishers rejected.
6. What I've Learned: The Perspective From 13-Year-Olds
By Michael Josephson of Character Counts (505.5)
A few years ago I got a note from Sam Rangel, an eighth-grade teacher in Corona, California. He distributed some of my commentaries on "What I've Learned" to his students and asked them to write down what they'd learned over the past year or in their lives.
Here's the world of growing wisdom from the 13-year-old perspective:
I've learned that work comes first; fool around later.
I've learned that being popular isn't everything.
I've learned that being pretty on the inside is better than being pretty on the outside.
I've learned that not everything in life is fair.
I've learned that all people want is someone to listen to them.
I've learned that girls seem to fight with their friends a lot, but almost never with their enemies.
I've learned that it takes a long time to make a friendship and a fraction of a second to destroy it.
I've learned that your imagination is as important as your knowledge.
I've learned that to say no to someone is not wrong.
I've learned that by following others, you aren't following yourself.
I've learned that the harder it is to do something, the stronger it makes us.
I've learned that I am responsible for me.
I've learned to give everybody a second chance.
I've learned that teenagers will do dumb things.
I've learned that if you respect your elders, they will respect you.
I've learned that words do hurt people more than sticks and stones.
I've learned that when I come to a fork in the road, I should ask for help.
I've learned that the easy way is not the best way.
This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.
"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard."1
In A Slice of Infinity Betsy Childs writes, "Are you sitting down? If so, you may be under the impression that you are also sitting still, but the fact is that you are in rapid motion. I'm referring to the earth's rotation; in the course of a day, our planet rotates at the brisk rate of 1000 miles per hour at the equator. Then there's the earth's orbital rate of rotation; we have to travel roughly 67,000 miles an hour to make it all the way around the sun in a year. Are you feeling any motion sickness yet?
"I could hardly be more stationary than I am right now as I sit here before my computer. But in spite of the fact that I don't feel like I'm moving, I know that I am. I see the effects every day in the sun's rising and setting."2
I've never seen electricity but I know it exists because of its numerous effects seen every day in lighting, heating, cooling, running all sorts of equipment—and in "ten thousand" other uses.
I don't know any educated person who doesn't believe in the rotation of the earth or in electricity even though we can't see either of these—or a thousand other things that affect our daily life that we can't see with the naked eye. But many say they don't believe in God because they haven't seen him or they cannot feel his presence.
However, if we want to believe in God, we will see evidence of his existence everywhere we look. As God's Word says, "The heavens declare the glory of God." And as Helen Keller said, "There are none so blind as those who refuse to see."
Basically, we all pretty much see what we want to see, hear what we want to hear, remember what we want to remember, and believe in what we want to believe in. To believe or not to believe in God is perhaps more often than not a moral choice. If we choose to believe in God, we know we are morally responsible. If we choose not to believe in God, we delude ourselves into thinking we can live as we please without any consequences.
However, our disbelief in God doesn't alter his reality any more than refusing to believe in electricity and grabbing hold of a high-voltage electric wire. The end result of both of these is death—one immediate physical death, the other spiritual death which, at the end of this life, is eternal separation from God, the author of all love and life.
We are all given a choice about God either to believe or not to believe. And as Joshua said to the ancient Israelites long ago, "Choose you this day whom you will serve."3
Suggested prayer: "Dear God, please open the eyes of my understanding so that I will see the reality of your existence and genuinely choose to believe in and serve you. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus' name, amen."
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