Editor: Richard (Dick) Innes
Published by: ACTS International
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Vol. 10 – No. 2008 May 17, 2008
Thought for the week: "Use what you've got and don't be what you're not." – David Osborne
"A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for." – William Shedd
"Whatever we expect with confidence becomes our own self-fulfilling prophecy." – Brian Tracy
"Living consciously involves being genuine; it involves listening and responding to others honestly and openly; it involves being in the moment." – Sidney Poitier
"Never does the human soul appear so strong and noble as when it forgoes revenge and dares to forgive an injury." – E. H. Chapin
"You can't shake hands with a clenched fist." – Golda Meir
"A good way to have the last word is to apologize." – Barbara Johnson
"Don't ever take a fence down until you know why it was put up." – Robert
Frost
It was the first day of school. As the principal made his rounds, he heard a terrible commotion coming from one of the classrooms. He rushed in and spotted one boy, taller than the others, who seemed to be making the most noise. He seized the lad, dragged him to the hall, and told him to wait there until he was excused. Returning to the classroom, the principal restored order and lectured the class for half an hour about the importance of good behavior. Now," he said," are there any questions?
"One girl stood up timidly and asked, "Please sir, may we have our teacher back?"
Many years ago during a Knicks-Bullets playoff game, one of the Bullets came up from behind the great Walt Frazier and punched him in the face. Strangely, the referee called a foul on Frazier. Frazier didn't complain. His expression never changed. He simply called for the ball and put in seven straight shots to win the game, an amazing display of productive anger. If you want to get huffy about it, it was a great moral lesson as well.
I recently read about a study that they did about the best tasting ice cream.
They did a blind taste test. They brought some people together and they got all kinds of vanilla ice cream. They got gourmet ice cream. Homemade ice cream. Brand name ice cream and even the price saver cheap ice creams and they did the taste test to find out what factor made ice cream taste better. What they determined was that the number one determining factor in the taste of ice cream and what made people like it, wasn't the price of it. It didn't matter if it was gourmet or brand name, and it wasn't if it was homemade or not. The number one determining factor was the percentage of fat in the ice cream. In other words, the more cream fat that was in the ice cream, the more people seemed to like it. Now, isn't that one of the cruel ironies of life?
Why can't fried chicken, which happens to be my favorite food, be as good for you as an apple? I have never heard a doctor say: "A fried chicken leg a day will keep the doctor away." And the reason they say that is because if you had fried chicken every morning for breakfast, it would probably keep the doctor nearby because your cholesterol would shoot up. I don't know, but I guess I have to settle for apples
Thought: This is the thing about temptation and about giving into temptation. It tastes good initially. And it feels good for a moment. But later, when we see that we have been tricked and when we realize what we have given up when we get into that temptation, we regret it. When we give in to temptation, we always regret it because in the long run we always give up something greater for instant gratification right now.1
"No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it."2
Major Ian Thomas, the British evangelist, speaks of the powerlessness of a glove. If your glove is lying on the table, you can command it to do things all day, and it's helpless to obey. It just lies there uselessly. But when you fill the glove with your hand, that glove can do anything you can do. It can grasp a hammer, steer a car, shake a hand, or hold a Bible.
As David Jeremiah observes, "Christ doesn't want us to do something for Him; He wants to do something through us. To be effective in His service, we need to be filled with Him. The book of Acts repeatedly describes the early Christians as being filled with the Spirit. When the apostle Paul gave reports about his missionary activities, he always talked about what the Lord had done through Him.
When we labor in our own strength, we're just jousting with windmills. When we're filled with the Holy Spirit, it's as though Christ himself were ministering through us—which He is. We are His gloves, and we must let His hands fill us every day."
From Turning Point Daily Devotional, 8-14-07. Source: PreachingNow, Michael Duduit, Editor. www.michaelduduit.com
I didn't mean to be disrespectful, but when I was invited to speak to a group of student leaders at a prominent college, I asked what they had done to justify the label "leader." Most responded that they were selected or elected to represent fellow students and that their official position in student government confirmed they were leaders.
I suppose "office" or "authority" is a form of leadership, but to me leadership is an active noun. Office provides authority and status that can be used to lead, but if those tools aren't employed effectively, the officeholder is not a leader.
True leaders are catalysts to bold action or meaningful change. They teach, persuade and inspire. They change minds and attitudes. They mobilize people. The credentials of a real leader are the list of things he or she reforms for the better.
Unfortunately, exemplary student leadership is as rare as exemplary governmental leadership. One reason is, politicians in both contexts are often more concerned with building their resumes than changing the world. Another is, they tend to be so preoccupied with "small" issues that appeal to the immediate self-interest of their constituents that they fail to address harder, but more important, problems.
Focusing on the perennial issues of student government—parking, food services, social events and apathy—virtually guarantees insignificance.
If you want to be a real leader, do something that truly matters. Tackle binge drinking, substance abuse, plagiarism and other cheating, irresponsible and disrespectful sex, hazing or, if you prefer, indifferent and incompetent teaching.
Sure, these issues are complex and difficult, but that's why we need leaders.
This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.
"Though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again."2
Sports Illustrated writer Jeannette Bruce once spent two-and-a-half years taking judo lessons, progressing steadily through the entire spectrum of self-defense "belts."
"On one rainy night," she said, "it all seemed worthwhile. The thing every judo student dreams of happened to me. I was walking down Sixth Avenue about 9:00 p.m. when a man stepped out of a dark doorway and tried to snatch my purse. How prepared I should have been, how ready to smash him to the pavement with a flourishing foot sweep!
"Instead ... I hit him over the head with my umbrella!"2
I suppose most of us can identify with Jeanette in some way. We get a great opportunity to do something worthwhile and blow it by doing or saying something stupid. Or when faced with temptation, we know how to resist the enemy because we know all the right Bible verses to fend for ourselves. However, instead of putting on the "whole armor of God," we seek to overcome in our own strength—and fail miserably.
However, when we do fail, the important thing is to get up, learn from our mistakes, and go on having learned to put our trust in God in every situation in which we find ourselves.
Suggested prayer: "Dear God, thank you that when I stumble and fall, you do not condemn me but reach out to help me get back on my feet again. In every failure please help me to learn from my mistakes, get up, and, trusting in you, go on. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus' name, amen."
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