Dog Overboard!

                   I once read a story, perhaps apocryphal, about the king of Greece traveling to the United States several years ago—by ship.

                   Also on the ship was a gentleman who was bringing along a handsome dog. While they were crossing the ocean, the dog somehow fell overboard.

                   The owner begged the captain to stop the ship and rescue the dog. The captain refused. Considering the king was on board, the captain felt like the dog’s troubles were relatively unimportant.

                   Then, the dog’s owner asked the captain, “Would you stop the ship if it had been a man?!"

                   "Certainly!" the captain answered.

                   Straight away the dog’s owner threw himself overboard. The captain stopped the ship.

                   Ultimately, the human was rescued—and so was the dog. Such was the result of a man who loved a dog and identified with him so much, he was willing to risk his life.

                   Someone has written that is exactly what Jesus did for humans. Surely other beings in the spiritual world were asking 2000 years ago, “What is he doing?”… when Jesus abandoned heaven and entered into our world. Not only did Jesus risk his life, he surrendered his life—for people.

                   He did so because he loved people so much, and he identified with them.

Our Greatest Need

If our greatest need had been information, God would have sent us an educator;  

If our greatest need had been technology, God would have sent us a scientist;  

If our greatest need had been money, God would have sent us an economist;  

If our greatest need had been pleasure, God would have sent us an entertainer;  

But our greatest need was forgiveness, so God sent us a Savior. 

--Source unknown

It Cost

            As we enter the Christmas season, it’s good to be reminded how much cost was expended when Jesus entered into the world.

            I received the following a couple of decades ago. The author is unknown.

It Cost

            It cost Mary and Joseph the comforts of home during a long period of exile in Egypt to protect the little babe.

            It cost mothers, in and around Bethlehem, the massacre of their babies by the cruel order of Herod.

            It cost the shepherds the complacency of their shepherds’ life, with the call to the manger and to tell the good news.

            It cost the wise men a long journey and expensive gifts and changed lives.

            It cost the early Apostles and the early church persecution and sometimes death.

            It cost missionaries of Christ untold suffering and privation to spread the Good News.

            It cost Christian martyrs in all ages their lives for Christ’s sake.

            More than all this, it cost God the Father His own Son—He sent Him to the earth to save men.

            It cost Jesus a life of sacrifice and service, a death cruel and unmatched in history.

Were Man to Become a Dog

            Many years ago, C. S. Lewis wrote words that imaginatively captured the challenge of God becoming a human:

            Lying at your feet is your dog. Imagine, for the moment, that your dog and every dog is in deep distress. Some of us love dogs very much.

            If it would help all the dogs in the world to become like men, would you be willing to become a dog? Would you put down your human nature, leave your loved ones, your job, hobbies, your art and literature and music, and choose instead of the intimate communion with your beloved, the poor substitute of   looking into the beloved's face and wagging your tail, unable to smile or speak?

           Christ, by becoming man, limited the thing, which to Him was the most precious thing in the world; his unhampered, unhindered communion with the Father.

The Good Samaritan

            This was from SPORTS ILLUSTRATED, September 19, 1994:

           

A middle-aged man, diseased with Parkinson’s Syndrome, was driving along a two-line highway one afternoon in southern Michigan. He passed by a group of college students, who stood sadly and silently by their car.

The hood of the car was up and it was in trouble. The older man stopped his car, did a U-turn, and went back to help. He pulled out some jumper cables and, in spite of his best efforts, he couldn’t fix the car—so he gave two of the students a ride back to campus.

I don’t know how long all of this took—maybe an hour or two. I know many of us wouldn’t have stopped; even if we knew that it was 100% safe. We would not have stopped because of the inconvenience. We don’t have time today for inconvenience. We don’t have time to serve.

This man didn’t either. At one time he was the most famous man in the world. But that day, Muhammad Ali, driving in his Rolls Royce, took time out of his globe-hopping schedule to help some college students.

He did not drive on by and call on his cell phone to send someone else. He came himself.

Our God didn’t phone for help either. He came to this world himself—and He served.