Pastoral Resources

Automobile genus Henry Ford once came up with a revolutionary plan for a new kind of engine which we know today as the V-8. Ford was eager to get his great new idea into production. He had some men draw up the plans, and presented them to the engineers. As the engineers studied the drawings, one by one they came to the same conclusion. Their visionary boss just didn’t know much about the fundamental principles of engineering. He’d have to be told gently—his dream was impossible. Ford said, “Produce it anyway.” They replied, “But it’s impossible.” “Go ahead,” Ford commanded, “and stay on the job until you succeed, no matter how much time is required.”

For six months they struggled with drawing after drawing, design after design. Nothing. Another six months. Nothing. At the end of the year Ford checked with his engineers and they once again told him that what he wanted was impossible. Ford told them to keep going. They did. And they discovered how to build a V-8 engine.

If you’re planning to vacation in Zambia, beware of the street-corner “emerald vendors.” And if you’re driving, be prepared for some confusion in the streets, owing to stolen traffic lights. The two warnings are related: The traffic light thieves are selling green glass chips to unsuspecting tourists who think they’re getting bargain-basement emeralds.

An English born preacher (Edwin Fesche, now of Baltimore) taught this writer years ago that to be a valid ordinance of the Christian church, an observance had to be three things:

1. Instituted by Christ Himself,

2. Practiced in the Acts of the Apostles,

3. Explained in the Epistles of the NT.

Only two ordinances meet these three criteria: baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

An American tourist in Paris, who purchased an inexpensive amber necklace in a trinket shop, was shocked when he had to pay quite a high duty on it to clear customs in New York. This aroused his curiosity, so he had it appraised. After looking at the object under a magnifying glass, the jeweler said, “I’ll give you $25,000 for it.” Greatly surprised, the man decided to have another expert examine it. When he did, he was offered $10,000 more. “What do you see that’s so valuable about this old necklace?” asked the astonished man. “Look through this glass,” replied the jeweler. There before his eyes was an inscription: “From Napoleon Bonaparte to Josephine.” The value of the necklace came from its identification with a famous person.

An American tourist in Paris who purchased an inexpensive amber necklace in a trinket shop was shocked when he had to pay quite a high duty on it to clear customs in New York. This aroused his curiosity, so he had it appraised. After looking at the object under a powerful magnifying glass, the jeweler said, "I'll give you ,000 for it." Greatly surprised, the man decided to have another expert examine it. When he did, he was offered ,000 more!

"What do you see that's so valuable about this old necklace," asked the astonished man.

"Look through this glass," replied the jeweler. There before his eyes was an inscription: "From Napoleon Bonaparte to Josephine." The value of the necklace came from its identification with a famous person.

As Christians, we are in union with one who is far more important than any human being. It is from this union that the Christian finds his true identity and worth.

So in an age when man is searching for his past and discovering his potentials, the Christian can rejoice that his true worth comes from God and his identity is found in Jesus Christ.

Thomas Edison’s manufacturing facilities in West Orange, N. J., were heavily damaged by fire one night in December, 1914. Edison lost almost $1 million worth of equipment and the record of much of his work. The next morning, walking about the charred embers of his hopes and dreams, the 67-year-old inventor said: “There is value in disaster. All our mistakes are burned up. Now we can start anew.”

Who can estimate the value of God’s gift, when He gave to the world His only begotten Son! It is something unspeakable and incomprehensible. It passes man’s understanding. Two things there are which man has no arithmetic to reckon, and no line to measure. One of these things is the extent of that man’s loss who loses his own soul. The other is the extent of God’s gift when he gave Christ to sinners…Sin must indeed be exceeding sinful, when the Father must needs give His only Son to be the sinner’s Friend!

The gatekeeper at the railroad station demanded that everybody present his ticket before going through the gate to the train. From those who could not find their tickets readily there was much grumbling and swearing. One watching the scene said to the gatekeeper, "You don't seem to be very popular with the crowd." He cast his eyes upward to the floor above, where the superintendent's office was, and said, "I don't care anything about being popular with this crowd; all I care about is to be popular with my superior."

In a survey of more than 40,000 Americans these qualities were most valued in a friend:

1. the ability to keep confidences

2. loyalty

3. warmth and affection.

Values are often unwritten assumptions that guide our actions. Values demonstrate our convictions and priorities. Values are confirmed by our actions, not just our words. Values are not a doctrinal statement; they are convictions that determine how our church operates. Values provide the foundation for formulating goals and setting the direction of the church’s ministry. Core values are the 5-10 key statements that reflect the distinctives of a church. Key issues for determining your core values: If the church were really the church, what would it be doing? What makes you angry? What do you get passionate about? How do you invest your time and money? What’s your biggest criticism of the church? For what do you want your church to be known? What are the essential functions of the church?

Determining your core values:

Brainstorm a list of potential core values.

Make sure each value is easily translated to action.

Group similar statements together.

Highlight the ones that are the most important.

Write a tentative list of 4-7 values.

Check for completeness.

Do all the essential ministries of the church flow logically from one of the core values? Describe the specific behaviors that will demonstrate each core value in action.

I recently saw the story of a high school values clarification class conducted by a teacher in Teneck, New Jersey. A girl in the class had found a purse containing $1000 and returned it to its owner. The teacher asked for the class’s reaction. Every single one of her fellow students concluded the girl had been “foolish.”

Most of the students contended that if someone is careless, they should be punished. When the teacher was asked what he said to the students, he responded, “Well, of course, I didn’t say anything. If I come from the position of what is right and what is wrong, then I’m not their counselor. I can’t impose my views.”

It’s no wonder that J. Allen Smith, considered a father of many modern education reforms, concluded in the end, “The trouble with us reformers is that we’ve made reform a crusade against all standards. Well, we’ve smashed them all, and now neither we nor anybody else have anything left.”

Certs, Breath Savers, chewing gum are all big sellers. Americans are conscious about "bad breath," and they spend millions of dollars to hide or change it. The problem is that the remedies do not last long.

There is a bizarre new breath mint on the market now which lasts for two hours. It is a time released pill that sits between your upper gum and cheek and slowly puts out a minty taste for hours. You do not have to chew it, or even suck on it.

The price for a bottle of 200 mints is . It seems high, but the selling point is that it is really more economical.

Everybody is interested in things that last. Our cars wear out, so do clothes, shoes, and everything about us. The faces on Mount Rushmore have to be continually repaired. Jesus tells us in Mat 6:19 that all earthly treasures are beset by risks and finally end in total loss.

The real treasure of wealth is to be found in heaven. We can store truth, love, and faith. Our emphasis must always be on the values that last.

"Heaven and earth shall pass away; but my word;" says Jesus, "shall not pass away" (Mar 13:31).

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.

We are all so vain that we love to have our names remembered by those who have met us but once. We exaggerate the talents and virtues of those who can do this and we are ready to repay their powers with lifelong devotion. The ability to associate in the mind names and faces is a tremendous asset to a politician and it will prolong the pastorate of any clergyman.

God gives His mercies to be spent;

Your hoard will do your soul no good;

Gold is a blessing only lent,

Repaid by giving others food.

The world’s esteem is but a bribe,

To buy their peace you sell your own;

The slave of a vainglorious tribe,

Who hate you while they make you known.

The joy that vain amusements give,

Oh! sad conclusion that it brings!

The honey of a crowded hive,

Defended by a thousand stings.

‘Tis thus the world rewards the fools

That live upon her treacherous smiles:

She leads them blindfold by her rules,

And ruins all whom she beguiles.

God knows the thousands who go down

From pleasure into endless woe;

And with a long despairing groan

Blaspheme their Maker as they go.

Oh fearful thought! be timely wise;

Delight but in a Saviour’s charms,

And God shall take you to the skies,

Embraced in everlasting arms.

One of the reasons problems don’t get solved is that too often we misunderstand the true nature of the problem. Take the following story—a favorite at General Motors—about a complaint received by Pontiac. The customer’s letter to the president of the Pontiac Division is as follows:

This is the second time I have written you, and I don’t blame you for not answering me, because what I have to say sounds kind of crazy.

But it is a fact that we have a tradition in our family of ice cream for desert after dinner each night. But the kind of ice cream varies. So every night, after we’ve eaten, the whole family votes on which kind of ice cream we should have and I drive down to the store to get it.

It’s also a fact that I recently purchased a new Pontiac, and since then my trips to the store have created a problem. You see, every time I buy vanilla ice cream, when I start back from the store my car won’t start. If I get any other kind of ice cream, the car starts fine.

I want you to know I’m serious about this question, no matter how silly it sounds: “What is there about a Pontiac that makes it not start when I get vanilla ice cream, and easy to start whenever I get any other kind?”

The Pontiac president was understandably skeptical about the letter, but sent an engineer to check it out anyway. The latter was surprised to be greeted by a successful, obviously well-educated man in a fine neighborhood. He had arranged to meet the man just after dinner time, so the two hopped into the car and drove to the ice cream store. It was vanilla ice cream that night and sure enough after they came back to the car it wouldn’t start.

The engineer returned for three more nights. The first night the man got chocolate. The car started. The second night he got strawberry. The car started. The third night he ordered vanilla. Again the car failed to start.

Now the engineer, being a logical man, refused to believe that this man’s car was allergic to vanilla ice cream. He arranged therefore, to continue his visits for as long as it took to solve the problem. And toward this end he began to take notes: he jotted down all sorts of data, time of day, type of gas used, time to drive back and forth, etc.

In a short time he had a clue: The man took more time to buy any other flavor than vanilla. Why? The answer was in the layout of the store. Vanilla, being the most popular flavor, was in a separate case at the front of the store for quick pickup. All the other flavors were kept in the back of the store at a different counter where it took considerably longer to find the flavor and get checked out.

Now the question for the engineer was why the car wouldn’t start when it took less time. Once time became the problem—not the vanilla ice cream—the engineer quickly came up with the answer: vapor lock. It was happening every night, but the extra time taken to get the other flavors allowed the engine to cool down sufficiently to start. When the man got vanilla the engine was still too hot for the vapor lock to dissipate.

The Polyester Pagoda of the Palpitating Pulpit

The Cosmic Yo-Yo Church of Evolutionary Oneness

Fat Worship of the High Cholesterol Order

Holy Order of Our Lady of Perpetual Motion

Church of God the Totally Indifferent.

A fellow in our office told us recently of a household incident of which he had been an innocent but perplexed spectator. Our friend had called a Venetian-blind repairman to come pick up a faulty blind, and the next morning, while the family was seated at the breakfast table, the doorbell rang. Our friend’s wife went to the door, and the man outside said, “I’m here for the Venetian blind.” Excusing herself in a preoccupied way, the wife went to the kitchen, fished a dollar from the food money, pressed it into the repairman’s hand, then gently closed the door and returned to the table.

“Somebody collecting,” she explained, pouring the coffee.

Many Christians are like the woman who had been bitten by a dog and was advised by her physician to write her last wishes, as she might succumb to hydrophobia. She spent so long with pencil and paper that the doctor finally remarked something about how long the will would be. "Will!" she snorted. "I'm writing a list of the people I'm going to bite!"

“I have come to the conviction that no man knows enough to attack the veracity of the Old Testament. Every time when anyone has been able to get together enough documentary ‘proofs’ to undertake an investigation, the biblical facts in the original text have victoriously met the test.” - Prof. Robert Dick Wilson of Princeton, who held several doctorates and knew 45 languages and dialects of the Near East.

The hardest thing, I will admit, ever a man had to do is to become a Christian, and yet it is the easiest. This seems to many to be a paradox, but I will repeat it, it is the most difficult thing to become a Christian, and yet it is the easiest. I have a little nephew in this city. When he was about three or four years of age, he threw that Bible on the floor. I think a good deal of that Bible, and I don't like to see this. His mother said to him, "Go pick up uncle's Bible from the floor." "I won't," he replied. "Go and pick up that Bible directly." "I won't." "What did you say?" asked his mother. She thought he didn't understand. But he understood well enough, and had made up his mind that he wouldn't. She told the boy she would have to punish him if he didn't, and then he said he couldn't, and by and by he said he didn't want to. And that is the way with the people in coming to Christ. At first they say they won't, then they can't, and then they don't want to. The mother insisted upon the boy picking up the Bible, and he got down and put his arms around it and pretended he couldn't lift it. He was a great, healthy boy, and he could have picked it up easily enough. I was very anxious to see the fight carried on because she was a young mother, and if she didn't break that boy's will he was going to break her heart by and by. So she told him again if he didn't pick it up she would punish him, and the child just picked it up. It was very easy to do it when he made up his mind. So it is perfectly easy for men to accept the gospel. The trouble is they don't want to give up their will. If you want to be saved you must just accept that gospel--that Christ is your Saviour, that he is your Redeemer, and that he has rescued you from the curse of the law. Just say "Lord Jesus Christ, I trust you from this hour to save me," and the moment you take that stand he will put his loving arms around you and wrap about you the robe of righteousness.

A person came to me some time ago and said: "Mr. Moody, I wish you would give me a book that preaches assurance, and that tells the children of God it is their privilege to know they are accepted." I said, "Here is a book it is very orthodox. It was written by John, the most intimate friend of Jesus while He was on earth. The man who laid his head upon His bosom." Turn to John and see what he says in the 5th chapter, "For in them ye think ye have eternal life."

Why did the Father will the death of his only beloved Son, and in so painful and shameful a form? Because the Father had “laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isa. 53:6). Jesus’ death was vicarious (undergone in our place) and atoning (securing remission of sins for us and reconciliation to God). It was a sacrificial death, fulfilling the principle of atonement taught in connection with the Old Testament sacrifices: “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins” (Heb. 9:22; Lev. 17:11).

As the “last Adam,” the second man in history to act on mankind’s behalf, Jesus died a representative death. As a sacrificial victim who put away our sins by undergoing the death penalty that was our due, Jesus died as our substitute. By removing God’s wrath against us for sin, his death was an act of propitiation (Rom. 3:25; 1 John 2:2,; 4:10 --”expiation,” signifying that which puts away sin, is only half the meaning). By saving us from slavery to ungodliness and divine retribution for sin, Jesus’ death was an act of redemption (Gal. 3:13; Eph. 1:7; 1 Pet. 1:18-19). By mediating and making peace between us and God, it was an act of reconciliation (Rom. 5:10-11). It opened the door to our justification (pardon and acceptance) and our adoption (becoming God’s sons and heirs -- Rom. 5:1,9; Gal. 4:4-5).

This happy relationship with our Maker, based on and sealed by blood atonement, is the “New Covenant” of which Jesus spoke in the Upper Room (1 Cor. 11:25; Matt. 26:28).

Four preachers met for a friendly gathering. During the conversation one preacher said, “Our people come to us and pour out their hears, confess certain sins and needs. Let’s do the same. Confession is good for the soul.” In due time all agreed. One confessed he liked to go to movies and would sneak off when away from his church. The second confessed to liking to smoke cigars and the third one confessed to liking to play cards. When it came to the fourth one, he wouldn’t confess. The others pressed him saying, “Come now, we confessed ours. What is your secret or vice?” Finally he answered, “It is gossiping and I can hardly wait to get out of here.”

Several years after inventing radar, Sir Robert Watson Watt was arrested in Canada for speeding. He’d been caught in a radar trap. He wrote this poem:

Pity Sir Robert Watson Watt,

Strange target of his radar plot,

And this, with others I could mention,

A victim of his own invention.

One study found that 18 months after a divorce, children have a rate of sudden, serious psychological problems comparable to “victims of natural disaster.” Sixty-five percent of the children—who had been functioning well before the divorce—couldn’t concentrate in school, couldn’t eat or sleep properly, couldn’t make friends, were depressed, withdrawn or hostile. Even ten years after a divorce , over 40 percent of these young people still had no set goals, a limited education and a sense of hopelessness about their lives. The study’s author concludes, “Almost half of the children of divorce enter adulthood as worried, underachieving and sometimes angry young men and women.”

When Jewish psychiatrist Victor Frankl was arrested by the Nazis in World War II, he was stripped of everything—property, family, possessions. He had spent years researching and writing a book on the importance of finding meaning in life—concepts that later would be known as logotherapy. When he arrived in Auschwitz, the infamous death camp, even his manuscript, which he had hidden in the lining of his coat, was taken away.

“I had to undergo and overcome the loss of my spiritual child, “ Frankl wrote. “Now it seemed as if nothing and no one would survive me; neither a physical nor a spiritual child of my own! I found myself confronted with the question of whether under such circumstances my life was ultimately void of any meaning.”

He was still wrestling with that question a few days later when the Nazis forced the prisoners to give up their clothes.

“I had to surrender my clothes and he in turn inherited the worn-out rags of an inmate who had been sent to the gas chamber,” said Frankl. “Instead of the many pages of my manuscript, I found in the pocket of the newly acquired coat a single page torn out of a Hebrew prayer book, which contained the main Jewish prayer, SHEMA YISRAEL (Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is one God. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.)

“How should I have interpreted such a ‘coincidence’ other than as a challenge to LIVE my thoughts instead of merely putting them on paper?”

Later, as Frankl reflected on his ordeal, he wrote in his book MAN’S SEARCH FOR MEANING, ‘There is nothing in the world that would so effectively help one to survive even the worst conditions, as the knowledge that there is a meaning in one’s life…He who has a WHY to live for can bear almost any HOW.’”

Victoria Principal, a star of the Dallas, television program was nearly killed in an automobile accident when 19 years old. Upon recovering she said she had a new sense of her mortality, and rather than turning her thoughts to eternity, she abandoned herself to hedonistic living for the next two to three years. She didn’t want to die having missed any of life’s experiences

To a pastor's study one day came a young man from a good family. He was in the depths of despair and confessed that he had practiced the most loathsome sins. He hated his own body, the instrument of his shame. He wanted to die, and would have put an end to his life if he could have been sure that death ended all. The pastor, in recounting this incident, said that he shuddered to think of what would have been the result of that interview if he had not been able, on the authority of God's Word, to call him to repentance and conversion in Christ, and to assure him of a gift of power that can give victory over all sins. One genuine experience of Christ is worth more than all the arguments of a pagan philosophy.

An American admiral had a small card printed and circulated among his subordinates and workers. On it in gray type was this background: "It Can't Be Done," and then, in bold black type across this was printed, "But Here It Is." As we look at sin and realize its strength, defeat would seem to be inevitable were it not for Christ. "But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." The phrase "which giveth us" is a present participle (didonti) in Greek. A better translation would be "who keeps on giving us." This is not just one victory that God gives us but a constant experience of victory through Christ.

A recent news release told of a Charlotte, North Carolina, woman who set a world record while playing a convenience store video game. After standing in front of the game for fourteen hours and scoring an unprecedented seven and a half million points on the game called “Tapper,” the woman was pleased to see a TV crew arriving to record her efforts for posterity. She continued to play while the crew, alerted by her fiancé, prepared to shoot. However, she was appalled to see the video screen suddenly go blank. While setting up their lights, the camera team had accidentally unplugged the game, thus bringing her bid for ten million points to an untimely end! The effort to publicize her achievement became the agent of her ultimate failure.

The teaching that there is a God and that He is actively involved in the affairs of the world. This does not necessitate the Christian concept of God, but includes it. (Compare to Deism)

Vigilantes were self-appointed law enforcement groups which sprang up on the American frontier. One writer says that “vigilantism was [often] carried out by citizens who were moderate and orderly in their application of force,” but he notes that the danger of mob rule was also present. Just ask the poor fellow whose grave at Boot Hill Cemetery in Arizona bears this epitaph: “Lynched by mistake.”

Bart Starr, former quarterback of the Green Bay Packers, was describing to a group of businessmen how his coach, Vince Lombardi, held absolute power. He stated that, as you entered Vince’s office, you noticed a huge mahogany desk with an impressive organization chart behind it on the wall. The chart had a small block at the top in which was printed: “Vince Lombardi, Head Coach and General Manager.” A line came down from it to a very large block in which was printed: “Everybody Else!”

We are so eager to defend the cause of Christ that sometimes in our defense of it we violate the very gospel we defend. We are like the man who wrote a famous tract entitled, Come to Jesus. Soon after the writing of that tract, which was mightily used of God, he engaged in a theological dispute in which he wrote to an opponent's publication an invective article bristling with sarcasm, and sharp and cutting as a razor. Reading it to a friend, he asked, "What do you think of it?" "It is a masterpiece of invectiveness," was the reply. "You fairly flay him alive. What have you decided to call it?" "I have not thought of a title. Can you suggest one?" "Well," said his friend, "how about calling it, Go to the Devil, by the author of Come to Jesus?"

Children who see physical violence between their parents are six times more likely to abuse their own spouses after they marry.

If those children were also hit by their parents as teenagers, they are 12 times more likely to abuse their spouses.

The great violinist, Nicolo Paganini, willed his marvelous violin to Genoa—the city of his birth—but only on condition that the instrument never be played upon. It was an unfortunate condition, for it is a peculiarity of wood that as long as it is used and handled, it shows little wear. As soon as it is discarded, it begins to decay. The exquisite, mellow-toned violin has become worm-eaten in its beautiful case, valueless except as a relic. The moldering instrument is a reminder that a life withdrawn from all service to others loses its meaning.

Recently my wife and I sat charmed at an outdoor performance by young Suzuki violin students. After the concert, an instructor spoke briefly on how children as young as two, three and four years old are taught to play violin. The first thing the children learn, he said, is a proper stance. And the second thing the children learn--even before they pick up the violin--is how to take a bow. “If the children just play the violin and stop, people may forget to show their appreciation,” the instructor said. “But when the children bow, the audience invariably applauds. And applause is the best motivator we’ve found to make children feel good about performing and want to do it well.”

Adults love applause too. Being affirmed makes us feel wonderful. If you want to rekindle or keep the flame of love glowing in your marriage through the years, try showing and expressing your appreciation for your mate. Put some applause in your marriage and watch love grow.

On November 30, 1991 fierce winds from a freakish dust storm triggered a massive freeway pileup along Interstate 5 near Coalinga, California. At least 14 people died and dozens more were injured as topsoil whipped by 50 mile-per-hour winds reduced visibility to zero. The afternoon holocaust left a three-mile trail of twisted and burning vehicles, some stacked on top of one another 100 yards off the side of the freeway. Unable to see their way, dozens of motorists drove blindly ahead into disaster.

The capacity to create a compelling picture of the desired; state of affairs that inspires people to respond; that which is desirable, which could be, should be; that which is attainable.

A godly vision is right for the times, right for the church, and right for the people. A godly vision promotes faith rather than fear. A godly vision motivates people to action. A godly vision requires risk-taking. A godly vision glorifies God, not people.

H. Luccock asks this stimulating question: “What would it be like to see life as Jesus saw it?” He goes on to say, “Suppose after almost a lifetime of low vision and dull perception, we were given the gift of His vision. Wouldn’t it be something like what happens when a person who is nearly blind, has sight restored? This has happened to people with only 10% vision or less through low-vision rehabilitation clinics.”

He continues, “One day a 35 year-old insurance salesman came to the Vision Rehabilitation Clinic in Providence, Rhode Island. He had only 1% vision since age ten. He had gone through life in a gray shadow. When a pair of magnifier glasses was slipped into place, his jaw dropped in amazement. Then he exploded, ‘Oh praise God, look at what I can see!” After all these years, it’s a miracle, the greatest thing that ever happened!’ Minutes later he phoned his wife and said, ‘Honey, I’m coming home to see what you really look like!”

Charles Eliet had a problem. He had a contract to build an engineering marvel—a suspension bridge over the Niagara River. But he had no way of stretching his first cable between the shores. Any boat that tried to cross the falls would be swept over. Then Eliet hit on an idea. If a kite carrying a cord could be flown across the river, the cord could then be used to pull larger cables across. So Eliet announced a kite-flying contest, and a young man named Homan Walsh responded. On Walsh’s first attempt the kite’s cord broke with it caught in the river’s ice, but on his next try he succeeded in flying his kite to the opposite shore of the river. The vital link was established, and the bridge built.

After a long absence from the stage, pianist Vladimir Horowitz was to perform in Chicago. Franz Mohr, the chief concert technician for Steinway and Sons, was assigned to make sure the piano was in perfect condition. He did so to the best of his ability, but wasn’t able to relax until Horowitz had given a brilliant rendering of his first number. As was his custom, the pianist left the stage—but didn’t return. Mohr was summoned backstage. “Where have you been?” exclaimed Horowitz. “I cannot play again. The piano stool is far too high!” Mohr nervously inquired at to the size of the problem. Horowitz held up his hand, his thumb and forefinger about a quarter of an inch apart.

It comes from the Latin vocare, to call, and means the work a man is called to by God.

There are all different kinds of voices calling you to all different kinds of work, and the problem is to find out which is the voice of God rather than of Society, say, or the Superego, or Self-Interest.

By-and-large a good rule for finding out is this.

The kind of work God usually calls you to is the kind of work (a) that you need most to do and (b) that the world most needs to have done.

If you really get a kick out of your work, you’ve presumably met requirement (a), but if your work is writing TV deodorant commercials, the chances are you’ve missed requirement (b). On the other hand, if your work is being a doctor in a leper colony, you have probably met requirement (b), but if most of the time you’re bored and depressed by it, the chances are you have not only bypassed (a) but probably aren’t helping your patients much either.

Neither the hair shirt nor the soft berth will do. The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.

In Ralph Emery’s autobiography, Memories, the country-music D.J. and host of TV’s “Nashville Now” relates one of his early experiences in radio:

An exuberant man of the cloth came into the studio one day with his wife, another woman and a guitar with an electrical short in its amplifier. I could tell it was defective by the loud hum in the speaker. I walked from the control room into the studio to exchange pleasantries, and then assumed my position on my side of the glass separating the rooms. I raised the sound as they played their opening theme song and then said, “Here again is Brother So-and-So.”

These fundamentalist preachers, many self-proclaimed and well-meaning, were, however, loud and demonstrative. To escape the screaming, I would simply turn off the monitor in my control room. I couldn’t hear any of his yelling, although I could see through the glass his jumping and straining. Every so often, I would raise my eyes from a newspaper and watch the Gospel pantomime.

Suddenly I heard him yelling through his sheer lung power, “Oh-oh-oh-oh!”—his face contorting.

My God, he’s having a seizure, I thought, and jumped to my feet. Then I noticed his thumb. The instant he had touched the steel string of his guitar and simultaneously reached for the steel microphone in front of him, he grounded himself because of the short in his amplifier. He was jumping and shaking at 110 volts shot through is torso. His moist palm was rigidly clamped to the microphone. The guy couldn’t let go. He was a captive of voltage. Suddenly his wife raised her arm, and in karate fashion, hit his arm with all her force. The blow broke his grip from the charged microphone, but his painful yells had gone over the air.

As calmly as I could, I said, “One moment please.”

Wherever you may be in the Northern Hemisphere, bathtub water will form a vortex as it goes down the drain—almost always spinning in a counterclockwise direction. But in the Southern Hemisphere, the bath water will spin in a clockwise direction as it runs away. One in a few centers of population where the tub’s plug hole is directly on the equator, such as Nanuki in Kenya, will the water run away twisting as often one way as the other or forming no vortex at all.

A monk joined a monastery and took a vow of silence. After the first 10 years his superior called him in and asked, “Do you have anything to say?”

The monk replied, “Food bad.”

After another 10 years the monk again had opportunity to voice his thoughts.

He said, “Bed hard.”

Another 10 years went by and again he was called in before his superior. When asked if he had anything to say, he responded, “I quit.”

“It doesn’t surprise me a bit. You’ve done nothing but complain ever since you got here.”

We’ve been discussing the incredible vulnerability of infants and toddlers. Many investigations in recent years have confirmed that touch and emotional nurturance in the first few years of life are necessary to survival.

Now, a study conducted at Harvard University shows unmistakably that the quality of the bonding between a boy and his mother is related to his physical health forty or fifty years later. Remarkably, 91 percent of college men who said they had not enjoyed a close relationship with their mothers developed coronary artery disease, hypertension, duodenal ulcers, or alcoholism by the midlife years. Only 45 percent of the men who recalled maternal warmth and closeness had similar illnesses. The same was true of men and relationships with their fathers. And consider this: 100 percent of participants in this study whose mothers and fathers were cold and distant suffered numerous diagnosed diseases in midlife.

In short, the quality of early relationships between boys and their parents is a powerful predictor of lifelong health. And you can be sure, the same is true of girls and women.

It all comes down to this: When early needs are not met, trouble looms down the road.