Pastoral Resources

Clovis Chappell, a minister from a century back, used to tell the story of two paddleboats. They left Memphis about the same time, traveling down the Mississippi River to New Orleans. As they traveled side by side, sailors from one vessel made a few remarks about the snail’s pace of the other.

Words were exchanged. Challenges were made. And the race began. Competition became vicious as the two boats roared through the Deep South.

One boat began falling behind. Not enough fuel. There had been plenty of coal for the trip, but not enough for a race. As the boat dropped back, an enterprising young sailor took some of the ship’s cargo and tossed it into the ovens. When the sailors saw that the supplies burned as well as the coal, they fueled their boat with the material they had been assigned to transport. They ended up winning the race, but burned their cargo.

God has entrusted cargo to us, too: children, spouses, friends. Our job is to do our part in seeing that this cargo reaches its destination.

Yet when the program takes priority over people, people often suffer.

How much cargo do we sacrifice in order to achieve the number one slot? How many people never reach the destination because of the aggressiveness of a competitive captain?

A certain amount of permanent dissatisfaction with one’s talents is probably a healthy thing. Those who are totally satisfied with their work will never reach their potential. The great pianist, Paderewski, achieved tremendous popularity in America. Yet, said Paderewski, “There have been a few moments when I have known complete satisfaction, but only a few. I have rarely been free from the disturbing realization that my playing might have been better.”

The world considered Paderewski’s playing near perfection, but he remained unsatisfied and kept constantly at the job of improving his talent.

The absence of blessing on a life withdrawn from service. The great violinist, Niccolo Paganini willed his marvelous violin to city of Genoa on condition that it must never be played. The wood of such an instrument, while used and handled, wears only slightly, but set aside, it begins to decay. Paganini’s lovely violin has today become worm-eaten and useless except as a relic. A Christian’s unwillingness to serve may soon destroy his capacity for usefulness.

A.B. Simpson is reported to have said that the gospel “Tells rebellious men that God is reconciled, that justice is satisfied, that sin has been atoned for, that the judgment of the guilty may be revoked, the condemnation of the sinner canceled, the curse of the Law blotted out, the gates of hell closed, the portals of heaven opened wide, the power of sin subdued, the guilty conscience healed, the broken heart comforted, the sorrow and misery of the Fall undone.

You and I live in a world that is obsessed with the elimination of pain. Just take a stroll down the medicine aisle next time you are in the grocery store. You will see what I mean. When we have a headache, we take two aspirin, take a nap, and wake up feeling better. We forget the pain.

Face it, we do not like pain. But is that entirely healthy? Could it be that in some matter of my life, there is room for pain? Can it be at times I should feel some pain? The question pleads for affirmation.

Along with solutions to our physical pains, I am afraid we have mistakenly found a cure for our spiritual pain. Sadly, this is a deadly cure! To avoid the pain of sin, we have taken a deadly pill which diminishes the impact and consequence of sin in our lives. We have closed our eyes to the destruction of sin and swallowed a pill of deception. We do not feel the burdensome ache of sin.

For Israel, it was not enough for a prophet to forecast impending doom as a consequence of sin to get them to repent. More often than not, Israel had to face the consequence of sin to come to repentance; they had to feel pain. In Joe 2:12-13, we see Israel's pain manifested: "Return to Me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning. Rend your heart and not your garments."

To rend something means to rip or tear in grief, anger, rage, etc. We must ask ourselves when we last felt the need to tear our hearts because of sin. Feel the injury of sin and avoid the problem of pain! Let us rend our hearts today and feel the pain. We must return to God.

We can rest contentedly in our sins and in our stupidities, and everyone who has watched gluttons shoveling down the most exquisite foods as if they did not know what they were eating, will admit that we can ignore even pleasure. But pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our consciences, but shouts in our pains. It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.

During World War II, Winston Churchill was forced to make a painful choice. The British secret service had broken the Nazi code and informed Churchill that the Germans were going to bomb Coventry. He had two alternatives:

(1) evacuate the citizens and save hundreds of lives at the expense of indicating to the Germans that the code was broken; or

(2) take no action, which would kill hundreds but keep the information flowing and possibly save many more lives. Churchill had to choose and followed the second course.

Oh that I was to lie a thousand years upon the fire that is never quenched to purchase the favor of God...But it is a fruitless wish. Millions and millions of years would bring me no nearer to the end of my torments than one poor hour! Oh, the insufferable pains of hell!

One Sunday a preacher told how, while sitting in his garden, he had watched a caterpillar climb a painted stick that was for decoration. After reaching the top, the caterpillar reared itself, feeling this way and that for a juicy twig to feed on, or some way to further progress. Finding nothing, it slowly returned to the ground, crawled along till it reached another painted stick, and did the same thing all over again. The preacher said: "There are many painted sticks in the world-those of pleasure, wealth, and fame. All these call man and say, 'Climb me to find the desire of your heart, fulfill the purpose of your existence, taste the fruit of success, and find satisfaction, but they are only painted sticks.'"

Solomon tried to find the purpose of his life in the world's "painted sticks." He gave his heart to seek wisdom, but learned that it was "vanity and vexation of spirit" (Ecc 1:15).

He then turned to the pleasures of the world for meaning in life. He built great houses, and gardens, and pools. He had servants and maidens; in fact, he had all that a man could desire. Solomon's comment on pleasure as a true source of happiness, however, was, "All was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun" (Ecc 2:11).

After trying all that the world could offer, Solomon's final decision was, "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep His commandments: for this is the whole duty of man" (Ecc 12:13).

Vincent Van Gogh first began to experiment with impressionist techniques during his Parisian period, the time from 1886 until 1888. “Last year,” the Dutch artist wrote to his sister in 1887, “I painted almost nothing but flowers to accustom myself to colors other than grey, namely pink, soft or vivid green, light blue, violet, yellow, orange, beautiful red.” Last week, the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam announced that it had authenticated a previously unknown work of the painter’s from the Parisian period. Purchased at a French flea market after World War II by a Swiss family and kept in their attic, Still Life (Vase With Flowers) is expected to fetch millions of dollars at auction.

Zig Ziglar tells of a thief, a man named Emmanuel Nenger. The year is 1887. The scene is a small neighborhood grocery store. Mr. Nenger is buying some turnip greens. He gives the clerk a $20 bill. As the clerk begins to put the money in the cash drawer to give Mr. Nenger his change, she notices some of the ink from the $20 bill is coming off on her fingers which are damp from the turnip greens. She looks at Mr. Nenger, a man she has known for years. She looks at the smudged bill. This man is a trusted friend; she has known him all her life; he can’t be a counterfeiter. She gives Mr. Nenger his change, and he leaves the store.

But $20 is a lot of money in 1887, and eventually the clerk calls the police. They verify the bill as counterfeit and get a search warrant to look through Mr. Nenger’s home. In the attic they find where he is reproducing money. He is a master artist and is painting $20 bills with brushes and paint! But also in the attic they find three portraits Nenger had painted. They seized these and eventually sold them at auction for $16,000 (in 1887 currency, remember) or a little more than $5,000 per painting. The irony is that it took Nenger almost as long to paint a $20 bill as it did for him to paint a $5,000 portrait!

It’s true that Emanuel Nenger was a thief, but the person from whom he stole the most was himself.

A very rich lady dreamed she died and was taken to heaven. She was given an angel to escort her to her new home. She dreamed the angel took her past many exquisite mansions.

Passing one of the most elegant, the angel said, "And this is the mansion of your servant who died last year." Since this was a fine home, the lady became really excited about the anticipated size of her new home. Soon they rounded a turn and came upon a small shack.

"Here is your new home," the angel said.

"Is this all?" she said. "I was of a very wealthy family on earth," she said.

"Well," the angel explained, "this is all you sent up."

She awoke abruptly and resolved to make a drastic change in the priorities of her life.

Fred W. Cropp, president of American Bible Society, received a letter asking a question: "What do you recommend for keeping the leather on the back of Bibles from getting stiff, cracking and peeling?

The reply was, "There is one oil that is especially good for treatment of leather on Bibles. In fact it will insure your Bible will stay in good condition. It is not sold, but may be found in the palm of the human hand."

At the commencement exercises for Purdue University’s engineering schools, graduates of each school stood en masse to be recognized by the dean of engineering. When the aeronautical-engineering students rose, they launched a swarm of paper airplanes toward the stage, where the university’s president and other dignitaries were sitting. After students from all the schools had risen in turn, the president stepped up to the rostrum. Looking at the paper planes covering the stage floor, he remarked, “I’m very glad the agricultural-engineering graduates decided not to throw anything.”

A certain man lay on the operating table waiting for his anesthesia, and behold, he was greatly troubled, for he overheard his surgeon talking to a nurse in the next room saying, “I wish I had finished medical school, but after four years of college and one semester of medical school I was tired of studying and just couldn’t see going three more years to finish. Besides, you know, it seems like the fellows who go on just ‘dry up.’ They don’t have the same zeal and personal concern if they learn too much. I’ve seen it over and over again; a young fellow that really wants to help people goes to medical school and by the time he is finished he is ruined.”

Now it came to pass that the patient could not believe his ears.

Nevertheless, the surgeon continued to speak in like manner saying, “Another thing I could not see was why I had to learn to read all that Latin. After all I talk to my patients in English; why should I learn Latin just to write prescriptions and understand pharmacology? I can always go to Wuest’s Word Studies in Pharmaceutics. I took Latin, but it took me, too. Why, I have already forgotten more Latin than I ever learned.

“It seemed foolish to me to spend all that time learning medicine in medical school. Why should I take four years of Systematic Medicine and three semesters of Surgical Exegesis? When I have a medical problem, which is quite frequently, I just go to the commentators. J. Sidlow Baxter’s Explore the Medical Field almost always has the answers I need. If that doesn’t, then Halley’s Medical Handbook does.

“I know four years is not a very long time, but when I graduated from college the world needed heart surgeons so badly, and so many people were dying every day that I just had to get out into the work. After all, a call to be a doctor is all you need and the rest will fall into line. I know that many died, and many were in poor condition because of the poor surgical techniques of their surgeons (which is usually a reflection of their schooling), but I felt that I would be an exception to the case and my patients would get the best of care in spite of my training! Sometimes it is rather difficult since I just had one course in surgery, but I thought that if men like D. L. Moody could be such great surgeons without much education, so could I.”

By now the patient upon the operating table feared greatly and his countenance was fallen, for he thought within himself, “If this man knoweth not medicine, perchance I will die under his knife.” And he made ready to flee. But before he could leave, behold, the same surgeon again spoke saying, “Well, this morning we will be operating on the right ventricle. I better look in one of my books to see just which part that is. I always seem to forget where it is.

“Let’s see, I think I could find something on that in A. T. Robertson’s A Manual of Modern Medicine. No, I guess that will not do any good. It is the best book I have on heart operations, but there is so much Latin in it I cannot understand it. I guess I had better look it up in Ironside’s Medicine Simplified. There is not too much there, but that is about the best I can get. Of course there are very small discussions in Hyle’s Medicine As I See It, and Pink’s Gleanings from Medicine.

“I wish I would have listened more to the two lectures I heard on the heart in pre-med classes, but I was working 40 hours a week and it was so hard to stay awake after working all night. However, I am glad I worked. My wife and I never had to do without anything while I was in school.

“Well, I think I know where the right ventricle is now. I have heard that in medical school they try to get you to do what they call ‘exegetical surgery’—to do everything according to a diagram, to have an outline and all—but I go more for ‘topical’ and ‘devotional’ surgery myself. I just like to read what I can from the accounts of other men’s operations and then go to the operating room and ‘let the spirit lead.’

“I’ve noticed too, that those more conventional medical school graduates don’t get as many patients as I do. Of course my results are not as lasting, but I contend that numbers ought to count for something. If I don’t have the best post-operative record, I still have one of the highest in numbers of operations.

“It was certainly a step forward when the state repealed the law requiring a medical school degree and a passing grade on the state exams for a license. All those educated doctors were just leading us downhill. Can you believe that some of them actually did not believe that warts are caused by frogs! It is true that some of the best books I have were written by men with a good education, but I certainly am glad that I got out of that medical school. I heard a professor say one day that the King James translation of the Medical Encyclopedia has several errors in it. Well, I told him that if the King James was good enough for Hippocrates, it was good enough for me.

“I’ve had so many other things to do this week that I just have not had much time to study for this operation. For one thing, I’ve had so much visiting to do. Visiting, you know, is what I do best. I visited over 50 patients yesterday alone. Well, nurse, I guess we better go in.”

But behold, when this vile surgeon and his nurse came into the room, the operating table was bare, for the patient had been filled with fear, and had fled. They sought the man, therefore, and when they had found him they rebuked him saying, “Why didst thou flee from our presence?” And the man answered, saying,

“When I did hear what kind of preparation for thy work thou hadst, and how thou dost ridicule the medical school, I verily lost my confidence in thee. I will never return to thy operating table again.”

Now the interpretation of the parable is on this wise: the medical school is the seminary, the surgeon is the preacher, the operating is his preaching, the operating table is the pew, the Latin is Greek and Hebrew, the surgical procedure is homiletics, and the patient is the layman. And many are just about ready to get up and leave.

A man purchased a white mouse to use as food for his pet snake. He dropped the unsuspecting mouse into the snake’s glass cage, where the snake was sleeping in a bed of sawdust. The tiny mouse had a serious problem on his hands. At any moment he could be swallowed alive. Obviously, the mouse needed to come up with a brilliant plan.

What did the terrified creature do? He quickly set up work covering the snake with sawdust chips until it was completely buried. With that, the mouse apparently thought he had solved his problem.

The solution, however, came from outside. The man took pity on the silly little mouse and removed him from the cage. No matter how hard we try to cover or deny our sinful nature, it’s fool’s work. Sin will eventually awake from sleep and shake off its cover. Were it not for the saving grace of the Master’s hand, sin would eat us alive.

Mr. Spurgeon once made a parable. He said, “There was once a tyrant who summoned one of his subjects into his presence, and ordered him to make a chain. The poor blacksmith—that was his occupation—had to go to work and forge the chain. When it was done, he brought it into the presence of the tyrant, and was ordered to take it away and make it twice the length. He brought it again to the tyrant, and again he was ordered to double it. Back he came when he had obeyed the order, and the tyrant looked at it, and then commanded the servants to bind the man hand and foot with the chain he had made and cast him into prison. “That is what the devil does with men,” Mr. Spurgeon said. “He makes them forge their own chain, and then binds them hand and foot with it, and casts them into outer darkness.” My friends, that is just what drunkards, gamblers, blasphemers—that is just what every sinner is doing. But thank God, we can tell them of a deliverer. The Son of God has power to break every one of their fetters if they will only come to Him.

Have you heard the story about Satan's attack upon a certain Christian? First, he shot a poisonous dart at his heel, but the Christian was unharmed because he had his feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Satan's next attempt was at his loins, but the Christian repelled this because he had his loins girt about with the truth. Unsuccessfully the devil tried a shot at his breast, the breastplate of righteousness. The Christian knocked away another arrow. But the devil, still not discouraged, slipped around behind the Christian and shot him in the pocketbook, and killed him dead as a hammer.

It is easy to identify parables in the Gospels by looking for these five characteristics:

1. It is a story with a plot.

2. The story is not historical.

3. The story is true-to-life in the author’s day.

4. The story is given to teach a truth, not to entertain.

5. It is a series of comparisons.

There are six rules of interpretation that apply to parables:

1. Study the story as a story until you get the full impact of its meaning in that day.

2. Study the story with strict regard to the author’s interpretation and application. (He will tell you what it means. )

3. Study with strict regard to the setting of the context and the theme of the passage.

4. List the points of comparison between the truth and the story.

5. Some points have no meaning. Don’t try to tack a meaning on to every element.

6. Find the one central teaching of the parable. Don’t get sidetracked in the fine details.

It is easy to identify parables in the Gospels by looking for these five characteristics:

1. It is a story with a plot.

2. The story is not historical.

3. The story is true-to-life in the author’s day.

4. The story is given to teach a truth, not to entertain.

5. It is a series of comparisons.

There are six rules of interpretation that apply to parables:

1. Study the story as a story until you get the full impact of its meaning in that day.

2. Study the story with strict regard to the author’s interpretation and application. (He will tell you what it means.)

3. Study with strict regard to the setting of the context and the theme of the passage.

4. List the points of comparison between the truth and the story.

5. Some points have no meaning. Don’t try to tack a meaning on to every element.

6. Find the one central teaching of the parable. Don’t get sidetracked in the fine details.

Oprah Winfrey

Sergeant Kenneth E. Neu was stationed in the U.S. Airborne unit in Germany, where the parachute drop zone was located next to a Mercedes-Benz test track. One windy day, a gust of wind blew his parachute over the track. Knowing how hard a landing on asphalt can be, he braced himself, landed and checked for broken bones. Amazingly, he was fine.

Suddenly the wind inflated Neu’s parachute and started dragging him down the track. He hit the chute’s canopy release and looked up just in time to see a car speeding toward him. Acting quickly, he grabbed his chute and ran to the edge of the track. Out of breath but uninjured, he thought, “How lucky can I be?”

Relieved, he turned, stepped into a gopher hole and twisted his ankle.

You haven’t seen these on “Wide World of Sports.” While professional sports are finding ways to contain the fanaticism they incite, zany amateur diversions are just new coming into their own. Consider these options: Parachute riding. Invented by Colorado State students a few years back, it consists of harnessing a parachute to a rider on the ground, who is standing or sitting on a flat piece of heavy cardboard. As helpers lift the edges of the chute in the air, billowing winds fill it, and away the rider goes on his nylon chariot at speeds as high as 30 miles per hour. Caution: better plant some helpers downwind so that, if the chute starts to lift off the ground, they can plunge into it and collapse the nylon canopy. One rider, lofted into a tree, fractured a leg and elbow.

One New Year’s Day, in the Tournament of Roses parade, a beautiful float suddenly sputtered and quit. It was out of gas. The whole parade was held up until someone could get a can of gas.

The amusing thing was this float represented the Standard Oil Company. With its vast oil resources, its truck was out of gas.

Often, Christians neglect their spiritual maintenance, and though they are “clothed with power” (Luke 24:49) find themselves out of gas.

Parade Magazine made a survey on marriage in the 1980s: An impressive 70% of the husbands and wives in the survey said they are “happily married.” 55% of them consider a “sense of humor very important” to marital happiness. Financial security, once an important consideration for women, hardly is mentioned. Sixty percent of the people said that the birth of their first child had a positive or very positive effect on their marriage. Although 92% said sex is important, only 32% said it is very important. That puts it below communicating (very important to 90%), mutual respect (very important to 82%) and doing things as a couple (very important to 58%). The survey showed that those who grew up with parents who were happily married were more likely to be happily married themselves. Contented husbands and wives tend to marry people like themselves, with similar backgrounds.

The gods had given me almost everything. But I let myself be lured into long spells of senseless and sensual ease...Tired of being on the heights, I deliberately went to the depths in search for new sensation. What the paradox was to me in the sphere of thought, perversity became to me in the sphere of passion. I grew careless of the lives of others. I took pleasure where it pleased me, and passed on. I forgot that every little action of the common day makes or unmakes character, and that therefore what one has done in the secret chamber, one has some day to cry aloud from the house-top. I ceased to be lord over myself. I was no longer the captain of my soul, and did not know it. I allowed pleasure to dominate me. I ended in horrible disgrace.

Like the children of Israel in today’s Bible reading, Hannah Hurnard, author of Hinds’ Feet on High Places, was once paralyzed by fear. Then she heard a sermon on scarecrows that challenged her to turn her fear into faith.

The preacher said, “A wise bird knows that a scarecrow is simply an advertisement. It announces that some very juicy and delicious fruit is to be had for the picking. There are scarecrows in all the best gardens...If I am wise, I too shall treat the scarecrow as though it were an invitation. Every giant in the way which makes me feel like a grasshopper is only a scarecrow beckoning me to God’s richest blessings.” He concluded, “Faith is a bird which loves to perch on scarecrows. All our fears are groundless.”

We are finding that both men and women get their basic religious style, trusting or paranoid, regardless of creed, from their fathers. And you can guess what the decisive variable is—it’s whether things were pretty good between their parents, whether the father trusted the mother. So a failure in one generation starts a cycle of paranoia down through the generations to come.

An item in the May 2, 1985, Kansas City Times reminds us of a story you may be able to use in an evangelistic message. The item had to do with the attempt by some fans of O. Henry, the short-story writer, to get a pardon for their hero, who was convicted in 1898 of embezzling $784.08 from the bank where he was employed.

But you cannot give a pardon to a dead man. A pardon can only be given to someone who can accept it. Now, for the story.

Back in 1830 George Wilson was convicted of robbing the United States Mail and was sentenced to be hanged. President Andrew Jackson issued a pardon for Wilson, but he refused to accept it. The matter went to Chief Justice Marshall, who concluded that Wilson would have to be executed. “A pardon is a slip of paper,” wrote Marshall, “the value of which is determined by the acceptance of the person to be pardoned. If it is refused, it is no pardon. George Wilson must be hanged.”

For some, the pardon comes too late. For others, the pardon is not accepted.

Albert Mehrabian, professor at the University of California Prudence Leith, Caterer and Restauranteur, tells this story in the book, “Pardon Me, but You’re Eating my Doily.”

My favourite catering disaster is the true story of the couple who went to the Far East on holiday. They wanted, besides their own supper, something to give their poodle. Pointing to the dog, they made international eating signs. The waiter understood, picked up the poodle, and set off for the kitchen—only to return half an hour later with the roasted poodle on a platter.

An item in the May 2, 1985, Kansas City Times reminds us of a story you may be able to use in an evangelistic message. The item had to do with the attempt by some fans of O. Henry, the short-story writer, to get a pardon for their hero, who was convicted in 1898 of embezzling $784.08 from the bank where he was employed.

But you cannot give a pardon to a dead man. A pardon can only be given to someone who can accept it. Now, for the story. Back in 1830 George Wilson was convicted of robbing the U.S. Mail and was sentenced to be hanged. President Andrew Jackson issued a pardon for Wilson, but he refused to accept it. The matter went to Chief Justice Marshall, who concluded that Wilson would have to be executed. “A pardon is a slip of paper,” wrote Marshall, “the value of which is determined by the acceptance of the person to be pardoned. If it is refused, it is no pardon. George Wilson must be hanged.” For some, the pardon comes too late. For others, the pardon is not accepted.

Parents rarely know what’s going on with their kids. Some 36% of parents surveyed said they thought their child had taken a drink, while 66% of students admitted they had…14% of parents thought their child had tried cigarettes, while 41% of students reported they had…5% of parents thought their child had used drugs, while 17% of students actually had.

A young man who had committed a crime was sent to prison without his parents knowing about it. When he finally wrote and told them where he was, they hastened to the distant city to see him. Sullen and stony-faced, he greeted them in the visiting room. Braced for their recriminations and anger, he was completely unprepared for their loving concern. "I thought you would never forgive me-that you would disown me!" he cried. "Why should we do that?" asked his father. "You're our son, and we only want to help you." The fact that their love toward him had not changed was the beginning of that young man's redemption.

We need to look at what the Bible says about parenting:

Parents must teach God’s truth (Dt. 4:9; 32:46).

Parents must lovingly discipline children because they are immature and need guidance (Prov. 22:15; 29:15).

Parents should not exasperate their children (Eph. 6:4).

Parents’ wise decisions bring blessing to their children (Dt. 30:19-20).

Parents who are godly teach their children to obey (Eph. 6:1; 1 Tim. 3:4).

Parents who faithfully train their children can be confident that their efforts are not in vain (Prov. 22:6).

In Christian households, where parents are committed to each other, the results are much more encouraging. These statistics are gathered from Joe White, director of Christian camps in Missouri which draw more than 5,000 kids from more than 40 states.

95% of the boys say their fathers regularly tell them, “I love you.”

98% of the girls say their mothers tell them regularly, “I’m proud of you” or “You’re doing a great job.”

91% of the kids say their parents play games with them.

94% say their fathers attend their athletic events.

97% of the boys say they get hugs from their dads.

100% of the girls say they get hugs from their moms and dads.

Recalling their childhood, 100% of the girls remember having stories read to them by their mothers. 85% of the boys recall having stories read to them by their dads.

89% of the boys say their fathers have taken them fishing.

100% of the girls say their parents have taken them to Sunday school.

Percentage of adults who strongly agree that “parents today are too lenient and permissive with their children”: 63%

David Elkins, author of The Hurried Child, quotes economist Victor Fuchs, who says children have lost 10 to 12 hours of parental time per week since 1960.

Mothers and fathers, a new survey shows, are clearly feeling the strain of balancing the demands of work and family. The poll of 500 parents with kids at home—conducted for the National Parenting Association in New York—found that 86% of fathers and 73% of mothers hold jobs, 1 of every 5 parents works two jobs and only 1 in 6 moms is a stay-at-home parent. As a result, 84% of today’s parents believe their roles are tougher than those of their own mothers and fathers.

They give a child everything he wants.

They laugh at a child when he does or says something wrong.

They avoid the words "no" and "wrong."

They pick up after their children instead of giving them the responsibility of doing it.

They take the side of their children against neighbors, teachers, and other responsible adults.

They make every decision for their children.

They bail them out of every situation instead of letting them face the consequences of their mistakes.

They are over-protective, and do not allow their children to do normal and healthy things.

They let their children talk back to them.

They criticize others openly in front of their children.

The average young teenage American girl views 1,500 references to sexual acts on TV annually, according to a study at Michigan State University. Boys of that age view an average of nearly 1,300 such and attend 17 R-rated movies annually. According to the teens studied, parents “never” or “not often” limited their TV viewing. There’s little indication that parents exercise any control, positive or negative, over TV viewing.

Research has established that parents can have a significant impact on the religious beliefs and practices of their children. In one recent study it was found that fathers who frequently attend church (over three times per month), discuss religion at home, and are committed to their religion have sons who follow the same pattern concerning religious values and behavior. Interestingly, fathers who did not do these three things had an inconsistent pattern of influence over their son’s religious responses.

Of All Born-Again Parents…33% Practice Biblical Principles in Parenting.

The majority of Christian Parents surveyed in a recent Barna Research Group project say that church and the Bible do not influence how they parent their children.

Only 33 percent of born-again parents surveyed said their church or faith has been a dominant influence in the way they parent, and only half of born-again parents mentioned anything related to faith (including the Bible, church or religion) as a significant influence on how they raise their children.

The main influences listed by parents included: their own upbringing (45 percent); friends, relatives and spouses (35 percent); and books, magazines and articles on parenting (34 percent). Nearly 63 percent said they expect the church to take a more active role in assisting parents, and 80 percent said the church should do more to help people be better parents.

“Family ministry will be one of the hot issues facing the church over the next few years,” said George Barna, president of Barna Research Group. “The challenge facing churches is to know what types of support parents and family members need to become productive Christians and citizens and to provide that support in useful ways.”

They are over-protective.

They show favoritism toward one of their children.

They compare the accomplishments or abilities of their children.

They push achievement, aims, and goals, and in so doing, put un-due pressure on their children.

They do not reward or encourage their children.

They fail to allow childishness; that is, they do not understand that a child is a child, and not an adult.

They neglect their children's needs: spiritually, socially, intellectually and physically.

They nag their children.

They abuse them with hateful, ugly, and bitter words.

They punish them cruelly, or when the punishment is too harsh or severe for the mistake that was made.

When Irving S. Olds was chairman of the U.S. Steel Corporation, he arrived for a stockholders’ meeting and was confronted by a woman who asked, “Exactly who are you and what do you do?” Without batting an eye, Olds replied, “I am your chairman. Of course, you know the duties of a chairman—that’s someone who is roughly the equivalent of parsley on a platter of fish.”

A wife who is 85% faithful to her husband is not faithful at all. There is no such thing as part-time loyalty to Jesus Christ.

Vance Havner

Paul’s teaching in Romans 11:6 is that grace and works are mutually exclusive. “If by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is not more grace. But if it be of works, then it is no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.” People may be trusting wholly in Christ, wholly in self, or partially in Christ and partially in self. Many unsaved who are related to the church fall into the latter category. However, that position is essentially the same as trusting fully in self. “Assuming that Christ has done his part sufficiently, if I am to be saved I must do my part acceptably. If on the other hand, I am lost, it must be because I did not do enough to win God’s favor.” Thus is the logic of partial trust in Christ and partial trust in self.

In Berlin art gallery is a painting by German painter Adolf Menzel (1815-1905). Only partially finished. Intended to show Fredrick the Great speaking with some of his generals. Menzel painted generals and background, left king until last. He put the outline of Fredrick in charcoal, but died prior to finishing.

Many Christians come to end of life without ever having put Christ into his proper place, center stage.

A survey conducted by Child magazine and reported in the 3/93 issue found more fathers today taking part in child-raising than those of a generation ago.

Putting children to bed (62 percent now; 16 percent then)

Changing diapers (53 to 6 percent)

Attending kids’ sporting events (52 to 37 percent)

Reading to children (49 to 14 percent)

Bathing children (46 to 24 percent)

Feeding children (40 to 12 percent)

Helping with homework (30 to 21 percent)

Attending parent/teacher conferences (45 to 24 percent)

Cleaning house (25 to 8 percent)

Washing dishes (44 to 16 percent)

Some things haven’t changed. Nearly two out of three of today’s fathers (65 percent) discipline their children—about the same as their fathers (61 percent).

On the downside, 49 percent of the women say their husbands give more attention to the children than to them, but 72 percent of the men disagree and say they do not give the children more attention than their wives.

In the age of participative management, it’s still important to remember that the workplace is hardly a perfect democracy. There are times when decisions must be made without the approval of the bulk of the employees, says Supervisor’s Bulletin. In such circumstances, don’t ask workers to vote, ask them only to voice their objections. Then strive to overcome those objections so management’s plans can gain wide-spread acceptance.

Rev. Carl Burnham, beloved pastor of the Chapel on Fir Hill in Akron, Ohio, wrote in 1962, just prior to his Homegoing,

“When I die, if my family wishes to inscribe anything on my gravestone, I would like it to be the promise of Jesus Christ in Hebrews 13:5, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” For in due season the springtime will arrive...Then, when the resurrection sings itself in the robin’s glad song, and bursting buds defy the death grip of winter, and you walk upon the yielding earth near my grave—remember that my soul is not there, but rather it is absent from the body, present with the Lord. And somewhere, the atoms that make up my brain, my heart—my body—will be sending out resurrection radiations of a frequency too high for any earthly Geiger counter to record. But if you place the meter of God’s Word alongside that cemetery plot and adjust the settings to Hebrews 13:5, you will receive this reading: “He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.”

The greatest single distinguishing feature of the omnipotence of God is that our imagination gets lost when thinking about it.

Most of the Psalms were born in difficulty. Most of the Epistles were written in prisons. Most of the greatest thoughts of the greatest thinkers of all time had to pass through the fire. Bunyan wrote Pilgrim’s Progress from jail. Florence Nightingale, too ill to move from her bed, reorganized the hospitals of England. Semi paralyzed and under the constant menace of apoplexy, Pasteur was tireless in his attack on disease. During the greater part of his life, American historian Francis Parkman suffered so acutely that he could not work for more than five minutes as a time. His eyesight was so wretched that he could scrawl only a few gigantic words on a manuscript, yet he contrived to write twenty magnificent volumes of history.

Sometimes it seems that when God is about to make preeminent use of a man, he puts him through the fire.

A thought that strikes deeply is this: Many times a relay race is lost in passing the baton. We don't want to fail to pass the baton of hard work and money-sense to our children simply because our life circumstances aren't forcing us to do so.

Our children may well see a day when money doesn't come as easily as it does now. Their ability to sweat and scrimp may make the difference between surviving or sinking. And even if that doesn't happen, we believe knowing the joy of working hard and living simply will free them to live a happier and more God-honoring life.

Almost everyone is aware of the statement attributed to President Harry Truman that "The Buck Stops Here," but does it? There are people who will not accept responsibility for their actions. Included in this group are criminals and sociopaths. The war trials at Nuremberg brought out this idea. The Nazi war criminals claimed they were just following orders. "We really did not want to exterminate the Jews. Hitler made us do it." The criminal says, "I am a product of society. They are to blame, not me." The wife and child abuser says, "I was raised by abusive parents, so do not blame me; blame them." The denial of guilt does not remove or negate the responsibility of it.

In our society today we are just as sick as they were then. No one wants to accept responsibility for anything. Everything is relative, so do what you want to. It is O.K. Well, friends and neighbors, that is plain junk. It just ain't so. Of course, anyone can play the game of denial. It all started a long time ago. Genesis 3:1-19 tells us that Adam ate the forbidden fruit and God held him responsible. Adam said, "I am not responsible. You know the woman you gave me, remember her? She gave me fruit from the tree and I did eat. But do not blame me, you gave her to me so blame her, but not me." God then went and asked Eve, "What have you done?" Eve said, "The serpent deceived me and I ate." "The devil made me do it," was Flip Wilson's favorite line. God held them both responsible for their actions. He will hold us responsible for ours. The soul that sinneth shall die. When we sin, let us ask God to forgive us, and then we should take the consequence that goes with it.

When thou passest through the waters, they shall not overflow thee—Isaiah 43:2

“When Thou passest through the waters,”

Deep the waves may be, and cold,

But Jehovah is our refuge

And His promise is our hold;

For the Lord Himself hath said it,

He the faithful God and true;

“When thou comest to the waters,

Thou shalt not go down, but through.

Seas of sorrow, seas of trial,

Bitterest anguish, fiercest pain,

Rolling surges of temptation,

Sweeping over heart and brain,

They shall never overflow us,

For we know His word is true;

All His waves and all His billows

He will lead us safely through.

Threatening breakers of destruction,

Doubt’s insidious undertow,

Shall not sink us, shall not drag us

Out to ocean depths of woe;

For His promise shall sustain us,

Praise the Lord, whose word is true!

We shall not go down or under,

He hath said, “Though passest through.”

- Annie Johnson Flint

I am the least of the apostles. - 1 Corinthians 15:9

I am the very least of all the saints. - Ephesians 3:8

I am the foremost of sinners. - 1 Timothy 1:15

Humility and a passion for praise are a pair of characteristics which together indicate growth in grace. The Bible is full of self-humbling (man bowing down before God) and doxology (man giving praise to God). The healthy heart is one that bows down in humility and rises in praise and adoration. The Psalms strike both these notes again and again. So too, Paul in his letters both articulates humility and breaks into doxology. Look at his three descriptions of himself quoted above, dating respectively from around A.D. 59, 63, and 64. As the years pass he goes lower; he grows downward! And as his self-esteem sinks, so his rapture of praise and adoration for the God who so wonderfully saved him rises.

Undoubtedly, learning to praise God at all times for all that is good is a mark that we are growing in grace. One of my predecessors in my first parochial appointment died exceedingly painfully of cancer. But between fearful bouts of agony, in which he had to stuff his mouth with bedclothes to avoid biting his tongue, he would say aloud over and over again: “I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth” (Ps. 34:1). That was a passion for praise asserting itself in the most poignant extremity imaginable.

Cultivate humility and a passion for praise if you want to grow in grace.

British statesman Edmund Burke argued, “men are qualified for civil liberty in exact proportion to their disposition to put mural chains on their own appetites. Society cannot exist unless a controlling power upon will and appetite be placed somewhere, and the less of it there is within, the more there is without. It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things that men of intemperate minds cannot be free. Their passions forge their fetters.

A pastor once made an investment in a large piece of ranch real estate which he hoped to enjoy during his years of retirement. While he was still an active pastor, he would take one day off each week to go out to his land and work. But what a job! What he had bought, he soon realized, was several acres of weeds, gopher holes, and rundown buildings. It was anything but attractive, but the pastor knew it had potential and he stuck with it.

Every week he’d go to his ranch, crank up his small tractor, and plow through the weeds with a vengeance. Then he’d spend time doing repairs on the buildings. He’d mix cement, cut lumber, replace broken windows, and work on the plumbing. It was hard work, but after several months the place began to take shape. And every time the pastor put his hand to some task, he would swell with pride. He knew his labor was finally paying off.

When the project was completed, the pastor received a neighborly visit from a farmer who lived a few miles down the road. Farmer Brown took a long look at the preacher and cast a longer eye over the revitalized property. Then he nodded his approval and said, “Well, preacher, it looks like you and God really did some work here.”

The pastor, wiping the sweat from his face, answered, “It’s interesting you should say that, Mr. Brown. But I’ve got to tell you—you should have seen this place when God had it all to Himself!”

In 1773, the young pastor of a poor church in Wainsgate, England, was called to a large and influential church in London. John Fawcett was a powerful preacher and writer, and these skills had brought him this opportunity. But as the wagons were being loaded with the Fawcetts’ few belongings, their people came for a tearful farewell.

During the good-byes, Mary Fawcett cried, “John, I cannot bear to leave!” “Nor can I,” he replied. “We shall remain here with our people.” The wagons were unloaded, and John Fawcett spent his entire fifty-four-year ministry in Wainsgate.

Out of that experience, Fawcett wrote the beautiful hymn, “Blest Be the Tie that Binds.”

When Pastor Joe Wright was asked to open the new session of the Kansas Senate, everyone was expecting the usual politically correct generalities. But, what they heard instead was a stirring prayer, passionately calling our country to repentance and righteousness.

The response was immediate and a number of legislators walked out during the prayer. In six short weeks, the Central Christian Church (USA) had logged more than 5,000 phone calls, with only 47 of those calls responding negatively. Commentator Paul Harvey aired the prayer on the radio and received a larger response to this program than any other program he has ever aired. The Central Christian Church is now receiving international requests for copies of this prayer from India, Africa, and Korea.

Pastor Joe’s prayer is reprinted here as an encouragement and challenge for each of us to stand for the truth of the Gospel whenever the Lord gives us the opportunity.

The Prayer:

“Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and seek Your direction and guidance. We know your Word says, ‘Woe on those who call evil good,’ but that’s exactly what we have done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and inverted our values.

We confess that:

We ridiculed the absolute truth of your Word and called it pluralism.

We have worshipped other gods and called it multiculturalism.

We have endorsed perversion and called it an alternative lifestyle.

We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery.

We have neglected the needy and called it self-preservation.

We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare.

We have killed our unborn and called it choice.

We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable.

We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self-esteem.

We have abused power and called it political savvy.

We have coveted our neighbor’s possessions and called it ambition.

We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression.

We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment.

Search us, O God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from every sin and set us free. Guide and bless these men and women who have been sent here by the people of Kansas, and who have been ordained by you to govern this great state. Grant them the wisdom to rule, and may their decisions direct us to the center of your will. I ask it in the name of your Son, the Living Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen.”

Consider what pastors think about work, home, and lifestyles as reported in a recent survey conducted by Leadership magazine:

94 percent feel pressured to have an ideal family;

The top four problems in clergy marriages are: 81 percent, insufficient time; 71 percent, use of money; 70 percent, income level; 64 percent, communication difficulties, 63 percent, congregational expectations; and 57 percent, differences over leisure;

24 percent have received or are receiving marital counseling;

33 percent of pastors are dissatisfied with the level of sexual intimacy in their marriages; and pastors report 16 percent of their spouses are dissatisfied, which 69 percent blame on their busy schedule, 54 percent on their spouse’s schedule, and 35 percent on frequent night church meetings;

22 percent seek supplemental income to make ends meet;

28 percent feel current compensation is inadequate;

69 percent of the spouses work outside the home to make ends meet;

67 percent of the pastors feel positive about their spouses working outside their home;

9 percent of clergy have had extramarital affairs;

19 percent have had inappropriate sexual contact with another person other than their spouse;

55 percent of clergy have no one with whom they can discuss their sexual temptation.

A minister received a call from a church that offered him a salary four times what he was then receiving. Being a devout man, he spent much time in prayer trying to discern what God wanted him to do. One day a friend met the minister’s young son on the street. “Do you know what your dad is going to do?” he asked. “Well,” replied the youngster, “Dad’s praying, but Mom’s packing!”

A certain lady prayed a great deal for patience. She complained to another Christian that while she prayed for patience, all she seemed to get was trouble. "The Lord is sending you trouble in order to produce patience in you," was the reply. How many times have you prayed for patience, and the Lord sent along your way a child that was naughty, a boss who was demanding, a husband or wife who was exasperating to live with? It was all an answer to your prayer for patience so that you may have the opportunity to exercise and practice it. Accept it from the hand of God, for that is part of your training.

"My dear boy," said a father, "take a word of advice from an old man who loves peace. An insult is like mud; it will brush off much better when it is dry. Wait a little till you both are cool; then the broken relationship will be easily mended. If you go now, it will be only to quarrel." That is good advice for you and for me-patience will induce peace.

"Greater love hath no man that this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13).

"When we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son" (Rom.. 5:10).

When nations are engaged in deadly strife, it is common for patriots to declare that he who gives his life for defense of his country may be certain of a home in heaven because of having made the supreme sacrifice. This teaching is in accord with the principles of the Moslem religion and not with true Christianity. Mahomet promised his fanatical followers a place in Paradise if they died for the faith in conflict with the "infidels" who rejected his teachings. Patriotism is a virtue of which any man may well be proud.

"Lives there a man with soul so dead,

Who never to himself hath said,

This is my own, my native land?"

But patriotism, praiseworthy as it is from the human standpoint, will never fit the soul for the presence of God. It can never wash away the guilt of sin.

The testimony of Edith Cavell, the brave British nurse who was killed by the Germans during the former world war, is well worth considering in this connection.

This noble woman was born in Swardeston, Norfold, on December 4, 1865. She entered the London Hospital for nurses' training in 1895. In 1907 she was appointed first matron of the Berkendael Medical Institute at Brussels, Belgium. This became the Red Cross Hospital in Belgium at the outbreak of the conflict in 1914. From August of that year, until August, 1915, Nurse Cavell helped to care for wounded French, Belgian, English and German soldiers alike. She ministered faithfully even to those who had fallen while fighting against her own nation. Naturally, her sympathies were with the Allies, and in cooperation with the efforts of Prince Reginald de Croy, she aided many derelict English and French soldiers who had fled from the Germans. These escaped by "underground" methods to the Dutch frontier, where, with the aid of guides, they were conveyed across to Britain. When some of these fugitives were traced to her house in Brussels, she was immediately arrested and after a court-martial was sentenced to face a firing-squad. All her kindness to the German wounded was forgotten. Her captors considered her a spy and treated her accordingly.

Just before the bandage was placed over her eyes, as she stood fearlessly facing the solders who were about to take her life, she gave a last message to the world. "I am glad," she said, "to die for my country. But as I stand here I realize as never before that patriotism is not enough." Then she went on to give a clear, definite testimony to her personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and her assurance of salvation, not through laying down her life for others, but because He laid down His life for her. In perfect composure, she submitted to the bandaging of her eyes and, in a few moments fell, pierced by many German bullets.

Her words, “patriotism is not enough!” have spoken loudly to may in the years that have gone since she died a martyr to her convictions. Yet may forget this.

"What more is needed?" you may ask. The answer is "Christ!" It is through faith in Him alone that the soul is saved and heaven assured.

The motor home has allowed us to put all the conveniences of home on wheels. A camper no longer needs to contend with sleeping in a sleeping bag, cooking over a fire, or hauling water from a stream. Now he can park a fully equipped home on a cement slab in the midst of a few pine trees and hook up to a water line, a sewer line and electricity. One motor home I saw recently had a satellite dish attached on top. No more bother with dirt, no more smoke from the fire, no more drudgery of walking to the stream. Now it is possible to go camping and never have to go outside.

We buy a motor home with the hope of seeing new places, of getting out into the world. Yet we deck it out with the same furnishings as in our living room. Thus nothing really changes. We may drive to a new place, set ourselves in new surrounding, but the newness goes unnoticed, for we’ve only carried along our old setting.

The adventure of new life in Christ begins when the comfortable patterns of the old life are left behind.

Paul considered himself Christ’s ambassador. What is an ambassador? He is an authorized representative of a sovereign. He speaks not in his own name but on behalf of the ruler whose deputy he is, and his whole duty and responsibility is to interpret that ruler’s mind faithfully to those to whom he is sent.

Paul used this “ambassador” image twice -- both in connection with his evangelistic work. Pray for me, he wrote from prison, “that utterance may be given me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak” (Eph. 6:18-20). He wrote also that God “gave us the ministry of reconciliation…So we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We beseech you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God” (2 Cor. 5:18-20).

Paul called himself an ambassador because he knew that when he proclaimed the gospel facts and promises and urged sinners to receive the reconciliation effected at Calvary, he was declaring Christ’s message to the world. The figure of ambassadorship highlights the authority Paul had, as representing his Lord, as long as he remained faithful to the terms of his commission and said neither less nor more than he had been given to say.

“Here it appears either Paul or Barnabas went too far. It must have been a violent disagreement to separate two associates who were so closely united. Indeed, the text indicates as much.

“Such examples are written for our consolation: for it is a great comfort to us to hear that great saints, who have the Spirit of God, also struggle. Those who say that saints do not sin would deprive us of this comfort.

“Samson, David, and many other celebrated men full of the Holy Spirit fell into grievous sins. Job and Jeremiah cursed the day of their birth; Elijah and Jonah were weary of life and desired death.

“No one has ever fallen so grievously that he may not rise again. Conversely, no one stands so firmly that he may not fall. If Peter (and Paul and Barnabas) fell, I too may fall. If they rose again, I too may rise again.”

- Martin Luther

Paul’s frequency of healing declined with the passing of time:

Galatians 4:13-15

Paul was ill

2 Corinthians 12:7-10

Paul was afflicted

Philippians 2:25-30

Epaphroditus was ill (A.D. 60)

1 Timothy 5:23

Timothy was ill (A.D. 62-3)

2 Timothy 4:20

Trophimus was ill (A.D. 64)

Sometimes we are overwhelmed with failures because we are so aware of our own, but we fail to notice those of others. The athlete is not celebrated for the games he has lost; the photographer throws away his poor pictures; the potter reshapes his marred jars; and the painter displays only his best portraits.

Perhaps then, God has different measurements for failure and success than we do. Paul the Apostle was not acclaimed during his lifetime. He was rejected by Jews and held in suspicion by Gentiles. He was stoned, beaten, imprisoned, mocked by some, and ignored by others. He spent his life starting little churches that were soon overtaken with problems so big that the members needed revisiting and letters written to them to straighten out their difficulties. Paul taught the truth only to discover that some who received it on one day were turning the next day to some false doctrine. No glory crowned his life, nor was any success evident when, during his last days, his friends deserted him as he was held prisoner. In the end, he was shamefully executed.

Yet, looking back on the ministry of Paul, we see that he was indeed a successful failure. One-half of the books of the New Testament are from his pen, and he is now hailed as the greatest Christian missionary of all time!

Among the students at a college was a young man on crutches. Although not a handsome fellow, he had a talent for friendliness and optimism, and he earned many scholastic honors as well as the respect of his classmates.

One day a new student asked him what had caused him to become so badly crippled. "Infantile paralysis," replied the genial young man.

"With a misfortune like that," exclaimed the other fellow, "how can you face the world so confidently and so happily?"

"Oh," replied the polio victim, "the disease never touched my heart."

When darkness long has veil’d my mind,

And smiling day once more appears,

Then, my Redeemer, then I find

The folly of my doubts and fears.

Straight I upbraid my wandering heart,

And blush that I should ever be

Thus prone to act so base a part,

Or harbour one hard thought of Thee!

Oh! let me then at length be taught

What I am still so slow to learn,

That God is love, and changes not,

Nor knows the shadow of a turn.

Sweet truth, and easy to repeat!

But when my faith is sharply tried,

I find myself a learner yet,

Unskillful, weak, and apt to slide.

But, O my Lord, one look from Thee

Subdues the disobedient will,

Drives doubt and discontent away,

And Thy rebellious worm is still.

Thou art as ready to forgive

As I am ready to repine;

Thou, therefore, all the praise receive;

Be shame and self-abhorrence mine.

A story is told by William Gilbert of how Dante, wandering one day over the mountains of Lunigiana, eventually drew near to a lone, secluded monastery. It was at a time when his mind was wracked with internal conflict and was seeking refuge from the strife. So he loudly knocked at the monastery gate. It was opened by a monk, who in a single glance at the sad, pale face, read its pathetic message of misery and sorrow. "What do you seek here?" said he. With a gesture of despair, the poet replied, "Peace." It was the same old craving followed by the same old search. But neither the solitary places, nor the anchorite's cell ever brought true peace to the afflicted heart. Peace comes not from without but from within. We can have it in the winter of age or the spring of youth; in the lowly cottage or the stately mansion; in distressing pain or in buoyant health. The secret of it is in comradeship with Christ. You can have peace in the midst of the storm, if you have Christ. He is the shelter from the tempest, the soul's haven of rest. If we have learned to value His friendship, we have mastered the secret of the "peace which passeth all understanding."

Peace, perfect peace, with sorrows surging round?

On Jesus’ bosom nought but calm is found.

Peace, perfect peace, our future all unknown?

Jesus we know, and He is on the throne.

Peace, perfect peace, death shadowing us and ours?

Jesus has vanquished death and all its powers.

It is enough; earth’s struggles soon shall cease,

And Jesus call us to heaven’s perfect peace.”

The members of the Ladies' Society had all been complaining that the dry season would ruin the crops. But there was one lady who was not complaining. They asked her if the drought had not hurt her fruit or garden. She said, "Yes, but I'll tell you what cured me of worrying. I used to fret over everything, and one spring when I sat down to have a good cry because an untimely frost during peach blossoming threatened to ruin our splendid prospect for fruit, my Aunt Martha came in and reminded me that she had lived eighty years, and the world's crop of provisions had never failed yet. 'If we don't have peaches, we'll have punkins,' said she. And I have noticed since then that, in spite of all the frosts and droughts, I've never suffered from lack of food, and I don't believe you have, either." They all smiled rather sheepishly, and the president said thoughtfully, "That's true. 'Peaches or punkins.' I'll try to remember that." We, too, should try to remember that everything continues to exist because of God's providential care in spite of us and our sinfulness.

In a Peanuts cartoon Lucy demanded that Linus change TV channels, threatening him with her fist if he didn’t.

“What makes you think you can walk right in here and take over?” asks Linus.

“These five fingers,” says Lucy. “Individually they’re nothing but when I curl them together like this into a single fist, they form a weapon that is terrible to behold.”

“Which channel do you want?” asks Linus. Turning away, he looks at his fingers and says, “Why can’t you guys get organized like that?”