Editor: Richard (Dick) Innes
Published by: ACTS International
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Vol. 11 – No. 0409 January 24, 2009
Thought for the week: "If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one." – Mother Teresa
"The only things that stand between a person and what they want in life are the will to try it and the faith to believe it's possible." – Rich Devos
"To get what we've never had, we must do what we've never done." – Anonymous
"Enjoy the little things for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things." – Robert Brault
"The beginning is the most important part of any work." – Plato
"A true leader has the confidence to stand alone, the courage to make tough decisions, and the compassion to listen to the needs of others. He does not set out to be a leader, but becomes one by the quality of his actions and the integrity of his intent." – Anonymous
A clergyman was walking down the street when he came upon a group of about a dozen boys, all of them between 10 and 12 years of age.
The group surrounded a dog. Concerned lest the boys were hurting the dog, he went over and asked "What are you doing with that dog?"
One of the boys replied, "This dog is just an old neighborhood stray. We all want him, but only one of us can take him home. So we've decided that whichever one of us can tell the biggest lie will get to keep the dog."
Of course, the reverend was taken aback. "You boys shouldn't be having a contest telling lies!" he exclaimed. He then launched into a ten minute sermon against lying, beginning, "Don't you boys know it's a sin to lie," and ending with, "Why, when I was your age, I never told a lie."
There was dead silence for about a minute. Just as the reverend was beginning to think he'd gotten through to them, the smallest boy gave a deep sigh and said, "All right, give him the dog."
I sometimes tell patients the parable about the two wood choppers who had taken down a tree that was over one hundred years old. Looking at the growth rings to determine the tree's age, the younger man noticed that there were five very narrow rings. He concluded that there had been a five-year-drought, during which the tree had shown very little growth.
However, the other lumberman, a wise old man with a philosophical bent, had a different viewpoint. He contended that the dry years actually were the most significant in the tree's history. His reason: Because of the drought, the tree had to force its roots down further to get the water and the minerals it needed. With a strengthened root system, it was able to grow faster and taller when conditions improved.1
1. Pesach Krauss and Morrie Goldfisher, "A Time of Trouble
Is a Time To Grow," WHY ME? — Coping with Grief, Loss,
and Change," p. 71.
Source: kneemail-subscribe@welovegod.org
None of us knows what is ahead. The important thing is to use today wisely and well, and face tomorrow eagerly and cheerfully and with the certainty that we shall be equal to what it brings.
Rob Chaffart wrote, "My dad learned at an early age that curiosity kills the cat. Or, more literally, the monkey! Monkey hunters in Africa will take a coconut and cut it in half. They will carve a hole in one end, just big enough for a monkey to put his paw through (Or do monkeys have hands? I'm confused!), then they will put a delicious smelling orange in the other half. Next, they fasten the two halves together and hang the "bait" from a tree. All they have to do next is wait!
Soon an innocent monkey will come swinging by, and when it smells the orange, it stops in its tracks. Curiosity will then take over, and it won't be long before the monkey sticks its paw/hand in the coconut. Once it has its prized possession in its grasp, however, the monkey can no longer withdraw its hand/paw! As it hangs there, struggling to remove the orange, the monkey hunters will throw out a net and catch it red-handed. Literally.
Curiosity [can lead] you into a trap that can be deadly! The worst kind is the one that leads to a life of addiction. Was it worth it to give into your curiosity?
"But I just wanted to try it out!"
Remember: The monkey also wanted to try it out, and now he's no longer around to tell us about it.
"The temptation to give in to evil comes from us and only us. We have no one to blame but the leering, seducing flare-up of our own lust" (James 1:14 The Message).
From time to time Linda Ellis, a talented writer in Georgia, sends me poems. Here's an excerpt from "One More Day."
This day, this precious, wonderful gift has been bestowed upon me free! / And whatever I choose to do with it remains entirely up to me.
I could squander these given hours, treat each task as if it's a chore / And mark this day off my calendar like so many times before.
I could overlook the blooming flowers and ignore the sun's warm light / Before it inevitably sets again, turning my gift of day to night.
I could dwell upon mistakes I've made and cry regretful tears / And live my life in the shadow of my own anxieties and fears.
Or I could make a resolution, before one more day has passed, / That I shall live it to its fullest, live it...as it if were my last.
Then I shall, as I awaken, relinquish my fret and my sorrow / And accept one more day to love and laugh with no guarantee of tomorrow.
At night, as I lay down my head only to wake again, I'll pray, / And if I do, then I'll thank God for giving me "One More Day."
The theme of gratitude and appreciation for every day reflects old but important wisdom like this from an unknown author: "Yesterday is a dream. Tomorrow is a vision. But today, well lived, makes every yesterday a dream of happiness and every tomorrow a vision of hope."
This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.
To thank Linda for her lovely thoughts and to read more of her poems, visit www.lindaellisonline.com.
Jesus said, "'Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am."1
Walter B. Knight reported how, "An hour after Queen Elizabeth's third child was born, 128 cables were sent to all parts of the world! Lights in Buckingham Palace, the Home Office, Foreign Office, Colonial Office, and Commonwealth Relations Office had burned all night. The palace's big switchboard was manned all night. And personnel on night duty were doubled in the ministries."
How different was the birth of Jesus, "The Prince of Peace." No earthly potentates proclaimed his coming. Atrocious, bloodthirsty Herod concerned himself with the event because he thought some rival ruler had appeared.
God, however, signaled the birth of Jesus by dispatching angelic hosts to proclaim the good news and by placing in the heavens the guiding star to direct humble shepherds and seekers to the lowly place of Jesus' birth.
How different will be the second coming of Jesus. The first time, he came as a babe to identify with lost mankind and to pay the price of our redemption through his death on the cross. The good news is that Jesus is coming again and, when he does, he will come in all his divine glory as King of kings and Lord of lords. To him every knee will bow. What a day this will be!
Jesus himself promised that he would come back to earth to get and take his true followers to be with him forever in Heaven. The important thing is to be sure that we are ready for his return and/or to meet God face to face should we pass from this life to the next before Jesus Christ comes back again.
We do this by confessing our sinfulness, believing that Jesus is the Son of God, that he died on the cross to pay the penalty for all our sins, and accepting Jesus as our personal Savior and Lord. For additional help see the article, "Ho w to Be Sure You're a Real Christian" at: http://tinyurl.com/8glq9.
Suggested prayer: "Dear God, thank you for your wonderful promise that Jesus is right now preparing Heaven for his true followers and that he is coming back to earth to take these ones to be with him and you forever. Help me to be sure that I am prepared for this great and glorious day to meet you face to face. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. In Jesus' name, Amen."
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Books by Dick Innes, Editor of Weekend Encounter You Can't Fly With a Broken Wing How to Mend a Broken Heart I Hate Witnessing—A Handbook for Effective Christian
Communications
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have read it ... made their marriage sizzle. Fall in Love Stay in Love Just Hand Over the Chocolate ... Love, Sex, and Lasting Relationships Sex Starts in the Kitchen Making Children Mind Without Losing Yours Harried With Children Adolescence Is Not an Illness Show Time It Takes a Church to Raise a Christian
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