Editor: Richard (Dick) Innes
Published by: ACTS International
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Vol. 15 – No. 1013 March 09, 2013
Thought for the week: "There are two ways to reach the top of an oak tree. You can climb it or you can sit on an acorn and wait." – Anonymous
"Many of life's failures are experienced by people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up." – Thomas Edison
"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
"Listening, not imitation, may be the sincerest form of flattery." – Joyce Brothers
"He who grasps, loses." – Lao Tzu
"What we fail to resolve we are destined to repeat ... repeat ... repeat...." – Dick Innes
"It's not the truth that hurts us but letting go of the lies." – Unknown
"If you stand for something, you will always find some people for you and some against you. If you stand for nothing, you will find nobody against you and nobody for you." – Bill Bembach
A few weeks ago as our pastor was preaching the sermon, our Music Director was acting a little frantic and working hard to change a song we were scheduled to sing after the sermon was over.
Our pastor was preaching on the topic "What About Hell." The song that we were scheduled to sing was "Light the Fire."
* * * * * * *
"Joy, my wife, plays the harp and I accompany her on the linoleum." – RWI
Louis Pasteur, the pioneer of immunology, lived at a time when thousands of people died each year of rabies.
Pasteur had worked for years on a cure. Just as he was about to begin experimenting on himself, a nine-year-old, Joseph Meister, was bitten by a rabid dog. The boy's mother begged Pasteur to experiment on her son. Pasteur injected Joseph for ten days—and the boy lived. Decades later, of all things Pasteur could have had etched on his tombstone, he asked for three words: Joseph Meister Lived.
Thought: Our greatest legacy will be those who live eternally in heaven because of our efforts.
From his earliest days in politics, Lincoln had a critic who continually treated him with contempt, a man by the name of Edwin Stanton. Stanton would say to newspaper reporters that Lincoln was a "low cunning clown" and "the original gorilla."
He said it was ridiculous for explorers to go to Africa to capture a gorilla "when they could find one easily in Springfield, Illinois." Lincoln never responded to such slander, and never retaliated in the least. And when, as President, he needed a Secretary of War, he selected Edwin Stanton. When his friends asked why, Lincoln replied, "Because he is the best man for the job."
Years later, that fateful night came when an assassin's bullet murdered the president in a theater. Lincoln's body was carried off to another room. Stanton came, and looking down upon the silent, rugged, face of his dead President, he said through his tears, "There lies the greatest ruler of men the world has ever seen." Stanton's animosity had finally been broken. How?
By Lincoln's patient, long-suffering, non-retaliatory love.
Dr. Dale Johnson from Sermon "How Is Your Love Life?"
Cited on eSermons.com.
Martin Luther King, Jr. said, "Life's most persistent and urgent question is: What are you doing for others?" In a world increasingly dominated by unapologetic selfishness, this idea may seem quaint and outdated. Yet, for those who have a grand vision of their purpose and value, striving to be of service is not only a noble thing to do, it's the best way to lead a truly fulfilling and significant life.
Poet William Allen Dromgoole put it this way:
An old man going a lone highway
Came at the evening, cold and grey,
To a chasm, vast and deep and wide,
Through which was flowing a swollen tide.
The old man crossed in the twilight dim.
That swollen stream held no fears for him,
But he paused when safe on the other side
And built a bridge to span the tide.
"Old man," said a fellow pilgrim near,
"You're wasting strength with building here.
Your journey ends with the ending day.
You never again must pass this way.
You've crossed this chasm deep and wide.
Why build this bridge at the even' tide?"
The builder lifted his old grey head,
"Good friend, in the path I have come," he said,
"There followeth after me today
A youth, whose feet must pass this way.
"This swollen stream that was naught for me,
To that fair-haired youth may a pitfall be.
He too must cross in the twilight dim.
Good friend, I am building the bridge for him."
This is Michael Josephson reminding you to build bridges for others because character counts.
"What I feared has come upon me; what I dreaded has happened to me."1
If I fear that I will get sick, dwell on it, and believe it, chances are more than likely that I will get sick. If I fear that I am going to be rejected and believe it, I will act in such a way to set myself up to be rejected and, like Job, the thing I fear will happen to me.
If because of a fear of failure, a fear criticism, or of not being perfect, and so on, I never step outside my comfort zone and take risks to achieve what God envisioned for me to do, I will never discover what I could achieve with my life.
Personally speaking, if I feel strongly about a project and sense God is leading me to do this, I would rather try, put it to the test, and even fail rather than, through fear of failure, never step out to follow my God-given life purpose and dream. I appreciate the words of the unknown poet who wrote:
I would rather stumble a thousand times
Attempting to reach a goal,
Than to sit in a crowd
In my weather-proof shroud
A shriveled and self-satisfied soul.
I would rather be doing and daring
All of my error filled days,
Than watching, and waiting, and dying,
Smug in my perfect ways.
I would rather wonder and blunder,
Stumbling blindly ahead,
Than for safety's sake,
Lest I make a mistake
Be sure, be safe, be dead.
As I suggested to a friend recently, let your decisions about what to do be based on love for serving God and others, and never on your fears.
Suggested prayer: "Dear God, I admit my fears and I bring them all to you. Grant that all of my decisions will be based on direction from and love for serving you, and never on my fears. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus' name, amen."
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