Editor: Richard (Dick) Innes
Published by: ACTS International
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Vol. 16 – No. 0714 February 15, 2014
Thought for the week: "Opportunity comes to pass—not to pause." – Author Unknown
A man went to a barbershop to have his hair cut and his beard trimmed. As the barber began to work, they began to have a good conversation. They talked about so many things and various subjects. When they eventually touched on the subject of God, the barber said: "I don't believe that God exists."
"Why do you say that?" asked the customer.
"Well, you just have to go out in the street to realize that God doesn't exist. Tell me, if God exists, would there be so many sick people? Would there be abandoned children? If God existed, there would be neither suffering nor pain. I can't imagine loving a God who would allow all of these things."
The customer thought for a moment, but didn't respond because he didn't want to start an argument. The barber finished his job and the customer left the shop. Just after he left the barbershop, he saw a man in the street with long, stringy, dirty hair and an untrimmed beard. He looked dirty and unkempt. The customer turned back and entered the barber shop again and he said to the barber: "You know what? Barbers do not exist."
"How can you say that?" asked the surprised barber. "I am here, and I am a barber. And I just worked on you!"
"No!" the customer exclaimed. "Barbers don't exist because if they did, there would be no people with dirty long hair and untrimmed beards, like that man outside."
"Ah, but barbers DO exist! What happens is, people do not come to me."
"Exactly!" affirmed the customer. "That's the point! God, too, DOES exist! What happens is, people don't go to Him."
My words say
"Yes" to life,
But what I don't do
often says the opposite.
Will choice,
or fear,
or fate,
or chance,
or indecision,
or doing nothing,
or somebody else,
or what others think,
or my need for their approval
determine my destiny—
or will I?
On his deathbed Alexander summoned his generals and told them his three ultimate wishes:
1. The best doctors should carry his coffin;
2. The wealth he had accumulated (money, gold, precious stones) should be scattered along the way to his burial, and
3. His hands should be left hanging outside the coffin for all to see.
Surprised by these unusual requests, one of his generals asked Alexander to explain. Here is what he said:
1. I want the best doctors to carry my coffin to demonstrate that in the face of death, even the best doctors in the world have no power to heal.
2. I want the road to be covered with my treasure so that everybody sees that the wealth, acquired on earth, stays on earth.
3. I want my hands to swing in the wind so that people understand that we come to this world empty handed and we leave empty handed after the most precious treasure of all is exhausted—time.
Time is our most precious treasure because it is limited. We can produce more wealth, but we cannot produce more time.
When we give someone our time, we actually give a portion of our life that we will never take back. Our time is our life!
The best present you can give your family and friends is your time. May you have the wisdom to give it.
When John Wooden, the legendary basketball coach, referred to the last game he "ever taught," he was asked about this phrasing. He said simply that a coach is first and foremost a teacher who should not only improve his players' athletic skills, but also help them become better people. And he was a superb teacher whose lasting influence is reflected in the values he instilled, not the championships he won.
Henry Adams said, "Teachers affect all eternity." As those who are taught teach others, the teacher's legacy grows. Sadly, the way we select and reward schoolteachers and coaches shows how much we undervalue their crucial role in shaping the character and destiny of our children.
But even worse, we tend to forget that the first and by far the most important teachers are those engaged in parenting. Good child-rearing involves more than providing food, shelter, and education. It also involves instilling good values and habits, teaching right from wrong, and showing how to make good decisions that are both effective and ethical.
Yes, it's important to help kids become smart and competent, but as Teddy Roosevelt said, "To educate a person in the mind but not the morals is to educate a menace to society." Parents need to be attentive and dedicated to assuring that their children have the tools to lead truly good lives, lives with purpose and meaning and value. That means we need to teach, enforce, advocate, and model the best we want our children to be.
This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.
"This is the confidence that we have in Him [God], that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him."1
From time to time I encourage Daily Encounter subscribers to start his or her day with the following prayer: "Dear God, again today I commit and trust my life and way to you. I am available, please make me usable, use me to be a witness for Jesus, and help me to be 'as Jesus' in some way to every life I touch—today!"
I have prayed this prayer every morning for many years and, by the grace of God, plan to pray it every day until the Lord calls me home. The fact is that God uses ordinary everyday people who are available to do his work here on earth—often in unusual ways.
Today, for example, I was on our sidewalk talking with our gardener when a neighbor from down the hill from us walked by and wanted to talk to me. She was deeply hurt over a situation that was caused by another neighbor who, according to her, "badly cussed her out." She shared with me what happened and was crying. It upset me too, and I ended up crying with her. I then asked if I could hug and pray for her, to which she readily agreed, after which, she genuinely thanked me.
Furthermore, our gardener stepped aside a little but watched the entire event. I'll bet he never witnessed anything like this before—neither had I.
Reminds me of the hymn that says: "God moves in a mysterious way / His wonders to perform / He plants his footsteps on the seas / And rides upon the storm."
Again, I encourage you to pray the following prayer every morning of your life and see how God will use you, too.
Today's Prayer: "Dear God, again today I commit and trust my life and way to you. I am available, please make me usable and use me to be a witness for Jesus, and help me to be 'as Jesus' in some way to every life I touch. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus' name, amen."
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