Pastoral Resources

Realize the liberty we have in western society. Read Spurgeon’s advice on the subject of street preaching and witnessing in the seventeenth century:

“The preachers needed to have faces set like flints, and so indeed they had. John Furz says, ‘As soon as I began to preach, a man came forward and presented a gun at my face; swearing that he would blow my brains out if I spoke another word. However, I continued speaking and he continued swearing, sometimes putting the muzzle of the gun to my mouth, sometimes against my ear. While we were singing the last hymn, he got behind me, fired the gun, and burned off part of my hair.’

“After this, my brethren, we ought never to speak of petty interruptions or annoyances. The proximity of a blunderbuss in the hands of a son of Belial is not very conducive to collected thoughts and clear utterance.”

person who calls himself frank and candid can very easily find himself becoming tactless and cruel. A person who prides himself on being tactful can find eventually that he has become evasive and deceitful. A person with firm convictions can become pigheaded. Aperson who is inclined to be temperate and judicious can sometimes turn into someone with weak convictions and banked fires of resolution . . . Loyalty can lead to fanaticism. Caution can become timidity. Freedom can become license. Confidence can become arrogance. Humility can become servility. All these are ways in which strength can become weakness.

1. Saved by grace Eph. 2:8-9

2. Stand by grace Rom. 5:2

3. Serve through grace I Cor. 15:10 (illustration of wick and oil. If the oil runs out, the wick burns. As long as there is oil, the wick doesn’t burn. The question to ask: what’s burning?

4. Sustained by grace II Cor. 12:9

5. God can minister grace through my speech Eph. 4:29

6. God gives grace to grow II Peter 3:18

- (Colin Seitz)

The iceberg is steadied because the great mass of its bulk is beneath the surface.

So the life of the strong man must go deep. Underneath the surface lie the great principles that endure-truth and justice and rectitude and the things that make for wholesome life and character.

On December 29, 1987, a Soviet cosmonaut returned to the earth after 326 days in orbit. He was in good health, which hasn’t always been the case in those record-breaking voyages. Five years earlier, touching down after 211 days in space, two cosmonauts suffered from dizziness, high pulse rates, and heart palpitations. They couldn’t walk for a week, and after 30 days, they were still undergoing therapy for atrophied muscles and weakened hearts.

At zero gravity, the muscles of the body begin to waste away because there is no resistance. To counteract this, the Soviets prescribed a vigorous exercise program for the cosmonauts. They invented the “penguin suit,” a running suit laced with elastic bands. It resists every move the cosmonauts make, forcing them to exert their strength. Apparently the regimen is working.

We often long dreamily for days without difficulty, but God knows better. The easier our life, the weaker our spiritual fiber, for strength of any kind grows only by exertion.

One of Aesop's fables tells of four oxen who were such great friends that they always kept together when feeding. A lion watched them for many days with longing eyes, but never being able to find one apart from the rest, was afraid to attack them. Whenever he came near they turned their tails to one another so that whichever way he approached them he was met by horns. At length he succeeded in awakening jealousy among them, which grew into a mutual aversion, and they strayed a considerable distance from each other. The lion then fell upon them singly and killed them all.

The moral is, "United we stand, divided we fall."

If the body is ill, the head hurts, the body temperature is elevated, the heart races, the lungs labor, the skin flushes or cools as needed. The kidneys work overtime to filter out infection; the brain directs each organ and each function of the body to cooperate in throwing off the enemy and restoring the organism to health. This cooperation, this united effort against outside forces that invade the body, is an illustration of how the separate members of the Body of Christ ought to unite to work against threatening forces of evil.

Responsibility for others is one of the chief causes of tension in executives. To prove this idea, an experiment was conducted some time ago with two monkeys.

Scientists devised a method of giving one of the monkeys “executive” training under carefully controlled laboratory conditions.

The monkey chosen for executive training was strapped in a chair with his feet on a plate capable of giving him a minor electric shock. Then they put a light over the desk and turned the light on 20 seconds before each shock. A lever was placed by the monkey’s chair. If he pulled the lever after the light came on, the light would go out and there would be no shock. The executive monkey learned to avoid the shock very quickly.

The scientists then placed another monkey across the room with the same setup, except that the second monkey’s lever didn’t work. However, the monkey soon learned that the first monkey’s lever would work for both, turning off the second monkey’s light and protecting him from shock as well. This made the first monkey an executive, since he was now responsible for preventing shock for the second one.

The first monkey was intelligent. He quickly took over, protecting both himself and his colleague from shock, responding to both lights or either light without difficulty.

There was no outward change in either monkey as the experiment continued, but after awhile the executive monkey, responding to the stress of responsibility for another, developed stomach ulcers. The second monkey’s health remained unchanged.

Breakfast—1/2 grapefruit, 1 slice whole-wheat bread, 8 ounces skim milk.

Lunch—4 ounces broiled chicken breast, 1 cup steamed zucchini, 1 Oreo cookie, 1 cup herb tea.

Mid afternoon Snack—Rest of the package or Oreo cookies, 1 quart Rocky Road ice cream, 1 jar hot fudge sauce.

Dinner—2 loaves garlic bread, large pepperoni and mushroom pizza, 3 candy bars, entire frozen cheesecake eaten directly from the freezer.

About a dozen new “stress-reduction salons” have opened in the U.S. and also in Japan. Members of these Synchro Energize salons slip off their shoes, climb into beds and lie with eyes closed for the next 45 minutes. Spinning patterns of intense colors appear before their eyes, and a low pulsating beat follows them as they drift in and out of dreamlike states. The centers have attracted everyone from harried executives to anxious teens. Typical cost: $20 per session. Medical research has shown that light and sound stimuli affect the brain. The results range from making a person alert or relaxed, and from deep sleep to intense learning. Moreover, changing patterns of light and sound would seem to change brain states.

October 7, 1969 the Montreal, Canada police force went on strike. Because of what resulted, the day has been called Black Tuesday. A burglar and a policeman were slain. Forty-nine persons were wounded or injured in rioting. Nine bank holdups were committed, almost a tenth of the total number of holdups the previous year along with 17 robberies at gunpoint. Usually disciplined, peaceful citizens joined the riffraff and went wild, smashing some 1,000 plate glass windows in a stretch of 21 business blocks in the heart of the city, hauling away stereo units, radios, TVs and wearing apparel. While looters stripped windows of valuable merchandise, professional burglars entered stores by doors and made off with truckloads of goods. A smartly dressed man scampered down a street with a fur coat over each arm with no police around, anarchy took over.

Dr. Shelton, a former president of the National Bible Institute in New York City, used to recount with a twinkle in his eye the story of the first time he took his little daughter to a restaurant. She began prattling in her high, clear childish voice to the amusement of the other diners and the embarrassment of her father. "Hush, Marjorie," he said, "people are looking at you." "But Daddy," she protested, "Marjorie must speak!" May it not be that immature Christians by their foolish talk and thoughtless behavior cause those around them to laugh at Christians in general and bring embarrassment to their heavenly Father? Let us consciously strive for spiritual maturity so that with Paul we may say, "When I became a man, I put away childish things" (1Co 13:11).

Edinburgh Castle was captured only once in the whole history of Scotland. Its defenders thought that the steepness of the rock on one side made it inaccessible and impregnable, so they put no sentries there. In the grey mist of the early morning a little part of the enemy crept up the precipitous slopes and surprised the garrison into surrender. It was captured at its strongest point. Paul said, "When I am weak, then am I strong" (2Co 12:10). Yet the reverse is often true also. "When I am strong, then am I weak."

At one time my sister had trouble with her little boy, and the father said, "'Why, Sammy, you must go now and ask your mothers forgiveness." The little fellow said he wouldn't. The father says, "You must. If you don't go and ask your mothers forgiveness I shall have to undress you and put you to bed." He was a bright, nervous little fellow, never still a moment, and the father thought he would have such a dread of being undressed and put to bed. But the little fellow wouldn't, so they undressed him and put him to bed. The father went to his business, and when he came home at noon he said to his wife: "Has Sammy asked your forgiveness?" "No," she said, "he hasn't." So the father went to him and said, "Why, Sammy, why don't you ask your mother's forgiveness?" The little fellow shook his head, "Won't do it." "But, Sammy, you have got to." "Couldn't." The father went down to his office, and stayed all the afternoon, and when he came home he asked his wife, "Has Sammy asked your forgiveness?" "No, I took something up to him and tried to have him eat, but he wouldn't." So the father went up to see him, and said, "Now, Sammy, just ask your mother's forgiveness, and you may be dressed and come down to supper with us." "Couldn't do it," The father coaxed, but the little fellow "couldn't do it." That was all they could get out of him. You know very well he could, but he didn't want to. Now, the hardest thing a man has to do is to become a Christian, and it is the easiest. That may seem a contradiction, but it isn't. The hard point is because he don't want to.

The hardest thing for a man to do is to give up his will. That night they retired, and they thought surely early in the morning, he will be ready to ask his mothers forgiveness. The father went to him--that was Friday morning--to see if he was ready to ask his mother's forgiveness, but he "couldn't." The father and mother felt so bad about it they couldn't eat; they thought it was to darken their whole life. Perhaps that boy thought that father and mother didn't love him. Just what many sinners think because God won't let them have their own way. The father went to his business, and when he came home he said to his wife, "Has Sammy asked your forgiveness?" "No." So he went to the little fellow and said, "'Now, Sammy, are you not going to ask your mother's forgiveness?" "Can't," and that was all they could get out of him. The father couldn't eat any dinner; it was like death in the house. It seemed as if the boy was going to conquer his father and mother. Instead of his little will being broken, it looked very much as if he was going to break theirs. Late Friday afternoon, "Mother, mother, forgive," says Sammy--"me." And the little fellow said "me," and he sprang to his feet and said: "I have said it, I have said it. Now dress me, and take me down to see father. He will be so glad to know I have said it." And she took him down, and when the little fellow came in he said, "I've said it, I've said it."

Oh, my friends, it is so easy to say, "I will arise and go to my God." It is the most reasonable thing you can do. Isn't an unreasonable thing to hold out? Come right to God just this very hour. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved."

By the time young people reach the 10th grade, only three in ten are non-drinkers. Results of a study indicate that about a third of high school students are moderate to heavy drinkers in the classification of the scientists who organized students into six categories: abstainers, infrequent, light, moderate, moderate-to-heavy and heavy drinkers. Ease of availability is related to heavier drinking. Those states that allow 18-year-olds to purchase alcohol have heavier drinking.

A recent poll of 5,000 students concluded that 46 percent of them would cheat on an important test. Thirty-six percent said they would cover for a friend who vandalized school property, while only 24 percent would tell the truth. Five percent would steal money from their parents if given the opportunity.

1. A study at a Midwestern school showed that 80% of the women who had intercourse hoped to marry their partner. Only 12% of the men had the same expectation - Robert J. Collins in the Chicago Tribune, quoted in HIS, February, 1976

2. Sex is not the most important part of a love relationship. A Syracuse University survey asked married couples to rank the 10 most important things in a marriage relationship. Caring, a sense of humor and communication came in first, second and third. Sex came in ninth, just ahead of sharing household duties.

In a recent Michigan State University study, 97% of the faculty members and staff who bet $40 that they could stay with a six-month exercise program were successful. Only 19% of a non-betting group stayed with their six-month program, however.

TIP: Consider incentives when you want to change behavior.

Something took place in the fall of 1944 that can explain a major reason many children are facing a losing battle in today’s families. It was late October when an officer commanding a platoon of American soldiers received a call from headquarters. Over the radio, this captain learned his unit was being ordered to recapture a small French city from the Nazis—and he learned something else from headquarters as well. For weeks, French resistance fighters had risked their lives to gather information about the German fortifications in that city, and they had smuggled this information out to the Allies.

The French Underground’s efforts had provided the Americans with something worth its weight in gold: a detailed map of the city. It wasn’t just a map with the names of major streets and landmarks; it showed specific details of the enemy’s defensive positions. Indeed, the map even identified shops and buildings where German soldiers bunked or where a machine-gun nest or a sniper had been stationed. Block by block, the Frenchmen gave an accounting of the German units and the gun emplacements they manned. For a captain who was already concerned about mounting casualty lists, receiving such information was an answer to prayer. Although the outcome of the war wouldn’t depend on this one skirmish, to him it meant that he wouldn’t have to write as many letters to his men’s parents or wives telling them their loved one had been cut down in battle.

Before the soldiers moved out to take their objective, the captain gave each man a chance to study the map. And wanting to make sure his men read it carefully, he hurriedly gave them a test covering the major landmarks and enemy strongholds. Just before his platoon moved out, the officer graded the test, and with minor exceptions every man earned a perfect score. As a direct result of having that map to follow, the men captured the city with little loss of American lives.

Nearly thirty years after this military operation took place, an army researcher heard the story and decided to base a study on it. The project began in France, where instead of a platoon of soldiers, he arranged for a group of American tourists to help him with his research. For several hours, the men and women were allowed to study the same map the soldiers had, and then they were given the same test. You can guess the results. Most of the tourists failed miserably. The reason for the difference between these two groups was obvious—motivation. Knowing their lives were on the line, the soldiers were highly motivated to learn every detail of the map. For the tourists, being in a research study provided some motivation. But most of them had nothing to lose but a little pride if they failed the test.

It’s out, and it’s hot: a discussion guide on sexuality for Lutherans. Released last month, it is sure to spark debate both in and out of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) between now and the next ELCA assembly in 1993. “Human Sexuality and the Christian Faith,” a 55-page document produced by the denomination’s Division for Church and Society, was designed to prompt dialogue and set the stage for a future ELCA social statement on sex issues. The material urges readers to examine with an open mind different views about marriage, promiscuity, and homosexuality.

At it’s core the document questions biblical passages concerning homosexuality and suggests that scriptural references to same-sex relationships’ need to be re-interpreted in light of modern theories about sexual orientation. “We must distinguish between moral judgments regarding same-sex activity in biblical times and in our own time,” the report states. It differentiates “exploitative” homosexual activity from same-sex relationships” in which there is mutual love and commitment.” The document challenges ELCA members to evaluate prejudices against homosexuals, insisting that “what we personally find offensive is not necessarily sinful.”

A recent Brookings Institution study condemns secularism as providing an inadequate foundation for democracy in America. It was the first time the think tank had sponsored a study on religion. Through religion, the study says, “human rights are rooted in the moral worth with which a loving Creator has endowed each human soul, and social authority is legitimized by making it answerable to transcendent moral law.” The study rejects the argument that strict separation of church and state is needed. “A society that excludes religion totally from its public life, that seems to regard religion as something from which public life must be protected, is bound to foster the impression that religion is either irrelevant or harmful,” the study says. Authored by James Reichley, the three-year study came as a surprise to those accustomed to the Brookings Institution’s liberal bent on social issues. Reichley, a former editor of Fortune magazine, is a member of the Presbyterian Church(U.S.A.).

Does God ever use black angels

To carry out His plan

Does He reverse old Satan’s tactic

To change the lives of men.

I think He takes the happenings

Of life—amid our moans

And makes to us each thing we meet

Stumbling blocks or stepping stones.

I think He takes each pathway blockage

To test our mettle: be it foul or fair

And urges us to fight a good fight

And not as one who beat the air.

So if something happens to deter us

Let’s not fall down and groan

Let’s say - Lord with your help I will go on

And make of this—a stepping stone.

A bank robber in Los Angeles told the clerk not to give him cash, but to deposit the money to his checking account.

1. A woman in Lake City, Florida, probably holds the record for the world’s shortest career in crime. She recently tried to rob the Howard Johnson’s motel there, armed only with an electric chainsaw that was not plugged in.

2. In Ypsilanti, Michigan, a man walked into a Burger King restaurant early one morning and pulled a gun on the clerk. When he demanded the cash register be emptied, the clerk replied he couldn’t without a food order punched into the computer first. The man ordered onion rings, but the clerk said they weren’t available for breakfast. In frustration, the robber turned round and walked out.

3. A man on trial for drug possession in Pontiac, Michigan, insisted he had been searched without a warrant. The arresting officer testified the bulge in the man’s jacket could have been a gun and that justified his apprehension. The defendant stated this was ridiculous, and to prove it, said he happened to be wearing the very same jacket in court that day. He willingly handed it over to the judge for examination. When the judge found a packet of cocaine in the front pocket, he had to call a five-minute recess so he could stop laughing.

4. We suggest a new pair of glasses for a robber in Providence, Rhode Island, who subdued an armored car driver and helped himself to bags of money in the vehicle. However, he was in such a hurry he neglected to check out the bags too closely. As a result, he grabbed four 330-pound bags of pennies, each of which contained about $800 worth of coins. Police had no trouble grabbing the thief during his slow-motion getaway.

5. A woman in San Antonio, Texas, apparently not known for brilliance, was recently arrested when a mechanic found 18 packages of marijuana secured in the engine compartment of her car. She later told police she didn’t realize the mechanic would have to raise the hood in order to change the oil.

Once a man attended a fair and saw another man leading a fine, well-groomed horse. He inquired, "Is that a saddle horse?" The other replied, "No sir. This horse will buck off a saddle. Nothing can stay on his back."

"Is he a driving horse, then?" the man asked. "No, he was hitched up once and made kindling wood of the vehicle he should have pulled."

"Well, what is he good for? Why is he here?" the man asked. The answer was, "Style, man, style. Just look at the picture he makes."

Once I was in a church building and saw people clad in fine clothes coming into the morning service. I asked the preacher, "Are those people workers in the church?" "No," he answered sadly. "Do they visit the sick and minister to the poor? Do they attend other services of the church?" "Never," said the preacher.

"There is that horse," I said to myself. "Nothing but style."

A 1990 Subaru car commercial shows a Volvo heading toward a wall, and then, in slow motion, crashing into the wall. The Volvo is built so sturdily that the passengers are not hurt, in spite of the severe nature of the crash. Then a Subaru is shown heading at a high rate of speed toward a wall. At the last possible moment the driver slams on the brakes and the Subaru stops inches from the wall. The announcer then cuts in and asks what you would prefer: to live through wrecks, or not to get in wrecks in the first place?

Americans spend $50 million a year on subliminal message tapes designed to help them do everything from improve their self-image to stop smoking. But there’s no hidden message in the National Research Council’s verdict on such techniques. The Council’s report, released in September 1992, concludes that subliminal messages simply don’t work. They don’t deliver the life-transforming power they promise.

O Lord, my best desire fulfill,

And help me to resign

Life, health, and comfort to Thy will,

And make Thy pleasure mine.

Why should I shrink at Thy command,

Whose love forbids my fears?

Or tremble at the gracious hand

That wipes away my tears?

No, rather let me freely yield

What most I prize to Thee;

Who never hast a good withheld,

Or wilt withhold, from me.

Thy favour, all my journey through,

Thou art engaged to grant;

What else I want, or think I do,

‘Tis better still to want.

Wisdom and mercy guide my way,

Shall I resist them both?

A poor blind creature of a day,

And crush’d before the moth!

But ah! my inward spirit cries,

Still bind me to Thy sway;

Else the next cloud that veils the skies

Drives all these thoughts away.

True biblical worship so satisfies our total personality that we don’t have to shop around for man-made substitutes. William Temple made this clear in his masterful definition of worship:

For worship is the submission of all our nature to God. It is the quickening of conscience by His holiness; the nourishment of mind with His truth; the purifying of imagination by His beauty; the opening of the heart to His love; the surrender of will to His purpose—and all of this gathered up in adoration, the most selfless emotion of which our nature is capable and therefore the chief remedy for that self-centeredness which is our original sin and the source of all actual sin.

Unfortunately, even among Christians there are those who are chronic grumblers. A woman of this type grumbled at everything and everybody. But at last the preacher thought he had found something about which she could make no complaint-the lady's crop of potatoes was certainly the finest for miles around. "Ah, for once you must be pleased," he said with a beaming smile as he met her in the village street. "Everyone is saying how splendid your potatoes are this year." The lady glared at him as she answered, "They're not so poor. But where's the bad ones for the pigs?" If the mouth is given to grumbling, then the heart is lacking in submissiveness to God.

To illustrate the principle of substitution, George Sweeting, Chancellor of Moody Bible Institute, told of a series of tornadoes that caused extensive damage in eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania. Nearly 100 lives were lost. Prior to the storm, a man named David Kostka was umpiring a Little League baseball game in Wheatland, Pennsylvania. When he saw the black funnel heading toward the field, he rushed into the stands and grabbed his niece. He pushed her into a nearby ditch and covered her with his body. Then the tornado struck. When the youngster looked up, her uncle was gone. He had given his life in the deadly storm to save her.

Paul W. Powell once observed: “Pride is so subtle that if we aren’t careful we’ll be proud of our humility. When this happens our goodness becomes badness. Our virtues become vices. We can easily become like the Sunday School teacher who, having told the story of the Pharisee and the publican, said, ‘Children, let’s bow our heads and thank God we are not like the Pharisee!

Temporary success may often crown the efforts of the godless, but even their greatest achievements cannot bring complete satisfaction. That was Solomon’s theme when he said, “… the expectation of the wicked shall perish.” If unrepentant sinners should view their most brilliant accomplishments in the light of eternity, they would find them to be as lasting and as valuable as bursting bubbles.

The 119th-century Bible scholar G. S. Bowes pointed out the ultimate futility of ambition that isn’t accompanied by dedication to God. Citing four powerful world rulers of the past, he wrote: “Alexander the Great was not satisfied, even when he had completely subdued the nations. He wept because there were no more worlds to conquer, and he died at an early age in a state of debauchery. Hannibal, who filled three bushels with the gold rings taken from the knights he had slaughtered, committed suicide by swallowing poison. Few noted his passing, and he left this earth completely unmourned. Julius Caesar, ‘staining his garments in the blood of one million of his foes,’ conquered 800 cities, only to be stabbed by his best friends at the scene of his greatest triumph. Napoleon, the feared conqueror, after being the scourge of Europe, spent his last years, in banishment.” No wonder Solomon warned of the poor prospects for anyone who strives to succeed without relying on God. - H.G.B.

Its definitions are as varied as those who pursue it.

Aristotle Onassis, tycoon: “It’s not a question of money. After you reach a certain point, money becomes unimportant. What matters is success. The sensible thing would be for me to stop now. But I can’t. I have to keep aiming higher and higher—just for the thrill.”

Barbara Streisand, recording artist: “Success for me is having ten honeydew melons and eating only the top half of each one.”

Ted Turner, media mogul: “Well, I think it’s kind of an empty bag, to tell you the truth, but you have to really get there to really know that. I’ve always said I was more an adventurer than I was a businessman. I mainly did CNN just to see if it would work. And the same with the superstation...Just out of personal curiosity to see if it could be done.”

Helen Hayes, Broadway star: “My mother drew a distinction between achievement and success. She said that achievement is the knowledge that you have studied and worked hard and done the best that is in you. Success is being praised by others, and that’s nice, too, but not as important or satisfying. Always aim for achievement, and forget about success.”

A rehabilitation counselor took early retirement to spend the rest of his life preaching the gospel. Early in his career he found a young boy with several birth defects. He arranged financial and medical help. Skilled surgeons restored the child's facial appearance. Trained therapists taught him to speak and walk. By his teens, the boy was able to take part in all the activities of other young people.

"What do you think has become of this young man?" the counselor asked. One guessed he was a great athlete; another, a skilled surgeon. "No, none of these," the retired counselor said sadly. "The young man is a prisoner, serving a life sentence for murder. We were able to restore his physical features and his ability to walk and act, but we failed to teach him where to walk and how to act. I was successful in helping the boy physically, but I failed to help him spiritually."

Prayer pulls the rope below and the great bell rings above in the ears of God. Some scarcely stir the bell, for they pray so languidly; others give but an occasional pluck at the rope; but he who wins with heaven is the man who grasps the rope boldly and pulls continuously, with all his might.

Don Shula, coach of the Miami Dolphins, was talking to a reporter about a player’s mistake in practice. He said, “We never let an error go unchallenged. Uncorrected errors multiply.”

Then the reporter said, “Isn’t there benefit in overlooking one small flaw?”

Shula said, “What is a small flaw?” I think about that all day long. What is a small flaw? I see that with my children. I’ve let a lot of things slide by because I was too tired. I didn’t want another confrontation. But uncorrected errors do multiply. You’ve got to face them some day. You might as well face them on the spot. If I could do it over again with my children, I’d face the errors on the spot. It’s easier on them and on you. That works in relationships with anyone. If there’s something under the surface, something you sense, you might as well just bring it right out. Face it right then. Success lies in the details. Every job is a self-portrait of the person who did it. Autograph your work with excellence.

Two Harvard researchers, Dr. George Vaillant and Caroline Vaillant, report that success in adulthood is more related to a child’s capacity to work than to his intelligence, social status or family background. Their study involved 456 men, mostly from Boston working-class immigrant families, interviewed periodically from their adolescence up through age 47. The Vaillants discovered that those who worked hardest as children developed into the best-paid and most satisfied family men. Their work as youngsters had usually consisted of household chores, part-time jobs, sports and studies. The least hardworking as youths later encountered more unemployment and unhappiness as well as a higher death rate.

"Father, are you going away?" asked a little girl of her dying rich father. "Yes, dear, and I am afraid you won't see me again." Then the little one asked, "Have you got a nice house and lots of friends there?" The successful man of the world lay silent for a while and then said, "What a fool I have been! I have built a great business here, but I shall be a pauper there."

Brian Harbour picks up on this theme in Rising above the Crowd: “Success means being the best. Excellence means being your best. Success, to many, means being better than everyone else. Excellence means being better tomorrow than you were yesterday. Success means exceeding the achievements of other people. Excellence means matching your practice with your potential.”

According to a study of more than 500 family counselors, the following are the top traits of successful families:

Communicating and listening

Affirming and supporting family members

Respecting one another

Developing a sense of trust

Sharing time and responsibility

Knowing right from wrong

Having rituals and traditions

Sharing a religious core

Respecting privacy.

The party around the pool was held to celebrate the first summer in memory without a drowning at the New Orleans city pool. In honor of the occasion, 200 people gathered, including 100 certified lifeguards. As the party was breaking up and the four lifeguards on duty began to clear the pool, they found a fully dressed body in the deep end. They tried to revive Jerome Moody, 31, but it was too late. He had drowned surrounded by lifeguards celebrating their successful season.

All souls are equally precious but not all are equally strategic.

Chippie the parakeet never saw it coming. One second he was peacefully perched in his cage. The next he was sucked in, washed up, and blown over.

The problems began when Chippie’s owner decided to clean Chippie’s cage with a vacuum cleaner. She removed the attachment from the end of the hose and stuck it in the cage. The phone rang, and she turned to pick it up. She’d barely said “hello” when “ssssopp!” Chippie got sucked in.

The bird owner gasped, put down the phone, turned off the vacuum, and opened the bag. There was Chippie—still alive, but stunned.

Since the bird was covered with dust and soot, she grabbed him and raced to the bathroom, turned on the faucet, and held Chippie under the running water. Then, realizing that Chippie was soaked and shivering, she did what any compassionate bird owner would do . . . she reached for the hair dryer and blasted the pet with hot air.

Poor Chippie never knew what hit him.

A few days after the trauma, the reporter who’d initially written about the event contacted Chippie’s owner to see how the bird was recovering. “Well,” she replied, “Chippie doesn’t sing much anymore—he just sits and stares.”

It’s hard not to see why. Sucked in, washed up, and blown over . . . That’s enough to steal the song from the stoutest heart.

Of the beginning of the Sudan Interior Mission: Long on vision but short on funds, the 1893 pioneer trio reached Nigeria without money to travel inland. The were reduced to selling their watches and surplus clothing. At the moment of their greatest need, as Bingham called it, a gift arrived. It came from a servant named Mary Jones who had been a live-in housekeeper to the same family for 25 years. All she owned was in her one little room. She died there, and was buried from there.

After the funeral, her relatives looked for her will. There was none...only a small account book in which she had entered her monthly wage and her personal expenses. “For native work in China, $50,” was one entry. “For native work in India, $50,” was another. Her relatives knew she had received a legacy. It too was entered. “Received legacy, $300” it read. And opposite it: “Paid out for the Soudan, $300.””Even her last month’s wages had been entered and dispensed,” Bingham wrote. “She needed no executor, no trust company. She had fulfilled her trust. Out of her gift, in a very real sense, came the great harvest which we are seeing today.”

Quite suddenly—it may be at the turning of the lane

Where I stand to watch a skylark from out the golden grain.

That the trump of God shall thrill me with its call so loud and clear.

And I’m called away to meet Him when of all I hold most dear.

Quite suddenly—it may be as I tread the busy street.

Strong to endure life’s stress and strain its envy call to meet.

That through the roar of traffic a trumpet silver clear

Shall stir my startled senses and proclaim His coming near.

Quite suddenly—it may be as I lie in dreamless sleep.

That a call shall break my slumber and a voice sound in my ear

Rise up, my love, and come away

behold, the bridegroom’s here.

“Today I visited an eight-year-old girl dying of cancer. Her body was disfigured by her disease and its treatment. She was in almost constant pain. As I entered her room, I was overcome immediately by her suffering—so unjust, unfair, unreasonable. Even more overpowering was the presence of her grandmother lying in bed beside her with her huge body embracing this precious, inhuman suffering.

“I stood in awe, for I knew I was on holy ground…. the suffering of innocent children is horrifying beyond words. I will never forget the great, gentle arms and body of this grandmother. She never spoke while I was there. She was holding and participating in suffering that she could not relieve, and somehow her silent presence was relieving it. No words could express the magnitude of her love” (Leonard Sweet, Postmodern Pilgrims (Broadman & Holman, 2000), p.16; submitted by Merle Mees, Topeka , Kansas , preachingtoday.com).

Why? Why me? Why my family? What is the meaning of this suffering?

These are familiar questions which are asked by Christians and non-Christians alike. No one is immune to suffering and adversity. “Man is born unto trouble as the sparks fly upward” (Job 5:7, KJV). There are the pressures of want, need, sorrow, persecution, unpopularity, and loneliness. Some suffer for what they have done; others suffer because of what people do to them. Many suffer because they are victims of circumstances which they cannot control.

Pain is distressing. There can be nights of agony when God seems so unfair and it seems that there is no possible help or answer. Temporary relief may seem adequate, but the real solution to suffering is not to isolate it in an attempt to do away with it, nor even to grit our teeth and endure it. The solution, rather, is to condition our attitudes so that we learn to triumph in and through suffering. When the Apostle Paul sought relief from his “thorn in the flesh,” God did not take it away, but reassured him with: “My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9, KJV). In another encouragement to the Corinthians, he wrote, “And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work” (2 Corinthians 9:8, KJV).

Except for physical pain, handling suffering seems to be a question of attitude: “What am I going to do in the face of suffering in order to learn from it and use it for my advantage as far as God’s eternal purposes are concerned?”

Billy Graham comments: “Nowhere does the Bible teach that Christians are exempt from the tribulations and natural disasters that come upon the world. Scripture does teach that the Christian can face tribulation, crisis, calamity, and personal suffering with a supernatural power that is not available to the person outside of Christ.”

Some of the most pathetic people in the world are those who, in the midst of adversity, indulge themselves by wallowing in self-pity and bitterness, all the while taking a sort of delight in blaming God for their problems.

Job’s attitude is an inspiration: “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him” (Job 13:15).

The sufferer will be blessed if, in the midst of great agony and despair, he can look into the face of his Heavenly Father and, because of His eternal love and presence, be grateful. Our response to suffering should lead us to look beyond it in the attempt to see God’s higher purposes and what He wants to teach us.

When the Marquis of Montrose was sentenced to death, the judge ordered that his head and limbs should be severed from his body and hanged in the Tolbooth in Endinburgh and in other public towns in the kingdom. The Marquis heard this sentence with a grim smile of pride and in defiance he cried, "I wish I had flesh enough to be sent to every city in Christendom, as a testimony to the cause for which I suffer!"

Suffering for righteousness’ sake 1 Peter 3:14

Suffering for Godly living 2 Tim. 2:12

Suffering for the kingdom of God 2 Thess. 1:5

Suffering as a Christian 1 Peter 4:16

Suffering for Christ’s sake Phil. 1:29

Suffering and glory 1 Peter 5:1

John Donne, a 17th century poet, experienced great pain. Because he married the daughter of a disapproving lord, he was fired from his job as assistant to the Lord Chancellor, yanked from his wife, and locked in a dungeon. (This is when he wrote that succinct line of despair, “John Donne/ Anne Donne/ Undone.”) Later, he endured a long illness which sapped his strength almost to the point of death. In the midst of this illness, Donne wrote a series of devotions on suffering which rank among the most poignant meditations on the subject. In one of these, he considers a parallel: The sickness which keeps him in bed forces him to think about his spiritual condition.

Suffering gets our attention; it forces us to look to God, when otherwise we would just as well ignored Him.

The story is told about the baptism of King Aengus by St. Patrick in the middle of the fifth century. Sometime during the rite, St. Patrick leaned on his sharp-pointed staff and inadvertently stabbed the king’s foot. After the baptism was over, St. Patrick looked down at all the blood, realized what he had done, and begged the king’s forgiveness. “Why did you suffer this pain in silence,” the Saint wanted to know. The king replied, “I thought it was part of the ritual.”

A man stood up in a meeting and facing the preacher who had spoken about the sufficiency of God's grace, said: "You can talk like that about Christ-that He is dear to you, that He helps you-but if your wife were dead as my wife is, and you had some babies crying for their mother who would never come back, you could not say what you are saying." A little later the preacher lost his wife in an accident. After others had conducted the funeral service, he stood by the casket, looked down into the face of the silent wife and mother and said, "The other day when I was preaching, a man said I could not say Christ was sufficient if my wife were dead and my children were crying for their mother. If that man is here, I want to tell him that Christ is sufficient. My heart is broken, my heart is crushed, my heart is bleeding, but there is a song in my heart, and Christ put it there. And if that man is here, I tell him though my wife is gone and my children are motherless, Christ comforts me today." That man was there, and down the aisle he came and stood beside the casket and said, "Truly, if Christ can help in a time like this, I surrender to Him."

“I have no misgivings about or lack of confidence in the cause in which I am engaged and my courage does not falter. I know how American civilization leans upon the triumph of the government. I know how great a debt we owe to those who went before us through the suffering of the Revolution. And I am willing, perfectly willing, to lay down the joys of this life to help maintain this government and to help pay that debt.

Sarah, my love for you is deathless. It seems to bind me with many cables that nothing but Omnipotence can break. And yet my love of country comes over me like a strong wind and bears me irresistibly with all those chains to the battlefield. The memory of all those blissful moments I have enjoyed with you come crowding over me, and I feel most grateful to God and you that I have enjoyed them for so long.

And how hard it is for me to give them up and burn to ashes the future years, when God willing, we might have loved and lived together, and watched our boys grow up around us to honorable manhood. If I do not return my dear Sarah, never forget how much I loved you nor that when my last breath escapes me on the battlefield it will whimper your name.”

The sum total of man’s knowledge could be represented graphically:

Up to 1845 = 1 inch

1845 to 1945 = 3 inches

1945 to 1976 = the height of the Washington Monument

“I was never left back,” said a man to his friend. “Let’s just say I graduated summa cum later.”

1. is given to all believers;

2. produces spiritual character;

3. is singular (fruit is singular, meaning one’s character is a unit);

4. is permanent (1 Cor. 13:8-10); and

5. grows internally.

To summarize spiritual gifts, note the contrast to the previous five points.

Spiritual gifts:

1. are given to specific believers;

2. produce spiritual service;

3. are plural (Flynn lists nineteen, Wagner, twenty-seven);

4. will cease; and

5. operate externally.

When her Majesty Queen Elizabeth visited New Zealand in the 1960s, it was my job as a broadcaster to give the live description of events. My vantage point was on the main street of a small town where the queen was scheduled to pass. I carefully thought through my description of the scene, but my nervousness showed when I announced to the whole country, “And here comes her Majesty now, wearing a beautiful frummer sock!”

The Duke of Edinburgh, standing next to me, momentarily lost his composure. His snort of laughter was also broadcast to the nation.

If you would be pungent, be brief; for it is with words as with sunbeams. The more they are condensed, the deeper they burn. - Robert Southey

One Sunday afternoon our family gathered around our big oak table for dinner. Soon my daughter Kate’s laughter rose above the talk. “Gram, you’re silly!” she said. We all turned to see my mom delicately lifting to her mouth a small strand of peas on the blade of her knife. All but one pea made it, and everyone clapped. Then Mom told us the story behind her unorthodox technique:

“When I was little we didn’t have much. It was the Depression. But we did have a table full of food because my father grew wonderful vegetables. Lots of hoboes who had jumped from the train wandered onto our property, looking for a meal. More often than not an extra seat was pulled up to our dinner table.

“One summer afternoon I was sweeping the kitchen floor when my father’s voice came through the screen door: ‘Lizzy, set another plate. We have company tonight.’ Our guest paused in the doorway, and dipped his head in a gesture of gratitude. ‘Looks like he doesn’t speak much English,’ Dad said, ‘but he’s hungry like we are. His name is Henry.’

“When dinner was ready Henry stood until we were all seated, then gently perched on the edge of his chair, his head bowed and his hat in his lap. The blessing was said and dishes were passed from hand to hand.

“We all waited, as was proper, for our guest to take the first bite. Henry must have been so hungry he didn’t notice us watching him as he grabbed his knife. Carefully he slid the blade into the pile of peas before him, and then lifted a quivering row to his mouth without spilling a single pea. He was eating with his knife! I looked at my sister May and we covered our mouths to muffle our snickers. Henry took another knifeful, and then another.

“My father, taking note of the glances we were exchanging, firmly set down his fork. He looked me in the eye, then took his knife and thrust it into the peas on his plate. Most of them fell off as he attempted to lift them to his mouth, but he continued until all the peas were gone.

“Dad never did use his fork that evening, because Henry didn’t. It was one of my father’s silent lessons in acceptance. He understood the need for this man to maintain his dignity, to feel comfortable in a strange place with people of different customs. Even at my young age I understood the greatness of my father’s simple act of brotherhood.”

Mom paused, looked at her grandchildren, and winked as she plowed her knife into a mountain of peas.

A teacher was handed the following note by one of her students:

“Dear Teacher, Please excuse Harriet for missing school yesterday. We forgot to get the Sunday paper off the porch, and when we found it on Monday, we thought it was Sunday.”

In the Australian bush country grows a little plant called the “sundew.” It has a slender stem and tiny, round leaves fringed with hairs that glisten with bright drops of liquid as delicate as fine dew. Woe to the insect, however, that dares to dance on it. Although its attractive clusters of red, white, and pink blossoms are harmless, the leaves are deadly. The shiny moisture on each leaf is sticky and will imprison any bug that touches it. As an insect struggles to free itself, the vibration causes the leaves to close tightly around it. This innocent-looking plant then feeds on its victim

A young girl after sweeping the room, went to the window shade and hastily drew it down, saying, "It makes the room so dusty to have the sunshine coming in." She foolishly imagined that it was the sunshine which made the dust whereas it only revealed it.

It should be observed that, apart from the power of God, superficial decisions may easily be secured, and apparently great results accomplished; for some minds are so dependent upon the opinions of others that the earnest and dominating appeal of the evangelist, with the obvious value of a religious life, is sufficient to move them to follow almost any plan that is made to appear to be expedient. They may be urged to act on the vision of the way of life which the preacher possesses, when they have received no sufficient vision for themselves. The experience of thousands of churches has proved that such decisions have not met the conditions of grace in “believing with the heart”; for the multitude of advertised converts have often failed, and these churches have had to face the problem of dealing with a class of disinterested people who possess no new dynamic, nor any of the blessings of the truly regenerate life.

A few genuine decisions may occur among the many, and these have always justified the wholesale evangelizing method. There is, however, a very grave harm done to any who are thus superficially affected, and this harm might sometimes outweigh the good that is done. In reply to this it is argued that nothing can outweigh the value of one soul that is saved; yet when the harm of a false decision is analyzed, it will be seen that the after-state of bewilderment and discouragement which results in an attitude that is almost unapproachable and hopeless, has its unmeasured results as well.

Three months after moving to his farm in Greenville, South Carolina, Bob Olson realized he had a serious problem. A utility pole on the corner of his driveway was in a bad location—so bad that four visitors had hit it with their cars.

Bob called the power company and reported the hazard. Eventually they sent a supervisor to evaluate the situation. After looking it over, the supervisor concluded there was no problem. But as he drove away, a loud thud was heard which shook the entire house. The supervisor had hit the pole—and the next day a crew arrived to move it!

In the Cambridge, Minn., Star:

“Isanti County Commissioner Tom Pagel has 100-percent support from his family, not 10 percent, as was stated in last week’s article on Pagel’s announcement to seek re-election.”

Best recipe for high-achieving and confident children: strong direction and support—not freedom. The latest study found that children who grow up with high control and high support are more confident and better achievers than those raised with high support and low control, or low support and high control, or low support and low control.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. was and still is generally regarded as one of the most outstanding justices in the history of the U.S. Supreme Court. He was known as the Great Dissenter because he disagreed with the other judges so much. Holmes sat on the Supreme Court until he was 91. Two years later, President Roosevelt visited him and found him reading Plato.

“Why?” FDR asked.

“To improve my mind,” Holmes answered.

The Greek word for lord is indeed used in scripture in the sense of master, and as a mere honorary title as in the English “Sir.” But, on the other hand, it is the translation of Adonai, “supreme Lord,” an incommunicable name of God, and the substitute for Jehovah, a name the Jews would not pronounce. It is in this sense that Christ is ‘the Lord, the Lord of lords, the Lord God’; Lord in that sense in which God alone can be Lord—having a dominion of which divine perfection is the only adequate or possible foundation. This is the reason why no one can call him Lord, but by the Holy Ghost. It is a confession which implies the apprehension of the glory of God as it shines in Him. It is an acknowledgment that He is God manifested in the flesh. Blessed are all who make this acknowledgment with sincerity; for flesh and blood cannot reveal the truth therein confessed, but only the Father who is in heaven. - Charles Hodge

George Atley was killed while serving with the Central African Mission. There were no witnesses, but the evidence indicates that Atley was confronted by a band of hostile tribesmen. He was carrying a fully loaded, 10-chamber Winchester rifle and had to choose either to shoot his attackers and run the risk of negating the work of the mission in that area, or not to defend himself and be killed.

When his body was later found in a stream, it was evident that he had chosen the latter. Nearby lay his rifle—all 10 chambers still loaded. He had made the supreme sacrifice, motivated by his burden for lost souls and his unswerving devotion to his Savior. With the apostle Paul, he wanted Christ to be magnified in his body, “whether by life or by death.”

Writing on Philippians 1:20 in The Bible Knowledge Commentary, Robert P. Lightner said, “Paul’s concern was not what would happen to him but what testimony would be left for his Lord. Release would allow him to continue preaching Christ. But martyrdom would also advance the cause of Christ.”

The supreme test of goodness is not in the greater but in the smaller incidents of our character and practice; not what we are when standing in the searchlight of public scrutiny, but when we reach the firelight flicker of our homes; not what we are when some clarion-call rings through the air, summoning us to fight for life and liberty, but our attitude when we are called to sentry-duty in the grey morning, when the watch-fire is burning low. It is impossible to be our best at the supreme moment if character is corroded and eaten into by daily inconsistency, unfaithfulness, and besetting sin.

As a young man in Europe, Donald Grey Barnhouse did considerable mountain climbing in the Swiss Alps and in the more dangerous and difficult French Alps. Roped together with other young men, he scaled many a peak; his snapshot book records moments of difficulty and peril that later made him wish to restrain others who might venture into similar places. Th e first time he went out with a young Frenchman, son of a pastor, and a young Swiss bank clerk, they gave him sound advice. "You have two hands and two feet," they said, "and that makes four. Always be sure that three out of the four are firmly on the rock. It is the only rule of safety."

This advice is also the rule of spiritual safety in our Christian life. In one of the Psalms, David told of slipping feet. He had been looking at men and their circumstances. He saw the righteous suffering and the wicked flourishing, and he could not understand; he was, in fact, dismayed. He had looked at men and their doings instead of looking at God. It is as dangerous to take your eyes from the Lord in spiritual things as it is to take your feet from the rock in mountain climbing.

A bishop of a century ago pronounced from his pulpit and in the periodical he edited that heavier-than-air flight was both impossible and contrary to the will of God. Oh, the irony that Bishop Wright had two sons, Orville and Wilbur! Wright was wrong. Sure of himself, but wrong.

My doctor had recommended surgery and referred me to a specialist. Arriving early for my appointment, I found the door unlocked and the young surgeon, deeply engrossed in reading, behind the receptionist’s desk. When he didn’t hear me come in, I cleared my throat. Startled, he closed the book, which I recognized as a Bible. “Does reading the Bible help you before or after an operation?” I asked. My fears were dispelled by his soft, one-word answer: “During.”

Dr. Ian Munro, a plastic surgeon at the University of Toronto, is one of a handful of doctors in the world who can take apart and then rebuild the skulls of infants with Crouzon’s disease. The head of a child who suffers from this condition becomes so misshapen that it puts extreme pressure on the brain, ultimately causing retardation. The painful operation often involves breaking as many as 90 percent of the patient’s skull and facial bones, but who would argue that retardation is preferable to surgery?

Dr. Ari Kiev of Cornell University observed that from the moment people decided to concentrate all their energies on a specific objective, they began to surmount the most difficult odds. He concluded, “The establishment of a goal is the key to successful living.”