Pastoral Resources

For those who think the coalition troops of Operation Desert Storm must have set some kind of record with their 100-hour ground assault against Iraq, the “record book” of history says otherwise. The shortest war on record was fought between Britain and Zanzibar (now part of Tanzania) on August 27, 1896. The huge British fleet issued an ultimatum to the sultan of Zanzibar, then followed with 38 minutes of bombardment before the badly mismatched sultan surrendered!

Matilda Kaye Crabtree, 14, of West Monroe, La., used to try to scare her father as a joke. Last week, she made a tragic miscalculation. She had planned to sleep over at a friend’s; instead she stayed home, hid in a closet and then made scary noises when her parents arrived. Her father grabbed a .357- caliber pistol. “Boo!” she shouted. His shot hit her in the neck. Her final words to him: “I love you, Daddy.”

In 1632, at the Battle of Lutzen during the 30 year’s war, King Gustavus Adolphus was shot in the back while leading his cavalry in a charge against the Catholic armies of the Holy Roman Empire. Who actually killed him remains an unanswered question. However, many historical authorities insist that Gustavus must have been killed by one of his own men, if not accidentally them intentionally by a traitor.

An elderly lady was once asked by a young man who had grown weary in the fight, whether he ought to give up the struggle. “I am beaten every time,” he said dolefully. “I feel I must give up.”

“Did you ever notice,” she replied, smiling into the troubled face before her, “that when the Lord told the discouraged fishermen to cast their nets again, it was right in the same old spot where they had been fishing all night and had caught nothing?”

"I always write my sermons," said one preacher to another, "and then carefully revise them, so that if anything is written that might offend any of my hearers, I may at once erase it." The older preacher friend replied, "Do you mean that forcible statements, either of your own or from Scripture, concerning sin, the cross, and the judgment to come, are either toned down or avoided?" "Yes," replied the young novice clergyman. "If I think they will offend anyone, I do so."

A father of three won a shouting contest with a roar louder than a passing train. “If you want a war, you go!” Yoshihiko Kato shouted. The sound meter registered 115.8 decibels, louder than the racket of a train passing overhead on an elevated railroad. For that winning shout, Kato won the $750 grand prize of the 10th annual Halls Year-End Loud Voice Contest. Kato admitted that he probably built up his loud voice shouting at his children.

Wesley was not an advocate of sensationalism in preaching. But on one occasion, he interrupted his own sermon and shouted, “Lord, is Saul also among the prophets? Is James Watson here? If he be, show Thy power!” And James Watson dropped to the floor and began to cry loudly for God’s mercy!

One day in the library at the University of Montana, I saw the following bit of graffiti: “E = MC2—Albert Einstein. “And directly underneath: “Very good, Albert, but next time show your work. C+.”

One of my favorite stories comes from a man who used to be in our church. He and his wife were close friends of our family, but they have now moved to another part of the country. We really miss their joyful presence.

When he was a youth worker many years ago in an ethnic community, he attended a church that had Scandinavian roots. Being a rather forward-looking and creative young man, he decided he would show the youth group a missionary film. We’re talking simple, safe, black-and-white religious-oriented movie. That film projector hadn’t been off an hour before a group of the leaders in the church called him in and asked him about what he had done. They asked, “Did you show the young people a film?” In all honesty he responded, “Well, yeah, I did.” “We don’t like that,” they replied. Without trying to be argumentative, the youth worker reasoned, “Well, I remember that at the last missionary conference, our church showed slides—”

One of the church officers put his hand up signaling him to cease talking. Then, in these words, he emphatically explained the conflict: “If it’s still, fine. If it moves, sin!” You can show slides, but when they start movin’, you’re gettin’ into sin.

It takes just seven ordinary, imperfect shuffles to mix a deck of cards thoroughly, researchers have found. Fewer are not enough, and more do not significantly improve the mixing. The mathematical proof, discovered after elaborate computer calculations, was complicated because of the immense number of ways the cards in a deck can be arranged; any of 52 could be first in the deck, any of 51 second, and so on. Multiplied out, the number of possible permutations is exactly 80,658,175,170,943,878,571,660,636,856,403,766,975,289,505, 440,883,277,824, 000,000,000,000. Persi Diaconis, a Harvard University mathematician who is co-author of the study with Dave Bayer, a mathematician and computer scientist at Columbia University, says, “Most people shuffle cards three or four times. Five times is considered excessive.

A man went inside a telephone booth and dialed the number of a friend. When the connection was made, the friend kept saying, "I can't hear you; speak louder; I can't hear you." All he cold hear was the roar of traffic in the background. "Shut the door so I can hear," he said to the caller. In order to hear God's voice speaking to you, you've got to shut the door to the outside world so that its enticements won't distract you. Doing this could change your whole life. Then when you go back into the crowd, you'll not only be able to listen to what the world has to say, but you'll have something to say to the world that you've personally heard from God.

A missionary in West Africa visited a sick church member. Since the sick man's wife was also present, he asked them several questions, one being, if they lived in peace together. The man answered, "Sometimes I say a word my wife doesn't like, or my wife talks or does what I don't like; but when we start to quarrel, we shake hands, shut the door, and go to prayer. So peace is restored again." This is a very good formula for us to follow, since we are surely apt to do or say something that others in our Christian community don't like, or others are apt to say or do something that we do not like.

In a letter to his friends, hymn writer Wendell P. Loveless related this story:

One evening a speaker who was visiting the United States wanted to make a telephone call. He entered a phone booth, but found it to be different from those in his own country. It was beginning to get dark, so he had difficulty finding the number in the directory. He noticed that there was a light in the ceiling, but he didn’t know how to turn it on. As he tried again to find the number in the fading twilight, passers by noted his plight and said, “Sir, if you want to turn the light on, you have to shut the door.” To the visitor’s amazement and satisfaction, when he closed the door, the booth was filled with light. He soon located the number and completed the call.

In a similar way, when we draw aside in a quiet place to pray, we must block out our busy world and open our hearts to the Father. Our darkened world of disappointments and trials will then be illuminated. We will enter into communion with God, we will sense His presence, and we will be assured of His provision for us. Our Lord often went to be alone with the Heavenly Father. Sometimes it was after a busy day of preaching and healing, as in today’s Scripture reading. At other times, it was before making a major decision (Luke 6:12).

A visitor saw the shepherds in Nazareth bringing their flocks to water them at the well. When the sheep had drunk their fill, the shepherds called and their sheep followed them. The visitor asked the shepherds if the sheep always followed their own shepherds when they called them. "Yes," said a shepherd, "except under one condition." "What is that?" "The sheep that do not follow the voice of the shepherd are the sick sheep. If a sheep is healthy, it will always follow the shepherd, but if there is something wrong with the sheep, it will follow anybody."

An elderly gentleman was sitting on a park bench, basking in the sun, when another elderly fellow sat down. They looked at each other for a moment but did not speak. Both men sat there, staring straight ahead. After a while, one of them heaved a big, heartfelt sigh. The other jumped up immediately and said, “If you’re going to talk politics, I’m leaving.

"Wouldn't you hate to wear glasses all the time?" asked a small boy of his playmate. "No-o-o," the other boy answered slowly, "not if I had the kind grandma wears. She sees how to fix a lot of things, and she sees lots of nice things to do on rainy days, and she sees when folks are tired and sorry, and what will make them feel better, and she always sees what you meant to do even if you haven't got things just right. I asked her one day how she could see that way all the time, and she said it was the way she learned to look at things as she grew older. So it must be her glasses."

A sightseeing bus was making the rounds through Washington, D. C., and the driver was pointing out spots of interest. As they passed the Pentagon building, he mentioned that it cost taxpayers millions of dollars and that it took a year and a half to build. While everyone was looking at it, a little old woman piped up:

“In Peoria we could have built the same building for less, and it would have been completed even sooner than that!”

The next sight on the tour was the Justice Department building. Once again the bus driver said that it cost so many millions to build and took almost two years to complete.

The woman repeated: “In Peoria we would have done it for less money, and it would have been finished much sooner.”

The tour finally came to the Washington Monument, and the driver just passed slowly by without saying a word.

The old woman was curious. “Hey,” she shouted to the driver, “what’s that tall white building back there?”

The driver looked out the window, waited a minute and then said, “Search me, lady. It wasn’t there yesterday.”

Armand M. Nicholi, M. D. , professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, explains that Sigmund Freud died at the age of 83, a bitter and disillusioned man. Tragically, this Viennese physician, one of the most influential thinkers of our time, had little compassion for the common person. Freud wrote in 1918, “I have found little that is good about human beings on the whole. In my experience most of them are trash, no matter whether they publicly subscribe to this or that ethical doctrine or to none at all” (Veritas Reconsidered, p. 36). Freud died friendless. It is well-known that he had broken with each of his followers. The end was bitter.

An ad for a general store in Loretta, Wis., gave its location as: “Across from the phone booth.”

We have courses to make grown men young and young men grown.

On the side of an evangelist’s van in Durban, South Africa: “Where will you spend eternity? Most people don’t decide till the 11th hour. Our service begins at 10:30.”

“When your thread becomes tangled, call the foreman.”

A young woman was new of the job. Her thread became tangled and she thought, “I’ll just straighten this out myself.” She tried, but the situation only worsened. Finally she called the foreman. “I did the best I could,” she said.

“No you didn’t. To do the best, you should have called me.”

Signals of lying:

Increased blinking and pupil dilation.

A facial expression incongruous with what’s being said.

Increased body movement (especially hand gestures).

Shorter sentences.

More speaking pauses and errors.

More negative words and extreme words.

Fifty-six men signed the Declaration of Independence. Their conviction resulted in untold sufferings for themselves and their families. Of the 56 men, five were captured by the British and tortured before they died. Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. Two lost their sons in the Revolutionary Army. Another had two sons captured. Nine of the fifty-six fought and died from wounds or hardships of the war. Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships sunk by the British navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts and died in poverty. At the battle of Yorktown, the British General Cornwallis had taken over Thomas Nelson’s home for his headquarters. Nelson quietly ordered General George Washington to open fire on the Nelson home. The home was destroyed and Nelson died bankrupt. John Hart was driven from his wife’s bedside as she was dying. Their thirteen children fled for their lives. His fields and mill were destroyed. For over a year, he lived in forest and caves, returning home only to find his wife dead and his children vanished. A few weeks later, he died from exhaustion.

A significant church is involved in bringing people into right relationship with God and one another and with helping believers develop godly character and ministry skills. A church focused on significance will be fulfilling its primary purpose: equipping believers for service. The components to becoming a significant church are

1. Vision—understanding where a church is and where it is going.

2. Spiritual Maturity—the development of Christian character in the personal lives of individual church members.

3. Outreach—how the church can fulfill its m;ission of reconciliation by serving, showing and telling.

4. Ministry Leadership—How you equip individuals to help others follow Christ by acting as mentors, guides, teachers and parents.

5. Small Groups—offer community and meeting needs, allowing more people to become actively involved in the life of the church.

6. Life-on-Life Mentoring—encouraging persoanl change and application of scriptural truth through one-on-one ministry. from Church Disciple, Spring, 1997, Vol 11, No 1, The Navigators

In a Kentucky service station: “The only reason we have what you want to borrow is because WE NEVER LOANED IT.” - Bill Mayer, quoted by Joe Creason in Louisville Courier-Journal

In a candle shop in Massachusetts: “Dogs with big tails not allowed.” - Contributed by Doris Doane

Advice from an old carpenter: “Measure twice, and saw once.” - Bits and Pieces, December, 1989, p. 18

(1) Secrecy is employed; seldom is there full disclosure.

(2) Elite leadership does all the thinking. Others follow.

(3) Followers are the only ones who possess the whole truth.

(4) Scripture is never taken at face value.

(5) Loyalty goes to a leader or a system.

(6) The concepts lack historical roots.

It had been a rather stormy board meeting and some very harsh things had been said. One man—always highly respected and unusually wise in his judgments—had said nothing throughout the proceedings. Suddenly one of the leaders in the argument turned to him: “You have not said a word. I am sure we would all like to hear your opinion about this matter.” “I have discovered,” replied the quiet one, “that there are many times when silence is an opinion.”

I read about a court case that was lost because of the silence of an attorney. The distinguished lawyer Samuel Hoar (1778-1856) was representing the defendant. When it was time to present his case, he told the jurors that the facts favoring his client were so evident that he would not insult their intelligence by arguing them.

The jury retired to deliberate and returned in a few minutes with a verdict of guilty. Samuel Hoar was astonished! “How,” he asked, “could you have reached such a verdict?” The foreman replied, “We all agreed that if anything could be said for a case, you would say it. But since you didn’t present any evidence, we decided to rule against you.” Silence had lost the case.

Too many fathers never learn to communicate with their children, and the silence that begins in childhood remains unbroken. Playwright Moss Hart capsulized this kind of heartbreaking estrangement in his autobiography when he described a walk with his father on Christmas Eve the year he was ten. The Harts were quite poor, but Moss’s father took him down to 149th Street and Westchester in New York City that night, past countless toy vendors’ pushcarts. Moss strolled with his father past the carts, eyeing chemistry sets and printing presses with obvious longing.

“I looked up and saw we were nearing the end of the line. Only two or three more pushcarts remained. My father looked up, too, and I heard him jingle some coins in his pocket. In a flash I knew it all. He’d gotten together about seventy-five cents to buy me a Christmas present, and he hadn’t dared say so in case there was nothing to be had for so small a sum.

“As I looked up at him I saw a look of despair and disappointment in his eyes that brought me closer to him than I had ever been in my life. I wanted to throw my arms around him and say ‘It doesn’t matter...I understand...This is better than a chemistry set or a printing press...I love you.’ But instead we stood shivering beside each other for a moment—then turned silently back home. I don’t know why the words remained choked up within me. I didn’t even take his hand on the way home, nor did he take mine. We were not on that basis.”

Once a young couple lost their only child, a beautiful three-year-old daughter, as a result of a freak accident. Unable to justify this tragedy with their concept of a loving God, they went to their minister for help. "Why?" they asked. "It was God's will," the preacher told them.

The couple just couldn't accept that the passing of their little daughter could somehow serve God's will, and they sought out another preacher friend. He quoted yards of Scripture, trying to give them comfort, but his verses fell on deaf ears.

Finally, the young couple turned to a frail elderly woman in their church. Surely, she could give them a reason for the child's death, but the old woman didn't utter a single word. Instead, she tenderly wrapped her arms around the heartbroken couple's shoulders, and together they cried the hurt away.

Sometimes when theological answers are not easy to the complex misfortunes of life, perhaps we just need to hush our babblings. Sometimes when answers aren't easy, our best statement is silent caring.

Hear about the man who was so bashful that he couldn’t even lead in silent prayer?

What happened to the great city of Ephesus? Often mentioned in the New Testament, it was one of the cultural and commercial centers of its day. Located at the mouth of the Cayster River, it was noted for its bustling harbors, its broad avenues, its gymnasiums, its baths, its huge amphitheater, and especially its magnificent Temple of Diana. What happened to bring about its gradual decline until its harbor was no longer crowded with ships and the city was no longer a flourishing metropolis?

Was it smitten by plagues, destroyed by enemies, or demolished by earthquakes? No, silt was the reason for its downfall—silent and non-violent silt. Over the years, fine sedimentary particles slowly filled up the harbor, separating the city from the economic life of the sea traders.

Little evil practices, little acts of disobedience may seem harmless. But let the silt of sin gradually accumulate, and we will find ourselves far from God. Life will become a spiritual ruin. In the book of Hebrews we are warned of the danger of “the deceitfulness of sin” (3:13). James said that the attractive pleasures of sin are really a mask covering death (1:15).

God forbid that we let the silt of sin accumulate in our lives! - VCG

One day a wealthy old miser visited a rabbi who took him by the hand and led him to a window. "Look out there," he said, pointing to the street. "What do you see?" "I see men and women and little children," answered the rich man. Again the rabbi took him by the hand and led him to the mirror and said, "What do you see now?" "Now I see myself," the rich man replied. Then the rabbi said, "Behold, in the window there is glass, but the glass of the mirror is covered with silver, and no sooner is the silver added then you fail to see others but see only yourself." If you see self and all the respect and honor others ought to give you, you are on dangerous ground. You won't be able to see others if self is in the image you hold in front of you.

At the Sudan Interior Mission Kijabe Medical Center, SIM medical missionaries Bob and Marion Bowers recently treated a young man with a paralyzing snake bite and saw him live long enough to accept Christ as his Savior.

In many Third World countries, snake bites are common—and fatal. For four days, the young man remained unconscious. Under normal circumstances he would have died the day of the snake bite. But on the fifth day he miraculously woke up. That afternoon a group of students from Moffat Bible College came to the hospital to share the gospel with the patients. After hearing the words of truth, the man accepted Christ as his savior. At midnight, he had a cardiac arrest and died.

Five year old Brian was impressed by the story of Simeon the Stylite, a Syrian hermit who lived in the 5th century. This man was admired as a saint because he lived for more than 35 years on a platform atop a high pillar. Determined to follow Simeon’s example, Brian put the kitchen stool on the table and started his perilous climb. When his mother heard some strange sounds in the kitchen, she came in, and shouted, “Brian! Get down before you break your neck!” As the youngster obeyed, he muttered, “You can’t even become a saint in your own house.”

An evangelist was holding special meetings for boys and girls. One day after the children's meeting, little Helen came home, rushed into her father's study, threw her arms around him, and said, "Daddy, I am a Christian!" "Well, Helen, I am glad to hear that," said her father. "When did you become a Christian?" "This afternoon, Daddy," she replied. He asked her to tell him what had occurred. "Oh," she said, "the evangelist told us that Jesus Christ was there in the room and that, if we would receive Him, He would come in and live in our hearts and make us His own; that He would receive us." "Well," he said, "go on; tell me what else happened." "Why," she said, "I received Him and Jesus took me in." "But how do you know that when you received Jesus He took you in?" the father persisted. She gave him a look which he would never forget as she answered, "Why, Daddy, because He said He would!" That's exactly what it means to believe in the name of Christ-to believe what He is and what He said He would do for us when we receive Him. It is so simple that explanations only serve to complicate it.

How many ways do I love thee? In number XLIII of sonnets From the Portuguese, Elizabeth Barrett loved Robert Browning nine ways, unless “with the breath, Smiles, tears, of all my life” is considered to be three separate ways, in which case she loved him a total of eleven ways.

For every complex problem there is a simple solution--and it is always wrong. - H.L. Mencken

During the Revolutionary War in America, a few British officers, the bearers of a flag of truce, were invited by the general of the Insurgents to stop and dine with him. As a result of this courtesy, they were ushered into a tent where an officer was roasting some potatoes on a camp stove. Expecting an elaborate table, the British officers were astonished when the officer preparing the meal wiped away the ashes from the potatoes, and placed them on the table as the dinner for the general and his company.

When the British officers returned to their own camp, they contrasted the American soldiers' fare with their own expensive fare. They justifiably reflected on the difficulty of their self-indulgent habits and their need of contentment under all circumstances.

Some preachers have the instincts of aviators-they announce a text, taxi for a short distance, then take off from the earth and disappear into the clouds. After that, only the din of exploding gasoline is heard, signifying that they are flying high, very high, above the heads of their hearers. In other words, a sermon, rightly presented, should not be a meteor, but a sun. Its true test is "Can it make anything grow?"

George Fox, seeking spiritual guidance, walked seven miles to talk to a clergyman who had the reputation for being helpful. "But I found him but like an empty hollow cask," he reported sadly. The problem with our preaching is that too often people come seeking the Water of Life, only to find an empty cask. But sometimes they find water-when the preacher with simplicity and authority proclaims Jesus Christ.

Feed your people with the Bread of Life; cause them to drink deeply of the Water of Life. Be careful not to confuse simple, easy communication with superficial study and shallow preaching. You can dig deep, but you do not have to come up dry. Use your professional tools at home, but take the inspired Word alone into the pulpit. With God's help, your sermons can be profoundly simple and simply profound.

Many years ago a man named Simpson built a house on the Canford Cliffs, near Bournemouth, England. Friends and neighbors tried to warn him he had chosen a site too near the edge of the cliff, that landslides frequently occurred along the coast, and the very weight of the house would precipitate such a catastrophe. But Mr. Simpson wouldn't listen. He built a very beautiful house there and for a time all went well. Then the inevitable happened, and the ominous warnings all came true. All that remains of his house is a heap of ruins on the beach known as "Simpson's Folly."

Sin will take you farther than you ever thought you’d stray

Sin will leave you so lost, you think you’ll never find your way

Sin will keep you longer than you ever thought you’d stay

Sin will cost you more than you ever thought you’d pay

A lady in a carpool took God's name in vain and immediately apologized to her companions. One of them quickly responded, "You do not owe us an apology. You did not use our names."

Sin does hurt people around us and requires a reconciliation with that person. But we must always remember, with David, "Against Thee, Thee only, I have sinned, and done what is evil in Thy sight" (Psa 51:4 NASB).

A little boy who had been born blind underwent an operation to restore his sight. The light was let in slowly. Then one day his mother led him out of doors and uncovered his eyes, and for the first time he saw the sky and earth. "O Mother!" he cried, "Why didn't you tell me it was so beautiful?" She burst into tears and said, "I tried to tell you, dear, but you could not understand me." Sinful man is also blind to the splendor and the glory of the light of the gospel. The only way he can comprehend it is to let the light in, through the enabling of the Holy Spirit.

Sin arises when things that are a minor good are pursued as though they were the most important goals in life. If money or affection or power are sought in disproportionate, obsessive ways, then sin occurs. And that sin is magnified when, for these lesser goals, we fail to pursue the highest good and the finest goals. So when we ask ourselves why, in a given situation, we committed a sin, the answer is usually one of two things. Either we wanted to obtain something we didn’t have, or we feared losing something we had.

Dr. J. Wilbur Chapman told of a distinguished minister, Dr. Howard, from Australia who preached very strongly on the subject of sin. After the service, one of the church officers came to counsel with him in the study. “Dr. Howard,” he said, “we don’t want you to talk as openly as you do about man’s guilt and corruption, because if our boys and girls hear you discussing that subject they will more easily become sinners. Call it a mistake if you will, but do not speak so plainly about sin.

“The minister took down a small bottle and showing it to the visitor said, “You see that label? It says strychnine—and underneath in bold, red letters the word ‘Poison!’ Do you know, man, what you are asking me to do? You are suggesting that I change the label. Suppose I do, and paste over it the words, ‘Essence of Peppermint’; don’t you see what might happen? Someone would use it, not knowing the danger involved, and would certainly die. So it is, too, with the matter of sin. The milder you make your label, the more dangerous you make your poison!”

Richard Hoefler’s book Will Daylight Come? includes a homey illustration of how sin enslaves and forgiveness frees. A little boy visiting his grandparents was given his first slingshot. He practiced in the woods, but he could never hit his target. He went back to Grandma’s back yard, where he spied her pet duck. On an impulse he took aim and let fly. The stone hit, and the duck fell dead. The boy panicked. Desperately he hid the dead duck in the woodpile, only to look up and see his sister watching. Sally had seen it all, but she said nothing.

After lunch that day, Grandma said, “Sally, let’s wash the dishes.” But Sally said, “Johnny told me he wanted to help in the kitchen today. Didn’t you, Johnny?” And she whispered to him, “Remember the duck! So Johnny did the dishes.

Later Grandpa asked if the children wanted to go fishing., Grandma said, “I’m sorry, but I need Sally to help make supper.” Sally smiled and said, “That’s all taken care of. Johnny wants to do it.” Again she whispered, “Remember the duck.” Johnny stayed while Sally went fishing.

After several days of Johnny doing both his chores and Sally’s, finally he couldn’t stand it. He confessed to Grandma that he’d killed the duck. “I know, Johnny,” she said, giving him a hug. “I was standing at the window and saw the whole thing. Because I love you, I forgave you. I wondered how long you would let Sally make a slave of you.

- Steven Cole

Richard Hoefler’s book Will Daylight Come? includes a homey illustration of how sin enslaves and forgiveness frees.

A little boy visiting his grandparents as given his first slingshot. He practiced in the woods, but he could never hit his target. As he came back to Grandma’s back yard, he spied her pet duck. On an impulse he took aim and let fly. The stone hit, and the duck fell dead.

The boy panicked. Desperately he hid the dead duck in the woodpile, only to look up and see his sister watching. Sally had seen it all, but she said nothing.

After lunch that day, Grandma said, “Sally, let’s wash the dishes.” But Sally said, “Johnny told me he wanted to help in the kitchen today. Didn’t you, Johnny?” And she whispered to him, “Remember the duck! So Johnny did the dishes.

Later Grandpa asked if the children wanted to go fishing, Grandma said, “I’m sorry, but I need Sally to help make supper.” Sally smiled and said, “That’s all taken care of. Johnny wants to do it.” Again she whispered, “Remember the duck.” Johnny stayed while Sally went fishing.

After several days of Johnny doing both his chores and Sally’s, finally he couldn’t stand it. He confessed to Grandma that he’d killed the duck.

“I know, Johnny,” she said, giving him a hug. “I was standing at the window and saw the whole thing. Because I love you, I forgave you. I wondered how long you would let Sally make a slave of you.

- Steven Cole

There is something terribly right about...realizing that our struggle with sin is in many ways similar to an alcoholic’s struggle with drinking. It’s never over. How often I find myself talking about sin in the past tense as if being a sinner is something I’m beyond—a page turned in the book of my life. But sin is like alcoholism. Sinners are never cured; they simply decide to stop sinning...and it’s a daily decision.

Spurgeon writes: "The shops in the square of San Marco were all religiously closed, for the day was a high festival. We were much disappointed, for it was our last day, and we desired to take away with us some souvenirs of lovely Venice. Our regret soon vanished, for on looking at the shop we meant to patronize, we readily discovered signs of traffic within. We stepped to the side door and found, when one or two other customers had been served, that we might purchase to our heart's content, saint's day or no saint's day. After this fashion, too many keep the laws of God to the eye, but violate them in the heart."

That great American hero, editor, school teacher, and Presbyterian clergyman Elijah Lovejoy left the pulpit and returned to the press in order to be sure his words reached more people. The Civil War might have been averted and a peaceful emancipation of slaves achieved had there been more like him. After observing one lynching, Lovejoy was committed forever to fighting uncompromisingly the awful sin of slavery. Mob action was brought against him time after time; neither this nor many threats and attempts on his life deterred him. Repeated destruction of his presses did not stop him. “If by compromise is meant that I should cease from my duty, I cannot make it. I fear God more that I fear man. Crush me if you will, but I shall die at my post...”

And he did, four days later, at the hands of another mob. No one of the ruffians was prosecuted or indicted or punished in any way for this murder. (Some of Lovejoy’s defenders were prosecuted! One of the mob assassins was later elected mayor of Alton!) However, note this: One young man was around who was deeply moved by the Lovejoy martyrdom. He had just been elected to the Illinois legislature. His name was Abraham Lincoln.

When Leonardo da Vinci was a young artist during the Renaissance in Italy, he is reported to have painted a beautiful portrait of a young child who appeared in the picture as an angel. The artist was so pleased with the work that he kept it in his studio where he could gaze upon it. Often, it is said, looking at that picture would comfort his soul in sorrow or tranquilize his heart in anger.

Much later in life, after many years had passed, he was doing another picture. For this canvas he needed the portrait of a man whose countenance would personify evil. Long and diligently he searched for a model and at last found one. The features had been so scarred by sin that the portrait was the exact opposite of that of the child.

Then an amazing thing happened. The model told the artist that he had been the child whose picture still hung in the studio. This crime-hardened man with dissipation written across his countenance had been the angelic-appearing child who had personified all that was good.

"But your iniquities have separated between you and your God" (Isa 59:2). The Bible says that sin separates; it comes between man and God.

Sin is like a giant canyon, with man on one side and God on the other. A canyon can never be removed; it will always be there. And it is useless to try to fill up a canyon. But when a bridge is put across a canyon, a man can cross it as if no canyon ever existed there. Forgiveness of our sin is like a bridge. A bridge allows us to have eternal life, even though there is sin which otherwise would separate us from God.

Sin is also like a cut or break in an electric wire. There must be a perfect connection from the source to the light bulb before there can be any light in the bulb. Sin separates our connection with God. Forgiveness is like a splice in a wire. It does not take a brand new wire to complete the circuit, but there must be a wire in which every single break has been repaired.

Sin separates man and God. There is only one way to get back to God; through Jesus Christ!

An overladen coal barge stood in the river. A sailor reported to the captain that the water was gaining upon the vessel, but the captain drove him away with scoffing. Twice, thrice the warning was repeated, but each time it went unheeded. At last the barge began to give evidence of sinking. The captain ordered the men to the boats. As they took their places, he said, "See, I told you there was plenty of time." Then he took out his knife to cut the cable to the barge. He fell back with a cry of horror; the cable was an iron chain.

The late Dr. Peter Marshall once selected for use in a church service the familiar hymn of consecration, "Take My Life and Let It Be." He requested the congregation to give particular thought to the words:

"Take my silver and my gold,

Not a mite would I withhold."

Exacting the practical sense of the words "not a mite would I withhold," he asked that all who could not sing this line with literal sincerity, refrain from singing it at all.

The effect was a dramatic commentary on the glib, thoughtless manner in which, all too often, we sing our hymns. Hundreds of voices, with organ accompaniment, sang vigorously up to the designated point. Then, suddenly, there was only the sound of the organ music. Not a single voice ventured to so challenging a height!

A story told by Paul Lee Tan illustrates the meaning of redemption:

When A. J. Gordon was pastor of a church in Boston, he met a young boy in front of the sanctuary carrying a rusty cage in which several birds fluttered nervously. Gordon inquired, “Son, where did you get those birds?”

The boy replied, “I trapped them out in the field.”

“What are you going to do with them?”

“I’m going to play with them, and then I guess I’ll just feed them to an old cat we have at home.”

Gordon offered to buy them, and the lad exclaimed, “Mister, you don’t want them, they’re just little old wild birds and can’t sing very well.”

Gordon replied, “I’ll give you $2 for the cage and the birds.”

“Okay, it’s a deal, but you’re making a bad bargain.”

The exchange was made and the boy went away whistling, happy with his shiny coins. Gordon walked around to the back of the church property, opened the door of the small wire coop, and let the struggling creatures soar into the blue.

The next Sunday he took the empty cage into the pulpit and used it to illustrate his sermon about Christ’s coming to seek and to save the lost—paying for them with His own precious blood. “That boy told me the birds were not songsters,” said Gordon, “but when I released them and they winged their way heavenward, it seemed to me they were singing, ‘Redeemed, redeemed, redeemed!”

You and I have been held captive to sin, but Christ has purchased our pardon and set us at liberty. When a person has this life-changing experience, he will want to sing, “Redeemed, Redeemed, Redeemed!”

Elisabeth Elliot, at Urbana 76, told of her brother Thomas Howard. Their mother let him play with paper bags she’d saved if he put them away afterwards. One day she walked into the kitchen to find them strewn all over the floor. Tom was out at the piano with his father singing hymns. When confronted, he protested, “But Mom, I want to sing.” His father stated, “It’s no good singing God’s praise if you’re disobedient.”

One day at Perth, England, Bishop Wilkinson noticed a thin-faced boy looking at him intently. He went up to him and asked if the boy wished to speak to him. "No, sir," said the lad, "only I sing in the same choir as you are in." The Bishop's friends laughed at the boy's idea of his association with the Bishop in the church, but the Bishop didn't laugh. It was precisely that spirit of partnership in God's work that he wished to encourage. Similarly what a wonderful sense of satisfaction a Christian has when he can look at an infinite and eternal God and say, "Lord, I am your co-worker." That is the most rewarding and unique privilege we can have.

It is always fascinating to read of wholehearted human endeavor-amazing stories of total dedication. For example, the U.S. Marines conduct a supersecret sniper program in Quantico, Virginia. The school admits 25 men for an eight-week course of 16-hour days. Very few pass. To graduate, each goes on a mock mission into a well-defined area where instructors search for the sniper. If they can find him, they can fail him.

To get in range of the target, a sniper may move forward at a rate of one inch per hour. He may sit for days absolutely still, despite cold, rain, insect bites, and fear. No one gets out without singleness of heart ("School for Snipers," U.S. News and World Report, 21 April 1986, p. 61). We expect that kind of intensity from Olympic champions, concert pianists, doctoral candidates, and everyone else at the highest levels of human achievements. Likewise, God expects it when we come back to Him. God deserves singleness of heart because He is God! Most of us intend to come back to God-sometime. But we fail because our intention never becomes intense.

Left on a sinking ship were the captain and three sailors. The captain spoke first.

“Men, this business about a captain going down with his ship is nonsense. There’s a three-man life raft on board and I’m going to be on it. To see who will come with me, I will ask you each one question. The one who can’t answer will stay behind. Here’s the first question: ‘What unsinkable ship went down when it hit an iceberg?’

The first sailor answered, “The Titanic, sir.”

“On to the next question: How many people perished?”

The second sailor said, “One thousand five hundred and seventeen, sir.”

“Now for the third question,” and the captain turned to sailor number three. “What were their names?”

A dear Christian lady was close to death when her minister came to visit her. He softly asked, “Sister, are you sinking?” She looked at him in disbelief and said nothing. Again he said, “Sister, are you sinking?” She still could not believe that he would ask such a question. Summoning all her remaining strength she raised herself up a little in her bed and said, “Sinking? Sinking? Did you ever know a person to sink through a Rock?”

There was a criminal who was awaiting execution. A minister went to visit him, but there was not much response to his exhortation. On his way back home, the minister met one of his elders and told him about his experience. He asked the elder to go and see the criminal. The elder came back with great joy in his heart for what had been accomplished with him. The minister was very anxious to know why he had failed and the elder succeeded. This is what happened. As soon as the elder saw the criminal, he sat beside him, took his hand in his and said with much fervor and simplicity, "Wasn't it only the great love of God to send His Son into the world to die for sinners like you and me?" In a moment the fountain of the man's heart was broken up and he wept bitter tears. Afterward the criminal said, "When the minister spoke to me, it seemed like one standing far above me, but when that good man came in and sat down by my side and classed himself with me, I could not stand it any longer."

An earnest servant of Christ preached on the text, "Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea" (Mic 7:19). His little boy, ten years old, afterwards said to him, "Daddy, when you were talking about the Lord casting sin into the sea, you ought to have said that sin was heavy like stones, and would drop out of sight, or they might think it would float like corks on the top." Praise God, our sins are covered by the blood of Jesus as stones thrown into the ocean.

For many years Sir Walter Scott was the leading literary figure in the British Empire. No one could write as well as he. Then the works of Lord Byron began to appear, and their greatness was immediately evident. Soon an anonymous critic praised his poems in a London paper. He declared that in the presence of these brilliant works of poetic genius, Scott could no longer be considered the leading poet of England.

It was later discovered that the unnamed reviewer had been none other than Sir Walter Scott himself!

“I often wish that I could lie down and sleep without waking. But I will fight it out if I can.” So wrote one of the bravest, most inspiring men who ever lived, Sir Walter Scott. In his 56th year, failing in health, his wife dying of an incurable disease, Scott was in debt a half million dollars. A publishing firm he had invested in had collapsed. He might have taken bankruptcy, but shrank from the stain. From his creditors he asked only time. Thus began his race with death, a valiant effort to pay off the debt before he died.

To be able to write free from interruptions, Scott withdrew to a small rooming house in Edinburgh. He had left his dying wife, Charlotte behind in the country.

“It withered my heart,” he wrote in his diary, but his presence could avail her nothing now. A few weeks later she died. After the funeral he wrote in his diary: “Were an enemy coming upon my house, would I not do my best to fight, although oppressed in spirits; and shall a similar despondency prevent me from mental exertion? It shall not, by heaven!”

With a tremendous exercise of will, he returned to the task, stifling his grief. He turned out Woodstock, Count Robert of Paris, Castle Dangerous, and other works. Though twice stricken with paralysis, he labored steadily until the fall of 1832. Then came a merciful miracle. Although his mental powers had left him, he died September 21, 1832, happy in the illusion that all his debts were paid. (They were finally paid in 1847 with the sale of all his copyrights.)

Carlyle was to write of him latter: “No sounder piece of British manhood was put together in the eighteenth century of time.”

The last words found in Sir Walter Scott's diary were: "Tomorrow we shall...." But there was no tomorrow for him. He died with good intentions to accomplish a certain goal-a goal that was neither stated in his diary nor accomplished by him.

Every person has goals and dreams that he or she longs for, plans for, and even begins to reach for-yet there are many people who fall short of their goals simply because of limited time or opportunity. And that is why it is always important to get busy and do the right thing immediately. Never delay that which needs to be done today.

Settling accounts with the Lord should never be put on a back burner, neither for salvation, for commitment, nor for service.

The last words found in Sir Walter Scott's diary were: "Tomorrow we shall...." But there was no tomorrow for him. He died with good intentions to accomplish a certain goal-a goal that was neither stated in his diary nor accomplished by him.

Every person has goals and dreams that he or she longs for, plans for, and even begins to reach for-yet there are many people who fall short of their goals simply because of limited time or opportunity. And that is why it is always important to get busy and do the right thing immediately. Never delay that which needs to be done today.

Settling accounts with the Lord should never be put on a back burner, neither for salvation, for commitment, nor for service.

We missed him. Our chance to change things came and passed and we did not know it was there. A dark-skinned little boy sat through Sunday School classes for three years at a great Baptist Church (First Church, San Antonio) but someone missed him. His name was Sirhan Sirhan, and at age 24 he shot and killed Senator Robert Kennedy. In a welter of words and the shudder of grief throughout our nation, the persistent thought keeps recurring...someone missed him.

On Saturday, December 23, 1972, Richard Knecht of Prospect, Oregon, set out to shatter the existing world sit-up record. For the past six months a Marine Corps captain had held the record, with an amazing 17,007. Knecht was determined to capture the title for his family team, which tours the nation demonstrating the utmost in physical fitness. He began the grueling attempt in Idaho Falls, Idaho, and 11 hours and 14 minutes later had shattered the record with 25,222 sit-ups.

How many years of training had gone into preparing for this herculean feat? Not as many as you might think. When he set the record, Richard Knecht was 8 years old.

Situation

Interpretation

Reference

Slave Market

World System

1 John 5:19

Slave Master

Satan

John 12:31

Slaves

Humanity

Ephesians 2:2-3

The Problem

Sin

Colossians 2:14

Highest Bidder

Jesus Christ

Hebrews 2:14-15

Ransom Price

Blood of Christ

1 Peter 1:18-19

One animal sacrifice per man

Genesis 3

One sacrifice per family

Exodus 12:3-14

One sacrifice per nation

Tabernacle in wilderness, Day of atonement

One sacrifice per world

John 1:29, Heb 10:1-14

Situation

Interpretation

Reference

Slave Market

World System

1 John 5:19

Slave Master

Satan

John 12:31

Slaves

Humanity

Ephesians 2:2-3

The Problem

Sin

Colossians 2:14

Highest Bidder

Jesus Christ

Hebrews 2:14-15

Ransom Price

Blood of Christ

1 Peter 1:18-19

On the morning of her birthday, he got her up bright and early and off they went to a local theme park. What a day!

He put her on every ride in the park: the Death Slide, the Screaming Loop, the Wall of Fear, everything there was. Wow! Five hours later she staggered out of the theme park, her head reeling and her stomach upside down.

Right to a McDonald's they went, where her husband ordered her a Big Mac along with extra fries and a refreshing chocolate shake. Then it was off to a movie - the latest Star Wars epic, and hot dogs, popcorn, Pepsi Cola and M&M�s. What a fabulous adventure!

Finally she wobbled home with her husband and collapsed into bed. He leaned over and lovingly asked, �Well, dear, what was it like being six again?�

One eye opened. �You idiot, I meant my dress size.�

Leo Tolstoy, the famous Russian writer, had a deep insight into human nature. In one of his books he speaks of a Russian peasant who was told that he could have all the land he could measure by walking in one day, from sunrise to sunset. The agreement stipulated that by sundown he must be back at his starting point. The man envisioned great holdings. Early in the morning he began walking; but as he realized that every foot of land on which he stepped belonged to him, he began to run at a feverish pace. The agreement stipulated that by sundown he must have returned to his starting point. His greed was so great, however, that more than half his time had elapsed before he turned back. He had to run at top speed to beat the setting sun. It was a real struggle. If he were not at the appointed place, he would lose all. He finally made it. But even as his foot touched the starting point, he fell dead from exhaustion. All that he gained in the end was sufficient land for his dead body-six feet of earth. That was his final inheritance.

What gets pictured gets done

What gets trained gets done

What gets modeled gets done

What gets measured gets done

What gets praised gets done

What gets budgeted gets done

Stephen Stumph of N.Y. University’s graduate School of management, has identified six major skills needed at the top once you get there. They are:

1. Having a vision. Executives must fashion a vision of what the company can be, champion that view and get employees behind it.

2. Managing rivalry. A CEO should not try to eliminate competition between subordinates and sub-units entirely, because it can be positive.

3. Thoroughly knowing the products, customers, and competition.

4. Maintaining a consistent strategy. The best managers stick with the strategy once it is set.

5. Identifying problems early.

6. Accommodating adversity. Senior executives must be able to get around roadblocks and bounce back from failure.