Editor: Richard (Dick) Innes
Published by: ACTS International
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Vol. 14 – No. 4912 December 08, 2012
Thought for the week: "Count the garden by the flowers, never the leaves that fall. Count your life with smiles and not the tears that roll." – Unknown
About 350 years ago a shipload of travelers landed on the northeast coast of America....
The first year they established a town site. The next year they elected a town government. The third year the town government planned to build a road five miles westward into the wilderness.
In the fourth year the people tried to impeach their town government because they thought it was a waste of public funds to build a road five miles westward into a wilderness. Who needed to go there anyway?
THOUGHT: Here were people who had the vision to see three thousand miles across an ocean and overcome great hardships to get there. But in just a few years they were not able to see even five miles out of town. They had lost their pioneering vision. With a clear vision of what we can become in Christ, no ocean of difficulty is too great. Without it, we rarely move beyond our current boundaries. Via Sermon Illustrations.com.
There's a lighthouse on a hillside
that overlooks life's sea,
And when I'm tossed it sends out a light
that I might see.
And the light that shines in darkness now
Will safely lead me on.
If it wasn't for that lighthouse
My ship would sail no more.
Everybody that lives around us
They say why don't you tear that old lighthouse down,
You see the big ships
They don't sail this way any more
and there's no use in standing 'round?
But then my mind goes back
to that stormy night,
when just in time, I saw the light,
It was the light from that old lighthouse
and it's standing there on the hill.
Oh I thank God for the lighthouse
I owe my life to Him,
Jesus is the lighthouse,
Upon the rocks of sin,
He has shone a light around me,
That I might clearly see.
If it wasn't for the lighthouse,
Where would this ship be?
Oh, if it wasn't for the lighthouse
Where would this ship be?
A fun little story about compassion. A mouse looked through a crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife opening a package; what food might it contain?
He was aghast to discover that it was a mouse trap!
Retreating to the farmyard, the mouse proclaimed the warning, "There is a mouse trap in the house, there is a mouse trap in the house."
The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head and said, "Mr. Mouse, I can tell you this is a grave concern to you, but it is of no consequence to me; I cannot be bothered by it."
The mouse turned to the pig and told him, "There is a mouse trap in the house."
"I am so very sorry Mr. Mouse," sympathized the pig, "but there is nothing I can do about it but pray; be assured that you are in my prayers."
The mouse turned to the cow, who replied, "Like wow, Mr. Mouse, a mouse trap; am I in grave danger, Duh?"
So the mouse returned to the house, head down and dejected to face the farmer's mouse trap alone.
That very night a sound was heard throughout the house, like the sound of a mouse trap catching its prey. The farmer's wife rushed to see what was caught.
In the darkness, she did not see that it was a venomous snake whose tail the trap had caught.
The snake bit the farmer's wife.
The farmer rushed her to the hospital.
She returned home with a fever. Now everyone knows you treat a fever with fresh chicken soup, so the farmer took his hatchet to the farmyard for the soup's main ingredient.
His wife's sickness continued so that friends and neighbors came to sit with her around the clock. To feed them, the farmer butchered the pig.
The farmer's wife did not get well; in fact, she died, and so many people came for her funeral the farmer had the cow slaughtered to provide meat for all of them to eat.
So the next time you hear that someone is facing a problem and think that it does not concern you, remember that when the least of us is threatened, we are all at risk.
Do not forget to do good and to help one another, because these are the sacrifices that please God"
(Hebrews 13:16, GNT).
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.
"Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift."1
Psychologists tell us that half the adult population is still harboring unresolved negative feelings towards their parents. They also warn us that until these relationships with our family of origin are resolved (and with any other significant person), we can never fully cultivate any other loving and healthy relationship. Unresolved conflicts from the past contaminate every relationship we have in the present. They can and do also seriously affect our physical and spiritual well-being.
Sometimes reconciliation isn't possible because that is dependent on both parties. However, it is imperative that we take care of our side of any conflict and resolve any feelings of hurt and anger we might have so we can genuinely forgive any and all who have hurt us. To fail to forgive keeps us bound by the past. And as noted before, "Failing to forgive is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die."
It's not without good reason that Jesus taught us the need to forgive even our enemies—even to seventy-times-seven (meaning endlessly). He also said that if you come to God and there remember you have an impaired relationship with a brother or sister, leave your gift for God for the time being and do everything in your power to resolve that relationship.
Suggested prayer: "Dear God, please confront me with the reality of any significant impaired relationship that I have—and give me the courage to do what I need to do to resolve my part in this conflict. And help me to forgive any and all who have ever hurt me so that I am freed to fully live and fully love—and to experience the depth of your forgiveness. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus' name, amen."
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