Wishing You Were Here

         An old story tells about a Sunday school teacher who challenged her kids to go home that afternoon and write a letter to God. The following Sunday, they were to return with their letters.

         A boy who was her student wrote:

         Dear God,

         We had a good time at church today. Wish you could have been there.

         I hope that never happens at my congregation!

Down Syndrome Models

            I read something recently that made my heart skip a beat with gratitude. TARGET and NORDSTROM recently ran an advertising campaign, which featured photographs of beautiful and handsome girls and boys. What made one photograph special was the fact that one child, six-year-old Ryan Langston, has Down syndrome.

            Equally fascinating is the corporations made no reference to the fact that Ryan suffers from this disability. This heartens me because it alerts me to the fact that our society has come a long way.

            Time was when children suffering from this disability were placed in institutions at the encouragement of family physicians and doctors. Several factors have converged to change this.

            One factor has been leaders such as former Alabama football coach, Gene Stallings, and his family, who defied doctors' recommendations and raised their son, John Mark, as a fully integrated member of their family. Thousands, maybe millions, of American citizens had their attitudes transformed by the example of the Stallings family.

            Individuals and families like the Stallings-deeply committed Christians-also reveal to us the power of Christ-like lives to bring salt and light to our culture. So enjoy these advertisements from TARGET and NORSTROM, and, if you're so inclined, jot them a letter or an e-mail thanking them for doing so.

Source on Ryan Langston story: WORLD MAGAZINE 2/11/12

How to Write a Sermon?

            I read a few years ago about a boy who was watching his father, a preacher, work on his sermon. The son was fascinated.

            “How do you know what to say?” the boy asked.

            “God tells me,” his dad answered.

            “Then why do you keep crossing things out?”

The Girl With No Future

         Désirée was a fourteen-year-old teenager, and she was nervous. She had enrolled in the John Murray Anderson School for the Dramatic Arts.          

         Like, many girls her age, she battled insecurities. Moreover, her life had been especially difficult. Included in her misfortunes was the death of her father, who died when she was four.

         Her grandfather had been a performer at one time, and he had encouraged her to pursue acting as she was growing up. Now, with her mother's approval, she was to begin acting lessons in a prestigious school.  

         Sadly, her dreams were not realized. Brutally, experts and professionals told her that she "had no future at all as a performer."

         Our blessing is that Désirée ultimately did not listen to those who were supposedly able to see into her future. She continued to pursue a career in acting, using modeling as her portal into her dream profession.

         Today, who does not enjoy watching Lucille Désirée Ball perform in movies and her classic TV show?

         A lot of people grow so depressed living in this world, they cannot bear to look to the future.

         I’m so glad we serve One, who is not only the God of the past and present, but also of the future. He sees what we cannot see, and He is moving our world to powerful, yet wonderful end. Although we cannot see it as He can, we can view it with hope through faith.

          20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen (Eph. 3:20-21.)

  

Source for Lucille Ball story: u-s-history.com

The Money Ledger

            Years ago, it caught my attention when a periodical offered an account of how Godfrey Davies wrote his historical work on the Duke of Wellington. The periodical quoted Davies as saying this, “I found an old account ledger that showed how the Duke spent his money. It was a far better clue to what he thought was really important than the reading of his letters or speeches." 

            I once heard a preacher state, “Show me your checkbook and your [appointment book], and I will show you where your heart is.”

            Maybe that is why Jesus spent so much time talking about money. How we spend the money God bestows upon us reveals how we feel about God.

The Cost of Ideas

            Ideas have consequences. Be ready to accept the consequences of what you believe.

            Robert Ingersoll was an American agnostic who lived in the 19^th century. He owned a remarkable and celebrated library, which included many atheistical books.

            A reporter once asked him what his library cost him. Ingersoll thought for a moment and answered, “The governorship of Illinois and possibly the presidency of the United States.

Source: Edmund Fuller

Anger vs. Exasperation

            Ralph L. Woods wrote several years ago about a father, who wanted to illustrate to his son the difference between anger and exasperation. He looked up the phone number of a pompous fellow whom he knew only by name and reputation, and he dialed the number.

            When the gentleman answered the phone, the father asked, “Is Adolph there?”

            “There’s no Adolph here. Why don’t you get the right number before bothering people this hour of the night?” roared the man on the other end.

            “Now that,” said the father when he put down the phone, “was simply annoyance. We’ll wait a few minutes, and then you’ll hear something.”

            After a decent interval, the father dialed the same number and again asked, “Is Adolph there?”

            This time the other party literally screamed into the phone, “What’s the matter with you, are you crazy? I told you to look up the number and stop bothering me!” whereupon the receiver at the other end was slammed down.

            “Now that fellow was angry,” said the father. In a few minutes I will show you what I mean by exasperation compared to anger.

            After 15 minutes or so, the father dialed the same number for the third time, and when the same man answered at the other end, the father said almost cheerily, “Hello, this is Adolph. Have there been any messages for me during the past half hour or so?”

            Does this story help explain this verse from the Apostle Paul, “4 Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord” Eph. 6:4)? NIV 1984