Pastoral Resources

If Dracula were interested in drugstores, he’d shop at Sargent’s in Chicago. In fact, store manager Harvey Snitman says he’s more interested in selling leeches than pimple creams or mouthwash.

The worm-like creatures, which sport three razor-sharp teeth, are among the drugstore’s hottest selling items. Though the store manager tries to stock about 100 of the wiggly, squiggly blood suckers at all times, he can easily sell that supply within a month or two. Known technically as Hirudo Medicinalus, or by Snitman as “Little Friendly Draculas,” the medicinal leeches are primarily used by customers to withdraw blood from black eyes. But other shoppers, from as far away as New York, believe they relieve migraine headaches, phlebitis and the swelling of bruises.

The leeches, which the store imports from Russia, Poland and Hungary through a London broker, run about three to four inches long and retail for $6.50. While the price may seem steep, Snitman is quick to point out that the little creatures can be used more than once. After gorging itself on a luscious shiner, for example, a leech eeds time to digest its intake before being called on again for service.

Physicians prescribed leeches widely until the late 1800’s, but their popularity has dropped off since. So, if you’re in the market and can’t find them at your corner drugstore, stop by Sargent’s.

Just say Dracula sent you.

Leftovers are such humble things,

We would not serve to a guest,

And yet we serve them to our Lord

Who deserve the very best.

We give to Him leftover time,

Stray minutes here and there.

Leftover cash we give to Him,

Such few coins as we can spare.

We give our youth unto the world,

To hatred, lust and strife;

Then in declining years we give

To him the remnant of our life.

- Source unknown

Americans are so shaped and stamped by their legacy of individualism that the concepts of community virtue and moral obligation have been discredited In our popular culture, adulthood is too often defined as doing what you want to do, not what you are supposed to do. Making a baby is a sign of status, while caring for one is not. Right and wrong are old-fashioned, politically incorrect concepts. And sin? Forget it. The problem doesn’t end with ghetto kids getting pregnant and going on welfare. Half of all Americans who marry and have children eventually divorce. For many, marriage is more like a hobby than a commitment, a phase instead of a trust. We are becoming a country of deadbeat dads who don’t pay their bills and dead-tired moms who work two jobs to pick up the slack. Even many parents who pay for their children don’t pay attention to their children. In so doing, they miss out on some of life’s greatest joys: hearing a small giggle or holding a small hand.

As Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders notes, it is easier for many children to find drugs “than it is for them to find hugs.” Probably the best thing that society can do for its toddlers is to make “parent” an honorable title again. No job is more important, yet no job is more often taken for granted. We teach work skills but not life skills, how to change a carburetor but not a diaper, how to treat a customer but not a kid. Becoming a parent should be the result of love, not just sex; a sign of a lasting relationship, not just a passing infatuation; a source of pride, and not remorse. Only then will our children be safe.

Nothing can choke the heart and soul out of walking with God like legalism. Rigidity is the most certain sign that the Disciplines have spoiled. The disciplined person is the person who can live appropriately in life.

Consider the story of Hans the tailor. Because of his reputation, an influential entrepreneur visiting the city ordered a tailor-made suit. But when he came to pick up his suit, the customer found that one sleeve twisted that way and the other this way; one shoulder bulged out and the other caved in. He pulled and managed to make his body fit.

As he returned home on the bus, another passenger noticed his odd appearance and asked if Hans the tailor had made the suit. Receiving an affirmative reply, the man remarked, “Amazing! I knew that Hans was a good tailor, but I had no idea he could make a suit fit so perfectly someone as deformed as you.”

Often that is just what we do in the church. We get some idea of what the Christian faith should look like: then we push and shove people in to the most grotesque configurations until they fit wonderfully! That is death. It is a wooden legalism which destroys the soul.

- Richard J. Foster

Ancil Jenkins shares this illustration:

"'Fasten your seat belt,'I said to my wife, Elaine, the other day. 'It is the law, you know.'As she fastened her seat belt, I thought, 'Dummy, that is not the reason you want her buckled up. You want her protected from the harm of any accident you might drive her into.'How shallow would be my concern if I was more in fear of paying a fine than in her being seriously hurt!

"How much this can describe our approach to our obedience to God! Almost all we do is from mixed motives. Yet which motive is overriding? Do we obey because we fear God's wrath and judgment? Do we feel He will break our leg or burn down our house if we disobey? Do we feel that Christianity is just a set of rules to be obeyed and our satisfaction comes from doing a good job of keeping rules?

"The result of such an attitude will only breed fear and guilt. Fear comes from any failure to obey, and there will be such failure. Guilt comes from many sources, such as finding there was a law you had been failing to obey. Any failure at perfect obedience can lead to regarding some laws as more important than others. All this can lead to a disregard of others who do not keep laws as well as we do (Luk_18:1). It can lead us to giving more attention to the minute details and neglecting the major virtues God desires us to have (Mat_23:23). We become ridiculous gnat strainers and camel swallowers (Mat_23:24).

"We should obey God because we love Him. We obey because He has done so much for us and we have done so little for Him. We obey because love is never content to accept but must always give. Jesus said, 'If you love Me, you will do what I command' (Joh_14:15). We then come to realize that our disobedience not only breaks the laws of God, it also breaks the heart of God. How often they rebelled against Him in the wilderness and grieved Him in the desert! (Psa_78:40).

"Such obedience is far fuller, richer, and freer than can ever come from a legal motivation. Imagine a woman who is a nurse and a mother. She may work at a hospital all day caring for the sick. When she has worked eight hours, she goes home. Upon arriving home, she finds her child is seriously ill. She will then give her child the same care she gives the hospital patients. However, when she has cared for her child for eight hours, she will not quit. She gives care no one can buy. The difference is the motivation.

"What is your major motivation? Seek to know God better, and you will find yourself obeying out of love. It will become 'richer, fuller, deeper'and will become 'sweeter as the years go by.'"

Each of us has certain legal rights in life. It is our privilege to insist that we enjoy every one of them. But in so doing we may commit moral wrong which would be injurious, not only to others, but also to ourselves and thus rob us of that most essential peace of heart. One of the apartments owned by a Christian landlord is rented by a widow with four children. Month after month, as a result of the hard work of that poor widow, the rent is paid. But suddenly she gets sick and is unable to pay the rent. The landlord has every legal right to call upon the authorities to evict this woman and her children from the apartment. His act would be legally right but morally wrong, i.e., right according to the letter, but wrong according to the spirit. If he shows kindness to this woman and her children and allows them to stay on in the apartment in spite of the fact they are not able to pay rent, he is showing the Christian quality of compassion. It is wiser to be willing to allow our legal rights to be trampled on, rather than by claiming them, to be morally in the wrong.

There are certain lessons of grace that can be learned only in the valley of pain and distress. Show me a Christian who has suffered much and deepened his dependence on God, and I will show you a sensitive soul full of compassion for others, and with a deep love for his Savior.

According to a legend, a king once placed a heavy stone in the roadway. Then he hid and waited to see who would remove it. Many who came by loudly blamed the government for not keeping the highways clear, but none assumed the duty of pushing the obstacle out of the way. At last a poor peasant stopped and rolled it into the gutter. To his surprise he found a bag full of gold embedded in the road beneath the spot where the rock had been. A note said it was the king’s reward for anyone who removed the troublesome object.

The University of Northern Iowa once offered a general art course that included a most unusual exercise. The teacher brought to class a shopping bag filled with lemons and gave a lemon to each class member. The assignment was for the student to keep his lemon with him day and night—smelling, handling, examining it.

Next class period, without warning, students were told to put their lemons back in the bag. Then each was asked to find his lemon. Surprisingly, most did so without difficulty.

Number of pages of the U.S. Constitution, the operating manual for a nation of 258 million people 21.

Number of pages of the operating manual of a Toyota Camry, which seats only five; 228.

On three separate occasions, God told parents in Israel how to answer the serious questions of their sons and daughters (see Exodus 13:14, Deuteronomy 6:20, and Joshua 4:6,21). This would indicate that God wants us to take the time to answer our children when they ask us about spiritual matters. How we respond can either greatly help or terribly discourage them.

Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy told of an aunt who hurt him deeply when she didn’t take time to answer some questions that were troubling him. She stirred his emotions by telling him of Jesus’ crucifixion, but when he cried out, “Auntie, why did they torture Him?” she said simply, “They were wicked.” “But wasn’t He God?” Tolstoy asked. Instead of explaining that Jesus was indeed God, that He had become a man so He could die for our sins, she said, “Be still—it is 9 o’clock!” When he persisted, she retorted, ““Be quiet, I say, I’m going to the dining room to have tea.” This left young Tolstoy greatly agitated. Commenting on this scene, Calvin Miller said, “Tolstoy found it incomprehensible that Christ had been brutalized and his aunt was not interested enough to stay a little past teatime and talk about it.”

Do we allow our own interests—a television program, a sporting event, a hobby—to keep us from taking time to listen, admonish, and instruct our children, or anyone who may ask us about God? If we pause long enough to explain His truth, He will use it to change lives. H.V.L.

Leo Tolstoy thought he was getting his marriage off on the right foot when he asked his teenage fiance to read his diaries, which spelled out in lurid detail all of his sexual dalliances. He wanted to keep no secrets from Sonya, to begin marriage with a clean slate, forgiven. Instead, Tolstoy’s confession sowed the seeds for a marriage that would be held together by vines of hatred, not love. “When he kisses me I’m always thinking, ‘I’m not the first woman he has loved,’” wrote Sonya Tolstoy in her own diary. Some of his adolescent flings she could forgive, but not his affair with Axinya, a peasant woman who continued to work on the Tolstoy estate. “One of these days I shall kill myself with jealousy,” Sonya wrote after seeing the three-year-old son of the peasant woman, the spiting image of her husband. “If I could kill him [Tolstoy] and create a new person exactly the same as he is now, I would do so happily.” Another diary entry dates from January 14, 1909. “He relishes that peasant wench with her strong female body and her sunburnt legs, she allures him just as powerfully now as she did all those years ago…” Sonya wrote those words when Axinya was a shriveled crone of eighty. For half a century jealousy and unforgiveness had blinded her, in the process destroying all love for her husband.

Leonard Bernstein, the late conductor of the New York Philharmonic orchestra, was once asked to name the most difficult instrument to play. Without hesitation, he replied, “The second fiddle. I can get plenty of first violinists, but to find someone who can play the second fiddle with enthusiasm—that’s a problem. And if we have no second fiddle, we have no harmony.”

In May 1924, a shocked nation learned two young men from Chicago, Richard Leopold and Nathan Loeb, had killed 14-year-old Bobbie Franks. What made the crime so shocking, and made Leopold and Loeb household names, was the reason for the killing. The two became obsessed with the idea of committing the “perfect murder,” and simply picked young Franks as their victim. They were sentenced to life imprisonment, but Leopold was killed in a prison brawl in 1936. Claiming he wanted “a chance to find redemption for myself and to help others,” Nathan Loeb became a hospital technician at his parole in 1958. He died in 1971.

Dr. Paul W. Brand, the noted leprosy expert who was chief of the rehabilitation branch of the Leprosarium in Carville, Lousiana, had a frightening experience one night when he thought he had contracted leprosy. Dr. Brand arrived in London one night after an exhausting transatlantic ocean trip and long train ride from the English coast. He was getting ready for bed, had taken off his shoes, and as he pulled off a sock, discovered there was no feeling in his heel. To most anyone else this discovery would have meant very little, a momentary numbness. But Dr. Brand was world famous for his restorative surgery on lepers in India. He had convinced himself and his staff at the leprosarium that there was no danger of infection from leprosy after it reached a certain stage. The numbness in his heel terrified him. In her biography of Dr. Brand, Ten Fingers for God, Dorothy Clarke Wilson says,

He rose mechanically, found a pin, sat down again, and pricked the small area below his ankle. He felt no pain. He thrust the pin deeper, until a speck of blood showed. Still he felt nothing…He supposed, like other workers with leprosy, he had always half expected it.… In the beginning probably not a day had gone by without the automatic searching of his body for the telltale patch, the numbed area of skin.

All that night the great orthopedic surgeon tried to imagine his new life as a leper, an outcast, his medical staff’s confidence in their immunity shattered by his disaster. And the forced separation from his family. As night receded, he yielded to hope and in the morning, with clinical objectivity, ‘with steady fingers he bared the skin below his ankle, jabbed in the point—and yelled.’

Blessed was the sensation of pain! He realized that during the long train ride, sitting immobile, he had numbed a nerve. From then on, whenever Dr. Brand cut his finger, turned an ankle, even when he suffered from “agonizing nausea as his whole body reacted in violent self-protection from mushroom poisoning, he was to respond with fervent gratitude, ‘Thank God for pain!’”

My grandfather once told me that there are two kinds of people: those who do the work and those who take the credit. He told me to try to be in the first group; there was less competition there.

Because a woman’s vocal cords are shorter than a man’s she can actually speak with less effort than he can. Shorter vocal cords not only cause a woman’s voice to be more highly pitched, but also require less air to become agitated, making it possible for her to talk more with less energy expended.

A fellow decided to rob a convenience store clerk. The robber had a neat plan to give the clerk a bill, get her to open her cash drawer to make change, and then grab all the money. The plan worked! He got everything in her cash drawer-total .34-and left the clerk with his . He went in the hole to the tune of .66!

The undeniable truth is that sin never gives what it promises. It always returns less than the sinner invests in self-esteem, integrity, and spiritual security. Want proof?

Adam and Eve were promised freedom, wisdom and life by Satan, only to be led to commit spiritual suicide.

Sensuous Samson fell in love with a woman who did not love God, and he paid with his eyesight, freedom and life.

Ananias and Sapphira were going to get credit for being generous and wound up being buried for being liars.

In each of these cases, sin promised something it could never deliver. The same thing is still happening in our world today.

Adolescents are led to see God, their parents, and their teachers as enemies and wind up in rebellion's deep pit.

People date and marry without taking into account that the spiritual element is the critical part of a relationship.

Some church members hide behind masks and fool themselves and their friends, but not God.

Sin costs too much. You have to sell your soul to have whatever pretty trinkets it offers you for the moment. Then you have to face a time of bitter reckoning. You have to "pay the piper." Yet whatever had been promised to you as a reward has already gone up in a puff of smoke or has slipped through your fingers. And Judgment Day is coming! The basic lure of sin is the promise of quick gain, without regard to long-term consequences.

Truth and holiness work differently. With total honesty about the difficult demands at hand, the God who cannot lie promises to reward you down the line. Obedience, purity, integrity, repentance, denial-these are hard words and demanding deeds. But what lies at the end is invaluable!

Sin never delivers. Christ never fails. So don't get robbed while trying to pull a fast one on God.

At the close of a service, a preacher was stopped by a gentleman who, after conceding that the sermon possessed certain commendable features, added, "But it had one noticeable defect!" The startled minister, on inquiring what this defect was, received the following reply: "I am a Jew. I have only recently been born again. Up to that time I attended the synagogue. But there was really nothing in your sermon that I could not have heard in the synagogue, nothing that a Jewish rabbi might not have preached." "That," said the preacher in later years, "was the greatest lesson in homiletics I was ever taught."

As a group of college students toured the slums of a city, one of the girls, seeing a little girl playing in the dirt, asked a guide, "Why doesn't her mother clean her up?"

"Madam," he replied, "that girl's mother probably loves her, but she doesn't hate dirt. You hate dirt, but you don't love her enough to go down there and clean her up. Until hate for dirt and love for that child are in the same person, that little girl is likely to remain as she is."

Until hate for sin and love for the sinner gets in a person, he will do little about the plight of the lost.

During those final days of the collapsing Marxist experiment in the Soviet Union, Soviet novelist Chingiz Aitmatov retold the following story, which has been paraphrased here.

On one occasion, so it was narrated, Stalin called for a live chicken and proceeded to use it to make an unforgettable point before some of his henchmen. Forcefully clutching the chicken in one hand, with the other he began to systematically pluck out its feathers. As the chicken struggled in vain to escape, he continued with the painful denuding until the bird was completely stripped. “Now you watch,” Stalin said as he placed the chicken on the floor and walked away with some bread crumbs in his hand. Incredibly, the fear-crazed chicken hobbled toward him and clung to the legs of his trousers. Stalin threw a handful of grain to the bird, and it began to follow him around the room, he turned to his dumbfounded colleagues and said quietly, “This is the way to rule the people. Did you see how that chicken followed me for food, even though I had caused it such torture? People are like that chicken. If you inflict inordinate pain on them they will follow you for food the rest of their lives.”

If Thou canst make so wonderful

This thrilling thing—a tree,

I wonder, Lord, what Thou couldst make

If man should yield to Thee;

If every time earth-born root

Drank from the wells of God,

If all day long his every breath

Answered Thy slighted not?

Bent, twisted, gnarled, time-eaten,

But a glorious thing this tree,

With hands and heart uplifted

Seeking the face of Thee!

O Thou who made s wondrous fair

This trilling thing, my tree,

Because its every hour is lived

an offering unto Thee,

Oh, take me, root and branch and all

(The years go on apace!)

Grow up in me that radiant life

That shines, Lord, from Thy face!

Two little teardrops were floating down the river of life. One said to the other, "Who are you?" It replied, "I am a teardrop from a girl who loved a man and lost him. Who are you?" The first responded, "Well, I am a teardrop from the girl who got him!"

Life is like that. We cry over things we cannot have. If we only knew it, we would probably cry more if we had received them. Paul had the right idea when he said, "I have learned in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content" (Phi 4:11).

There was a devout Christian mother who was always teaching her daughter lessons of faith and trust, especially telling her that she need never be afraid at any time because God was always near. One summer evening she tucked her little girl in bed after her prayers, put out the light, and went downstairs. Then an electrical storm came rolling out of the west with vivid flashes of lightning and a reverberating roar of thunder. Suddenly there was a simultaneous blinding flash and a deafening crash, and when the echoes died away, the mother heard the little girl calling desperately, "Mama! Mama! Come and get me." The mother found her trembling, little girl in tears. After she had soothed her somewhat, she thought it might be an opportune time to teach a spiritual lesson, and said, "My little girl, has Mother not taught you many times that you need never be afraid, that God is always near, and nothing can harm you?" The little one put her arms around her mother's neck and said, "Yes, Mama. I know that God is always near, but when the lightning and the thunder are so awful, I want someone near me that's got skin on him."

One day the great artist, Michelangelo, stood outside a window. Inside he saw a canvas with a few brushes and paints next to it. All that was missing was the hand of the artist. "Oh," cried Michelangelo, "if I could only be inside, what a picture I could paint!" That's exactly what Christ wishes when He stands outside your life. "Oh, what I could accomplish, if only I could get in!" Allow Him to get in. Open the door of your heart. Believe on Him. Then He will bring peace to your troubled soul.

Professor Drummond once described a man going into one of our after meetings and saying he wanted to become a Christian.

“Well, my friend, what is the trouble?”

He doesn’t like to tell. He is greatly agitated. Finally he says, “The fact is, I have overdrawn my account”—a polite way of saying he has been stealing.

“Did you take your employer’s money?”

“Yes.”

“How much?”

“I don’t know. I have never kept account of it.”

“Well, do you have an idea you stole $1,500 last year?”

“I am afraid it is that much.”

“Now, look here, sir, I don’t believe in sudden work; don’t steal more that a thousand dollars this next year, and the next year not more that five hundred, and in the course of the next few years you will get so that you won’t steal any. If your employer catches you, tell him you are being converted; and you will get so that you won’t steal any by and by.”

My friends, the thing is a perfect farce! “Let him that stole, steal no more,” that is what the Bible says. It is right about face.

Take another illustration. Here comes a man, and he admits that he gets drunk every week. That man comes to a meeting, and wants to be converted. Shall I say, “Don’t you be in a hurry. I believe in doing the work gradually. Don’t you get drunk and knock your wife down more than once a month?” Wouldn’t it be refreshing to his wife to go a whole month without being knocked down? Once a month, only twelve times in a year! Wouldn’t she be glad to have him converted in this new way! Only get drunk after a few years on the anniversary of your wedding, and at Christmas, and then it will be effective because it is gradual!

Oh! I detest all that kind of teaching. Let us go to the Bible and see what that old Book teaches. Let us believe it, and go and act as if we believed it, too. Salvation is instantaneous.

I admit that a man may be converted so that he cannot tell when he crossed the line between death and life, but I also believe a man may be a thief one moment and a saint the next. I believe a man may be as vile as hell itself one moment, and be saved the next.

Christian growth is gradual, just as physical growth is; but a man passes from death unto everlasting life quick as an act of the will—”He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.”

Professor Drummond once described a man going into one of our after meetings and saying he wanted to become a Christian. “Well, my friend, what is the trouble?” He doesn’t like to tell. He is greatly agitated. Finally he says, “The fact is, I have overdrawn my account”—a polite way of saying he has been stealing. “Did you take your employer’s money?” “Yes.” “How much?” “I don’t know. I have never kept account of it.” “Well, you have an idea you stole $1,500 last year?” “I am afraid it is that much.” “Now, look here, sir, I don’t believe in sudden work; don’t steal more than a thousand dollars this next year, and the next year not more that five hundred, and in the course of the next few years you will get so that you won’t steal any. If your employer catches you, tell him you are being converted; and you will get so that you won’t steal any by and by. “My friends, the thing is a perfect farce! “Let him that stole, steal no more,” that is what the Bible says. It is right about face.

Take another illustration. Here comes a man, and he admits that he gets drunk every week. That man comes to a meeting, and wants to be converted. Shall I say, “Don’t you be in a hurry. I believe in doing the work gradually. Don’t you get drunk and knock your wife down more than once a month?” Wouldn’t it be refreshing to his wife to go a whole month without being knocked down? Once a month, only twelve times in a year! Wouldn’t she be glad to have him converted in this new way! Only get drunk after a few years on the anniversary of your wedding, and at Christmas, and then it will be effective because it is gradual! Oh! I detest all that kind of teaching. Let us go to the Bible and see what that old Book teaches. Let us believe it, and go and act as if we believed it, too. Salvation is instantaneous. I admit that a man may be converted so that he cannot tell when he crossed the line between death and life, but I also believe a man may be a thief one moment and a saint the next. I believe a man may be as vile as hell itself one moment, and be saved the next.

Christian growth is gradual, just as physical growth is; but a man passes from death unto everlasting life quick as an act of the will—“He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.”

Samuel Rutherford once wrote, “If God had told me some time ago that he was about to make me as happy as I could be in this world, and then had told me that he should begin by crippling me in arm or limb, and removing me from all my usual sources of enjoyment, I should have thought it a very strange mode of accomplishing his purpose. And yet, how is his wisdom manifest even in this! For if you should see a man shut up in a closed room, idolizing a set of lamps and rejoicing in their light, and you wished to make him truly happy, you would begin by blowing out all his lamps, and then throwing open the shutter to let in the light of heaven.”

Benjamin Franklin wanted to interest the people in Philadelphia in street lighting. He did not call a town meeting nor try to persuade the people by talking about it. He acted upon what he considered a good idea. He hung a beautiful lantern on a long bracket in front of his house. He kept the glass polished and carefully trimmed and lit the wick every evening at the approach of dusk. The lamp helped the people see the pavement ahead; made them feel more secure at night. Others began placing lights in front of their houses. Soon Philadelphia recognized the need for street lights.

Be the one today to light up your neighborhood with the light of life. Let it shine. Let your light shine TODAY!

Elizabeth Elliot, in her book Let Me Be a Woman, records the story of Gladys Aylward unable to accept the looks God had given her. Ms. Aylward told how when she was a child she had two great sorrows. One, that while all her friends had beautiful golden hair, hers was black. The other, that while her friends were still growing, she had stopped. She was about four feet ten inches tall. But when at last she reached the country to which God had called her to be a missionary, she stood on the wharf in Shanghai and looked around at the people to whom He had called her. “Every single one of them” she said, “had black hair. And every one of them had stopped growing when I did.” She was able to look to God and exclaim, “Lord God, You know what You’re doing!”

In his book Facing Loneliness, J. Oswald Sanders writes, “The round of pleasure or the amassing of wealth are but vain attempts to escape from the persistent ache...The millionaire is usually a lonely man and the comedian is often more unhappy than his audience.”

Sanders goes on the emphasize that being successful often fails to produce satisfaction. Then he refers to Henry Martyn, a distinguished scholar, as an example of what he is talking about.

Martyn, a Cambridge University student, was honored at only 20 years of age for his achievements in mathematics. In fact, he was given the highest recognition possible in that field. And yet he felt an emptiness inside. He said that instead of finding fulfillment in his achievements, he had “only grasped a shadow.”

After evaluating his life’s goals, Martyn sailed to India as a missionary at the age of 24. When he arrived, he prayed, “Lord, let me burn out for You.” In the next 7 years that preceded his death, he translated the New Testament into three difficult Eastern languages. These notable achievements were certainly not passing “shadows.”

I don't know how long I have to live

But while I do, Lord, let me give

Some comfort to someone in need

By smile or nod-kind word or deed.

And let me do what e'er I can

To ease things for my fellowman.

I only want to do my part,

To "lift" a tired and weary heart.

To change folks frowns to smiles again

So I will not have lived in vain.

I do not care how long I live

If I can give-and give-and give!

A young American engineer was sent to Ireland by his company to work in a new electronics plant. It was a two-year assignment that he had accepted because it would enable him to earn enough to marry his long-time girlfriend. She had a job near her home in Tennessee, and their plan was to pool their resources and put a down payment on a house when he returned.

They corresponded often, but as the lonely weeks went by, she began expressing doubts that he was being true to her, exposed as he was to comely Irish lasses.

The young engineer wrote back, declaring with some passion that he was paying absolutely no attention to the local girls. “I admit,” he wrote, “that sometimes I’m tempted. But I fight it. I’m keeping myself for you.”

In the next mail, the engineer received a package. It contained a note from his girl and a harmonica. “I’m sending this to you,” she wrote, “so you can learn to play it and have something to take your mind off those girls.” The engineer replied, “Thanks for the harmonica. I’m practicing on it every night and thinking of you.”

At the end of his two-year stint, the engineer was transferred back to company headquarters. He took the first plane to Tennessee to be reunited with his girl. Her whole family was with her, but as he rushed forward to embrace her, she held up a restraining hand and said sternly, “Just hold on there a minute, Billy Bob. Before any serious kissin’ and huggin’ gets started here, let me hear you play that harmonica!”

A young American engineer was sent to Ireland by his company to work in a new electronics plant. It was a two-year assignment that he had accepted because it would enable him to earn enough to marry his long-time girlfriend. She had a job near her home in Tennessee, and their plan was to pool their resources and put a down payment on a house when he returned. They corresponded often, but as the lonely weeks went by, she began expressing doubts that he was being true to her, exposed as he was to comely Irish lasses.

The young engineer wrote back, declaring with some passion that he was paying absolutely no attention to the local girls. “I admit,” he wrote, “that sometimes I’m tempted. But I fight it. I’m keeping myself for you.”

In the next mail, the engineer received a package. It contained a note from his girl and a harmonica. “I’m sending this to you,” she wrote, “so you can learn to play it and have something to take your mind off those girls.” The engineer replied, “Thanks for the harmonica. I’m practicing on it every night and thinking of you.”

At the end of his two-year stint, the engineer was transferred back to company headquarters. He took the first plane to Tennessee to be reunited with his girl. Her whole family was with her, but as he rushed forward to embrace her, she held up a restraining hand and said sternly, “Just hold on there a minute, Billy Bob. Before any serious kissin’ and huggin’ gets started here, let me hear you play that harmonica!”

Let me meet you on the mountain, Lord,

Just once.

You wouldn’t have to burn a whole bush.

Just a few smoking branches

And I would surely be …your Moses.

Let me meet you on the water, Lord,

Just once.

It wouldn’t have to be on White Rock Lake.

Just on a puddle after the annual Dallas rain

And I would surely be…your Peter.

Let me meet you on the road, Lord,

Just once.

You wouldn’t have to blind me on North Central Expressway.

Just a few bright lights on the way to chapel

And I would surely be…your Paul.

Let me meet you, Lord,

Just once.

Anywhere. Anytime.

Just meeting you in the Word is so hard sometimes

Must I always be…your Thomas?

Many of us come to worship expecting to be entertained. If the song leader is not great, if the preacher is not polished, and if the Scripture readers and prayer leaders are just common, they are disappointed, and often times seek a new congregation. As children participate in family devotionals, they always show great interest. The song leading is rarely great, but they are familiar with the songs so they sing with great enthusiasm. As they pray, and are led in prayer, it is with a keen interest in all that has happened that day, and with a Bible story, even if it is the twelfth time they have heard it. Why all this interest? Why are they not as "fickle" as those we mentioned above. The answer is obvious, RELATIONSHIP! Children are participating in a family event, therefore, they are interested. This is Mom and Dad stuff! Brothers and sisters are involved! This is who they are, therefore it is vital and important to them. They appreciate every little thing that is being done.

We need to let the children instruct us. We have allowed the thinking and philosophy of a spoiled world influence our thinking in the church, AND IT IS NOT GOOD! When we gather together, there is a lot of family stuff going on. Our Father is to be worshiped, our brothers are leading, our sisters are singing, there is a lot of our relationship going into that special time. What is wrong is that we have forgotten who we are, so the unique privilege is lost on us. We have come as one who expects to be entertained, not as a family member who expects to participate and appreciate. It is just that simple. If we will remember the relationship, we can better appreciate worship, even when it is not all that polished! Let the children speak!

Years ago, before we became conscious of ecology, tourists at Yosemite Park were treated to a nightly display that never failed to please the huge crowds that gathered to witness this demonstration. High over the valley floor, the park rangers would set a number of logs on fire and wait downstream near one of those marvelous precipitous waterfalls that grace that magnificent valley. When the hour of darkness had finally arrived, the sonorous voice of a park ranger would ring out from the valley floor: "Let the fire fall!"

Then the moment would come which all had waited so patiently to witness; a hail of sparks and flames would appear as the waters carried the burning logs over the brink of the falls and down the steep descent of several hundred feet to the valley floor and the waiting stream. The crowd loved it. The fire fell along with the water. It appeared to happen as if it were solely at the command of one man with a booming and demanding voice-as if he had some special contact with heaven itself.

If that is how it appeared to these campers in Yosemite Park, how must if have appeared to those somewhat skeptical Israelite fence-sitters who refused to adopt whole-heartedly Yahweh or Baal as their God? For just as surely as the park ranger called, "Let the fire fall," so this rustic from the backwoods area of Israel called to the living God. He did not rig his demonstration-this was the real thing. It was so real it was terrifying. Anything that would eat up rocks, dust, water, animals, and all has got to be some sort of supernatural display.

Accordingly, God gives us three "demonstrations" of His power in 1 Kings 18. He demontrates His power through his messenger Elijah in verses 1-20; in His actions by sending fire to burn the sacrifice (verses 21-40); and in His answers to prayer when he relieves the drought in verses 41-46.

A few years ago at the mouth of Cleveland harbor there were two lights, one at each side of the bay, called the upper and lower lights; and to enter the harbor safely by night, vessels must sight both of the lights. These western lakes are more dangerous sometimes than the great ocean. One wild, stormy night, a steamer was trying to make her way into the harbor. The Captain and pilot were anxiously watching for the lights. By and by the pilot was heard to say, "Do you see the lower lights?" "No," was the reply; "I fear we have passed them." "Ah, there are the lights," said the pilot; "and they must be from the bluff on which they stand, the upper lights. We have passed the lower lights; and have lost our chance of getting into the harbor;" What was to be done? They looked back, and saw the dim outline of the lower lighthouse against the sky. The lights had gone out. "Can't you turn your head around?" "No; the night is too wild for that. She won't answer to her helm." The storm was so fearful that they could do nothing. They tried again to make for the harbor, but they went crash against the rocks, and sank to the bottom. Very few escaped; the great majority found a watery grave. Why? Simply because the lower lights had gone out. Now with us the upper lights are all right. Christ himself is the upper light, and we are the lower lights, and the cry to us is, Keep the lower lights burning; that is what we have to do. He will lead us safe to the sunlit shore of Canaan, where there is no more night.

Brightly beams our Father's mercy
From His lighthouse ever more.
But to us He gives the keeping
Of the lights along the shore.

CHO.-- Let the lower lights be burning!
Send a gleam across the wave!
Some poor fainting struggling seaman
You may rescue, you may save.

Dark the night of sin has settled,
Loud and angry billows roar;
Eager eye's are watching, longing,
For the lights along the shore.--Cho.

Trim your feeble lamp, my brother;
Some poor seaman tempest-tost,
Trying now to make the harbor,
In the darkness may be lost.--Cho.

P. P. Bliss.

There is an incipient danger in thinking, since there are so many belonging to the Church, "Why not let George do it?" An eastern story tells of four brothers who decided to have a feast. As wine was rather expensive, they agreed that each one should bring an equal quantity and add it to the common stock. One of the brothers thought he might escape making his contribution by bringing water instead of wine. "It won't be noticed in the common wine jar," he reasoned. But when, at the feast, the wine was poured out, it turned out not to be wine at all but plain water. All four brothers had thought alike. Each one had said, "Let the other do it."

A young girl once consulted with her minister. "I cannot stick it out any longer. I am the only Christian in the factory where I work. I get nothing but taunts and sneers. It is more than I can stand. I am going to resign."

"Will you tell me," asked the minister, "where lights are placed?"

"What has that to do with it?" the young Christian asked him rather bluntly.

"Never mind," the minister replied. "Answer my question: 'Where are lights placed?'"

"I suppose in dark places," she replied.

"Yes, and that is why you have been put in that factory where there is such spiritual darkness and where there is no other Christian to shine for the Lord."

The young Christian realized for the first time the opportunity that was hers. She felt she could not fail God by allowing her light to go out. She went back to the factory with renewed determination to let her light shine in that dark corner. Before long, she was the means of leading nine other girls to the Light.

In one of the world’s most famous poems, the Latin poet Catullus wrote, “Let us live and let us love, and let us value the tales of austere old men at a single halfpenny. Suns can set and then return again, but for us, when once our brief light sets, there is but one perpetual night through which we must sleep.”

I remember hearing of a man at sea who was very sea-sick. If there is a time when a man feels that he cannot do any work for the Lord it is then—in my opinion. While this man was sick he heard that a man had fallen overboard. He was wondering if he could do anything to help to save him. He laid hold of a light, and held it up on the port-hole.

The drowning man was saved. When this man got over his attack of sickness he was up on deck one day, and was talking to the man who was rescued. The saved man gave this testimony. He said he had gone down the second time, and was just going down again for the last time, when he put out his hand. Just then, he said, some one held a light at the port-hole, and the light fell on his hand. A man caught him by the hand and pulled him into the lifeboat.

It seemed a small thing to do to hold up the light; yet it saved the man’s life. If you cannot do some great thing you can hold the light for some poor, perishing drunkard, who may be won to Christ and delivered from destruction. Let us take the torch of salvation and go into these dark homes, and hold up Christ to the people as the Savior of the world.

A conference at a Presbyterian church in Omaha. People were given helium-filled balloons and told to release them at some point in the service when they felt like expressing the joy in their hearts. Since they were Presbyterians, they weren't free to say "Hallelujah, Praise the Lord." All through the service balloons ascended, but when it was over one-third of the balloons were unreleased. Let your balloon go.

A woman in Alabama told us about being with her husband at his father's deathbed. As the end approached, the father suddenly sat upright with a look of terror on his face. "What's happening to me, son?" he cried, grasping for the younger man, and then he sank back into the pillows.

The woman's husband was so visibly shaken, he staggered out into the hall. Joining him, the wife said softly, "This must be so terrible for you to have seen your Dad dying this way."

"That's not what got to me," her husband choked out, "It's that this is the first time in my life he ever called me 'son'."

Jesus didn't wait until the cross to let His disciples know how much He valued them. When He first met Nathaniel He said, "Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no guile." And after a year or so with Simon, He said, "Blessed art thou, Simon, Bar-Jonah." The gospels radiate with His affirmations toward these and the rest of His disciples.

Dr. Paul Brand was speaking to a medical college in India on “Let your light so shine before men that they may behold your good works and glorify your Father.” In front of the lectern was a oil lamp, with its cotton wick burning from the shallow dish of oil. As he preached, the lamp ran out of oil, the wick burned dry, and the smoke made him cough. He immediately used the opportunity.

“Some of us here are like this wick,” he said. “We’re trying to shine for the glory of God, but we stink. That’s what happens when we use ourselves as the fuel of our witness rather than the Holy Spirit.

“Wicks can last indefinitely, burning brightly and without irritating smoke, if the fuel, the Holy “Spirit, is in constant supply.”

Philip Yancey

Everyone needs recognition for his accomplishments, but few people make the need known quite as clearly as the little boy who said to his father: “Let’s play darts. I’ll throw and you say ‘Wonderful!’”

A minimum lethal dose of botulism bacillus is .00003 micrograms per kilogram of body weight. That is almost the equivalent of a flea derailing a 100 mile freight train.

Herman Lange, a German Christian was to be executed by the Nazis during WWII. In his cell on the night before he was to be killed, Lange wrote a note to his parents. He said two feelings occupied his mind: “I am, first, in a joyous mood, and second filled with great anticipation.” Then he made this beautiful affirmation: “In Christ I have put my faith, and precisely today I have faith in Him more firmly than ever.” Finally he urged his parents to read the New Testament for comfort: “Look where you will, everywhere you will find jubilation over the grace that makes us children of God. What can befall a child of God? Of what should I be afraid? On the contrary, rejoice!”

George McDonald wrote to his sorrowing wife when their daughter died. He began by telling her that she wouldn’t find consolation in lovely but empty sentiments that he called “pleasant fancies of a half-held creed.” He then pointed out that the Great Shepherd had gone before and prepared the way for their daughter.

McDonald reminded her that they were both moving along day by day toward that same destination. In closing, he said, “We seek not death, but still we climb the stairs where death is one wide landing to the rooms above.”

Have you ever been in a position where someone asks you for a reference to get a job and you find yourself in an awkward position? You don’t want to lie, but you really can’t tell the truth because it will hurt.

Robert Thornton, professor of economics at Lehigh University, once composed the ideal letter to fit the situation:

I am pleased to say that this candidate is a former colleague of mine. In my opinion you will be fortunate to get this person to work for you. I recommend him with no qualifications whatsoever.

No person would be better for the job. I urge you to waste no time in making this candidate an offer of employment. All in all, and without reservation, I cannot say enough good things about him, nor can I recommend him too highly.

To: Jesus, Son of Joseph

Woodcrafter’s Carpenter Shop

Nazareth 25922

From: Jordan Management Consultants

Dear Sir:

Thank you for submitting the resumes of the twelve men you have picked for managerial positions in your new organization. All of them have now taken our battery of tests; and we have not only run the results through our computer, but also arranged personal interviews for each of them with our psychologist and vocational aptitude consultant.

The profiles of all tests are included, and you will want to study each of them carefully.

As part of our service, we make some general comments for your guidance, much as an auditor will include some general statements. This is given as a result of staff consultation, and comes without any additional fee.

It is the staff opinion that most of your nominees are lacking in background, education and vocational aptitude for the type of enterprise you are undertaking. They do not have the team concept. We would recommend that you continue your search for persons of experience in managerial ability and proven capability.

Simon Peter is emotionally unstable and given to fits of temper. Andrew has absolutely no qualities of leadership. The two brothers, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, place personal interest above company loyalty. Thomas demonstrates a questioning attitude that would tend to undermine morale. We feel that it is our duty to tell you that Matthew had been blacklisted by the Greater Jerusalem Better Business Bureau; James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus definitely have radical leanings, and they both registered a high score on the manic-depressive scale.

One of the candidates, however, shows great potential. He is a man of ability and resourcefulness, meets people well, has a keen business mind, and has contacts in high places. He is highly motivated, ambitious, and responsible. We recommend Judas Iscariot as your controller and right-hand man. All of the other profiles are self-explanatory.

We wish you every success in your new venture.

Sincerely, Jordan Management Consultants

The following was submitted for amusement by a person who wishes to remain anonymous.

Montana Daughter to Carolina Mother—

Dear Mother:

“I’m writing this slow ‘cause I know you can’t read fast. We don’t live where we did when you left. My hubby read in the paper where the most accidents happened within twenty miles of home, so we moved. I won’t know the address for awhile yet as the last Montana family that lived here took the numbers with them for their next house so they won’t have to change their address.

This place we’re rentin’ has a washin’ machine. The first day I put four new shirts in it, pulled the chain, and I haven’t seen ‘em since. It only rained twice this week: three days the first time and four days the second time.

The coat you wanted me to send that you forgot here was too heavy to send in the mail. So we cut off the big buttons and put them in the pockets.

We got a bill from the funeral home, said if we didn’t make the last payment on Aunty’s funeral bill, up she comes.

I heard that Sis had a baby this morning but I haven’t been over there yet to find out if it’s a boy or a girl so I don’t know if I’m an Aunt or an Uncle.

Our neighbor up the road fell in the whisky vat. Some men tried to pull him out, but he fought them off playfully, so he drowned. We cremated him and he burned for three days.

Three local kids from DeBorgia went off the bridge in a pick-up truck. The one that was driving rolled down the window and swam out. The two sitting in the back drowned. They couldn’t get the tailgate down.

Not much to tell this time. Nothin’ much happens ‘round here.

Love, Your Daughter

Rev. Saul Paul

Independent, Missionary

Corinth, Greece

Dear Mr. Paul:

We recently received an application from you for service under our Board.

It is our policy to be as frank and open-minded as possible with all our applicants. We have made an exhaustive survey of your case. To be plain, we are surprised that you have been able to pass as a bonafide missionary.

We are told that you are afflicted with a severe eye trouble. This is certain to be an insuperable handicap to an effective ministry. Our Board requires 20-20 vision.

At Antioch, we learn, you opposed Dr. Simon Peter, an esteemed denominational secretary and actually rebuked him openly and publicly. You stirred up so much trouble at Antioch that a special Board meeting had to be convened at Jerusalem. We cannot condone such actions.

Do you think it seemly for a missionary to do part-time secular work? We hear that you are making tents on the side. In a letter to the church at Philippi, you admitted that they are the only church supporting you. We wonder why.

Is it true that you have a jail record? Certain brethren reported that you did two years time at Caesarea and were imprisoned at Rome.

You made such trouble for the businessmen at Ephesus that they refer to you as “the man who turned the world upside down.” Sensationalism in missions is uncalled for. We also deplore the lurid “over-the-wall-in-a-basket episode at Damascus.

We are appalled at your obvious lack of conciliatory behavior. Diplomatic men are not stoned and dragged out of the city gate, or assaulted by furious mobs. Have you ever suspected that gentler words might gain you more friends? I enclose a copy of the book by Dailus Carnagus, “How to Win Jews and Influence Greeks.”

In one of your letters you refer to yourself as “Paul the Aged.” Our new mission policies do not envisage a surplus of super-annuated recipients.

We understand that you are given to fancies and dreams. At Troas, you saw “a man of Macedonia” and at another time “were caught up into the third heaven” and even claimed the “Lord stood by you.” We reckon that more realistic and practical minds are needed in the task of world evangelism.

You have caused much trouble wherever you have gone. You opposed the honorable women at Berea and the leaders of your own nationality in Jerusalem. If a man cannot get along with his own people, how can he serve foreigners?

We learn that you are a snake handler? At Malta, you picked up a poisonous serpent which is said to have bitten you, but you did not suffer harm. Tsk, tsk!

You admit that while serving time at Rome that “all forsook you.” Good men are not left friendless. Three fine brothers by the names of Diotrephes, Demas, and Alexander the coppersmith have notarized affidavits to the effect that it is impossible for them to cooperate with either you or your program.

We know that you had a bitter quarrel with a fellow missionary, Barnabas. Harsh words do not further God’s work.

You have written many letters to churches where you have formerly been pastor. In one of these letters, you accused a church member of living with his father’s wife, and you caused the whole church to feel badly; and the poor fellow was expelled.

You spend too much time talking about the “second coming of Christ.” Your letters to the people of Thessalonica are devoted almost entirely to this theme. Put first things first from now on.

Your ministry has been far too flighty to be successful. First Asia Minor, then Macedonia, then Greece, then Italy, and now you are talking about a wild goose chase to Spain. Concentration is more important than dissipation of one’s powers. You cannot win the whole by yourself. You are just one little Paul.

In a recent sermon you said, “God forbid that I should glory in anything save the cross of Christ.” It seems to us that you ought also to glory in our heritage, our denominationalism and program, the unified budget, and the world Federation of Churches.

Your sermons are much too long at times. At one place, you talked until after midnight and a young man was so asleep that he fell out of the window and broke his neck. Nobody is saved after the first twenty minutes. “Stand up, speak up, and then shut up” is our advice.

Dr. Luke reports that you are a thin, little man, bald, frequently sick, and always so agitated over your churches, that you sleep very poorly. He reports that you pad around the house praying half the night. A healthy mind in a robust body is our ideal for all applicants. A good night’s sleep will give you zest and zip, so that you wake up full of zing.

We find it best to send only married men into foreign service. We deplore your policy of persistent celibacy, Simon Magus has set up a matrimonial bureau at Samaria, where the names of some very fine widows are available.

It hurts me to tell you this, Brother Paul, but in all of my twenty-five years experience, I have never met a man so opposite to the requirements of our Foreign Mission Board. If we accepted you, we would break every rule of modern missionary practice.

Most sincerely yours,

J. Flavius Fluffyhead

Foreign Mission Board

Secretary

Writing letters of recommendation can be hazardous—tell the truth and you might get sued if the contents are negative. Robert Thornton, a professor at Lehigh University, has a collection of “virtually litigation-proof” phrases called the Lexicon of Intentionally Ambiguous Recommendations, or LIAR.

Here are some examples:

1. To describe an inept person—“I enthusiastically recommend this candidate with no qualifications whatsoever.”

2. To describe an ex-employee who had problems getting along with fellow workers—“I am pleased to say that this candidate is a former colleague of mine.”

3. To describe an unproductive candidate—“I can assure you that no person would be better for the job.”

4. To describe an applicant not worth consideration—“ I would urge you to waste no time in making this candidate an offer of employment.”

William Ferguson, chairman of Nynex Corporation, tells this story about Albert Einstein in heaven:

Einstein was having difficulty finding people on his intellectual level to talk to, so one day he decided to stand at the pearly gates and ask everyone who entered what their IQ was. Before very long he was having a lot of success guessing what people did for a living on the basis on their level of intelligence. For instance, a woman was ushered through the gates and in response to Einstein’s question, said she had an IQ of 190. “Why, you must be a physicist,” Einstein said. “Indeed I am,” said the woman. “I’d love to chat with you about the progress being made in nuclear fusion and in superconductivity, as well as what’s going on in space,” said Einstein. “Please wait over there.” He stopped a man who was entering the gates, and the man told him his IQ was 140. “You must be a physician, probably a surgeon,” said Einstein. His guess was right. “Wonderful,” said Einstein. “I want to talk to you about the latest organ transplant techniques and their effects on life expectancy. Can you wait a few moments until we can get together?” Another man walked in and told Einstein he had an IQ of 95. “Is that so,” said Einstein. “So what do you think is going to happen with interest rates?”

Ability to work with

Level of conflict

Objective

Impossible

Intractable situation

Destroy opponent at any cost to them or me

Very difficult

Fight/flight

Hurt opponents or get rid of them

Tough

Contests

Win, put others in their place

Easy

Disagreements

Self-protection

Easiest

Problem to solve

Work out a solution

Picture a scene from the Old West, sometime in the 1870s. Weary cowboys in dusty Levi’s gather around a blazing campfire after a day on the open range. The lonely howl of a coyote counterpoints the notes of a guitar as the moon floats serenely overhead.

Suddenly a bellow of pain shatters the night, as a cowpoke leaps away from the fire, dancing in agony. Hot-Rivet Syndrome has claimed another victim. In those days, Levi’s were made, as they had been from the first days of Levi Strauss, with copper rivets at stress points to provide extra strength. On these original Levi’s—model 501—the crotch rivet was the critical one: when cowboys crouched too long beside the campfire, the rivet grew uncomfortably hot. For years the brave men of the West suffered this curious occupational hazard.

Then, in 1933, Walter Haas, Sr., president of Levi Strauss, went camping in his Levi 501’s. He was crouched by a crackling campfire in the High Sierras, drinking in the pure mountain air, when he fell prey to Hot-Rivet Syndrome. He consulted with professional wranglers in his party. Had they suffered the same mishap? An impassioned YES was the reply. Haas vowed that the offending rivet must go, and at their next meeting the board of directors voted it into extinction.

The warning of Leviticus 19:17, “...thou shalt surely rebuke thy neighbor, and not allow sin upon him,” is preceded by warnings against spreading slander and nursing inner hatred You can easily determine, therefore, when you should criticize and when you shouldn’t by asking yourself these three questions:

(1) Am I motivated by an earnest desire for the welfare of the person I think needs correcting?

(2) Am I going to face him honestly, but gently?

(3) Do I find the task thoroughly disagreeable, or am I secretly getting some pleasure out of it?

Following three years of hazardous duty as a member of the famed Lewis and Clark expedition along the western frontier, John Colter turned to trapping beaver in the Three Forks area of the Missouri River, deep in Blackfoot Indian territory. One day, while inspecting traps by canoe, Colter and a companion were suddenly flanked by Blackfoot warriors. Colter’s friend was killed as he tried to escape, but Colter was captured. Stripped of his clothing, including his shoes, the adventurer was led out onto the prairie and then released as several hundred Blackfoot set off in pursuit. What followed was a legendary 11-day overland trek. Traveling day and night, Colter climbed mountains, scurried across fields, and tramped through woods, covering an unbelievable 300 miles as he made his way to safety.

Writing letters of recommendation can be hazardous—tell the truth and you might get sued if the contents are negative. Robert Thornton, a professor at Lehigh University, has a collection of “virtually litigation-proof” phrases called the Lexicon of Intentionally Ambiguous Recommendations, or LIAR.

Here are some examples:

To describe an inept person—”I enthusiastically recommend this candidate with no qualifications whatsoever.”

To describe an ex-employee who had problems getting along with fellow workers—”I an pleased to say that this candidate is a former colleague of mine.”

To describe an unproductive candidate—”I can assure you that no person would be better for the job.”

To describe an applicant not worth consideration—” I would urge you to waste no time in making this candidate an offer of employment.”

George Bernard Shaw’s statement frequently flashes through my mind: “Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it.” In a day of passing the buck with merely a shrug, those words bite and sting. It’s one thing to sing and dance to liberty’s tunes, but it’s something else entirely to bear the responsibility for paying the band.

There are numerous examples of this. Being in leadership carries with it a few privileges and perks, but living with the responsibility of that task makes a reserved parking space and your own bathroom pale into insignificance. Conceiving children is a moment of sheer ecstasy, but rearing them as a loving and caring parent represents years of thankless responsibility. Enjoying a great conference is both delightful and memorable, but behind the scenes - count on it - are unseen hours of creative thinking, disciplined planning, and responsible arranging. Running an organization that gets a job done, leaving those involved feeling fulfilled and appreciated, can be exciting, fun, and stretching, but it’s a nightmare unless the details of responsibility are clearly set forth and maintained.

The most overdue book in the history of library services was a copy of Febrile Diseases. It was checked out of the University of Cincinnati Medical Library in 1823 by Mr. M. Dodd and returned on December 7, 1968 by his great-grandson. It had accrued a fine estimated at $2,646.

The most overdue book in the history of library services was a copy of Febrile Diseases. It was checked out of the University of Cincinnati Medical Library in 1823 by Mr. M. Dodd and returned on December 7, 1968 by his great-grandson. It had accrued a fine estimated at $2,646.

A number of years ago I spent a summer teaching in Mexico. Both my children went with me. To pass the time as we drove, my 13-year-old son Larry watched for license plates. The trip to Mexico netted him plates from 24 states, and while we were there he saw four more.

So when we started back, he was over halfway to having “collected” all 50. Our return trip was during the peak vacation season, and to top it off, we went through Yellowstone National Park—a license-plate collector’s paradise. By the morning of the second day there, he had just one more state to go: Delaware. Larry became obsessed with finding a license plate from Delaware.

When we stopped to see Yellowstone’s magnificent sights, he didn’t glance at them. He preferred to run up and down the parking lots, looking at license plates. Talk about stress! Talk about anxiety! You would have thought that his whole life depended on finding a Delaware license plate! When we stopped to eat in a cafeteria near Yellowstone Falls, my son begged me to let him look for license plates. Please, I don’t want to eat,” Larry said. “Can’t I just stay here in the parking Lot?” “No,” we told him, “you have to eat.” So he went inside and ate as quickly as he could get the food down and then headed out to the parking lot. No sooner had we finished our meal, however, than Larry came bounding across the parking lot. “Come here! You’ve got to see it You won’t believe it if you don’t see it!” All of us went running out—and there, just pulling out of a parking space, was a blue Volkswagen bus with Delaware license plates. In fact, we got a picture, and even today, a decade later, when we look at our Yellowstone pictures, that’s the picture that tells more about what we did in Yellowstone than anything else.

A number of years ago I spent a summer teaching in Mexico. Both my children went with me. To pass the time as we drove, my 3-year-old son Larry watched for license plates. The trip to Mexico netted him plates from 24 states, and while we were there he saw four more. So when we started back, he was over halfway to having “collected” all 50. Our return trip was during the peak vacation season, and to top it off, we went through Yellowstone National Park—a license-plate collector’s paradise. By the morning of the second day there, he had just one more state to go: Delaware. Larry became obsessed with finding a license plate from Delaware. When we stopped to see Yellowstone’s magnificent sights, he didn’t glance at them. He preferred to run up and down the parking lots, looking at license plates. Talk about stress! Talk about anxiety! You would have thought that his whole life depended on finding a Delaware license plate! When we stopped to eat in a cafeteria near Yellowstone Falls, my son begged me to let him look for license plates.

Please, I don’t want to eat,” Larry said. “Can’t I just stay here in the parking Lot?” “No,” we told him, “you have to eat.” So he went inside and ate as quickly as he could get the food down and then headed out to the parking lot. No sooner had we finished our meal, however, than Larry came bounding across the parking lot. “Come here! You’ve got to see it! You won’t believe it if you don’t see it!”

All of us went running out—and there, just pulling out of a parking space, was a blue Volkswagen bus with Delaware license plates. In fact, we got a picture, and even today, a decade later, when we look at our Yellowstone pictures, that’s the picture that tells more about what we did in Yellowstone than anything else.

Paul Harvey tells how an Eskimo kills a wolf. He coats his knife blade with blood and lets it freeze. Then he adds another coat of blood and then another. As each coat freezes he adds another smear of blood until the blade is hidden deep within a substantial thickness of frozen blood.

Then he buries the knife-blade up-in the frozen tundra. The wolf catches the scent of fresh blood and begins to lick it. He licks it more and more feverishly until the blade is bare. Then he keeps on licking harder and harder. Because of the cold he never notices the pain of the blade on his tongue. His craving for the taste of blood is so great that he does not realize his thirst is being satisfied by his own blood. He licks the blade till he bleeds to death, swallowing his own life.

That is the way the devil works on us. He gives us a taste of sin, knowing we will crave more. We go deeper and deeper in satisfying our desires. We never notice the blade inside till it is too late. Only when we are dying do we realize we have swallowed our own life in sin.

Lon Grammer claimed some impressive credentials when he transferred to Yale from Cuesta Community College in San Luis Obispo, Calif., two years ago, including a 3.9 grade point average. He did well at Yale, too, playing rugby while earning a B average. But a bare month before he was to graduate with a degree in political science, Yale expelled the 25-year-old and charged him with taking $61,475 under false pretenses. School officials say he lied about his GPA and forged recommendations from nonexistent teachers. He will be arraigned on larceny charges next week. (In a TV interview, he pleaded that his actions were no worse than what happens every day when people lie on resumes.)

Lon Grammer claimed some impressive credentials when he transferred to Yale from Cuesta Community College in San Luis Obispo, Calif., two years ago, including a 3.9 grade point average. He did well at Yale, too, playing rugby while earning a B average. But a bare month before he was to graduate with a degree in political science, Yale expelled the 25-year-old and charged him with taking $61,475 under false pretenses. School officials say he lied about his GPA and forged recommendations from nonexistent teachers. He will be arraigned on larceny charges next week.

In a TV interview, he pleaded that his actions were no worse than what happens every day when people lie on resumes.

Life is a continuous process of getting used to things we hadn’t expected.

A man’s life is always more forcible than his speech. When men take stock of him they reckon his deeds as dollars and his words as pennies. If his life and doctrine disagree the mass of onlookers accept his practice and reject his preaching. - C.H. Spurgeon

During a Peter, Paul and Mary concert, in the middle of a comic skit, Paul made an insightful and disturbing observation. In the 50s there was a magazine called Life. Then came People magazine. Now we have one called Us. What next? A magazine called Me? And now there actually is a magazine called Self. How indicative and indicting of a world infatuated and preoccupied with self. How contrary to the example and lifegiving principles of the Christ. He came to bring life. He revealed and demonstrated the principles of life. He clearly taught that life is not to be found in living for self, but rather in GIVING OF SELF in the service of God and others! He said in Luk 9:23-25

"If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it. For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits himself?"

Happiness is not found in the pursuit of happiness. Life is not found in the pursuit of life. Both are found in a pursuit of God and His righteousness. As Jesus said, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied" (Mat 5:6). The end of our current emphasis on SELF is not life, but disappointment and ultimately death! If we would discover TRUE LIFE, then we must pursue the things of God and the spirit! "...whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things" (Phi 4:8).

Christian Child Rearing, P. Meier, Baker, 1977, pp. 74ff.

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By the age of 5, Beethoven was playing the violin under the tutelage of his father—also an accomplished musician. By the time he was 13, Beethoven was a concert organist. In his 20s he was already studying under the very watchful eyes of Haydn and Mozart. In fact, Mozart spoke prophetic words when he declared that Beethoven would give the world something worth listening to by the time his life ended.

As Beethoven began to develop his skills, he became a prolific composer. During his lifetime, he wrote nine majestic symphonies and five concertos for piano, not to mention numerous pieces of chamber music. Ludwig van Beethoven also wrote sonatas and pieces for violin and piano. He has thrilled us with the masterful works of unique harmony that broke with the traditions of his times. The man was a genius.

Beethoven was not, however, a stranger to difficulties. During his twenties, he began to lose his hearing. His fingers “became thick,” he said on one occasion. He couldn’t feel the music as he once had. His hearing problem haunted him in the middle years of his life, but he kept it a well-guarded secret. When he reached his fifties, Beethoven was stone deaf.

Three years later he made a tragic attempt to conduct an orchestra and failed miserably. Approximately five years later, he died during a fierce thunder storm. He was deaf, yet a magnificent musician.

On one occasion, Beethoven was overheard shouting at the top of his voice as he slammed both fists on the keyboard, “I will take life by the throat!”

If I had a car with the engine that was ready for the grave, I’d have a new engine put in. I’d take the car into a mechanic who would put it in for me. If when I got that car back, it ran just as poorly, I’d begin to wonder if the old really had been replaced or just cleaned up. It is not different with our new lives in Christ.

Francois Fenelon, a 17th century French mystic who wrote the classic Christian Perfection, spoke eloquently of the denial of death: “We consider ourselves immortal, or at least as though [we are] going to live for centuries. Folly of the human spirit! Every day those who die soon follow those who are already dead. One about to leave on a journey ought not to think himself far from one who went only two days before. Life flows by like a flood.”

Life is a learning process, as this beautiful bit of free verse by Veronica A. Shoffstall tells us:

After a while you learn the subtle difference

Between holding a hand and chaining a soul,

And you learn that love doesn’t mean leaning

And company doesn’t mean security.

And you begin to learn that kisses aren’t contracts

And presents aren’t promises,

And you begin to accept your defeats

With your head up and your eyes open

With the grace of a woman, not the grief of a child,

And you learn to build all your roads on today

Because tomorrow’s ground is too uncertain for plans

And futures have a way of falling down in mid-flight.

After a while you learn

That even sunshine burns if you get too much.

So you plant your garden and decorate your own soul,

Instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers.

And you learn that you really can endure...

That you really are strong

And you really do have worth...

And you learn and learn...

With every good-bye you learn.