Pastoral Resources

A man on vacation was strolling along outside his hotel in Acapulco, enjoying the sunny Mexican weather. Suddenly, he was attracted by the screams of a woman kneeling in front of a child.

The man knew enough Spanish to determine that the child had swallowed a coin. Seizing the child by the heels, the man held him up, gave him a few shakes, and an American quarter dropped to the sidewalk.

“Oh, thank you sir!” cried the woman. “You seemed to know just how to get it out of him. Are you a doctor?”

“No, ma’am,” replied the man. “I’m with the United States Internal Revenue Service.”

Gutav Dore, the famous artist, once lost his passport while traveling in Europe. When he came to the boundary post between two countries and was asked for his passport, he fumbled about and finally announced, "I have lost it, but it is all right. I'm Dore, the artist. Please let me go in." "Oh, no," said the officer. "We have plenty of people representing themselves as this or that great person! Here is a pencil and paper. Now, if you are Dore the artist, prove it by drawing me a picture." He took the pencil and drew some pictures of a scene in the immediate area. "Now I am perfectly sure you are Dore. No one else could draw like that!" said the officer as he allowed Dore to enter the country. So it is with us. People follow what we do on the stage of life. They look to see if our conduct squares with our profession. Are we drawing the picture of Christ, as it were, or of a different person? What the world wants to see is reality in our actions. It has been said that God has great and wonderful things to display if He finds suitable showcases. Are you a good showcase for Jesus Christ?

S. I. McMillen, in his book None of These Diseases, tells a story of a young woman who wanted to go to college, but her heart sank when she read the question on the application blank that asked, “Are you a leader?” Being both honest and conscientious, she wrote, “No,” and returned the application, expecting the worst. To her surprise, she received this letter from the college:

“Dear Applicant: A study of the application forms reveals that this year our college will have 1,452 new leaders. We are accepting you because we feel it is imperative that they have at least one follower.”

Watch out for these six factors that could put you at risk for taking a leave of absence from church.

1. A major life event. Graduation, marriage, divorce, a death in the family, a sudden change in your finances. Experiences like these cause one to re-evaluate his life—and sometimes explore alternatives.

2. Change in the church. A new pastor, a new location, the loss of your best friends—when your notion of “church” is forced to change, it can be hard to stick around.

3. Prolonged stress. Have you been battling career or financial uncertainty? Long-term illness in the family? Trying to start a new business? Faced with prolonged stress, there’s a tendency to put church on the back burner—or turn it off altogether.

4. A chronic, unresolved problem. Festering conflicts and needs left unattended are like acid on a man’s spirit. Unless he finds resolution, he will eventually become disillusioned.

5. Not using your spiritual gift. If you don’t know what your gift is, and if you are not using it to serve the body of Christ, you are crippling your spiritual life. Few things place you more at risk than this one.

6. Burnout in a leadership position. If your energy and enthusiasm have been sapped through prolonged overwork in church ministry, you are at risk. You need a break—before you break!

Dr. Andrew Bonar told me how, in the Highlands of Scotland, a sheep would often wander off into the rocks and get into places that they couldn’t get out of. The grass on these mountains is very sweet and the sheep like it, and they will jump down ten or twelve feet, and then they can’t jump back again, and the shepherd hears them bleating in distress. They may be there for days, until they have eaten all the grass. The shepherd will wait until they are so faint they cannot stand, and then they will put a rope around him, and he will go over and pull that sheep up out of the jaws of death. “Why don’t they go down there when the sheep first gets there?” I asked.

“Ah!” He said, “they are so very foolish they would dash right over the precipice and be killed if they did!” And that is the way with men; they won’t go back to God till they have no friends and have lost everything. If you are a wanderer I tell you that the Good Shepherd will bring you back the moment you have given up trying to save yourself and are willing to let Him save you His own way.

Are you standing at “Wits End Corner”

Christian, with troubled brow?

Are you thinking of what is before you,

And all you are bearing now?

Does all the world seem against you,

And you in the battle alone?

Remember at Wits End Corner

Is where God’s power is shown.

Are you standing at “Wits End Corner”

Blinded with wearying pain

Feeling you cannot endure it,

You cannot bear the strain.

Bruised through the constant suffering

Dizzy and dazed, and numb

Remember at Wits End Corner,

Is where Jesus loves to come.

Are you standing at “Wits End Corner”

Your work before you spread.

Or lying begun, unfinished

And pressing on heart and head.

Longing for strength to do it.

Stretching out trembling hands

Remember at “Wits End Corner”

The burden bearer stand.

Are you standing at “Wits End Corner”

Yearning for those you love,

Longing and praying and watching,

Pleading their cause above,

Trying to lead them to Jesus

Wondering if you’ve been true?

He whispers at “Wits End Corner”

“I’ll win them as I won you.”

Are you standing at “Wits End Corner”

Then you’re just in the very spot.

To learn the wondrous resources

Of Him who faileth not!

No doubt to a brighter pathway

Your footsteps will soon be moved

But only at Wits End Corner

Is the God who is able, “proved.”

Are you standing at “Wits End Corner” Christian, with troubled brow?

Are you thinking of what is before you, And all you are bearing now?

Does all the world seem against you, And you in the battle alone?

Remember at Wits End Corner Is where God’s power is shown.

Are you standing at “Wits End Corner” Blinded with wearying pain

Feeling you cannot endure it, You cannot bear the strain.

Bruised through the constant suffering Dizzy and dazed, and numb

Remember at Wits End Corner, Is where Jesus loves to come.

Are you standing at “Wits End Corner” Your work before you spread.

Or lying begun, unfinished And pressing on heart and head.

Longing for strength to do it. Stretching out trembling hands

Remember at “Wits End Corner” The burden bearer stand.

Are you standing at “Wits End Corner” Yearning for those you love,

Longing and praying and watching, Pleading their cause above,

Trying to lead them to Jesus Wondering if you’ve been true?

He whispers at “Wits End Corner” “I’ll win them as I won you.”

Are you standing at “Wits End Corner” Then you’re just in the very spot.

To learn the wondrous resources Of Him who faileth not!

No doubt to a brighter pathway Your footsteps will soon be moved

But only at Wits End Corner Is the God who is able, “proved.”

Sometimes we lead in ways that we don't realize are bringing others closer to God. Recently I read an incident that occurred when a man was working in a shoe store in Nova Scotia. The man said that he noticed a barefoot little boy outside the baker's shop next door to the shoe store. The boy was trying to keep warm by standing on a hot air register outside the bakery. The man watching was uncertain about what to do about the little boy when a middle-aged lady came by. She spoke to the child and then brought him into the shoe store where she purchased shoes and socks for him.

The child asked the lady, "Are you God's wife?"

She replied, "No, son, I'm just one of His children."

"Well, I knew you must be some kin to Him," he remarked as he thanked her and left. That unknown lady was a leader for the cause of Christ, and the little boy and the man watching were able to recognize some Christ-like qualities in her.

A young man said to his father at breakfast one morning, “Dad, I’m going to get married.” “How do you know you’re ready to get married?” asked the father. “Are you in love?” “I sure am,” said the son. “How do you know you’re in love?” asked the father. “Last night as I was kissing my girlfriend good-night, her dog bit me and I didn’t feel the pain until I got home.”

Driving through Texas, a New Yorker collided with a truck carrying a horse. A few months later he tried to collect damages for his injuries. “How can you now claim to have all these injuries?” asked the insurance company’s lawyer. “According to the police report, at the time you said you were not hurt.” “Look,” replied the New Yorker. “I was lying on the road in a lot of pain, and I heard someone say the horse had a broken leg. The next thing I know this Texas Ranger pulls out his gun and shoots the horse. Then he turns to me and asks, ‘Are you okay?’”

When he pastored the Methodist church in Scarborough, William Sangster had an eccentric member who tried to be a zealous Christian. Unfortunately, the man was mentally deficient and usually did the wrong thing. While working as a barber the man lathered up a customer for a shave, came at him with the poised razor, and asked, “Are you prepared to meet your God?” The frightened man fled with the lather on his face!

How long would you keep an automobile that had to be pushed everywhere it went? How much would it be worth to you? How much pleasure would you find in it? You might keep an automobile that just had to be pushed occasionally, but you would not have one for long that just could not be depended on, that would not go whenever you wanted it to go.

The Lord is no more pleased with one of His servants that continually has to be pushed than you would be with an automobile that continually has to be pushed.

God wants men of initiative and fervency of spirit. Paul taught us to be diligent, not slothful; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord (Rom 12:11).

A man who has to be pushed continually in order to keep him in service and attending worship is not devoted to the cause. It is understandable that a newborn babe in Christ, a young convert, might need to be pushed or encouraged, but if one who has been a Christian for many years must still be pushed, he is not growing spiritually as he should. He is not spiritually mature.

Do you have to be pushed?

One day when Luther was a young man, he was walking with a friend named Alexis. Suddenly a bolt of lightning struck his friend and killed him instantly. From that moment on a radical change took place in Luther's life. Your life will also change if you think seriously that one day it will end, perhaps suddenly and soon. After that you will have to give an account of it to God. Are you ready for it?

There’s a man in yonder glory I have loved for many years, He has cleared my guilty conscience and has banished all my fears. He is coming in a moment in the twinkling of an eye, And no time will be allotted for you to utter one good-bye. No time to kiss the husband or embrace the loving wife, If they are but united in the bonds of holy life. Are you ready, Christian, ready, for shout and trump and voice? Will His coming make you tremble or cause you to rejoice? Are you walking, talking with Him daily, taking Him your care, Do you live so close to heaven that a breath would waft you there?

While a student at Yale University, Eugene F. Suter, Jr.'s father died, leaving him an estate of ,000. When Eugene refused the inheritance, the trustees of the estate insisted he take it, and even took him to court to force him to accept the money. In an unprecedented case held in New York City, Judge William T. Collins reluctantly ruled that the young man had a legal right to reject the ,000. The order legally cut off the 22-year-old student from all future interest in the family fortune, leaving him without an income.

There are a lot of people in this world who are refusing a far greater inheritance than Suter did. God has offered us the opportunity to be joint-heirs with Christ and heirs of eternal life, and so many are refusing to profess belief in Christ and to be born again. Like Suter, they will be cut off from all future benefits from their Father's estate. Will your inheritance go unclaimed?

A lady came to her pastor after he had preached one day and said, "But does not John say, 'Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not' (1Jo 3:6)?" Of course he consented to the fact, telling her that the Christian does not voluntarily wallow in sin, but that we should also remember that the same apostle says, "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us" (1Jo 1:8-10). Then he turned to this Christian lady and asked her, "Can you say you are sinless?" There was no answer.

The late former Canadian Prime Minister John Diefenbaker told the story of the day Winston Churchill, sitting in the House of Commons, was brought the message that his deadly enemy, Aneurin Bevan, had just died. Churchill bowed his head, clearly shaken. “A great man, a brilliant man, a tragic loss,” he muttered. Some minutes later another member of parliament came to Churchill to inform him that the press was waiting outside to get his “heartfelt opinion on Nye Bevan.” Churchill thought a moment, then looked up warily and said, “Are you sure he’s dead?”

One day a little boy complained that his new shoes were hurting his feet. I looked down at his feet. No wonder they hurt. His shoes were on the wrong feet! When I changed them he felt better and was soon the liveliest little fellow in the group.

Sometimes our lives seem all sour and stale. We find fault with everyone around us. We need to stop and take a good look at our feet. If we were wearing the same shoes the other fellow wears, would we be happy?

A recent survey of Discipleship Journal readers ranked areas of greatest spiritual challenge to them:

1. Materialism

2. Pride

3. Self-centeredness

4. Laziness

5. (Tie) Anger/Bitterness

6. (Tie) Sexual lust

7. Envy

8. Gluttony

9. Lying

Survey respondents noted temptations were more potent when they had neglected their time with God (81 percent) and when they were physically tired (57 percent). Resisting temptation was accomplished by prayer (84 percent), avoiding compromising situations (76 percent), Bible study (66 percent), and being accountable to someone (52 percent).

In May, 1983, Charlotte Huddelston died after breathing argon gas mistakenly pumped into the oxygen system at Fort McLellan’s Noble Army Hospital—making her the third victim of the mix-up.

Apparently the five-foot white tank of odorless, nontoxic argon resembled those that usually contained oxygen. Although the argon didn’t poison anyone, it displaced the oxygen supply and suffocated its victims.

Unfortunately, we know the experience against miracles to be uniform only if we know that all reports of them are false. And we can know all the reports to be false only if we know already that miracles have never occurred. In fact, we are arguing in a circle.

Spiritual gifts are gifts given by Jesus to His church. Spiritual gifts are discussed in 1 Cor. 12-14 and Rom. 12. They vary in degree and nature. There are some that are obviously supernatural in the usage: speaking in tongues, discerning of spirits, healing, etc. There are others that are not so supernatural: administrations, help, admonition, etc.

There is debate over the continuance of the gifts. Some say that the gifts have ceased because we now have the Bible. They argue that the gifts were used for the building of the body of Christ during the beginning of the Christian church when the Bible was not complete. Since the Bible is complete there is no further need for the revelatory gifts, that is, gifts that give revelatory like speaking in tongues and the interpretation of tongues. Others maintain that the gifts are all for today though to a lesser degree. There are good arguments on both sides.

For centuries people believed that Aristotle was right when he said that the heavier an object, the faster it would fall to earth. Aristotle was regarded as the greatest thinker of all time, and surely he would not be wrong.

Anyone, of course, could have taken two objects, one heavy and one light, and dropped them from a great height to see whether or not the heavier object landed first. But no one did until nearly 2,000 years after Aristotle’s death. In 1589 Galileo summoned learned professors to the base of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Then he went to the top and pushed off a ten-pound and a one-pound weight. Both landed at the same instant.

The power of belief was so strong, however, that the professors denied their eyesight. They continued to say Aristotle was right.

It is reported that just prior to his death, Aristotle Onasis started giving away vast sums of money to various charities, trying to see if it wasn’t possible to earn a place in heaven.

The class of noisy boys in a German primary school was being punished by their teacher. They were assigned the problem of adding together all the numbers from 1 to 100. The boys settled down, scribbling busily on their slates—all but one. This boy looked off into space for a few moments, then wrote something on his slate and turned it in. His was the only right answer.

When the amazed teacher asked how he did it, the boy replied, “I thought there might be some short cut, and I found one: 100 plus 1 is 101; 99 plus 2 is 101; 98 plus 3 is 101, and, if I continued the series all the way to 51 plus 50, I have 101 50 times, which is 5,050.”

After this episode, the young scholar received special tutoring from his teacher. The boy was Karl Friedrich Gauss, the great mathematician of the 19th century.

A gentleman passing a church with Daniel Webster asked him, "How can you reconcile the doctrine of the Trinity with reason?" The statesman replied by asking, "Do you understand the arithmetic of heaven?"

F. E. Smith was a capable lawyer with a quick wit who served as the British attorney general from 1915 until 1919. On one occasion he cross-examined a young man claiming damages for an arm injury caused by the negligence of a bus driver. “Will you please show us how high you can lift your arm now?” asked Smith. The young man gingerly raised his arm to shoulder level, his face distorted with pain.

“Thank you,” said Smith. “And now, could you show us how high you could lift it before the accident?” The young man eagerly shot his arm up above his head. He lost the case.

The scene was San Diego Superior Court. Two men were on trial for armed robbery. An eyewitness took the stand, and the prosecutor moved carefully: “So, you say you were at the scene when the robbery took place?” “Yes.” “And you saw a vehicle leave at a high rate of speed?” “Yes.” “And did you observe the occupants?” “Yes, two men.” “And,” the prosecutor boomed, “are those two men present in court today?” At this point the two defendants sealed their fate. They raised their hands.

World War II was almost over. News of the armistice had reached the troops but the actual order to cease fire was still on the way to the front. Then a bursting shell tore open a soldier’s flesh. As his blood flowed out of the fatal wound, he said, “Isn’t this just like God?”

In the late 1980s in Columbus, Ohio, an armored car spilled $2,000,000 on the freeway. Only $400,000 was ever recovered, the rest disappeared with the throngs of people who stopped and scooped up the cash. Some folks were honest enough to return what wasn’t theirs: Melvin Kaiser gave back $57,000.

Those who have studied human personality say that if we know the people who lost the money, we’ll generally give it back. However, if we don’t know them, 75% of the time we’ll keep the cash.

Oakland, Calif. (AP) - People jumped out of cars in rush hour traffic, grabbing bags of money that fell out of a Brink’s armored truck, and apparently got away with it.

“I saw one guy strike an old lady who was reaching for one bag,” said Willie Greenwood, who was behind the truck in his car when the Brink’s back door popped open and out plopped the bags.

“Another guy jumped onto my bumper and leaped into the crowd,” said Greenwood. “It went on for three or four minutes. I couldn’t move my car because there were so many people in the street.”

Brinks’ representatives wouldn’t say how much money was lost in the Wednesday morning rush hour scramble at the intersection of 14th and Harrison streets.

But bags of coins hit the pavement, scattering and rolling every which way and sacks of bills fell out too, according to Greenwood, 28, a stock clerk for American President Lines.

“It was crazy,” he said. “All the traffic stopped. People were coming from every direction. They were grabbing money and putting it in their pockets. Old people, young people and guys in business suits.”

Greenwood grabbed a plastic bag of coins wedged beneath the front tire of his car. Then he telephoned the police.

“I tried to tell them what had happened, but they kept me on hold for so long I finally hung up,” Greenwood said.

Golf immortal Arnold Palmer recalls a lesson about overconfidence:

It was the final hole of the 1961 Masters tournament, and I had a one-stroke lead and had just hit a very satisfying tee shot. I felt I was in pretty good shape. As I approached my ball, I saw an old friend standing at the edge of the gallery. He motioned me over, stuck out his hand and said, “Congratulations.” I took his hand and shook it, but as soon as I did, I knew I had lost my focus.

On my next two shots, I hit the ball into a sand trop, then put it over the edge of the green. I missed a putt and lost the Masters. You don’t forget a mistake like that; you just learn from it and become determined that you will never do that again. I haven’t in the 30 years since.

Around the corner I have a friend,

In this great city that has no end.

Yet days go by and weeks rush on,

And before I know it a year is gone,

And I never see my old friend’s face;

For life is a swift and terrible race.

He knows I like him just as well

As in the days when I rang his bell

And he rang mine. We were younger then—

And now we are busy, tired men—

Tired with playing a foolish game;

Tired with trying to make a name.

“Tomorrow,” I say, “I will call on Jim,

Just to show that I’m thinking of him.”

But tomorrow comes—and tomorrow goes;

And the distance between us grows and grows.

Around the corner!—

yet miles away...

“Here’s a telegram, sir.”

“Jim died today.”

And that’s what we get—

and deserve in the end—

Around the corner,

a vanished friend.

- Henson Towne

British journalist Alistair Cooke has made a career out of writing about the U.S. In the process he has built an imposing library of books about the various regions of the country that covers an entire wall. He was always having trouble finding what he needed, so he began seeking an effective way to arrange them. Initially, he placed the books on the shelves alphabetically by the author’s names. That didn’t work, because he had trouble remembering who had written what. Then he tried arranging them alphabetically by states. That posed problems, too, because some of the books were about regions, like New England or the Great Plains. Finally, he hit upon a solution. Books about New England went on shelves in the upper right hand corner. Books about the Great Plains states went in the middle. Books about the southwestern states were placed on the lower left. When Cooke was researching any state or region, all he had to do was look at the area on the library wall that corresponded to that area on the map of the U.S.

Have you heard the folk story of the bandit Jose’ Rivera, who became notorious in several little towns in Texas for robbing their banks and businesses? Finally the townsfolk, weary of the constant plundering, hired a ranger to track down Jose’ Rivera in his hideout in Mexico and retrieve the money. The ranger at last arrived at a desolate, ramshackle cantina. At the counter he saw a young man enjoying his brew. At one of the tables, hands over his ample stomach, hat over his eyes, snored another patron. With much gusto, the ranger approached the young man at the bar and announced that he was on a mission to bring back Jose’ Rivera, dead or alive. “Can you help me find him?” he asked. The young man smiled, pointed to the other patron, and said, “That is Jose’ Rivera.”

The ranger shifted his southern girth and ambled over to the sleeping bandit, tapping him on the shoulder, “Are you Jose’ Rivera? he asked. The man mumbled, “No speak English.” The ranger beckoned to the young man to help him communicate his mission.

The ensuing conversation was tedious. First the ranger spoke in English and the young man translated it into Spanish. Jose’ Rivera responded in Spanish, and young man repeated the answer in English for the ranger.

Finally, the ranger warned Jose’ Rivera that he had two choices; the first was to let him know where all the loot he had stolen was hidden, in which case he could walk away a free man. The second choice was that if he would not reveal where the money was stashed, he would be shot dead instantly. The young man translated the ultimatum.

Jose’ Rivera pulled himself together and said to the young man, “Tell him to go out of the bar, turn to the right, go about a mile, and he will see a well. Near the well he will see a very tall tree. Beside the trunk of that tree is a large concrete slab. He will need help in removing it. Under the slab is a pit in the ground. If he carefully uncovers it he will find all the jewelry and most of the money I have taken.”

The young man turned to the ranger, opened his mouth...swallowed...paused—and then said, “Jose’ Rivera says...Jose’ Rivera says...’Go ahead and shoot!’”

A friend of mine visited Portugal some years ago on an evangelistic tour. He was delighted to find many believers who were “spiritual giants,” among them a missionary from Great Britain named Eric Barker. He had spent over 50 years in Portugal preaching the gospel, often under adverse conditions. During World War II, the situation became so critical that Barker was advised to send his wife and eight children to England for safety. His sister and her three children were also evacuated on the same ship. Although his beloved relatives were forced to leave, he remained behind to carry on the work. On the Lord’s Day following their departure he stood before his congregation and said, “I’ve just received word that all my family have arrived safely home!” He then proceeded with the service as usual.

Later, the full meaning for his words became known to his people. Just before the meeting, he learned that a submarine had torpedoed the ship and everyone on board had drowned. He knew that because all were believers they had reached a more “desired haven” (Ps. 107:30). Although overwhelmed with grief, he was able to rise above the circumstances by the grace of God and keep on working for the Lord. The knowledge that his family was enjoying the bliss of heaven comforted his heart. - Henry G. Bosch

Another poll sheds light on this paradox of increased religiosity and decreased morality. According to sociologist Robert Bellah, 81 percent of the American people also say they agree that “an individual should arrive at his or her own religious belief independent of any church or synagogue.” Thus the key to the paradox is the fact that those who claim to be Christians are arriving at faith on their own terms—terms that make no demands on behavior. A woman named Sheila, interviewed for Bellah’s Habits of the Heart, embodies this attitude. “I believe in God,” she said. “I can’t remember the last time I went to church. But my faith has carried me a long way. It’s ‘Sheila-ism.’ Just my own little voice.”

In the fifth century, a man named Arsenius determined to live a holy life. So he abandoned the conforms of Egyptian society to follow an austere lifestyle in the desert. Yet whenever he visited the great city of Alexandria, he spent time wandering through its bazaars. Asked why, he explained that his heart rejoiced at the sight of all the things he didn’t need.

Those of us who live in a society flooded with goods and gadgets need to ponder the example of that desert dweller. A typical supermarket in the United States in 1976 stocked 9,000 articles; today it carries 30,000. How many of them are absolutely essential? How many superfluous?

Art thou weary, art thou languid,

Art thou sore distressed?

“Come to Me,” saith One, “and coming

Be at rest.”

Hath He marks to lead me to Him,

If He be my guide?

“In His feet and hands are wound-prints,

And His side.”

Is there diadem, as Monarch,

That His brow adorns?

“Yea, a crown, in very surety;

But of thorns.”

If I find Him, if I follow,

What His guerdon here?

“Many a sorrow, many a labor,

Many a tear.”

If I still hold closely to Him,

What hath He at last?

“Sorrow vanquished, labor ended,

Jordan passed.”

If I ask Him to receive me,

Will He say me nay?

“Not till earth, and not till heaven

Pass away.”

Finding, following, keeping, struggling,

Is He sure to bless?

“Saints, apostles, prophets, martyrs,

Answer, Yes.”

Imagine that you are a world-class concert pianist at the peak of your career, someone who has spent years studying and practicing to develop your art. Your fingers respond instantly to your mental commands, flitting along the keyboard with grace and speed. Then one day you feel a stiffness that wasn’t there before. You go to a doctor, tests are done, and the diagnosis comes back: arthritis. Your fingers are destined to become wooden and crippled. From the heights of success and acclaim you will plunge to oblivion.

It happened to Byron Janis. Within a short time this concert pianist saw arthritis quickly spread to all his fingers, and the joints of nine of them fused. Some people would have never recovered from such a blow, but Janis decided to fight back. He kept his ailment a secret from all but his wife and two close friends. He worked long hours to change his technique. He learned how to use what strengths he had instead of concentrating on his weaknesses. He also used a regimen of medications, acupuncture, ultrasound, and even hypnosis to deal with the pain. His wife learned how to give him therapeutic massages to loosen his stiff joints. Through hard work and sheer determination, Janis was able to continue his career. He maintained a full concert schedule for 12 years without anyone suspecting. Finally, he told the world at a White House concert in 1985. These days, he is active in fund-raising for the Arthritis Foundation and still plays the piano. He credits faith, and hope, and will for his success and says, “I have arthritis, but it doesn’t have me.”

There was a lady that came down to Liverpool to see us privately; it was just before we were about to leave that city to go to London to preach. With tears and sobs she told a very pitiful story. It was this: She said she had a boy nineteen years of age who had left her. She showed me his photograph, and asked me to put it in my pocket. "You stand before many and large assemblies, Mr. Moody. My boy may be in London, now. Oh, look at the audience to whom you will preach; look earnestly. You may see my dear boy before you. If you see him, tell him to come back to me. Oh, implore him to come to his sorrowing mother, to his deserted home. He may be in trouble; he may be suffering; tell him for his loving mother that all is forgiven and forgotten, and he will find comfort and peace at home." On the back of this photograph she had written his full name and address; she had noted his complexion, the color of his eyes and hair; why he had left home, and the cause of his so doing. "When you preach, Mr. Moody, look for my poor boy," were the parting words of that mother. That young man may be in this hall to-night. If he is, I want to tell him that his mother loves him still. I will read out his name, and if any of you ever hear of that young man, just tell him that his mother is waiting with a loving heart and a tender embrace for him. His name is Arthur P. Oxley, of Manchester, England.

“It was so cold where we were,” said the Arctic explorer, “that the candle froze and we couldn’t blow it out.”

“That’s nothing,” said his rival. “Where we were, the words came out of our mouths in pieces of ice and we had to fry them to hear what we were talking about.”

The soldier’s first article of faith is summed up nowhere more eloquently than in an 1865 letter from William Tecumseh Sherman to U.S. Grant: “I knew wherever I was that you thought of me, and if I got in a tight place you would come--if alive.”

Alexander de Seversky, U. S. aviator and engineer, was once visiting a fellow flyer in the hospital. The young man had just lost his leg; de Seversky, who had had an artificial leg for some time, tried to cheer him up. “The loss of a leg is not so great a calamity,” he said. “If you get hit on a wooden leg, it doesn’t hurt a bit! Try it!” The patient raised his walking stick and brought it down hard on de Seversky’s leg. “You see,” he said cheerfully. “If you hit an ordinary man like that, he’d be in bed for five days!” With that he left his friend and limped into the corridor, where he collapsed in excruciating pain. It seems the young man had struck de Seversky on his good leg!

American artist James Whistler, who was never known to be bashful about his talent, was once advised that a shipment of blank canvases he had ordered had been lost in the mail. When asked if the canvases were of any great value, Whistler remarked, “not yet, not yet.”

Many modern novels, poems, and pictures which we are brow-beaten into appreciating are not good work because they are not work at all. They are mere puddles of spilled sensibility or reflection. When an artist is in the strict sense working, he of course takes into account the existing taste, interests, and capacity of his audience. These, no less than the language, the marble, or the paint, are part of his raw material; to be used, tamed, sublimated, not ignored nor defied. Haughty indifference to them is not genius nor integrity; it is laziness and incompetence. - C. S. Lewis,

As a rule, Man’s a fool

When it’s hot, He wants it cool.

And when it’s cool, He wants it hot,

Always wanting What is not.

Recently, 50 of America's leading citizens selected the Bible as the number one piece of literature.

America is great today because our forebearers believed in this Book, and established the foundation of our country upon its precepts. Most American presidents have been ardent students of the Bible.

The survival of our nation today, in this hour of world crisis, will be due to the faith of our citizenry in the Bible, and in the God of the Bible.

There is a tale told of that great English actor Macready. An eminent preacher once said to him: “I wish you would explain to me something.”

“Well, what is it? I don’t know that I can explain anything to a preacher.”

“What is the reason for the difference between you and me? You are appearing before crowds night after night with fiction, and the crowds come wherever you go. I am preaching the essential and unchangeable truth, and I am not getting any crowd at all.”

Macready’s answer was this: “This is quite simple. I can tell you the difference between us. I present my fiction as though it were truth; you present your truth as though it were fiction.”

In great matters men show themselves as they wish to be seen, in small matters, as they are.

In its natural state, asbestos is a soft rock consisting of compressed fibers. Because of its fire-resistant qualities, it has had thousands of uses in home and industry over the years. Almost 30 million tons of the material have been used in the United states for insulation since 1900.

I remember being impressed as a child with that amazing kind of cloth that doesn’t burn. But even though it has served a beneficial purpose, recent findings show it to be a severe health hazard. According to a Harvard Medical School report, more than 500,000 Americans will die from exposure to the air-borne particles of asbestos. It stated that just because there doesn’t appear to be an immediate problem, the public must not be fooled. Asbestos disease becomes a medical problem when it’s too late to cure it. The symptoms may not show up for 30 years or more.

It is said that on one occasion when Caesar gave a very valuable present, the receiver replied that it was too costly a gift. The Emperor answered that it was not too great for Caesar to give. Our God is a great King, and He delights to give gifts to us: so let us delight to ask Him for great things.

Dr. Guthrie, that great Scotch preacher, prayed in the morning service for rain. As he went to church in the afternoon, little Mary, his daughter, said, "Here is the umbrella, Papa." "What do we need it for?" he asked. "You prayed for rain this morning, and don't you expect God will send it?" They carried the umbrella, and when they came home they were glad to take shelter under it from the drenching storm.

A new believer was on a plane with an intellectual (a man educated beyond his intelligence). He sneered at her reading the Bible. Asked if she believed it?

“Yes.”

“Jonah and the whale story?”

“Yes.”

“How did it happen?”

“Don’t know, but I’ll find out when I get to heaven.”

“What if Jonah isn’t there?”

“Then I guess you’ll have to ask him for me.”

William Jennings Bryan, Secretary of State in Woodrow Wilson’s Cabinet, was interviewing a man who was seeking a diplomatic post in China. Bryan warned the applicant that it was necessary to qualify as a linguist. “Can you speak the Chinese language?” he asked.

The man was equal to the occasion. Looking Bryan squarely in the eye, he replied, “Try me. Ask me something in Chinese.”

A Father and his small son were out walking one day when the lad asked how electricity could go through the wires stretched between the telephone poles. “I don’t know,” said his father. “I never knew much about electricity.”

A few blocks farther on, the boy asked what caused lightning and thunder. “That too has puzzled me,” came the reply. The youngster continued to inquire about many things, none of which the father could explain.

Finally, as they were nearing home, the boy said, “Pop, I hope you didn’t mind all those questions.” “Not at all,” replied his father. “How else are you going to learn!”

Suppose a robbery had been committed in a store in your neighborhood; you join the crowd standing outside and ask, "What happened?" Someone starts to fill you in on what's going on, though he hasn't been inside the building himself. Then the storekeeper comes out, and you ask the same question. His account differs in many details from that of the bystander. Whom would you believe? The answer is obvious. You realize that the man who stands outside a building is a very poor judge of what is taking place within. Yet, frequently the man who stands outside the circle of born-again Christians refuses to enter or even listen to what is going on inside the circle of those who are in Christ. Unfortunately, when he desires to get information on spiritual things, he doesn't go to those who have experienced the indwelling of the Spirit of God, but turns to worldly philosophers and rationalists, those outside of the circle of believers. Therefore the information he gets of what is going on inside is totally perverted.

Georges Clemenceau was twice the prime minister of France, and played a major role in the treaties that concluded WWI. At the Versailles conference, Clemenceau was on his way to a meeting with President Woodrow Wilson’s adviser when he was shot at by a young anarchist named Emile Cottin. As Clemenceaus’s car sped away Cottin fired at least six more shots, one of which struck Clemenceau near his heart.

Cottin was captured and the death penalty demanded, but Clemenceau asked for leniency, recommending eight years in prison “with intensive training in a shooting gallery.”

John Cheever was asked if he would describe life with his wife, Mary. “She has displayed an extraordinary amount of patience,” he answered. He paused, then continued,” Women are an inspiration. It’s because of them we put on clean shirts and wash our necks. Because of women, we want to excel. Because of a woman, Christopher Columbus discovered America.” “Queen Isabella,” Mary Cheever murmured. “I was thinking of Mrs. Columbus,” He said, deadpan.

1. Who to ask, our heavenly Father John 15:16

2. How to ask, in the name of Jesus Christ John 14:13

3. How to ask, in the power of the Holy Spirit Rom 8:26; Eph 2:18

4. How to ask, in faith Matt 21:22, James 1:6

5. What to ask for, help of the Lord 2 Chron 20:4

6. What to ask for, fullness of the Spirit Luke 11:13

7. What to ask for, fullness of joy John 16:24; Rev 5:9-14

8. What to ask for, wisdom James 1:5

9. What to ask for, anything John 14:14

10. The condition, abiding in Christ John 15:7; 1 John 3:22-4, 2:6

11. Encouragements to ask, promises of Christ John 16:23

12. Encouragements to ask, He hears us, according to His will 1 John 5:14-15

13. Encouragements to ask, Christ praying for us John 16:26

In The Chronicles of Narnia, an allegory by C. S. Lewis, the author has two girls, Susan and Lucy, getting ready to meet Aslan the lion, who represents Christ. Two talking animals, Mr. and Mrs. Beaver, prepare the children for the encounter.

“Ooh,” said Susan, “I thought he was a man. Is he quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.”

“That you will, dearie,” said Mrs. Beaver. “And make no mistake, if there’s anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they’re either braver than most or else just silly.”

“Then isn’t he safe?” said Lucy.

“Safe?” said Mr. Beaver. “Don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? Of course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the king, I tell you!”

Mr. and Mrs. Moody often had guests in their Chicago home. One evening, after a very demanding day, Moody asked a visiting Christian to lead in family devotions. The man waxed eloquent as he expounded the symbolism in a difficult chapter of the Bible. Then he prayed at great length. When the worship was over, Mrs. Moody and the guest got up from their knees, but Moody remained bowed in prayer. The guest thought that he was praying, but Mrs. Moody soon detected that her husband was—asleep!

Lt. Col. Terence Otway, commander of the 9th Parachute Battalion of the British 6th Airborne Division, has an assignment to destroy the four powerful guns of a coastal battery in Merville, overlooking Sword Beach. If the 9th could not complete the task on time, naval gunfire would try. The bombardment was to begin at 5:30 a.m.

Otway had an elaborate strategy to overrun the guns, but the plan misfired. An initial air attack was a total failure, and then his battalion was dropped across almost 50 miles of the countryside. Of his 700-man battalion, Otway could find only 150 soldiers.

Nevertheless, the men improvised brilliantly. They cut gaps through the outer barricade of the gun battery with wire cutters. One group cleared a path through the minefields, crawling on hands and knees while feeling for tripwires and prodding the ground ahead with bayonets. Now they waited for the order to attack.

Otway knew casualties would be high, but the guns had to be silenced. “Everybody in!” he yelled. “We’re going to take this bloody battery!”

And in they went.

Red flares burst over their heads, and machine-gun fire poured out to meet them. Through the deadly barrage, the paratroopers crawled, ran, dropped and ran some more. Mines exploded. There were yells and screams and the flash of grenades as paratroopers piled into the trenches and fought hand to hand with the enemy.

Germans began surrendering. Lt. Michael Dowling and his men knocked out the four guns. Then Dowling found Otway. He stood before his colonel, his right hand holding the left side of his chest.

“Battery taken as ordered, sir,” Dowling declared. The battle had lasted just 15 minutes. Otway fired a yellow flare—the success signal—a quarter of an hour before the naval bombardment was to start.

Moments later Otway found Dowling’s lifeless body. He had been dying at the time he made his report.

A man who first pastored and nurtured a church brings in an assistant to help with the work, a hand-picked man. Later, both men do church planting work together for a couple of years, then return to the home church. A sharp disagreement arises over an issue they both view as a matter of principle, and about which neither feels he can back down. The disagreement is so sharp that they part company, but the church supports the assistant! (Acts 15:36-41)

People are more likely to change their opinions if you state your beliefs than if you let the audience draw their own conclusions.

Pleasant forms of distraction can increase the effectiveness of a persuasive appeal.

Information, by itself, almost never produces permanent changes. In time, the effects of oratory and persuasive communication wear off.

People are more likely to change when the message is repeated more than once, and when the desired conclusion is presented at the beginning or at the end of the presentation, instead of in the middle.

A persuasive appeal is more effective when people are required to be active (for example, by discussing an issue or by having to exert oneself to get information) than when they are merely passive listeners.

Attempts to change people by arousing guilt and fear rarely bring lasting internal change.

People are most likely to be persuaded when they perceive that the communicator is in some way similar to themselves. A communicator’s effectiveness is increased if he or she expresses some views that are also held by the audience.

An audience is more likely to be persuaded if they perceive that the communicator has high credibility.

If you assume that the audience might be hostile, it is most effective to present facts first (building a case), give more than one side of the argument, and present your position at the end.

Communication is most effective when information comes through different channels (for example, through pictures, brochures, media “spots,” and rational arguments), from different people who present the same message, and repeatedly over a period of time.

It is said of Napoleon that while he was reviewing his army one day, his horse became frightened at something, and the Emperor lost his rein, and the horse went away at full speed, and the Emperor's life was in danger. He could not get hold of the rein, and a private in the ranks saw it, and sprang out of the ranks towards the horse, and was successful in getting hold of the horse's head at the peril of his own life. The Emperor was very much pleased. Touching his hat, he said to him, "I make you Captain of my Guard." The soldier didn't take his gun, and walk up there. He threw it away, stepped out of the ranks of the soldiers, and went up to where the body-guard stood. The captain of the body-guard ordered him back into the ranks, but he said "No! I won't go!" "Why not?" "Because I am Captain of the Guard." "You Captain of the Guard?" "Yes;" replied the soldier. "Who said it?" and the man, pointing to the Emperor; said, "He said it." That was enough. Nothing more could be said. He took the Emperor at his word. My friends, if God says anything, let us take Him at His word. "He that believeth on the Lord Jesus Christ shall not perish, but have everlasting life." Don't you believe it? Don't you believe you have got everlasting life? It can be the privilege of every child of God to believe and then know that you have got it.

Persistence paid off for American astronomer Clyde Tombaugh, who discovered the planet Pluto. After astronomers calculated a probable orbit for this “suspected” heavenly body, Tombaugh took up the search in March 1929. Time magazine recorded the investigation: “He examined scores of telescopic photographs each showing tens of thousands of star images in pairs under the dual microscope. It often took three days to scan a single pair. It was exhausting, eye-cracking work—in his own words, ‘brutal, tediousness.’ And it went on for months.

Star by star, he examined 20 million images. Then on February 18, 1930, as he was blinking at a pair of photographs in the constellation Gemini, ‘I suddenly came upon the image of Pluto!” It was the most dramatic astronomic discovery in nearly 100 years.

"Mommy," asked Jane, "what makes everybody so happy at Christmas?" "Well, because it is the Lord Jesus' birthday...and because we love Him...and because we are happy about His coming to this world."

Jane thought a minute and then said, "Then is the Lord happy about you?" "Oh, little girl, what a question you have asked!"

Is the Lord Jesus happy about us on His birthday? Is he really happy because He sees within our hearts a deep, true love for Him? Does He see a satisfying love and not just a seasonal affection stirred up by the festivities of Christmas? What He wants more than anything else on His birthday is the love of our hearts.

Taken from the book At Dawn We Slept, by Gordon Prange. written on Sept. 6, 1941 by journalist Clarke Beach. “A Japanese attack on Hawaii is regarded as the most unlikely thing in the world, with one chance in a million of being successful. Beside shaving more powerful defenses than any other post under the American flag, it is protected by distance.”

I hold you at last in my hand,

Exquisite child of the air.

Can I ever understand

How you grew to be so fair?

Now I hold you fast in my hand,

You marvelous butterfly,

Till you help me to understand

The eternal mystery.

From that creeping thing in the dust

To this shining bliss in the blue!

God give me courage to trust

I can break my chrysalis too!

Alice Freeman Palmer

At the close of life, the question will not be,

“How much have you gotten?” but “How much have you given?”

Not

“How much have you won?” but “How much have you done?”

Not

“How much have you saved?” but “How much have you sacrificed?”

It will be

“How much have you loved and served,” not “How much were you honored?”

Nathan C. Schaeffer

Near the end of his life, Jean-Paul Sartre told Pierre Victor: “I do not feel that I am the product of chance, a speck of dust in the universe, but someone who was expected, prepared, prefigured. In short, a being whom only a Creator could put here; and this idea of a creating hand refers to God.

Protested fellow philosopher and long-time companion Simone de Beauvoir: “How should one explain the senile act of a turncoat?”

I was sitting in my favorite chair, studying for the final stages of my doctoral degree, when Sarah announced herself in my presence with a question: “Daddy, do you want to see my family picture?”

“Sarah, Daddy’s busy. Come back in a little while, Honey.”

Good move, right? I was busy. A week’s worth of work to squeeze into a weekend. You’ve been there.

Ten minutes later she swept back into the living room, “Daddy, let me show you my picture.”

The heat went up around my collar. “Sarah, I said come back later. This is important.”

Three minutes later she stormed into the living room, got three inches from my nose, and barked with all the power a five-year-old could muster: “Do you want to see it or don’t you?” The assertive Christian woman in training.

“NO,” I told her, I DON’T.”

With that she zoomed out of the room and left me alone. And somehow, being alone at that moment wasn’t as satisfying as I thought it would be. I felt like a jerk. (Don’t agree so loudly.) I went to the front door.

“Sarah,” I called, “could you come back inside a minute, please? Daddy would like to see your picture.”

She obliged with no recriminations, and popped up on my lap.

It was a great picture. She’d even given it a title. Across the top, in her best printing, she had inscribed: “OUR FAMILY BEST.”

“Tell me about it,” I said.

“Here is Mommy [a stick figure with long yellow curly hair], here is me standing by Mommy [with a smiley face], here is our dog Katie, and here is Missy [her little sister was a stick figure lying in the street in front of the house, about three times bigger than anyone else]. It was a pretty good insight into how she saw our family.

“I love your picture, Honey,” I told her. “I’ll hang it on the dining room wall, and each night when I come home from work and from class [which was usually around 10 P.M.], I’m going to look at it.”

She took me at my word, beamed ear to ear, and went outside to play. I went back to my books. But for some reason I kept reading the same paragraph over and over.

Something was making me uneasy.

Something about Sarah’s picture.

Something was missing.

I went to the front door. “Sarah,” I called, “could you come back inside a minute, please? I want to look at your picture again, Honey.”

Sarah crawled back into my lap. I can close my eyes right now and see the way she looked. Cheeks rosy from playing outside. Pigtails. Strawberry Shortcake tennis shoes. A Cabbage Patch doll named Nellie tucked limply under her arm.

I asked my little girl a question, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear the answer.

“Honey...there’s Mommy, and Sarah, and Missy. Katie the dog is in the picture, and the sun, and the house, and squirrels, and birdies. But Sarah...where is your Daddy?”

“You’re at the library,” she said.

1. Whosoever will be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the catholic faith;

2. Which faith except every one do keep whole and undefiled, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly.

3. And the catholic faith is this: That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity;

4. Neither confounding the persons, nor dividing the substance.

5. For there is one person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Spirit.

6. But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit is all one, and glory equal, the majesty —eternal.

7. Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Spirit.

8. The Father uncreate, the Son uncreate, and the Holy Spirit uncreate.

9. The Father incomprehensible, the Son incomprehensible, and the Holy Spirit incomprehensible.

10. The Father eternal, the Son eternal, and the Holy Spirit eternal.

11. And yet they are not three eternals, but one eternal.

12. As also there are not three uncreated nor three incomprehensibles, but one incomprehensible.

13. So likewise the Father is almighty, the Son almighty, and the Holy Spirit almighty;

14. And yet they are not three almighties, but one almighty.

15. So the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God;

16. And yet they are not three Gods, but one God.

17. So likewise the Father is Lord, the Son Lord, and the Holy Spirit Lord;

18. And yet they are not three Lords, but one Lord.

19. For like as we are compelled by the Christian verily to acknowledge every person by himself to be God and Lord;

20. So we are forbidden by the catholic religion to say: There are three Gods or three Lords.

21. The Father is made of none, neither created nor begotten.

22. The Son is of the father alone; not made nor created, but begotten.

23. The Holy Spirit is of the Father and of the Son; neither made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding.

24. So there is one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three Sons; one Holy spirit, not three Holy Spirits.

25. And in this Trinity none is afore, or after another; none is greater, or less than another.

26. But the whole three persons are co-eternal, and co-equal.

27. So that in all things, as aforesaid, the Unity in Trinity and the Trinity in Unity is to be worshiped.

28. He therefore that will be saved must this think of the Trinity.

29. Furthermore it is necessary to everlasting salvation that he alone believe rightly the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ.

30. For the right faith is that we believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and man.

31. God of the substance of the Father, begotten before the worlds; and man the substance of His mother, born in the world.

32. Perfect God and perfect man, of a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting.

33. Equal to the Father as touching His Godhead, and inferior to the Father as touching His manhood.

34. Who, although He is God and man, yet He is not two, but one Christ.

35. One, not by conversion of the Godhead into flesh, but by taking of the manhood into God.

36. One altogether, not by confusion of substance, but by unity of person.

37. For as the reasonable soul and flesh is one man, so God and man is one Christ;

38. Who suffered for our salvation, descended into hell, rose again the third day from the dead;

39. He ascended into heaven, He sitteth on the right hand of the Father, God Almighty;

40. From thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.

41. At whose coming all men shall rise again with their bodies;

42. And shall give account of their own works.

43. And they that have done good shall go into life everlasting, and they that have done evil into everlasting fire.

44. This is the catholic faith, which except a man believe faithfully, he cannot be saved.

Several famous people were asked what they felt was the saddest word in the English language. Here’s what some of them said.

Poet T. S. Eliot: “The saddest word in the English language is, of course, ‘saddest.’”

Lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II: “But.”

Writer John Dos Passos quoted John Keats: “Forlorn! the very word is like a bell.”

Psychiatrist Karl Menninger: “Unloved.”

Statesman Bernard M. Baruch: “Hopeless.”

President Harry Truman quoted John Greenleaf Whittier: “For of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these: ‘It might have been!’”

Alexandra Tolstoi: “The saddest word in all languages, which has brought the world to its present condition, is ‘atheism.’”

Put all of these answers together and you have a faint picture of a soul without Christ. I think of that word which Keats used so dramatically, “forlorn.” It is the English form of the Dutch word verloren, which means “lost.” But the Word of God, through the apostle Paul, gives the ultimate description, “...without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world” (Eph. 2:12).