Editor: Richard (Dick) Innes
Published by: ACTS International
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Vol. 8 – No. 0806 February 25, 2006
Thought for the week: "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye." – Saint Exupery
This guy loved living in Staten Island, but he wasn't crazy about the ferry. If you missed a ferry late at night, you had to spend the next hour or so wandering the deserted streets of lower Manhattan.
So, when he spotted a ferry no more than fifteen feet from the dock, he decided he wouldn't subject himself to an hour's wait. He made a running leap and landed on his hands and knees, a little bruised maybe, but safe on deck.
He got up, brushed himself off, and announced proudly to a bystander, "Well, I made that one, didn't I?"
"Sure did," the bystander said. "But you should have waited a minute or two. The ferry is just about to dock."
Dennis Prager, the Jewish social critic and scholar, says his favorite response to the question, "Does religion have a positive influence?" is a story. Say you are walking down an alley at
11:00 p.m. in New York, Miami, or Los Angeles. The dim streetlights illumine your car 300 yards away. Suddenly, you see ten young men wearing
leather jackets swaggering down the alley toward you. Would you feel more
comfortable if you knew that those young men had just come out of a Bible
study? Every time Prager has asked that question the answer has been "yes."
In spite of what they say in polls, on the most practical level, people acknowledge religion's positive influence.
In Ask Me Anything: Provocative Answers for College Students, University of Texas professor J. Budziszewski says sexuality is like duct tape. The first time you use it, it creates a bond to whomever it touches. However, the more you rip it off and try to re-stick it to someone else, the less sticky it becomes. Budziszewski writes, "You just don't stick anymore, your sexual partners seem like strangers, and you stop feeling anything."
The Hebrew phrase "train up" came from agrarian terminology, which referred to training a tree or vine to grow in a particular shape or direction.
If you have ever been to Disney World, you have seen those fascinating shrubs shaped like animals and various Disney characters. Recently, I had the privilege of going backstage at Disney World, and I saw how those bushes were formed. Of course, those bushes don't grow that way by themselves! (Even Disney doesn't have that kind of magic). Over a ten-to-fifteen-year period, from the time those bushes are planted, they are shaped, trimmed, pruned, and "trained" in the way that they should go. Some parts are removed, other parts are cultivated, and still other parts are trimmed away; finally, the entire plant conforms to a wire mesh in the shape of the desired animal or character.*
That is exactly the process by which we are to train our children. It must begin early. To put it another way: "If you wait till they date, it's too late" (James Merritt).1
"Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it" (Proverbs 22:6).
*Ed. NOTE: I have two bushes that I have shaped as porpoises ... they were tiny plants in the wire mesh to start with ... it only took 2-3 years for them to fill in and be shaped...did take a lot of time and work, however.
We've located the source of moral deterioration in this country: Pressure. It's all around and it's wreaking havoc on society.
According to a survey of American workers, more than half said they did something unethical or illegal in the previous year because of "pressures."
In Florida, sheriffs' employees who falsified crime statistics were under pressure. So were the school administrators in Texas who lied about their dropout rates, and the baseball players who took steroids, and all the youngsters who cheat on exams. Can you imagine the pressure all those cheating executives were under?
Pressure. Apparently it's overpowering, irresistible. We can't expect mere mortals to stand up to it. So the way to restore our moral ozone is to remove pressure so there's no reason to lie or cheat.
There's something appealing about shifting responsibility for every form of human weakness from the individual to the system. Don't blame the liar; blame the law. Don't blame the cheater; blame the test.
Please! "Pressures" are no more than temptations in disguise. The difference is that while we've always expected people to overcome temptation, we expect them to succumb to pressure.
Yes, lots of people will lie, cheat or steal in the face of pressure. But that's a reason, an explanation—not a justification. Pressures, temptations—call them what you will—are part of life. Sure, it would be helpful if we had less pressure, but it's far more important that we have more character.
We need to believe in the power of virtue and expect moral courage, not surrender when moral principles are challenged. We need to encourage and expect good people to do what's right even when it's difficult or costly.
This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.
"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:6-7, NKJV).
As the ditty goes, "It's the little things that bother us and put us on the rack, you can sit upon a mountain but you can't sit on a tack."
And isn't that the truth? It's the little annoyances in life that get us tied in a knot. A slight criticism, a driver who cuts us off on the freeway, a green light that turns red before we get to it, a friend running late, and so on.
Let us realize however, that somebody's frown may have more to do with them than us. A criticism may be somebody projecting their unresolved issues onto us. Somebody failing to thank us may indicate that they are having a "bad hair" day, and somebody cutting us off on the freeway may be an indication of their impatience—as well as a reflection of ours!
What somebody else does to me may or may not be a problem. How I react though is always my issue, and when I overreact, that is always my problem. What the other person does is their issue. How I act, react, or overreact is always my issue and my responsibility.
If we'd remember that "whatever others think of me is none of my business," I would at least learn to cope much better with many of life's little annoyances. I know it's easier said than done, but it is a goal to work towards. Furthermore, the more mature and whole I become, the less life's little annoyances will bother me. I'm still working on this issue.
Suggested prayer: "Dear God, as it is your purpose for me, please help me to grow through the circumstances of life that 'push my hot buttons' and so become more and more like Jesus in every way. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus' name, amen."
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