Pastoral Resources

General Mark Clark was one of the great heroes of WWII. He led the Salerno invasion that Winston Churchill said was “the most daring amphibious operation we have launched, or which, I think, has ever been launched on a similar scale in war.” At the time Clark was promoted to Lt. General, he was the youngest man of that rank in the U.S. Army. He graduated from West Point in 1917. At the top of his class? Nope. He was 111th from the top in a class of 139!

Even if you never earned a college degree, don’t worry, you’re in good company. Irving Berlin, for instance, only had two years of formal schooling. He never learned how to read music. When he composed his songs, he would hum the melody and a musical secretary would write down the notes. He became one of the greatest songwriters the country has ever known.

Napoleon Bonaparte graduated 42nd in a class of 58 at military school.

Famous last words: when the U. S. federal income tax was signed into law on Oct. 3, 1913, a senator speaking in opposition stated, “If we allow this 1 percent foot in the door, at some future date it might rise to 5 percent!”

C.T. Studd, the famous English cricketer and member of the English XI cricket team, gave away his vast wealth and became a missionary a century ago. His slogan was, “If Jesus Christ be God, and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for him.

In 1912 William Borden, a graduate of Yale University, left one of America’s greatest family fortunes to be a missionary to China. He got as far as Egypt and died of cerebral meningitis. He died—and was only in his 20s—but there was “no reserve, no retreat, no regrets” in his consecration to God.

When D.L. Moody was visiting England he heard Henry V. Arley say, “the world has yet to see what God will do with a man who is fully and wholly consecrated to the Holy Spirit.” Moody would later comment, “He said ‘a man.’” He did not say a ‘great man’ nor ‘a learned man’ nor a ‘rich man’ but simply ‘a man.’ I am a man, and it lies within the man himself whether he will or will not make that entire and full consecration. I will try my utmost to be that man.”

Plato wrote the first sentence of his famous Republic nine different ways before he was satisfied.

Cicero practiced speaking before friends every day for thirty years to perfect his elocution.

Noah Webster labored 36 years writing his dictionary, crossing the Atlantic twice to gather material.

Milton rose at 4:00 a.m. every day in order to have enough hours for his Paradise Lost.

Gibbon spent 26 years on his Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.

Bryant rewrote one of his poetic masterpieces 99 times before publication, and it became a classic.

1. The memo from the testing director of MGM, shortly after Fred Astaire’s first screen test, read: “Can’t act! Slightly bald! Can dance a little!”

2. An older “expert” once said of another younger coach, “He possesses minimal football knowledge. Lacks motivation.” In case you’re wondering, he was referring to Vince Lombardi.

3. The parents of Enrico Caruso believed his teacher, who said he had “no voice at all—he just cannot sing.” They urged him to be an engineer.

4. Walt Disney was fired by a newspaper editor for “lack of ideas.”

5. Thomas Edison’s teachers gave up on him. “He’s too stupid to do anything,” was their evaluation.

6. Before he succeeded, Henry Ford failed and went broke five times.

1. After Fred Astaire’s first screen test, a 1933 memo from the MGM testing director said: “Can’t act. Slightly bald. Can dance a little.” Astaire kept that memo over the fireplace in his Beverly Hills home.

2. An expert said of famous football coach Vince Lombardi: “He possesses minimal football knowledge. Lacks motivation.”

3. Louisa May Alcott, the author of Little Women, was advised by her family to find work as a servant or seamstress.

4. Beethoven handled the violin awkwardly and preferred playing his own compositions instead of improving his technique. His teacher called him hopeless as a composer.

5. The teacher of famous opera singer Enrico Caruso said Caruso had no voice at all and could not sing.

6. Walt Disney was fired by a newspaper for lacking ideas. He also went bankrupt several times before he built Disneyland.

7. Eighteen publishers turned down Richard Bach’s 10,000 word story about a soaring seagull before Macmillan finally published it in 1970. By 1975, Jonathan Livingston Seagull had sold more than seven million copies in the U.S. alone.”

1. Andrew Carnegie, U.S. industrialist and philanthropist

2. Charles Chaplin, British actor and film director

3. William “Buffalo Bill” Cody, American scout and showman

4. Noel Coward, British actor, playwright, and composer

5. Charles Dickens, British novelist

6. Isadora Duncan, U.S. dancer

7. Thomas Edison, U.S. inventor

8. Samuel Gompers, U.S. labor leader

9. Maxim Gorky, Russian writer

10. Claude Monet, French painter

11. Sean O’Casey, Irish playwright

12. Alfred E. Smith, U.S. politician

13. John Philip Sousa, U.S. bandleader and composer

14. Henry M. Stanley, British explorer

15. Mark Twain, U.S. humorist and writer

1. Winston Churchill seemed so dull as a youth that his father thought he might be incapable of earning a living in England.

2. Charles Darwin did so poorly in school that his father once told him, “You will be a disgrace to yourself and all your family.

3. G.K. Chesterton, the English writer, could not read until he was eight. One of his teachers told him, “If we could open your head we should not find any brain but only a lump of white fat.”

4. Thomas Edison’s first teacher described him as “addled,” and his father almost convinced him he was a dunce.”

5. Albert Einstein’s parents feared their child was dull, and he performed so badly in all high school courses except mathematics that a teacher asked him to drop out.

Laugh and the world laughs with you;

Weep, and you weep alone.

These lines first appeared in Solitude, a poem printed in the February 25, 1883 issue of the New York Sun. The author was Ella Wheeler, a Wisconsin-born journalist and poet, who received $5 for her work. The poem was published again in May of that year in a collection of Miss Wheeler’s called Poems of Passion.

The collection was a great financial success. To her dismay, Ella Wheeler Wilcox, (now married) found the poem, word for word, in a book by John A. Joyce, published in 1885. The poem had a different title, Laugh and the World Laughs With You, but Joyce claimed it as his own.

Mrs. Wheeler offered $5,000 for any printed version of the poem dated earlier than her own. Neither Joyce nor anyone else ever produced one, but he continued to reprint the poem as his own until he died in 1915. As a final irony, he had the two famous lines chiseled on his tombstone in Oak Hill Cemetery, Washington, DC. Since that time, however, publishers have given credit where credit seems to be due—to Ella Wheeler Wilcox.

Dante Bartiel Rossetti, the famous 19th-century poet and artist, was once approached by an elderly man. The old fellow had some sketches and drawings that he wanted Rossetti to look at and tell him if they were any good, or if they, at least, showed potential talent.

Rossetti looked them over carefully. After the first few he knew that they were worthless, showing not the least sign of artistic talent. But Rossetti was a kind man and he told the elderly man as gently as possible that the pictures were without much value and showed little talent. He was sorry, but he could not lie to the man.

The visitor was disappointed, but seemed to expect Rossetti’s judgment. He then apologized for taking up Rossetti’s time, but would he just look at a few more drawings—these done by a young art student?

Rossetti looked over the second batch of sketches and immediately enthused over the talent they revealed. “These,” he said, “ah, these are good. This young man, whoever he is, has great talent. He should be given every help and encouragement in his career as an artist. He has a great future, if he will work hard and stick with it.”

Rossetti could see that the old fellow was deeply moved. “Who is this fine young artist?” he asked. “Your son?”

“No,” said the old fellow sadly. “It is me—40 years ago. If only I had heard your praise then … for you see, I got discouraged and gave up—too soon.”

A Bible in the hand is worth two in the bookcase. - Author unknown

Men do not reject the Bible because it contradicts itself, but because it contradicts them. - Author unknown

The Bible is a window in this prison-world, through which we may look into eternity. - Timothy Dwight

The inspiration of the Bible depends on the ignorance of the gentleman who reads it. - R. G. Ingersoll

The New Testament is the very best book that was or ever will be known in the world. - Charles Dickens

It is impossible to righteously govern the world without God and the Bible. - George Washington

Within the covers of one single book, the Bible, are all the answers to all the problems that face us today—if only we would read and believe. - Ronald Reagan

Never let good books take the place of the Bible. Drink from the Well, not from the streams that flow from the Well .- Amy Carmichael

God is everywhere. However, He does not want you to reach out for Him everywhere but only in the Word. Reach out for it and you will grasp Him aright. Otherwise you are tempting God and setting up idolatry. That is why He has established a certain method for us. This teaches us how and where we are to look for Him and find Him, namely, in the Word. - Martin Luther

I was never out of my Bible. - John Bunyan

I am a man of one Book. - John Wesley

Hold fast to the Bible as the sheet-anchor of your liberties. Write its precepts in your hearts, and practice them in your lives. - U. S. Grant

John Bacon, once a famous sculptor, left this inscription on his tomb in Westminster Abbey: “What I was as an artist seemed of some importance to me while I lived; but what I was as a believer in Jesus Christ is the only thing of importance to me now.”

Setting out from Hamburg, Germany, one day to give a concert in London, violinist Fritz Kreisler had an hour before his boat sailed. He wandered into a music shop, where the proprietor asked if he might look at the violin Kreisler was carrying. He then vanished and returned with two policemen, one of whom told the violinist, “You are under arrest.”

“What for?” asked Kreisler.

“You have Fritz Kreisler’s violin.”

“I am Fritz Kreisler,” protested the musician.

“You can’t put that on us. Come along to the station.,”

As Kreisler’s boat was sailing soon, there was no time for prolonged explanations. Kreisler asked for his violin and played a piece he was well known for. “Now are you satisfied? he asked. The policemen let the musician go because he had done what only Fritz Kreisler could do.

In the second century, a Christian was brought before a pagan ruler and told to renounce his faith. "If you don't do it, I will banish you," threatened the king. The man smiled and answered, "You can't banish me from Christ, for He says, 'I will never leave you nor forsake you.' " To this the king angrily retorted, "Then I will confiscate your property and take all your possessions." Again the man smiled and said, "My treasures are all laid up on high; you cannot get them." The king became furious and shouted, "I will kill you!" "Why," the man answered, "I have been dead forty years; I have been dead with Christ, dead to the world, and my life is hid with Christ in God, and you cannot touch it." In desperation the king turned to his advisers and asked, "What can you do with a fanatic like that?"

The hymnwriter Fanny Crosby gave us more than 6,000 gospel songs. Although blinded by an illness at the age of 6 weeks, she never became bitter. One time a preacher sympathetically remarked, “I think it is a great pity that the Master did not give you sight when He showered so many other gifts upon you.”

She replied quickly, “Do you know that if at birth I had been able to make one petition, it would have been that I should be born blind?”

“Why?” asked the surprised clergyman.

“Because when I get to heaven, the first face that shall ever gladden my sight will be that of my Savior!”

One of Miss Crosby’s hymns was so personal that for years she kept it to herself. Kenneth Osbeck, author of several books on hymnology, says its revelation to the public came about this way:

“One day at the Bible conference in Northfield, Massachusetts, Miss Crosby was asked by D.L. Moody to give a personal testimony. At first she hesitated, then quietly rose and said, ‘There is one hymn I have written which has never been published. I call it my soul’s poem. Sometimes when I am troubled, I repeat it to myself, for it brings comfort to my heart.’ She then recited while many wept,

Someday the silver cord will break,

and I no more as now shall sing;

but oh, the joy when I shall wake

within the palace of the King!

And I shall see Him face to face,

and tell the story—saved by grace!’”

At the age of 95 Fanny Crosby passed into glory and saw the face of Jesus.

A farmer went into his banker and announced that he had bad news and good news. “First, the bad news...” “Well,” said the farmer, “I can’t make my mortgage payments. And that crop loan I’ve taken out for the past 10 years—I can’t pay that off, either. Not only that, I won’t be able to pay you the couple of hundred thousand I still have outstanding on my tractors and other equipment. So I’m going to have to give up the farm and turn it all over to you for whatever you can salvage out of it.”

Silence prevailed for a minute and then the banker said, “What’s the good news?” “The good news is that I’m going to keep on banking with you,” said the farmer.

A farmer took a piece of bad earth and made things flourish thereon. Proud of his accomplishments, he asked his minister to come by and see what he had done. The minister was impressed. “That’s the tallest corn I’ve ever seen. I’ve never seen anything as big as those melons. Praise the Lord!” He went on that way about every crop, praising the Lord for it all.

Finally the farmer couldn’t take it anymore. “Reverend,” he said, “I wish you could have seen this place when the Lord was doing it by himself.”

A farmer went each week to the Farmers’ Market to sell, among other things, the cottage cheese and apple butter made on his farm. He carried these in two large tubs, from which he ladled the cottage cheese or apple butter into smaller containers the customers brought. One day he got to market and discovered he’s forgotten one ladle. He felt he had no choice but to use the one he had for both products. Before long he couldn’t tell which was which. That’s the way it is when we try to dispense the good news of Christ using hearts, minds, and tongues too recently immersed in the coarseness and one-up-manship of the world. Nobody gets any nourishment. - Beth Landers

As a student, fashion designer Sandra Garratt was given a project to design clothing that would go against her natural inclinations—clothes that she didn’t like. She came up with a line of economical, one-size-fits-all, modular clothing for women. Garratt moved on to a series of jobs in the fashion industry, but she kept thinking about those clothes she’d designed. They intrigued her enough that she eventually began producing them for a boutique in Dallas. Several businesspeople saw promise in Garratt’s clothes, and in 1986 they invested the money to help her start a nationwide chain of shops. The investment paid off. Within a few years, more than $100 million of Garratt’s clothes had been sold, and she had made millions in royalties. All because she put her natural inclinations aside and investigated something different.

I am inwardly fashioned for faith, not for fear. Fear is not my native land; faith is. I am so made that worry and anxiety are sand in the machinery of life; faith is the oil. I live better by faith and confidence than by fear, doubt and anxiety. In anxiety and worry, my being is gasping for breath—these are not my native air. But in faith and confidence, I breathe freely—these are my native air.

A John Hopkins University doctor says, “We do not know why it is that worriers die sooner than the non-worriers, but that is a fact.” But I, who am simple of mind, think I know; We are inwardly constructed in nerve and tissue, brain cell and soul, for faith and not for fear. God made us that way. To live by worry is to live against reality.

- Dr. E. Stanley Jones

What does the Bible teach about fasting? Reflecting on Matthew 6:16-18 and other passages, Richard Foster comments in Celebration of Discipline:

“It is sobering to realize that the very first statement Jesus made about fasting dealt with the question of motive. To use good things to our own ends is always the sign of false religion...Fasting must forever center on God. It must be God-initiated and God-ordained...Fasting reminds us that we are sustained by ‘every word that proceeds from the mouth of God’ (Matt. 4:4)...Therefore, in experiences of fasting we are not so much abstaining from food as we are feasting on the word of God. Fasting is feasting!”

Fasting, like praying and giving, is a legitimate spiritual discipline to be practiced in private between a Christian and the Lord. How often we practice it is not prescribed, because that too is between the believer and Christ. When we desire to seek God’s face more than we want dinner, that will be the proper time to fast.

But as with other disciplines, fasting opens the door to showmanship rather than spirituality. In Jesus’ day the Pharisees fasted twice a week (Luke 18:12). While fasting, they went about with somber faces and disheveled appearances so that everyone would see (and praise) their piety.

Why did Jesus scorn this custom? Because He could see their hearts and their true motives. He also knew that fasting had been abused by the Jewish people in the past (see Isaiah 58:1-7).

What about fasting for us today? The issue is the same as it has been throughout this section (Matt. 6:1-18). How you fast depends on whom you want to impress. If your fast is for your spiritual benefit and God’s glory, no one else needs to applaud your commitment.

A man called up the local armory to get a report on the number and status of the weapons and vehicles. A private answered the phone and said, “We’ve got 3 jeeps, 4 tanks, 500 rifles, and a ton of ammo. Oh, we also have two Cadillacs for the fat generals.”

Silence, then this response, “Private, do you know who I am?”

“No.”

“I’m General Westin.”

“General, do you know who I am?”

“No.”

“See you later, fatty.”

An English preacher of the last generation used to say that he cared very little what he said the first half hour, but he cared a very great deal what he said the last fifteen minutes. I remember reading many years ago an address published to students by Henry Ward Beecher, in which he gave a very striking account of a sermon by Jonathan Edwards. Beecher says that in the elaborated doctrinal part of Jonathan Edwards’ sermon the great preacher was only getting his guns into position, but that in his applications he opened fire on the enemy.

There are too many of us, I am afraid, who take so much time getting our guns into position that we have to finish without firing a shot. We say that we leave the truth to do its own work. We trust to the hearts and consciences of our hearers to apply it. Depend upon it, gentlemen, this is a great and fatal mistake.

Patrick Morley, in Man in the Mirror, tells about a group of fishermen who landed in a secluded bay in Alaska and had a great day fishing for salmon. But when they returned to their sea plane, it was aground because of the fluctuating tides. They had no option except to wait until the next morning till the tides came in. But when they took off, they only got a few feet off the ground and then crashed down into the sea. Being aground the day before had punctured one of the pontoons, and it had filled up with water.

The sea plane slowly began to sink. The three men and a 12-year-old son of one of them, Mark, prayed and then jumped into the icy waters to swim to shore. The water was cold, and the riptide was strong, and two of the men reached the shore exhausted. They looked back, and their companion, who was also a strong swimmer, did not swim to shore because his 12-year-old son wasn’t strong enough to make it. They saw that father with his arms around his son being swept out to sea. He chose to die with his son rather than to live without him.

There is a fact of life that most kids do not know. We love our children so much that we would die for them.

God’s fatherly relationship with Jesus implies four things. First it implies authority. The father commands and disposes; the initiative which he calls his Son to exercise in resolute obedience to his Father’s will. Second, it implies affection; third, fellowship; fourth, honor: God wills to exalt his Son.

All this extends to God’s adopted children. In, through, and under Jesus Christ their Lord, they are ruled, loved, accompanied, and honored by their heavenly Father.

As Jesus obeyed God, so must they (1 John 5:1,3). As God loved his only-begotten Son, so he loves his adopted sons (John 16:27). As God had fellowship with Jesus, so he does with us (1 John 1:3). As God exalted Jesus, so he exalts Jesus’ followers, as brothers and sisters in one family (John 12:32; 17:24).

In these terms the Bible teaches us to understand the shape and substance of the parent-child relationship which binds together the Father of Jesus and the servant of Jesus.

Many years ago a little boy lay on his small bed, having just retired for the night. Before going to sleep, he moved in the direction of the large bed on which his father lay, and said, "Father, are you there?" "Yes, my son," was the answer. The little boy turned over and went to sleep, without a thought of harm.

Tonight the little boy is an old man of seventy, and every night before going to sleep, he looks up into the face of the heavenly Father, and says, "Father, are you there?" And the answer comes back, clear and strong, "Yes, my son."

Let's suppose an artist sent you a picture of himself that he had painted. The picture would tell you something about him, give you a glimpse of his knowledge and ability. However, if he sent you a long descriptive letter explaining his innermost thoughts and feelings, you would begin to feel you really knew him. And finally, if he decided to send to you his son who possessed the same features as he and was like him in ability and character, this would reveal the father to you much better. "The only begotten son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him" (Joh 1:18).

When Lou Little was coaching Football at Georgetown, he had a player who was definitely third rate but had so much spirit he was an inspiration to the team. He rarely saw action except in the last few minutes of a game that was already decided. One day news came that the boy’s father had died. The youngster came to Little and said: “Coach, I want to ask something of you that means an awful lot to me. I want to start the game against Fordham. I think that’s what my father would have liked most.”

Little hesitated a moment, then said: “Okay, son, you’ll start, but you’ll only be in there for a play or two. You aren’t quite good enough and you know it.” The boy started the game and played so well Little never took him out. His play inspired the team to victory. Back in the locker room Coach Little embraced the young man and said: “Son, you were terrific. You never played that way before . . . what got into you?”

The boy answered: “Remember how my father and I used to walk around arm-in-arm? There was something about him very few people knew—he was totally blind. This afternoon was the first time my father ever saw me play.”

Keith Hernandez is one of baseball’s top players. He is a lifetime 300 hitter who has won numerous Golden Glove awards for excellence in fielding. He’s won a batting championship for having the highest average, the Most Valuable Player award in his league, and even the World Series.

Yet with all his accomplishments, he has missed out on something crucially important to him -- his father’s acceptance and recognition that what he has accomplished is valuable. Listen to what he had to say in a very candid interview about his relationship with his father:

“One day Keith asked his father, ‘Dad, I have a lifetime 300 batting average. What more do you want?’ His father replied, ‘But someday you’re going to look back and say, “I could have done more.’”

According to the “Almanac for Farmers & City Folk,” The largest number of collect calls are made on Father’s Day.

1. The man on the top of the mountain didn’t fall there. - Joe Kosanovic’s Dad

2. Never underestimate the power of human stupidity. - Rich Constand’s Dad

3. Marry a big woman; someone to give you shade in the summer and warmth in the winter. - Bill Bodin’s Dad

4. An excuse is a poor patch for the garment of failure. - Bruce Ley’s Dad

5. Never try to catch two frogs with one hand. - Rea Hunt’s Dad

6. Always throw away the box when you take the last piece of candy. - Paul Whalen’s Dad

7. Honesty is like a trail, once you get off it you realize you are lost. - Mark Young’s Dad

8. Remember who you are and where you came from. - Thomas Leone’s Dad

9. Wherever you are in life, first make friends with the cook. - Bill Lewis’s Dad

10. Don’t shake the tree too hard, you never know what might fall out. - Timothy Davis’s Dad

11. A closed mouth gathers no feet. - John Beard, Jr.’s Dad

12. Measure twice, cut once. - Sandra Schultz’s Dad

13. The second time you get kicked in the head by a mule it’s not a learning experience. - Ebb Dozier, Jr.’s Dad

14. Never buy anything that eats. - Neal Bashor’s Dad

15. You need to do what you have to do before you can do what you want to do. - Reed Caster’s Dad

16. Well, you know what happens when you wrestle with pigs, you get all dirty and they love it. - Dennie Morgan’s Dad

17. This is a democratic family; everyone gets a vote and I get five. - Carolee Wende’s Dad

18. I buy you books and buy you books, and all you do is read the covers. - Kelley Blaner’s Dad

19. If you’re afraid to go too far, you will never go far enough. - Kasey Warner’s Dad

20. If you don’t need it, don’t buy it. - Nicholas Pieroni’s Dad

21. Selling is just like shaving, if you don’t do it every day you’re a bum. - Mark Johnson’s Dad

22. If this is the worst thing that happens to you in life, don’t worry about it. - John Taylor’s Dad

23. Never be so broke that you cannot afford to pay attention. - Michael Brose’s Dad

24. You live to work, you work to live, but if you work to work, I hope you don’t live by me. - Cole Thurman’s Dad

25. If it is to be, it’s up to me. - Jeff Wilson’s Dad

26. Successful people make a habit of doing things that failures don’t like to do. - Charles H. Deal, Jr.’s Dad

27. Don’t let your studies interfere with your education. - Eber Smith’s Dad

28. Don’t be foolish just because you know how to. - Maynard Alfstad’s Dad

29. Marry your best friend. - Patrice Altenhofen’s Dad

30. Peer pressure is a crack in the armor of your own conviction. - Peter W. Troy’s Dad

31. Knowing what’s right from wrong is education, doing what’s right is execution. The latter is the hard part. - Bambi Troy’s Dad

32. The difference always is attitude. - Suzie Slater’s Dad

33. You have to eat an elephant in small bites - John Burke’s Dad

34. The one who quits last—wins. - Paul Gesl’s Dad

35. Potential means you haven’t done your best yet. - Melissa and Nicholas West’s Dad

36. Do you know what happened when I found out all the answers? They changed all the questions. - Carmella Leone’s Dad

37. The golden rule: the guy who’s got the gold makes the rules. - Paul Wagner’s Dad

38. If everybody else is doing it, it is probably wrong. - Karl K. Warner’s Dad

Fathers and mothers have the greatest opportunity as teachers of anyone in the world. You see, that boy or girl in the home has the chance to see if Father and Mother really believe and practice what they teach.

A father who says he believes in Sunday school, and then does not go himself, is teaching by his actions that he really does not feel it very important. A father who teaches love and tolerance to all and yet maintains a critical attitude in the home toward his brothers and sisters in the church is doing a wrong to his children which never in this world can be undone. It is pure poison to the mind of the child, and will most certainly be a stumbling block in the way of the child becoming a Christian.

A father who says he believes the Bible to be the greatest Book, to be God's Word to us, but leaves it on the shelf to gather dust while he spends hours with the newspaper, magazines, radio and television is in reality saying, "Children, the Bible is not too important. You should read it if you have any extra time."

Which one of you had not heard a little boy step proudly forward among his playmates and declare, "I KNOW that's so because my Daddy said so!" He has confidence in you, dear Dad, and the things which he sees you put first in your life are going to stand out as mighty important to him, too.

Is your prayer: "Lord, fit me to be loved and imitated by my children"?

A prominent Philadelphia Christian businessman's wife felt he was not spending enough time with his six-year-old daughter. He decided to make up for that failing all at once.

He had his limousine driver take him to her school, where she was picked up and deposited next to him in the backseat. They took off for New York City where he had made reservations for dinner in an expensive French restaurant and had tickets to a Broadway show.

After an exhausting evening, they were driven home. In the morning, the little girl's mother could hardly wait to find out how the evening had gone. "How did you like it?"

The little girl thought a moment. "It was okay, I guess, but I would rather have eaten at McDonald's. And I did not really understand the show. But the best part was when we were riding home in that great big car and I put my head down on Daddy's lap and fell asleep."

I remember a number of years ago I went out of Chicago to try to preach. I went down to a little town where was being held a Sunday-school convention. I was a perfect stranger in the place, and when I arrived a man stepped up to me and asked me if my name was Moody. I told him it was, and he invited me to his house. When I got there he said he had to go to the convention, and asked me to excuse his wife, as she, not having a servant, had to attend to her household duties. He put me into the parlor, and told me to amuse myself as best I could till he came back. I sat there, but the room was dark and I could not read, and I got tired. So I thought I would try and get the children and play with them. I listened for some sound of childhood in the house, but could not hear a single evidence of the presence of little ones. When my friend came back I said: "Haven't you any children?" "Yes," he replied, "'I have one, but she's in Heaven, and I am glad she is there, Moody." "Are you glad that your child's dead?" I inquired.

He went on to tell me how he had worshiped that child; how his whole life had been bound up in her to the neglect of his Saviour. One day he had come home and found her dying. Upon her death he accused God of being unjust. He saw some of his neighbors with their children around them. Why hadn't He taken some of them away? He was rebellious. After he came home from her funeral he said: "All at once I thought I heard, her little voice calling me, but the truth came to my heart that she was gone. Then I thought I heard her feet upon the stairs; but I knew she was lying in the grave. The thought of her loss almost made me mad. I threw myself on my bed and wept bitterly. I fell asleep, and while I slept I had a dream, but it almost seemed to me like a vision.

"I thought I was going over a barren field, and I came to a river so dark and chill-looking that, I was going to turn away, when all at once I saw on the opposite bank the most beautiful sight I ever looked at. I thought death and sorrow could never enter into that lovely region. Then I began to see beings all so happy looking, and among them I saw my little child. She waved her little angel hand to me and cried, 'Father, Father, come this way.' I thought, her voice sounded much sweeter than it did on earth. In my dream I thought I went to the water and tried to cross it, but found it deep and the current so rapid that I thought if I entered it would carry me away from her forever. I tried to find a boatman to take me over, but couldn't, and I walked up and down the river trying to find a crossing, and still she cried: 'Come this way.' All at once I heard a voice come rolling down, 'I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh unto the Father but by Me.' The voice awoke me from my sleep,' and I knew it was my Saviour calling me, and pointing the way for me to reach my darling child.

"I am now superintendent of a Sunday-school; I have made many converts; my wife has been converted, and we will, through Jesus as the way, see one day our child."

Father, where shall I work today?

And my love flowed warm and free.

Then He pointed me out a tiny spot,

And said, “Tend that for me.”

I answered quickly, “Oh, no, not that.

Why, no one would ever see,

No matter how well my work was done.

Not that little place for me!”

And the word He spoke, it was not stern,

He answered me tenderly,

“Ah, little one, search that heart of thine;

Art thou working for them or me?

Nazareth was a little place,

And so was Galilee.”

The USA Weekend article (“Fatherless America, 2/24 - 26/95) states:

“Fatherlessness is the most harmful demographic trend of this generation. It is the leading cause of the decline in the well being of children. It is also the engine driving our most urgent social problems from crime to adolescent pregnancy to domestic violence.”

In 1960, the total number of children living in fatherless families was fewer than eight million. Today, that total has risen to nearly twenty-four million. Nearly four out of ten children in America are being raised in homes without their fathers and soon it may be six out of ten. How did this happen? Why are so many of our nation’s children growing up without a full-time father? It is because our culture has accepted the idea that fathers are superfluous—in other words, they are not necessary in the “modern” family. Supposedly, their contributions to the well-being of children can easily be performed by the state, which disburses welfare checks, subsidizes midnight basketball leagues, and establishes child-care facilities.

Ideas, of course, have consequences. And the consequences of this idea have been as profound as they have been disastrous. Almost 75 percent of American children living in fatherless households will experience poverty before the age of eleven, compared to only 20 percent of those raised by two parents. Children living in homes where fathers are absent are far more likely to be expelled from or drop out of school, develop emotional or behavioral problems, commit suicide, and fall victim to child abuse or neglect. The males are also far more likely to become violent criminals. As matter of act, men who grew up without dads currently represent 70 percent of the prison population serving long-term sentences.

The assumption that boys learn to be masculine by following the example of their fathers is a myth, according to Dr. James Turnbull, a psychiatrist at the University of Texas Health Science Center. Fathers in middle-and lower-income families spend only about 25 minutes each week in direct one-to-one relationships with their growing sons. “The images on TV and in advertising showing boys and their fathers playing touch football, fishing and building model aircraft...simply don’t reflect real life,” said Turnbull.

Turnbull’s studies of fatherless homes in middle- to lower-income brackets found the key to personality development was based upon the sons’ relationships with their mothers. “Fathers are certainly important in shaping their son’s behavior, but mothers, peer groups and other adult males usually have more contact with the boys,” he said. “If a father is present, he tends to modify the mother’s influence with comments such as ‘You’re spoiling the boy,’ or ‘Boys don’t play with dolls’ and other reactions to behavior. The father’s treatment of the mother serves as an example for the son of how to interact with members of the opposite sex.”

In fatherless homes, Turnbull said, the mother’s attitude toward men and her degree of protection toward her son seem to be keys to a boy’s development. The most critical times are between the ages of 30 months and 5 years and during early adolescence.

Studies show that the absence of the father expresses itself in male children in two very different ways: it is linked to increased aggressiveness on one hand, and greater manifestations of effeminacy on the other. A 1987 study of violent rapists found that 60 percent of them came from single-parent homes. A Michigan State University study of adolescents who committed homicides found that 75 percent of them were from broken homes. Girls without fathers fare no better. They become sexually active sooner and are more likely to have out-of-wedlock children.

I wish you could meet my Dad;

He's really quite a guy!

I wouldn't trade with anyone,

And here's the reason why:

Whenever I have problems,

Doubts, or questions, too,

We talk them all over, Dad and I,

And find what's best to do.

He helps me practice baseball,

And gives me useful tips;

And even lets me go along

When he takes fishing trips!

Then, too, my Dad's a Christian;

We often kneel and pray;

He helps me live as Jesus taught.

Yes, sir, my Dad's O.K.

The Fathers Day Council of New York gives us these facts and figures:

There are 80 million fathers in America today. Of these, about 1.5 are single fathers.

The average number of gifts per dad on Fathers Day is 2.5, with a combined value of $70. Very few dads get more than 10 gifts on Fathers day.

Sportswear for men was “invented” in the 1940s.

Together with the growing national popularity of Fathers’ Day, it gave mothers “social permission” to dress dad “the way she wanted him to look in her fantasies.”

On Fathers Day, 80 million pounds of beef are consumed on picnics and barbecues, and 100 million cards are mailed.

A couple married for 15 years began having more than usual disagreements. They wanted to make their marriage work and agreed on an idea the wife had. For one month they planned to drop a slip in a “Fault” box. The boxes would provide a place to let the other know about daily irritations. The wife was diligent in her efforts and approach: “leaving the jelly top off the jar,” “wet towels on the shower floor,” “dirty socks not in hamper,” on and on until the end of the month. After dinner, at the end of the month, they exchanged boxes. The husband reflected on what he had done wrong. Then the wife opened her box and began reading. They were all the same, the message on each slip was, “I love you!”

Fault finding is not difficult. Isaac Murray illustrates this in his story on how a dog hitched to a lawn mower stopped pulling to bark at a passerby. The boy who was guiding the mower said, “Don’t mind the dog, he is just barking for an excuse to rest. It is easier to bark than to pull the mower.”

Percentage of Americans who say watching TV is their favorite way of spending an evening: 33. Who watch TV during dinner: 50. Who say a TV set is a necessity: 64.

When you fear that the worst will happen, your own thoughts may help to bring it about. “Fear,” a writer once said, “Is the wrong use of imagination. It is anticipating the worst, not the best that can happen.”

A salesman, driving on a lonely country road one dark and rainy night had a flat. He opened the trunk—no lug wrench. The light from a farmhouse could be seen dimly up the road. He set out on foot through the driving rain. Surely the farmer would have a lug wrench he could borrow, he thought. Of course, it was late at night—the farmer would be asleep in his warm, dry bed. Maybe he wouldn’t answer the door. and even if he did, he’d be angry at being awakened in the middle of the night. The salesman, picking his way blindly in the dark, stumbled on. By now his shoes and clothing were soaked. Even if the farmer did answer his knock, he would probably shout something like, “What’s the big idea waking me up at this hour!” This thought make the salesman angry. What right did that farmer have to refuse him the loan of a lug wrench? After all, here he was stranded in the middle of nowhere, soaked to the skin. The farmer was a selfish clod—no doubt about that!

The salesman finally reached the house, and banged loudly on the door. A light went on inside, and a window opened above. “Who is it?” a voice called out. “You know darn well who it is,” yelled the salesman, his face white with anger. “It’s me! You can keep your blasted lug wrench. I wouldn’t borrow it now if you had the last one on earth!”

Acute stress can provoke changes in the heart that may lead to death, say Drs. Marilyn S. Cebelin of Cleveland and Charles S. Hirsch of Cincinnati. The two doctors recently identified 15 cases in which people died after a physical assault, although the injuries alone would not have been enough to kill them. Eleven of the 15 cases showed a type of heart-cell death called myofibrillar degeneration, similar to a reaction in experimental animals who are helpless to anticipate or avoid danger.

The secret to neutralizing fear is to embrace the threatened disaster and count it as not too high a price to pay for obedience to Christ. This attitude of faith may not totally eliminate the uneasiness and apprehension. It will, however, allow you to go ahead and act in obedience to Christ. The problem of fear is not the fear itself, but the fact that we allow it to immobilize us. Being afraid is no sin. Shrinking back fearfully from obedience is sin...fear can stop you in your tracks as a Christian...but it doesn’t have to. You can trust God...(and) move ahead in obedience because you understand fear and know how to deal with it.

Fear knocked at the door. Faith answered. There was no one there.

In the Christmas narratives, there are several “fear not’s.”

1. The “fear not” of salvation: “And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings...which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:10,11).

2. The “fear not” of the humanly impossible: “Fear not, Mary, … the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: …For with God nothing shall be impossible” (Luke 1:30, 35, 37).

3. The “fear not” of unanswered prayer: “Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John” (Luke 1:13).

4. The “fear not” oof immediate obedience: “Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife. … Then Joseph … did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him” (Matthew 1:20,24

NPS

Alfred Krupp of Prussia, the great cannon king, was literally a manufacturer of death. However, he had such a fear of death that he never forgave anyone who spoke to him of it. Every employee throughout his vast works was strictly forbidden to refer to the subject of death in conversation. He fled from his own home when a relative of his wife suddenly died there, and when Mrs. Krupp remonstrated, he became so enraged that lifelong separation ensued. During his last illness he offered his physician a million dollars if he would prolong his life ten years. But no amount of money could buy an extension of his life. How different it was with Jesus Christ, because He was not only God but man at the same time. When He became man, He came down for a definite time, that by His death and resurrection death might be conquered.

Anytime we are engaged in a work for God, we are likely to encounter the poison-tipped arrows of ridicule. A barrage of truth mingled with lies, innuendo, malicious gossip and implied threats is the normal experience of leaders. Malice arises from fear. And fear is a common response to someone else’s success. So expect to have your faults thrown in your face, your folly mocked and your real progress belittled. When this happens, by all means allow yourself to be cut down to size, but do not let yourself be dismayed or intimidated. Remember that the chorus of contempt has a diabolical conductor whose aim is to make your knees buckle. He likes tongue-tied, ineffective Christians and plays on your secret fears and inferiorities to make you one of them.

I am full of fears and chasms of inferiority. Whenever I have listened to the enemy pointing them out I have stopped working for the kingdom. Yet in those moments when I have refused to listen to him and have feebly walked in obedience, I have been astonished at what God has done with my feeble performance. - John White

A man who hid for 32 years fearing punishment of pro-Nazi wartime activity says he used to cry when he heard happy voices outside, but dared not show himself even at his mother’s funeral. Janez Rus was a young shoemaker when he went into hiding at his sister’s farmhouse in June, 1945. He was found years later after she bought a large supply of bread in the nearby village of Zalna. “If I had not been discovered, I would have remained in hiding. So I am happy that this happened,” Rus told a reporter. Throughout those years he did nothing. He never left the house, and could only look down at the village in the valley.

5-year old Johnny was in the kitchen as his mother made supper. She asked him to go into the pantry and get her a can of tomato soup, but he didn’t want to go in alone. “It’s dark in there and I’m scared.” She asked again, and he persisted. Finally she said, “It’s OK—Jesus will be in there with you.” Johnny walked hesitantly to the door and slowly opened it. He peeked inside, saw it was dark, and started to leave when all at once an idea came, and he said:

Jesus, if you’re in there, would you hand me that can of tomato soup?”

An Arab chief tells the story of a spy captured and sentenced to death by a general in the Persian army. This general had the strange custom of giving condemned criminals a choice between the firing squad and “the big, black door.”

The moment for execution drew near, and guards brought the spy to the Persian general, “What will it be,” asked the general, “the firing squad or ‘the big, black door?’”

The spy hesitated for a long time. Finally he chose the firing squad.

A few minutes later, hearing the shots ring out confirming the spy’s execution, the general turned to his aide and said, ‘They always prefer the known to the unknown. People fear what they don’t know. Yet, we gave him a choice.”

“What lies beyond the big door?” asked the aide.

“Freedom,” replied the general. “I’ve known only a few brave enough to take that door.”

The best opportunities in our lives stand behind the forbidding door of the great unknown.

The feeling of being hurried is not usually the result of living a full life and having no time. It is, on the contrary, born of a vague fear that we are wasting our life. When we do not do the one thing we ought to do, we have no time for anything else—we are the busiest people in the world.

Darrell W. Robinson, People Sharing Jesus, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1995), p. 109

Fear says, “How will I be received? I may not know what to say. I may make a mistake, I may drive them away. I may foul up.” The one word used most in these fear-rooted statements is “I.” Fear is centered in self. In fact, it is no exaggeration to say that pride is at the root of fear. There is no fear in love. You are not afraid of a person you love. When you love Jesus and people, you will do your best to lead them to Him.

“I don’t want to get involved with people anymore. Every time I do, I get hurt,” some will say. Indeed, involvement with people sometimes brings pain, but who do we think we are to be exempt from pain? The Lord we profess to follow became totally involved with people to the extent that it killed Him! The servant is not greater than his Master. If we follow Him, we will risk being hurt to share Him and glorify Him.

Never forget that those without Christ are in a desperate situation, regardless of how comfortable or prosperous they may appear on the outside. People usually can’t extricate themselves from desperate situations. They need help. They need someone to intervene. Without the loving intervention of someone, the situation is unlikely to change.

Intervention is necessary to reach others for Christ. Unless a Christian cares enough to take a chance in sharing the Gospel of Christ, the lost will likely die without hope, separated from God. There is always risk involved when you share Jesus. But agape love and trust in the Holy Spirit will enable the Christian to exercise the intervention of personal witnessing.

I’ll never forget what an emergency nurse told me one day: “I want to thank you for teaching me how to share Jesus. Reaching those who don’t know Christ reminds me of doing CPR in the emergency room. My ER training tells me that when they bring in a patient who’s not breathing and whose heart isn’t beating, Do something! Even if you don’t know what to do. Do something! If you don’t, they’re gone.”

Even when we’re not sure of what to do, we must trust the Holy Spirit and love enough to intervene. Sharing Christ is vital to those around us.

A mural artist named J. H. Zorthian read about a tiny boy who had been killed in traffic. His stomach churned as he thought of that ever happening to one of his three children. His worry became an inescapable anxiety. The more he imagined such a tragedy, the more fearful he became. His effectiveness as an artist was put on hold once he started running scared. At last he surrendered to his obsession. Canceling his negotiations to purchase a large house in busy Pasedena, California, he began to seek a place where his children would be safe. His pursuit became so intense that he set aside all his work while scheming and planning every possible means to protect his children from harm. He tried to imagine the presence of danger in everything. The location of the residence was critical. It must be sizable and remote, so he bought twelve acres, perched on a mountain at the end of a long, winding, narrow road. At each turn along the road he posted signs, “Children at Play.”

Before starting construction on the house itself, Zorthian personally built and fenced a play yard for his three children. He built it in such a way that it was impossible for a car to get within fifty feet of it. Next…the house. With meticulous care he blended beauty and safety into the place. He put into it various shades of the designs he had concentrated in the murals he had hanging in forty-two public buildings in eastern cities. Only this time his objective was more than colorful art…most of all, it had to be safe and secure. He made sure of that.

Finally, the garage was to be built. Only one automobile ever drove into that garage—Zorthian’s. He stood back and surveyed every possibility of danger to his children. He could think of only one remaining hazard. He had to back out of the garage. He might, in some hurried moment, back over one of the children. He immediately made plans for a protected turnaround. The contractor returned and set the forms for that additional area, but before the cement could be poured, a downpour stopped the project. It was the first rainfall in many weeks of a long West Coast drought. It if had not rained that week, the concrete turn-around would have been completed and been in use by Sunday. That was February 9, 1947…the day his eighteen-month old son, Tiran, squirmed away from his sister’s grasp and ran behind the car as Zorthian drove it from the garage. The child was killed instantly.

During his 1960 presidential campaign, John F. Kennedy often closed his speeches with the story of Colonel Davenport, the Speaker of the Connecticut House of Representatives.

One day in 1789, the sky of Hartford darkened ominously, and some of the representatives, glancing out the windows, feared the end was at hand. Quelling a clamor for immediate adjournment, Davenport rose and said, “The Day of Judgment is either approaching or it is not. If it is not, there is no cause for adjournment. If it is, I choose to be found doing my duty. Therefore, I wish that candles be brought.”

Rather than fearing what is to come, we are to be faithful till Christ returns. Instead of fearing the dark, we’re to be lights as we watch and wait.

It is a poor thing to fear that which is inevitable.

Tertullian, third-century church father, speaking of death. “Keep your fears to yourself; share your courage with others.” Robert Louis Stevenson

The story is told of the ship that was trapped in a severe storm at sea All were preparing to abandon ship, all except one young lady who was playing with her dolls When asked if she were not afraid, she calmly replied, "No, because my father is the captain."

When the storms of life seem to trap us, let us learn to keep our eyes upon the sparrow and to say, "I am not afraid because the Captain is my Father!"

Researchers at Johns Hopkins University reported that 30 years ago, the greatest fears of grade school children were:

1. Animals

2. Being in a dark room

3. High places

4. Strangers

5. Loud noises.

Today, kids are afraid of the following:

1. Divorce

2. Nuclear war

3. Cancer

4. Pollution

5. Being mugged.

There is a fable of an eagle which could outfly another, and the other didn't like it. The latter saw a sportsman one day, and said to him: "I wish you would bring down that eagle."

The sportsman replied that he would if he only had some feathers to put into the arrow. So the eagle pulled one out of his wing. he arrow was shot, but didn't quite reach the rival eagle; it was flying too high. The envious eagle pulled out more feathers, and kept pulling them out until he lost so many that he couldn't fly, and then the sportsman turned around and killed him.

My friend, if you are jealous, the only man you can hurt is yourself.

A clear mission statement answers three questions:

1) who is your ministry focus group?

2) what needs are you seeking to meet?

3) how will you accomplish your mission?

Ministry focus group: Age and income ranges, marriage patterns, number of children, ethnic groups, educational level, typical occupation, percent of spouses who work, housing patterns, hobbies, leisure activities, music preferences, social concerns, felt needs, basis for social relationships.

Clarify what needs you’ll seek to meet: what are their felt needs, what needs are we uniquely qualified to meet, how, when?

Identify 3-5 key ministry areas: what will attract your focus group.

Draft a mission statement (25-30 words—”We’re trying to reach these people with these needs by these means.”).

Popularize it in 5 to 10 words.

A vision statement pictures the future. A mission statement tells how to get there.

Peter Drucker’s three “musts” of a successful mission:

1) look at strength and performance. Do better what you do well—if it’s the right thing to do.

2) Look at the opportunities, the needs. Where can you, with limited resources, really make a difference?

3) Look at what you really believe. “I’ve never seen anything being done well unless people were committed.”

"I am the bread of life" Joh_6:35.

Terry Bell relates a memorable experience:

The year was 1969. It was my first "real" mission trip. I was in a little village in South India and terribly homesick. I was 20 years old and starving for a "good ole" American cheeseburger. I had not had one in 2 1/2 months.

The land around me was semi-jungle, semi-bush. Tarzan would have felt right at home, but I did not.

One boring afternoon I whiled away the hours by playing with the monkeys that forever enlivened our premises. Standing out on the balcony, I teased the little primate creeps by giving them doughballs made from a loaf of bread I was holding. A hairy hand (or is it a paw?) would reach over the edge of the roof, I would place a morsel in it, and like lightning, it was retracted to the squealing and grunting delight of his monkey-minded buddies. What a great game!

Suddenly I realized that on the street below my balcony a crowd had gathered. They were not nearly as entertained by this "monkeying around" as I was. One thin-faced, sickly looking boy looked up at me with bulging eyes. In broken English, he said, "Master, feed poor boys, not monkeys."

It was like a stab in the heart. In the street below were orphans, beggars, lepers...the off-scourings of humankind. Mothers and fathers who had starving children. Children who watched malnourished parents die. Parents who would watch their hungry children watching them die, knowing they left them to a miserable life on the streets. And there I was, playing games with the bread that for them was so precious. I was cut to the heart.

Every day this scene is reenacted in thousands of padded-pew churches, whose priorities are playing games with monkeys.

"Why do you insist upon having the largest piece of pie, Harry?" asked a mother reprovingly. "Isn't your big brother entitled to it?" "No, Mama, not the way it looks to me," replied Harry. "He was eating pie three years before I was born." Preacher, feed the new Christians who are hungry for the Word, a double portion of it.

We preachers desperately need the advice which an aged minister gave a young man who was just entering upon his life work as a shepherd of God's flock. "My son," he said, "feed the sheep; do not beat them. If a sheep is well fed, he can endure and will submit to some harsh treatment, but to starve and beat him at the same time is likely to prove fatal."

We preachers desperately need the advice which an aged minister gave a young man who was just entering upon his life work as a shepherd of God's flock. "My son," he said, "feed the sheep; do not beat them. If a sheep is well fed, he can endure and will submit to some harsh treatment, but to starve and beat him at the same time is likely to prove fatal."

He was one of the greatest rulers in African history and the creator of modern Ethiopia. Born in 1844, he was captured during an enemy raid and held prisoner for 10 years. Escaping, Menekil II declared himself head of the province of Shewa. He began conquering neighboring kingdoms and developed them into modern Ethiopia with himself as emperor. When Italy tried to take over Ethiopia Menekil’s army met and crushed the Italians at the Battle of Aduwa. This victory, as well as his efforts to modernize Ethiopia (schools, telephones, railroads), make Menekil world-famous. The emperor had one little known eccentricity. Whenever he was feeling ill, he would eat a few pages of the Bible, insisting that this always restored his health. One day in December, 1913, recovering from a stroke and feeling extremely ill, he had the entire book of Kings torn from an Egyptian edition of the Bible, ate every page of it—and died.

A neighbor heard that a poor woman was reduced to extreme poverty by the loss of her cow, which was her only means of support. He was personally unable to replace the cow for the poor woman, so he went around soliciting funds. Each neighbor offered sorrow and regret, but none practical assistance. He became impatient, and after being answered as usual by a plentiful shower of feeling, exclaimed. "Oh, yes! I don't doubt your feeling; but you don't feel in the right place." "Oh," said one, "I feel with all my heart and soul." "Yes, yes," replied the solicitor, "I don't doubt that either; but I want you to feel in your pocket." If we can feel in our pockets but don't, we commit sin.

In his recent book The Future of the American Family (Moody, 1993), George Barna noted the following, “According to a nationwide survey conducted by the Los Angeles Times in 1990, most parents (56%) feel guilty about not spending enough time with their children” (p. 171). In the same chapter Barna noted, “A study in 1991 by the National Commission on Children reported that six out of ten parents want to spend more time with their families” (p 172).

So you think you have problems. Who doesn't? That is no reason for you to quit the church or abandon the Faith. "You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord-that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful" (Jam 5:11).

Put yourself in the shoes of Job for a moment:

HE LOST HIS WEALTH. In rapid succession three messengers came telling Job of the destruction of his property and servants by bands of robbers and by lightning.

HE LOST HIS FAMILY. A fourth messenger came telling of the death of all of Job's children. Seven sons and three daughters were crushed in a moment when the house fell.

HE LOST HIS HEALTH. Job was smitten from head to foot with most loathsome ulcers. He was constrained to sit down among the ashes and scrape himself with a potsherd.

HE LOST HIS FRIENDS. His servants turned their backs on him. The children in the streets despised Job and mocked him. His friends told him that his sufferings were because of his wickedness. And his wife nagged him to curse God and die.

If you take any of these trials separately they would be great, but view them collectively and one is almost overwhelmed. But in the midst of calamity, "Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head, and he fell to the ground and worshiped" (Job 1:20).

And you know what? Job learned that the Lord is very "compassionate and merciful."

A man once came to D. L. Moody and said he was worried because he didn’t feel saved. Moody asked, “Was Noah safe in the ark?” “Certainly he was,” the man replied. “Well, what made him safe, his feeling or the ark?” The inquirer got the point. “How foolish I’ve been!” he said. “It is not my feeling; it is Christ who saves!” - D.J.D

Feelings come and feelings go

And feelings are deceiving;

My warrant is the Word of God,

Naught else is worth believing.

I read a humorous story about a woman who fell out of a second-floor window and landed in a slow-moving garbage truck. Half-buried in the litter, she tried without success to get the truck-driver’s attention. A foreign diplomat standing on the sidewalk saw her and quipped, “another example of how wasteful Americans are. That woman looks like she’s good for at least another 10 years.”

Visit a factory where thousands of persons are employed. There is the manager sitting in his central office where he directs all the operations of the factory. Everyone is doing his or her separate job. But they are all fellow laborers with the manager; they are all necessary. Not one could do without the other. If one does his work badly the whole organization suffers. If one does his work well they all benefit. Some feel they have important work, some less important. But there isn't one who is unimportant in the eyes of that man who is sitting in the general manager's office.

“The society into which the Christian is called is not a collective but a Body. It is in fact that Body of which the family unit is an image on the natural level. “If anyone came to it with the misconception that the Church was a massing together of persons as if they were pennies or chips, he would be corrected at the threshold by the discovery that the Head of this Body is utterly unlike its inferior members—they share no divinity with Him except by analogy.

“We are summoned at the outset to combine as creatures with our Creator, as mortals with immortal, as redeemed sinners with sinless Redeemer. “His presence, the interaction between Him and us, must always be the overwhelmingly dominant factor in the life we are to lead within the body; and any conception of Christian fellowship which does not mean primarily fellowship with Him is out of order.”