Sermon Illustrations on Perspective — page 2

Seeing Clearly

2 Peter 1:9

I went to an eye doctor the other day to see if I was a candidate for a particular surgical procedure that would correct my vision. The surgeon was quite a character. He was very funny and talkative, which I wasn’t expecting. With my medical chart in hand, he asked about what I had written under “occupation,” mentioning that apologetics intrigued him. We then briefly but enthusiastically discussed various topics ranging from the new atheism to religious syncretism. Then he told me the disappointing news: “I’m really sorry, but you’re not a candidate. You’re a very high myope.” Thinking he may have just hurled some sort of insult at me, I was relieved to hear him explain that myopia simply means nearsightedness. Unfortunately, my vision is just too nearsighted. Oftentimes, so is my faith.

The Greek word “myopazon” from which the word “myopia” comes occurs only once in the New Testament. In Peter’s second letter to the church at large, he writes: “But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted...” (2 Peter 1:9). But if anyone does not have what? Just prior to his diagnosis, Peter lists various virtues that are necessary for avoiding spiritual myopia: “For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:5-8).

Peter offers no explanation or description of this long list of virtues. He simply notes them and says, you either have them, or you do not; you either can see, or you cannot. He then exhorts us: make every effort to see! For Peter, knowing Jesus most fully means working diligently to internalize and exhibit Christ-like characteristics on a daily basis -- and in “increasing measure.” In other words, we never arrive on a spiritual peak from which we have nowhere higher to climb. There is always room to grow; there is always more to see.

All of us are afflicted with shortsightedness at times. We focus on the struggles right in front of us because faraway promises appear so blurred. We focus on a nagging worry or a superficial frustration because the bigger picture is so much harder to fathom. Interestingly, Peter does tell us to stop looking close to home into order to see clearer visions of the future. (Of course, he would tell us not to worry, as this is not focusing on anything helpful.) But instead, he reminds us that focusing on our union with Christ and our own internalizing of Christ’s qualities helps us to keep the bigger picture in focus and our overall knowledge of Christ most effective. Nobel prize-winning poet Nelly Sachs similarly urges us to widen our gaze and fix our eyes on the transcendent by looking right in front of us.

“In the evening your vision widens

looks out beyond midnight–

twofold I stand before you–

green bud rising out of dried-up sepal,

in the room where we are of two worlds.”

Perhaps the place where we can see hope blossom -- no matter how dark and distant it may seem -- is closer than we think. Looking at the world through the eyes of Scripture, the hope of the gospel, and the presence of the kingdom provides us with corrective lenses through which we can see who Christ is, who we truly are, and indeed, who we can become beside him. Take a look and see for yourself.

________

*

[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #6353]

(untitled)

The importance of choosing to think positively was captured by the

owner of a doughnut shop when he put this roadside sign in front of

his shop:

When along life's journey you roll, Keep your eye on the doughnut

and not on the hole.

(untitled)

A canny Maine farmer was approached by a stranger one day and asked

how much he thought his prize Jersey cow was worth. The farmer

thought for a moment, looked the stranger over, then asked, "Are you

the tax assessor or has she just been killed by your car?"

A Line Makes All the Difference

You may have heard about the man who lived where the state lines of Wisconsin and Minnesota meet. He assumed he had been living in Minnesota but when a new survey was done, it showed that he lived in Wisconsin. "Thank goodness," he exclaimed, "I never could bear those cold Minnesota winters."

- Charles Lowery, {SBC Life, }June/July 1997 "Rise and Shine," p. 23

(untitled)

When the soldiers of Israel saw Goliath, they thought to

themselves. "He is too big that we can never kill him." When David

saw Goliath, he thought to himself, "He is so big that I cannot miss

him."

Do You See the Dot Or the Sheet?

Focus...In his 35 years with the United Nations system, Kofi Annan has come to be known as an evenhanded man with an ability to see parts and the whole at the same time. It is this quality that makes him one of the more popular executives in the United Nations.

He recalls an unforgettable lesson learned in Ghana at age 17: One day our headmaster walked into the classroom and put up a broad sheet of paper with a small black dot in one corner. “Boys,” he asked, “what do you see?” All of us shouted in unison, “A black dot!” Then he said, “So not a single one of you saw the large white sheet of paper? Don’t go through life with that attitude.”

________

Newsweek

COUNTING YOUR BLESSINGS

Many years ago a Kentucky grandmother gave a new bride the following recipe for washing clothes....

1. Bilt fire in backyard to heat kettle of rain water.

2. Set tubs so smoke wont blow in eyes if wind is pert.

3. Shave one hole cake of lie soap in bilin water.

4. Sort things, make 3 piles. 1 pile white, 1 pile colored, 1 pile work britches and rags.

5. To make starch, stir flour in cool water to smooth, then thin down with bilin water.

6. Take white things, rub dirty spots on board, scrub hard, and then bile. Rub colored, don't bile, just rinch and starch.

7. Take things out of kettle with broomstick handle, then rinch, and starch.

8. Hang old rags on fence.

9. Spread tea towels on grass.

10. Pore rinch water in flower bed.

11. Scrub porch with hot soapy water.

12. Turn tubs upside down.

13. Go put on clean dress, smooth hair with hair combs. Brew cup of tea, sit and rock a spell and count your blessings.

Hang this above your Automatic Washer, and when things look bleak, read it again, and count YOUR blessings!

Christopher Reeve On Perspective

Luke 7:22

"Anything can happen to anybody. In the last movie I did, 'Above Suspicion,' I played a paraplegic. I went to a rehab center and I worked with the people there so I could simulate being a paraplegic. And every day I would get in my car and drive away and go, "Thank God that's not me." I remember the smugness of that, as if I were privileged in a way. And seven months later, I was in this condition. The point is, we are all one great big family, and any one of us can get hurt at any moment... We should never walk by somebody who's in a wheelchair and be afraid of them or think of them as a stranger. It could be us - in fact, it is us."

Christopher Reeve

Actor

Cited in BITS & PIECES

Seeing Problems In A New Way

Luke 10:19

I've recently had a major shift in the way I view problems. I used to see them as impediments in the path of accomplishment. Now, I see them as opportunities to get better - chances to be unique in the marketplace.

Perhaps I finally realized what Father Alfred D'Souza had when he wrote, "For a long time it has seemed to me that life was about to begin: REAL life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be got through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life."

I've been calling problems "challenges" for twenty years trying to put a different spin on them. I knew that some of my biggest problems created some of the best changes in my life. But I didn't always recognize that while they were occurring. Now (at least most of the time) I'm able to look at problems with a more positive attitude.

The fact is, we're all going to experience problems. They're inevitable, and they'll keep coming as long as we remain on the planet. How we perceive these problems is critical to our success. If we view them as something to tolerate, something to just get through, we won't gain much from them.

However, if we embrace them and look for the good they can provide for us, we can make great progress. Otherwise they will impede us. It's all in the way we hold it.

Jim Rohn says, "Don't ask for things to get better, ask that YOU get better." Good advice. Ultimately, it's our challenges; it's our overcomings that shape our character and make us into better people.

One of the ways to change our perspective is to think of ourselves as well-paid consultants. In this capacity, we are paid to be solution-oriented. If we possessed this view, we wouldn't resent our investment of time or experience as much irritation. We would, in actuality, be glad there was a problem because if there weren't, there would be no work for us.

Make sure you understand the problem. Charles Kettering said that a problem clearly stated is a problem half-solved.

In practicing this exercise, you will have more objectivity and be more creative in solving the issue at hand.

If you approach problems as puzzles to be solved rather than disagreeable chores, you'll have more fun. Seeing our problems as challenges shift our attitude from coping to conquest.

And remember, every problem has a solution-usually many solutions.

________

Michael E. Angier, President of Success Networks International

*

One Hundred Years Ago

Luke 5:39

100 years ago...

The average life expectancy in the United States was forty-seven.

Only 14 percent of the homes in the United States had a bathtub.

Only 8 percent of the homes had a telephone. A three minute call from Denver to New York City cost eleven dollars.

There were only 8,000 cars in the US and only 144 miles of paved roads.

The maximum speed limit in most cities was ten miles per hour.

Alabama, Mississippi, Iowa, and Tennessee were each more heavily populated than California. With a mere 1.4 million residents, California was only the twenty-first most populous state in the Union.

The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower.

The average wage in the U.S. was twenty-two cents an hour. The average U.S. worker made between $200 and $400 per year.

A competent accountant could expect to earn $2000 per year, a dentist $2500 per year, a veterinarian between $1500 and $4000 per year, and a mechanical engineer about $5000 per year.

More than 95 percent of all births in the United States took place at home.

Ninety percent of all U.S. physicians had no college education. Instead, they attended medical schools, many of which were condemned in the press and by the government as "substandard."

Sugar cost four cents a pound. Eggs were fourteen cents a dozen. Coffee cost fifteen cents a pound.

Most women only washed their hair once a month and used borax or egg yolks for shampoo.

Canada passed a law prohibiting poor people from entering the country for any reason, either as travelers or immigrants.

The five leading causes of death in the U.S. were:

1. Pneumonia and influenza

2. Tuberculosis

3. Diarrhea

4. Heart disease

5. Stroke

The American flag had 45 stars. Arizona, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Hawaii and Alaska hadn't been admitted to the Union yet.

Drive-by-shootings - in which teenage boys galloped down the street on horses and started randomly shooting at houses, carriages, or anything else that caught their fancy - were an ongoing problem in Denver and other cities in the West.

The population of Las Vegas, Nevada was thirty. The remote desert community was inhabited by only a handful of ranchers and their families.

Plutonium, insulin, and antibiotics hadn't been discovered yet. Scotch tape, crossword puzzles, canned beer, and iced tea hadn't been invented.

There was no Mother's Day or Father's Day.

One in ten U.S. adults couldn't read or write. Only 6 percent of all Americans had graduated from high school.

Some medical authorities warned that professional seamstresses were apt to become sexually aroused by the steady rhythm, hour after hour, of the sewing machine's foot pedals. They recommended slipping bromide - which was thought to diminish sexual desire - into the woman's drinking water.

Marijuana, heroin, and morphine were all available over the counter at corner drugstores. According to one pharmacist, "Heroin clears the complexion, gives buoyancy to the mind, regulates the stomach and the bowels, and is, in fact, a perfect guardian of health."

Coca-Cola contained cocaine instead of caffeine.

Punch card data processing had recently been developed, and early predecessors of the modern computer were used for the first time by the government to help compile the 1900 census.

Eighteen percent of households in the United States had at least one full-time servant or domestic.

There were about 230 reported murders in the U.S. annually. [Holwick - and 105 blacks were lynched in 1901. http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/aap/timelin3.html]

===========================

Another version:

• Canada passed a law prohibiting poor people from entering the country for any reason, either as travelers or immigrants.

• The five leading causes of death in the US were:

1. Pneumonia and influenza,

2. Tuberculosis,

3. Diarrhea,

4. Heart disease,

5. Stroke.

• The American flag had 45 stars. Arizona, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Hawaii and Alaska hadn’t been admitted to the Union yet.

• Drive-by shootings — in which teenage boys galloped down the street on horses and started randomly shooting at houses, carriages, or anything else that caught their fancy — were an ongoing problem in Denver and other cities in the West.

• The population of Las Vegas, Nevada, was thirty. The remote desert community was inhabited by only a handful of ranchers and their families.

• Plutonium, insulin, and antibiotics hadn’t been discovered yet. Scotch tape, crossword puzzles, canned beer, and iced tea hadn’t been invented.

• There was no Mother’s Day or Father’s Day.

• One in ten US adults couldn’t read or write. Only 6 percent of all Americans had graduated from high school.

• Marijuana, heroin, and morphine were all available over the counter at corner drugstores. According to one pharmacist, “Heroin clears the complexion, gives buoyancy to the mind, regulates the stomach and the bowels, and is, in fact, a perfect guardian of health.”

• Coca-Cola contained cocaine instead of caffeine.

• Punch-card data processing had recently been developed, and early predecessors of the modern computer were used for the first time by the government to help compile the 1900 census.

• Eighteen percent of households in the United States had at least one full-time servant or domestic.

[see also #7622]

*

Garbage Where It Doesn't Belong

Numbers 11:1

I am the waste management engineer at our house - I get to collect and take out the garbage. Take it from an expert: do not buy cheap garbage bags. Or maybe don't wait as long as I do sometimes to collect the garbage. Here's the problem. You've just tied up a brimming bagful of things you really don't want to see or smell any more. They're supposed to be in the garbage can. But sometimes they don't make it to the garbage can - when the bag rips open and dumps it all over the kitchen floor, let's say. Now, garbage isn't bad ... garbage dumped in the wrong place is.

Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Garbage Where It Doesn't Belong."

From God's perspective, there's way too much garbage that gets dumped where it should never go. In the hearing, in the lives of people who have no business having to deal with your garbage. God really doesn't like it.

You can tell that from our word for today from the Word of God in Numbers 11:1. It says of God's ancient people, "The people complained about their hardships (now here comes the sobering part) in the hearing of the Lord, and when He heard them, His anger was aroused. Then fire from the Lord burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp."

Now, this passage could be entitled, "How to Make God Really Angry." It's called complaining - which amounts to dumping your garbage out in front of the people around you. It's not uncommon to check and see who's listening before we go ahead and start complaining, or whining, or criticizing. When you do, don't forget the One who's always in the room - your Lord. And He obviously doesn't like it at all.

One big problem with our complaining is that it focuses on what's frustrating us and it forgets about the big picture. For example, these people in Numbers 11 went on to complain about their wilderness diet. They went on to talk about what great food they had in Egypt for, as they said, "no cost." No cost? You were slaves, guys! But when we get all nearsighted and just looking at the irritations and the frustrations in front of us, we lose our perspective, we blow today's little messes way out of proportion, and we forget the larger picture of the great things that God is doing in our lives. We miss the big tapestry.

But God isn't expecting us just to ignore our frustrations, or bury our frustrations. He just wants us to dump them out in the right place - which David spells out in Psalm 142:1 - "I pour out my complaint before Him; before Him I tell my trouble." Bring your complaints straight to God. First, He's not going to be hurt or poisoned by them like the people around you will. Secondly, He can do something about your complaints -much more than the people around you can do.

Now, we all go through some garbage in our lives - and it's true we often need a place to dump that garbage. And God has offered us a wonderful place to do that - in His Throne Room. But if you've been dumping on the people around you, you've been unloading garbage where it's not supposed to be and probably polluting them in the process. They don't need it ... it makes your Father very unhappy ... and it really pollutes the environment!

________________

*

Family Survival in the American Jungle

It's something like what Coach John McKay of USC said to his team after they had been humiliated 51-0 by Notre Dame. McKay came into the locker room and saw a group of beaten worn-out and thoroughly depressed young football players who were not accustomed to losing. He stood up on a bench and said, "Men, let's keep this in perspective. There are 800 million Chinese who don't even know this game was played." That's what you call perspective.

________

Steve Farrar, Family Survival in the American Jungle, p. 40 Published by Multnomah Pub (Sept 1, 1991)

Not As Big As It Looks

Numbers 13

Our daughter has always been the most sentimental member of the family, sort of the "keeper of the family memories." A lot of those memories are associated with the two homes we lived in as our kids were growing up. Recently, our daughter had the opportunity to visit both of those houses, thanks to the hospitality of the people who live in them now. Our first home was really small - but, of course, not necessarily to our children. And since our daughter is our oldest, she has the most vivid memories of that house. It had a little porch on the front of it - which apparently didn't seem all that little to her at the time. When she returned from her visit, she said, "You know, that porch on Baywood sure looked a lot bigger to me then than it does now!"

Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Not As Big As It Looks."

Our daughter has developed what we call "perspective" over the years. Things that once looked very big to her, now look relatively small. That's not just true of porches and houses - it's true of problems and obstacles. They look so huge at the time - and so much smaller after we've grown a little and when we look at them now. The trick is to face today's problems and challenges with a little of tomorrow's more realistic perspective - and to realize that what looks so massive now isn't, in reality, as big as it looks. We'll know that later. We need to act like that now.

The alternative is to make some major mistakes and live later with some mega-regrets. For example, look at the distorted perspective of God's ancient people in our word for today from the Word of God in Numbers 13, beginning with verse 30. Twelve scouts have just returned with their report on the Promised Land - with its rich treasures - and its scary obstacles.

Caleb says, "'We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.' But the men who had gone up with him said, 'We can't attack those people: they are stronger than we are.' ... They said, 'The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size ... We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.'" They made a fatal mistake of comparing proportions - they overestimated the size of the problems and underestimated the size of their God. The people chose to go with the ten scouts who focused on how big the obstacles were - and those people never lived to see the fantastic things God had promised to them.

Maybe you're looking at some things that loom very large in front of you right now. First of all, don't make a major life choice while you're in the middle of a crisis - you'll almost surely have distorted vision and a distorted perspective. And don't make decisions based on how big things look right now - chances are they look overwhelming because you haven't been focusing on what a mighty God you serve. Rehearse the amazing things God has done for you in the past, focus on what you know about Him, ask Him to help you see what's in front of you through His eyes. And I'll tell you what will happen. Those giants will suddenly start shrinking. And remember - what's in front of you isn't forever. Like so many things in the Bible, "it came to pass."

One day, you will look back on what has been overwhelming you and you're going to say, "It looked a lot bigger to me then than it looks now." That's right. But your Lord can help you see it as He sees it, and you'll begin to see how big it really is - and how big it really isn't.

________________

*

You Think A Gallon of Gas Is Expensive?

To put the price of gasoline in perspective:

Diet Snapple 16 oz $1.29 ..........$10.32 per gallon

Lipton Ice Tea 16 oz $1.19 ...... ..$9.52 per gallon

Gatorade 20 oz $1.59 ..............$10.17 per gallon

Ocean Spray 16 oz $1.25 ...........$10.00 per gallon

Brake Fluid 12 oz $3.15 ...........$33.60 per gallon

Vick's Nyquil 6 oz $8.35 .........$178.13 per gallon

Pepto Bismol 4 oz $3.85 ..........$123.20 per gallon

Whiteout 7 oz $1.39 ...............$25.42 per gallon

Scope 1.5 oz $0.99 ................$84.48 per gallon

this is the REAL KICKER......Evian water 9 oz for $1.49 … $21.19 per gallon. $21.19 FOR WATER! ... and the buyers don't even know the source. But then again, Evian spelled backwards is naive.

So, the next time you're at the pump, be glad your

car doesn't run on water,Scope, or Whiteout, or God forbid, PEPTO BISMOL or NYQUIL!!!!

*

[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #5500]

(untitled)

Perspective/Forgiveness

Several years ago, Coach Joe Paterno and his Penn State football team were

playing Alabama, in the Sugar Bowl, for the national championship. They

probably would have won, but they had a touchdown called back because there was

a twelfth man on the field. After the game, Paterno was asked to identify the

player. Coach Paterno said, "It's only a game. I have no intention of ever

identifying the boy. He just made a mistake."

The Good News About A Cold Season

Genesis 50:20

This past winter, the bottom dropped out of the temperature in our area. Folks there just aren't used to visits from North Pole weather. For a while there, our favorite song was, “Freeze a Jolly Good Fellow.” Well, I was discussing this extended freeze with a friend who's lived in the area most of her life, and she actually helped me have a very positive outlook on the cold weather. She just said, “Well, just think - it's killing a lot of bugs!” Well, with all the ticks and other pests we had last summer, that was actually pretty good news. So the next time I walked outside and felt a blast of that chilling cold, I said to myself, “Well, I'm turning blue, but bugs are dying!”

Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “The Good News about a Cold Season.”

Most of us have lived long enough to see it happen - something good coming out of something that's difficult and unpleasant. If you're in a season in your life that's pretty cold right now, that may be an encouragement that would be good to remember. As you're feeling the chill of the moment, God is doing something that you're going to benefit from later on. Something that couldn't happen without this time of bitter cold.

Just ask Joseph. The Book of Genesis tells us about a very long winter season in the life of this Old Testament hero. His brothers hated him because he was his father's favorite. They threw him in a pit and nearly let him die there. At the last minute, they changed their minds and lightened up a little - they settled for selling him into Egyptian slavery. Joseph got a great job in the house of a powerful man, and then lost it when he refused the advances of the boss's wife and she falsely accused him of assaulting her. Then, two long years in the king's prison as a result.

Ultimately, Joseph came to attention of Pharaoh who eventually promoted him to second in command in the mighty Egyptian empire. Now, that's when a famine drove Joseph's brothers to Egypt in search of food - food only the brother they had betrayed could give them. When they finally realize who he is and experience the forgiveness and mercy they don't deserve, Joseph speaks these words in Genesis 50:20, our word for today from the Word of God. “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.”

From the pit to the prison, Joseph was sustained by one thing he knew had not changed - God was working on a bigger plan. If you belong to Jesus, then Joseph's God is your God, too. And He is a God who uses even the wickedness of man to do great things. For Joseph, vengeful brothers, false accusations, and terrible injustices became tools that God used to take him to places and positions he could never have gone to otherwise.

If it's cold right now, if it's dark right now, don't let the discouragement win. Don't let bitterness or resentment or resignation ruin the greater plan God is working on. The question to ask in times like these isn't, “Why, God?” - you may not have that answer 'til you get to heaven. The better question is, “How can You use this, God?” He really does “work all things together for the good of those who love God.” (Romans 8:28) During this winter in your life, He wants to build in you qualities that will lead to future greatness. He wants to give you a closeness to Him that you've never had before and would never get any other way. And then, He wants to use this season to position you to make a greater difference with the rest of your life than you ever imagined.

________________

*

[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #5410]

Perspective Or Success

Perspective or Success

Dear Mom and Dad, Just thought I'd drop you a note to clue you in on my

plans. I've fallen in love with a guy called Jim. He quit high school after

grade eleven to get married. About a year ago he got a divorce. We've been

going steady for two months and plan to get married in the fall. Until then,

I've decided to move into his apartment (I think I might be pregnant).At any

rate, I dropped out of school last week, although I'd like to finish college

sometime in the future.

(On the next page the letter continued)

Mom and Dad, I

just want you to know that everything I've written so far in this letter is

false. NONE of it is true. But, Mom and Dad, it IS true that I got a C- in

French and flunked my math class... and it IS true that I'm going to need some

more money for my tuition payments. Failure can sound like success. It just

depends on the perspective. The measuring device we use to evaluate our success

or failure is often more important than the success or failure, for to a large

extent, it determines that success or failure.

(Living with Biblical Tensions, Klyne Snodgrass, 1990, Zondervan, Publishing

House, Page 35)

Even bad news can sound like good news if it is seen from a

certain vantage point. So much in life depends on "where you're

coming from" as you face your circumstances. The secret in this

case and in yours is perspective.

Breakneck Speeds

General U. S. Grant played a major role in the building of the American railroad system. Like Lincoln, he was enamored with the trains. He had first seen one while on his way to West Point in 1839. It ran from Harrisburg to Philadelphia. When he got on it, "I thought the perfection of rapid transit had been readched. We traveled at least eighteen miles an hour when at full speed, and made the whole distance averaging as much as twelve miles an hour. This seemed like annihilating space." That last sentence summed up exactly the sentiments of the thinking men of the age.

[Our traffic is not so slow after all...]

_______________________

Quote is from Ulysses S. Grant, "Personal Memoirs," 2 volumes, (New York: Charles L. Webster, 1885-86), vol. 2, chapter 2, page 31.

*

Hank Aaron's Golf Record

Baseball superstar Hank Aaron said, "It took me 17 years to get 3,000 hits in baseball. In golf, it took one afternoon."

*

Stocks, Profits, and Other Exciting Roller Coasters

Mark 8:36

My dad had taken me on all kinds of rides at Riverview Amusement Park that day - but he wanted to take me on their biggest roller coaster, "The Bobs." I did not share his excitement. I'd seen the commercials with people screaming in terror as they were catapulted through space on those murderous ups and downs! But I gave in. As we were subjected to those heart-stopping heights and drops, Dad tried to talk to me. I didn't scream, I didn't cry - I didn't do anything. I was frozen. No sounds, no expression, no signs of life.

Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about "Stocks, Profits, And Other Exciting Roller Coasters."

I guess that roller coaster was supposed to be fun - I just wanted off! Actually, a lot of folks are feeling that way these days - folks who've been riding the financial roller coaster on Wall Street, in corporate earnings, in layoff threats. If it was ever "fun," it's not fun anymore. There's a growing uneasiness about the future for many people. But it's not just about the latest high or low on the Dow Jones - it's just the nature of any security that is rooted in "earth-stuff" of any kind.

In a sense, all earth stuff is a roller coaster. Just ask anyone who's suddenly lost their home in a storm or a fire ... or who've lost a 30-year job ... or even their personal health or their life partner. Just like that roller coaster I dreaded, a lot of us have felt the bottom suddenly drop out of something we were counting on.

Which gets us thinking about what is really important in the short ride we have here on earth. In a sense, everything in our lives can be divided into one of two columns - stuff that really matters and stuff that really doesn't. And while our roller coaster is riding high, we tend to neglect the things that really matter. Like the God who made us. The God we'll meet the moment our heart beats for the last time.

The problem is that your earth-pursuits may have blinded you to what really matters ... to what really lasts. They may have even marginalized God in your life. Most of us make a little room for God at the edges - a little church, a little charity. But He's God! He's supposed to be the "sun" we revolve our life around, not one of the "planets" that revolves around us.

Mark 8:36, our word for today from the Word of God, provides the ultimate profit-and-loss sheet on your life and mine. Jesus simply asks, "What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?" A little later, He told about a rich man who was planning how to expand his already huge empire and relishing that he had "plenty of good things laid up for many years." God broke in and said, "This very night your life will be demanded from you." (Luke 12:16-20)

One day God will surprise you with that same announcement - "It's over." And then all that will matter is whether or not the sins of your life have been forgiven ... whether or not you belong to the God who made you. But because we've all been so full of "us," the Bible says there's a "grand canyon" between us and our Creator. It can only be bridged by Jesus Christ - because He died on the cross to take the rap for every wrong thing you've ever done.

And the "roller coaster" you've ridden lately may actually be a wakeup call from God - to turn you from what can never be secure to an anchor relationship with Him that you can never lose. If you've never begun that personal relationship with Jesus and you want to - would you tell Him that right now? And I want to send you the booklet called "Yours For Life" that I wrote about this relationship, if you just let me know you want it.

There may be more ups and downs - but you're headed into your future, anchored to the never-leave-you love of Jesus Christ - and knowing that this ride ends in His arms.

________________

*

Learning From Poor People

Luke 12:22

One day a father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the country with the firm purpose of showing his son how poor people live. They spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of what would be considered a very poor family.

On their return from their trip, the father asked his son, "How was the trip?"

"It was great, Dad."

"Did you see how poor people live?" the father asked.

"Oh yeah," said the son.

"So what did you learn from the trip?" asked the father.

The son answered, "I saw that we have one dog and they had four. We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden and they have a creek that has no end. We have imported lanterns in our garden and they have the stars at night. Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole horizon. We have a small piece of land to live on and they have fields that go beyond our sight. We have servants who serve us, but they serve others. We buy our food, but they grow theirs. We have walls around our property to protect us, they have friends to protect them.

With this the boy's father was speechless.

Then his son added, "Thanks, Dad, for showing me how poor we are."

Too many times we forget what we have and concentrate on what we don't have. What is one's person's worthless object is another's prize possession. It is all based on one's perspective. Makes you wonder what would happen if we all gave thanks for all the bounty we have instead of worrying about wanting more. Take joy and appreciate every single thing you have, especially your friends.

*

Quotes On Perspective

"Here is the secret of inspiration. Tell yourself that thousands and tens of thousands of people, not very intelligent and certainly not more intelligent than the rest of us, have mastered problems as difficult as those that now baffle you."

-- William Feather (1889 - 1981), writer, cited in BITS & PIECES (B&P)

"To different minds, the same world is a hell and a heaven."

-- Ralph Waldo Emerson, QFTM 2/15/03

"Difficult times have helped me to understand better than before, how infinitely rich and beautiful life is in every way, and that so many things that one goes worrying about are of no importance whatsoever..."

-- Isak Dinesen, author, QFTM 4/26/03

"It is well to remember that the entire universe, with one trifling

exception, is composed of others."

-- John Andrew Holmes, Wit & Wisdom 12/13/03

*

Cross-eyed

Numbers 13

OK, it's time for a simple experiment - which is the only kind I'm capable of. And please, do not try this if you're driving. But if you're where you can do this safely, pick up some object that's close by - your pen, your comb, a cup - whatever. Now, hold it about a foot from your eyes. Now, move that object slowly toward your eyes, but keep staring right straight at that object. Now, bring it all the way up to your face. Now, if you kept staring at the object, I'll bet something strange has happened to your eyes. You are suddenly cross-eyed. And everything looks weird!

Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about "Cross-eyed."

Now what in the world was the point of that dumb little exercise? Well, there actually is a point - one that may explain some of the stress, anxiety and conflict that you're feeling right now. When you look at something too closely for too long, your perspective gets very distorted. In a sense, you get cross-eyed!

Our word for today from the Word of God shows us how this distorted perspective can affect our choices - and cause us to make some costly mistakes. In Numbers 13, beginning in verse 30, the twelve Jewish scouts have just returned from checking out the land God had promised to them. Two of them, Caleb and Joshua, are saying "Go for it!" The other ten are saying, "Run for it!"

Here's what it says: "Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, 'We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.' But the men who had gone up with him said, 'We can't attack those people; they are stronger than we are.' And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, 'The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size ... We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.'"

Well, as a result of this perspective, God's people turned away from the beautiful land God had promised. He said He'd give it into their hands - and they spent 40 years in the wilderness instead. Why? Those ten scouts had stared at those big walls around Jericho and those big Canaanites, and pretty soon that's all they could see. Caleb was looking beyond those walls and those giants and seeing their great and mighty God. But those who never saw the Promised Land were the ones who got spiritually cross-eyed from staring at the size of their problem instead of focusing on the size of their God. Which could be a mistake you've been making recently.

When you focus on your obstacles, what you're afraid of, what you're worried about, your vision starts to get blurry. When you focus on yourself and what your resources can accomplish, you start to feel small - "like grasshoppers." You start seeing your whole life through the lens of this problem, and pretty soon, everything looks distorted. And you start making decisions that are based on a totally distorted view of reality.

When you've been looking too long and too closely at a situation, you need to do things that will help you back off and get the big picture again. Get some sleep ... spend some time praising God for all He is and all He's done ... get away for some extended time with the Lord ... spend some time with a child in your life who can help restore your perspective ... get the views of some people who are totally outside of your situation.

Remember, when you look at one thing too long and too closely, your vision gets distorted! So don't hold it so close ... and spend some time looking at something else!

________________

*

Tragedy's Eyes

Job 42:5

Laura Ingalls Wilder - she'd written some books that enjoyed some success - but her name became almost a household word only after her death, after "Little House on the Prairie," based on her books, became the #1 TV series in America. Even though the series has been off the air for years, you can still find it just about any given day in almost any American city. And Laura's books about her family's life on the frontier have sold far more after her death than when she was alive. And as you read those books, you find that Laura really was a gifted storyteller. In touring the home where she wrote them, we learned one of the reasons why she was such a good story teller. As the TV series portrayed, her older sister went blind as a teenager. And Pa Ingalls told Laura she now had a mission - to be her sister's eyes, to put into words what was going on around them. That gift would later help her tell the stories that would touch the lives of millions.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about "Tragedy's Eyes."

A tragedy helped Laura Ingalls see things as she had never seen them, helped her develop capabilities that would help her touch many lives, that would make her great. That experience is not unique to her.

Americans watched it happen on a national scale after the terrible events of September 11, 2001. The deadly attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon was a tragedy of unprecedented proportions. But what followed was absolutely amazing - a national unity most of us had never seen before, a renewed love for our country, millions turning to God, a national resolve to change things. It's hard to imagine any of that without the awful catalyst of that tragedy. We saw things we hadn't seen before. We became something we hadn't been before.

What happened on a national scale ... what happened to Laura Ingalls on a personal scale - those are pictures that remind of us of the good that can come from some of life's most painful experiences. That could be very important for you to remember right now - because you're going through one of those painful experiences right now. The pain is deep - but it's not the whole story - because God uses tragedy to help build people into something greater.

Job is the man whose name is forever equated with human suffering. The Bible tells us that he lost his health, his wealth, and his children. As he is coming out of his long, dark tunnel, he says something very revealing to God - it's in Job 42:5, our word for today from the Word of God. Job says, "My ears had heard of You but now my eyes have seen you." What Job experienced, millions of believers have experienced over the centuries - that you see God in tragic times in a way you just don't see Him in good times. You don't really know the Lord until you know you really need the Lord.

Tragedies aren't good - but they can produce great good. A child of divorce often develops maturity well ahead of their peers because of additional responsibility. Out of our health crises, our financial or family crises, our failures can come a compassion, a tenderness, a sensitivity that may open up a lifetime of ministry to hurting people. And there's something about our hard times that shakes up our priorities - it makes us realize the unimportant things we've been focusing on and the important things we've been neglecting.

There's something about a tragedy that helps us see things we could never see before - things that God can use to touch many lives.

________________

*

The Right Perspective

2 Corinthians 3:18

A landscape artist does not always stand at an arm's length from his canvas. He must not limit his attention to the isolated details of what he is doing. Occasionally he steps back to view his work from a distance. He needs to see how his thousands of small brushstrokes fit together to produce an overall result.

Likewise, our perspective on life is much improved if sometime we can step back and see it whole. We can become so occupied with its daily brushstrokes that we have no real perception of the whole scene we are painting on the canvas of the ongoing years. Our attentions can be so consumed by the requirements of daily living that we have little awareness of the dimensions and directions of life itself.

Step back from the canvas a little, and try to see the picture whole.

Look beyond the varied episodes of our daily doings and see the glory of it all. Look beyond the brushstrokes to see the art which the brushstrokes have made-and are making.

"But we all... beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord" (2 Corinthians 3:18).

Thankful For A Leaf

Luke 3:14

A little thing can be enormously significant. Retired Brigadier General Robinson Risner was a prisoner of war in North Vietnam for more than seven years. He was in solitary confinement for five of those years. He suffered from cold, heat, malnutrition, and lack of fresh air.

He was totally deprived of any human comfort. He jogged in his cell by the hour. When he became so frustrated he had to scream, he stuffed his underwear into his mouth to muffle the scream. He would not give his captors the satisfaction of knowing his frustration.

One day, in the depths of despair, General Risner lay down on the floor and looked all around his small cell. He put his eye next to the cinder blocks, hoping that there would be a crack in one of them. Fortunately, there was a minute opening and he saw a single leaf. Later he stated that seeing that evidence of life outside was a tremendously uplifting and life-changing event.

When I heard this story, most of my complaints in life suddenly fell into context, and I resolved to be more appreciative of the many blessings I had instead of complaining about what I did not have.

Fact: A quiet glance around you will reveal many blessings that you have already received and will continue to receive. Expressing appreciation for these blessings is a winning approach to life.

*

Name the Top Five

This quiz puts things in proper perspective:

1. Name the five wealthiest people in the world.

2. Name the last five Heisman trophy winners.

3. Name the last five winners of the Miss America contest.

4. Name ten people who have won the Nobel or Pulitzer prize.

5. Name the last half dozen Academy Award winners for best actor and actress.

6. Name the last decade's worth of World Series winners.

How did you do?

The point is, none of us remember the headliners of yesterday. These are no second-rate achievers. They are the best in their fields. But the applause dies. Awards tarnish. Achievements are forgotten. Accolades and certificates are buried with their owners.

*

Dead Coyotes and Soaring Hawks

Lamentations 3

Several of our team members were driving together to ministry events in a nearby state. We were in two cars, but we stayed in touch by means of walkie-talkies. At a couple of points, one of the men in the car behind me pointed out a hawk he spotted soaring gracefully above us. We saw several of them, actually. Now, when you see a hawk or eagle, it is always an event for a city boy like me. But as my friend - who was not driving at the time - pointed out one of those hawks, the man who was driving said, "Well, I just saw a dead coyote on the shoulder." As our walkie-talkie conversations went on during the trip, that wasn't the last hawk the one man saw - or the last roadkill that his driver saw.

Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about "Dead Coyotes And Soaring Hawks."

I guess whether you see soaring hawks or dead coyotes depends on where you're looking. And some of us have this amazing ability to miss most of the beautiful things going on around us and to only see the ugly things. Some folks see mostly what's right with people and with their situation - others just can't help focusing on what's wrong ... the dead coyotes. And it really does depend on where you choose to look - up or down. Because if you're walking through your day close to your Lord, there are always goodnesses to see!

The Old Testament prophet Jeremiah knew what it was to see the dead coyotes - until he chose to look up and see the soaring hawks. Both perspectives are evident in our word for today from the Word of God in Lamentations 3, beginning in verse 19. Here's the dead coyotes: "I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me." Now, when you focus on your frustrations and failures, the bad news and the negative feelings, you're going to be discouraged and depressed.

Now, here come the soaring hawks. "Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord's love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. I say to myself, 'The Lord is my portion; therefore I will await for Him." When you focus on all the evidences of God's love and God's care in your life ... when you look for the blessings He has sown into this day, your load is lightened and your heaviness turns to hope. Same situation - two different outlooks. You choose.

Could it be that you've allowed too much negativity to blind you to God's blessings that are all around you? You've allowed your frustrations and hurts and stresses to dominate your view. Maybe you've tended to be cynical, sarcastic, accumulating negatives, looking for things to criticize. You've allowed yourself to get stuck in a negative rut - and the trip gets to be drudgery when all you're looking at is the dead coyotes.

Maybe it's time to say, "Lord, would you forgive me for letting the negative take over - for missing so many of the beautiful things that You put into every one of my days. I've been looking the wrong direction. Would you help me see the positive? Would You help me see Your new mercies every morning? Would you help me see Your love in action?"

Out the same window, you can see the majesty of the soaring hawks up there, or the mess of the dead coyotes. What you choose to focus on is going to determine the kind of journey you have.

________________

*

Major Gifts, Minor Glitches

Proverbs 14:4

I go to the barber shop to have my hairs cut - both of them. And I don't go expecting to glean some gem of philosophical wisdom. But I did during my most recent visit. An elderly gentleman was the victim - I mean, the customer - just ahead of me. He was telling why he wasn't able to go hunting this year as he had in past years, basically because of a barrage of aches and pains and some medical problems. But he wasn't really complaining. You could tell that by his conclusion: "Yup, my body is wearing out, I guess - but I'm just grateful I'm here for it."

Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about "Major Gifts, Minor Glitches."

I walked away from the barber shop that morning with more than a haircut - I walked away with fresh perspective on the things in our lives that bother us - thanks to a man who saw beyond his aches and pains to the blessing of at least being alive to feel them. Here's how he weighs it out: Physical problems - small stuff. Being alive - big stuff.

That load-lightening perspective is evident in our word for today from the Word of God. Proverbs 14:4 is really an unusual, and even slightly amusing, piece of divine wisdom. It's one that may help you rise above some of the heavy stuff you're trying to lift right now. Here goes: "Where there are no oxen, the manger is empty, but from the strength of an ox comes an abundant harvest." I like the way the King James Version puts it: "Where no oxen are, the crib is clean."

Now, here's the picture - a farmer is complaining about the mess his oxen make in the barn. "If I didn't have those stupid oxen, I wouldn't have all this manure." Then somebody reminds him - "If you didn't have those oxen, you wouldn't have a harvest!" You've got a little mess because you've got a big blessing!

Hello! That might be what God is trying to remind you of right now. You've been frustrated by, maybe complaining about things that aren't working, things that are hurting, things that need fixing, problems that need solving, or jobs that need doing. Maybe you've forgotten that the reason you've got a problem is because you've got a gift from God! You've been given blessings, opportunities, years, people who love you, people who look to you, people who need you, and you've been given work to do.

On days when my list of problems and pressures is multiplying, I need to read Psalm 16:5-6 to help me restore my "big picture" perspective. "Lord, You have assigned me my portion and my cup; You have made my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance."

Now, you decide where you want to focus ... what you're going to let determine your attitude. You can complain about the manure or be glad you've got an ox. You can gripe about the glitches or you can give thanks for the gifts. You can be negative because there's a mess or positive because that mess is the result of progress - and, as any highway construction people know, you can't have progress without having a mess.

Where's your attitude coming from right now - your load or your Lord? Your burdens or your blessings? The mess from the wrapping paper or the gift from God that He wrapped? Take a step back ... look past the garbage that's right in front of you to see the goodness of God that's all around you!

________________

*

It's Blurry Without Your Glasses

John 9:39

It's becoming a pretty frequent refrain around our house. I'll be trying to read a label or some instructions or something my wife has given me to look at - and it becomes obvious that I'm having a hard time deciphering what's in front of me. The first clue is that my arm is extended as far it can go with the item in my hand. My wife knows I'm not seeing words clearly - I'm seeing a blur or I'm seeing letters or words that aren't really there. Thus, the refrain - "Put your glasses on!" Oh yeah. I do that - and what looked so blurry suddenly looks so clear.

Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about "It's Blurry Without Your Glasses."

Something exciting happens when you begin a personal relationship with Jesus Christ - you get a new pair of glasses. It's the ability to look at your world, our culture, your choices and see God's perspective. Our vision of what really matters, what's valuable, what's right is really blurred and fuzzy - and often it's expensively wrong. But when you start evaluating and living according to what God says in His Book, the Bible, you can see what's really going on.

The problem is, though, that we tend to be defined much more by our culture than we are by Christ. Oh yes, we have Jesus in our heart, but we've got a lot of earth-junk in the way we think. It's not a new problem. When God's ancient people were entering a culture with values that were the opposite of God's, He gave them an important warning. It's one we need every bit as much today - it's our word for today from the Word of God. In Leviticus 18, beginning in verse 2, God says, "I am the Lord your God. You must not do as they do in Egypt, where you used to live, and you must not do was they do in the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you. Do not follow their practices. You must obey My laws and be careful to follow My decrees." In other words, don't take your cue from your culture ... take your cue from your Creator!

One of the reasons we're so spiritually lame and powerless is that we mix our faith with a lot of garbage from Egypt and Canaan. So we end up seeing our faith more through our culture than seeing our culture through our faith. And there are lots of cultures people are or have been a part of, each with its own values, its own lies and distortions about life. Which culture or cultures have helped shape your attitudes and actions - the business culture, where people are commodities and profit is decisive? Or maybe the academic culture, where you must believe certain premises in order to be considered academically respectable? Or the youth culture, the entertainment culture, the pop culture - where trivial things are hyped, superficial is important, and where irreverence and disrespect are the style?

I remember what Attorney General John Ashcroft's godly father told him when he was going to Washington to become a United States Senator. "John, the culture of Washington is a culture of arrogance; the culture of Jesus is a culture of humility. Don't ever let Washington's arrogance replace Jesus' humility." In a sense, Jesus calls us all to live counter-culturally, judging everything by His standards, seeing everything through His glasses.

Follow the culture and you'll be cynical, sarcastic, irreverent ... you may be arrogant, negative, casual about sex, or driven by the bottom line. But when you trade in your blurred vision for what Jesus sees, you'll realize that a lot that looks cool isn't cool. A lot that's supposed to be funny isn't really funny. That some of what's considered an "educated viewpoint" isn't wise at all. A lot that most people consider acceptable has no place in a life that Jesus bought with His blood.

So, "Put your glasses on!" That's what God may be trying to say to you. Would you let God show you what things look like through His glasses? You'll see things as they really are, and it will change your life.

________________

*

Battlefield Blindness

Exodus 17

“Embedded reporters.” It was a concept most of us had never heard of until Operation Iraqi Freedom. But the U.S. Military decided to allow reporters to actually travel with and report from active combat units, fighting for the liberation of Iraq. The result was these amazing live transmissions from sandstorms, rapid troop movements, actual combat in progress, and even the takeover of some of Saddam Hussein's palaces. It was the ultimate in reality TV. Of course, it had one disadvantage - one that briefers and Pentagon officials kept reminding people of. The embedded reporter could only report on the small slice of the big picture that he was able to see from his unit's vantage point. A seasoned military observer expressed it this way on television: “The closer you are to the battle, the less you can see the whole war.”

Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “Battlefield Blindness.”

That tendency to see only the battle right in front of you is not unique to military campaigns. It's a regular occurrence in our everyday lives. You may be in the middle of some battles of your own right now - in your marriage, in the life of your child, in your church, or maybe with your health or your finances or an important relationship. And just like those in a military situation who become totally focused on the fraction they can see, the closer you are to your battle, the less you can see the whole war. Which can lead to some hurtful mistakes: overconfidence, discouragement, overreaction, panic, even retreat or surrender.

Moses was facing one of those moments of battlefield blindness in our word for today from the Word of God. And in Exodus 17, beginning with verse 3, we discover God's remedy for this nearsightedness that battles can cause. As Moses was leading God's people through the wilderness, they faced a crisis of having no water. And they were verbally and emotionally beating up on their leader pretty badly - and even getting so ugly they were on the brink of stoning him.

The Bible says, “They grumbled against Moses. They said, 'Why did you bring us out of Egypt to makes us and our children ... die of thirst?'“ Talk about battlefield blindness. “Then Moses cried out to the Lord, 'What am I to do with these people?'“ Ever felt that way yourself? Haven't we all? Listen to the Lord's wise advice to Moses - and to you and me. “The Lord answered Moses, 'Walk on ahead of the people.'“ As Moses did that, God revealed to him that by striking a certain rock, water would come out of it for the people to drink. And that's exactly what happened.

Notice the principle here: as long as you're totally focused on the current battle, you probably won't be able to see God's big picture. You have to “walk on ahead of the people.” Take some time away. Get some distance. Be in a place where the only voice you're listening to is God's. You've been so focused on your child's problems, your mate's problems, the contentious issues, the difficult people, the physical struggles. You're not able to see the big picture of what God is trying to do and what part He wants you to play in it.

Battlefield nearsightedness can also blind us to how far we've come - we're obsessed with how far we still have to go. And it can blind us to how far someone else has come, too - we can only see how far they have to go. And battlefield blindness gives us spiritual amnesia. It makes us forget what an awesome God we have and the mighty things He's done for us in all those past battles. So many of yesterday's mountains are today's monuments to the power and faithfulness of God.

So take a step back. Walk on ahead of the battle for a little while and God will show you some answers that you would never be able see when you're in the middle of the battle.

________________

*

Is This Really Important?

One night a policeman heard loud noises coming from a phone booth on the corner. He found a man taking the phone apart! He had bought hammers, screwdrivers, mallets and can openers at a nearby store. He had spent two hours and thirty dollars. When they brought him before a judge the man explained, “I was trying to get my dime back.” Now, was it really worth it? [You should update this to "get my fifty cents back"]

In living, in making choices, in establishing priorities, there's one question we should ask over and over again: “Is this really important?”

Before we react or over-react, we should ask: “Will this be significant 100 years from now?” Before we make decisions we should ask: “How does this rank in the overall scheme of things?” Before we make a hasty judgment, we should ask: “Would I still be this concerned if my house was burning down right now? Would I still be this concerned if my child was in an intensive care unit? Is this really important?”

Once an experienced crew of trained pilots were flying a high-powered modern jet. Things went smoothly until they discovered a light out. Each of the men began to fumble around trying to fix it. As they became so distracted trying to find and replace a seventy-five cent bulb they got off course and eventually crashed.

That's unbelievable! They forgot the most basic principle of aeronautics: “Don't forget to fly the plane.” We must keep one criteria before us: “Is this really important?”

*

[Original illustration here was a duplicate in HolwickID 25837-26027]

Heaven's Balanced Books

Job 1:21

When there's a string of corporate meltdowns, Wall Street gets a very bad case of the jitters. The sudden discovery that a major company we thought was doing well is actually in big trouble doesn't exactly inspire investor confidence. In some cases, some unusually “creative accounting” can conceal how bad things really are for some time. Of course, the fundamentals of financial viability never really change. Your outgo and your income, your losses and your gains have to at least balance. And it's management's job to, of course, be sure that they do.

Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “Heaven's Balanced Books.”

When you open your heart to Jesus Christ, it would be appropriate to hang a sign that says, “Under new management.” You step down and the One who should have been your Chief Executive Officer all along takes charge. And you can be sure He's committed to balancing the books in your life, keeping a loving balance between gains and losses.

In the midst of horrendous personal losses, Job was still able to see this balancing work of God in his life. In Job 1:21, our word for today from the Word of God, he says, “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.” Later, Job would have this balancing work of God more than proved when, as the Bible says, “the Lord ... gave him twice as much as he had before ... the Lord blessed the latter part of Job's life more than the first.” (Job 42:10-12)

In God's deep love and infinite wisdom, He knows that we just can't stand to have all blessings or all burdens, all happiness or all heartaches. That may be why the writer of Proverbs 30 prays, “Give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you ... or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God.” (Proverbs 30:8-9) Solomon assures us that, in God's great management of our life, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven ... a time to tear down and a time to build ... a time to weep and a time to laugh” (Ecclesiastes 3:1,3-4)

Maybe right now you are particularly focused on a lot of bad news, some losses you're experiencing. This might be a good time to step back and look at the big picture of what heaven's CEO is doing in your life. It's time to review the blessings that are there side-by-side with the burdens. God has this incredible way of knowing just how much loss you can handle and how to balance that with some good news ... how much victory you can handle and how to balance that with some struggle.

This loving God, who knows exactly what you need and when you need it, is working this very day on His gracious, life-building balance. At any given moment, you will have something discouraging, but always something encouraging to offset it and make it bearable. At any given moment, you will have some wonderful answered prayers and some yet-to-be-answered prayers. You can be sure that until the day you see Jesus, you will always - I mean, always - have plenty to thank Him for and plenty to trust Him for. That's how spiritual babies become spiritual adults. That's how spiritual wimps become spiritual warriors.

So, don't miss the good things God is doing because you're nearsightedly focusing on the hard things. You have a Savior who is always balancing the gains and the losses to make your life more profitable than you could ever imagine.

________________

*

Sunsets In the Puddles

Philippians 4

Some of the worst stories of human brutality in history came out of Hitler's concentration camps in World War II. But out of those camps also came some incredible examples of human triumph and heroism. Victor Frankl, a Jewish psychiatrist who survived the Holocaust in the infamous Auschwitz death camp, told some of those stories in his book. He testified that some of those in Auschwitz were surviving better after a year than some did after only a few days. He said those who didn't sink were those who drew their outlook from what he described as a “second dimension experience.”

All the prisoners in the camp shared the same first dimension experience - the very real horrors they were subjected to every day. But this second dimension that some drew upon had, according to Victor Frankl, four elements - seeing meaning, seeing beauty, maintaining humor, and thinking future. One example that stands out in my mind was the man who ran into the barracks one day, gathered all his fellow prisoners together to go outside and see something special. He was actually celebrating the beauty of a blazing sunset reflected in the puddles from last night's rain.

Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “Sunsets in the Puddles.”

Few, if any of us, have endured something so inhuman, so unjust, or so brutal as those who suffered through the Holocaust in Hitler's death camps. But they can teach us something -- that while you often cannot choose your circumstances, you can choose your attitude in the midst of those circumstances. Your environment, however harsh and hurting, does not have to be decisive in the kind of person you are and the kind of response you choose.

When Paul wrote our word for today from the Word of God his circumstances were miserable. He was in prison on trumped-up charges, his surroundings were horrendous, his dreams were on hold, and people outside were actually taking advantage of his circumstances to diminish him and advance themselves. He's got so many reasons to be complaining, questioning, spewing, attacking, or giving up.

Doesn't happen, because he's drawing on his invironment, not his environment - on Christ's resources inside him where not even Caesar can interfere. In Philippians 4, beginning with verse 4, Paul says from his prison cell, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” Then he reveals this secret of winning amid life's worst - “Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely (like a sunset in a puddle), whatever is admirable, think about such things.” Then, after testifying that he has “learned to be content whatever the circumstances,” he gives the ultimate secret of being on top, no matter what season you're in - “I can do everything through Him who gives me strength.”

So, how you handle what you don't like is the difference between peace and frustration, between contentment and anger, between joy and discouragement. It's all about what you dwell on, not what you're going through. If you dwell on what's beautiful, if you dwell on what God is doing, or how you can lift up other people, you could be unsinkable no matter how many icebergs there are. For as one man said, “To those who look for providences, there will always be a providence to see.” So choose joy!

________________

*

How Do You Say Good Morning?

Somebody has well said that there are only two kinds of people in the world. There are those who wake up in the morning and say, "Good morning, Lord," and there are those who wake up in the morning and say, "Good Lord, it's morning."

Limiting Perspectives

Psalms 31:9

A few years ago Forbes Magazine published an issue that dealt entirely with what they called the biggest concern of our age. The articles began boldly, “We have beaten or at least stymied most of humanity's monsters: disease, climate, geography, and memory. But time still defeats us. Lately its victories seem more complete than ever. Those timesaving inventions of the last half-century have somehow turned on us. We now hold cell phone meetings in traffic jams, and '24/7' has become the most terrifying phrase in modern life.” Certainly this statement is a telling look at some of our modern assumptions. Particularly fascinating is the categorizing of time as a monster. Indeed, time is limiting, and no doubt the greatest modern monster of all is to find ourselves limited in any way.

I was reminded of this article and its fearful expressions of limitation while reading through the book of Psalms recently. Like the candid passage above, the Psalms are known for their sincere expressions of troubling ailments and enemies. And yet the gigantic differences in worldview are not only evident but helpful in uncovering logical perspective. It is easy to be blinded by progress and convenience such that we find “humanity's monsters” the problem that needs correcting and not humanity itself. Significantly, the psalmist presents his list of the various monsters that limit and block his way — before the Lord. “Be merciful to me, O Lord,” writes the psalmist, “for I am in distress; my eyes grow weak with sorrow, my soul and my body with grief” (Psalm 31:9). Standing before the One who is limitless casts limitation in a wholly different light. The psalmist powerfully concludes, “But I trust in you, O Lord, I say, 'You are my God.’ My times are in your hands... Let your face shine on your servant; save me in your unfailing love.” Gazing at the trustworthy Hands that hold our fleeting days, the psalmist recognizes that like time itself, our weaknesses too, will fade, but God's unfailing love will not.

The Christian perception of our own weakness is steeped in the person and character of God. In his letter to the Corinthians, Paul speaks of that which he calls the “thorn in his flesh.” No doubt a striking expression of limitation, scholars have debated what this thorn might have been — a physical ailment, a burdensome opponent, a disability of some sort. No one can be sure. But what is certain is that Paul was powerfully used by God in spite of this limiting thorn. He writes, “Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.'“ “Therefore,” says Paul, “I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:8-10).

What God can do with us through hardship, through limitation, even through seeming failure, is a testimony to his grace and his authority, his sovereignty and his care. I am reminded of the words of Bishop Phillips Brooks, “Do not pray for easy lives; pray to be stronger men. Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers; pray for powers equal to your tasks. Then the doing of your work shall be no miracle, but you shall be a miracle.”

What is in the time you hold before you this very moment? Do you see limits and fear? Or do you see as Paul saw, delightful limitations and glorious impossibilities made approachable by the God who is near? In our gazing at the One who has given us this moment, even in our weakness, He can accomplish much. God has given you this day. He will give you what you need to walk in it mightily with Him.

__________

*

A Matter of Focus

[My friend Marge had an experience] aboard a plane bound for Cleveland, waiting for takeoff. As she settled into her seat, Marge noticed a strange phenomenon. On one side of the airplane a sunset suffused the entire sky with glorious color. But out of the window next to her seat, all Marge could see was a dark and threatening sky, with no sign of the sunset.

As the plane's engines began to roar, a gentle Voice spoke within her. “You have noticed the windows,” He murmured beneath the roar and thrust of the takeoff. “Your life, too, will contain some happy, beautiful times, but also some dark shadows. Here's a lesson I want to teach you to save you much heartache and allow you to “abide in Me” with continual peace and joy. You see, it doesn't matter which window you look through; this plane is still going to Cleveland. So it is in your life. You have a choice. You can dwell on the gloomy picture. Or you can focus on the bright things and leave the dark, ominous situations to Me. I alone can handle them anyway. And the final destination is not influenced by what you see or feel along the way. Learn this, act on it and you will be released, able to experience the “peace that passes understanding.”

__________

“Touching the Heart of God”, Leonard Lesourd, Catherine Marshall, Fleming H Revell Co., December 1, 1988, Source: The Inspired Buffalo, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/the-inspired-buffalo/

Promising Nearness [2 versions]

Psalms 139:7

While tending the flocks of his father-in-law, Moses learned that God was near. As the bush burned but was not consumed, fire itself bowed to the sovereignty of God. And through the fire God declared the certainty of his omniscience, the sureness of his sovereignty, the certitude of his nearness. “I have seen the misery of my people... I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers... I have come to rescue them. I am sending you.” But Moses replied, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”

It is God's response to Moses' question that I have increasingly come to see for its simplicity and its sublimity. Says the Lord, “I will be with you.” He does not explain to Moses the reasons why he was found worthy for the task, nor does God spell out the exact steps Moses is to take to accomplish it. He simply and profoundly answers with the promise of his presence. “I will be with you.”

Ravi Zacharias tells the story of former President Roosevelt's routine habit of stepping outside to gaze at the late night sky. Finding the Spiral Galaxy of Andromeda, the president would recite its many facts. “It is as large as our Milky Way. It is one of a hundred million galaxies. It is seven hundred and fifty thousand light years away.[*] It consists of one hundred billion suns, each larger than our own sun.” And at this Roosevelt would then pause and say: “Now I think we feel small enough! Let's go to bed.”

How often do we stop to wonder at the promise of God that in all of the vastness of this universe, in all of the immensity of this world, He is near us? When the task or even the days before us seem daunting and the places God has called us to go appear overwhelming, how often do we pause to contemplate that God has given us the promise that He is yet bigger? He is always bigger than what's the matter. We can look back through the years when we were touched by loss, years that are marked with both tragedies and joys, hiding and seeking, and in the middle of those pregnant moments in time God Himself declares, “I was there.”

Is this not what King David was speaking of when he sang of the fearfully wonderful existence of a personal God? “Where can I go to flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there” (Psalm 139:7,8). He is near. Whether we choose to draw near Him or turn away from Him, He is near. But in the nearness of God and the person of Jesus Christ, all who stand diminutively beneath the vastness of this universe can trust to hope.

As the mighty hymn goes, “Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing; Were not the right Man on our side, the Man of God's own choosing: Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He; Lord Sabaoth, His Name, from age to age the same, And He must win the battle.”

And yet, to Moses' question God not only responded with the promise of his nearness, but also added, “And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain” (Exodus 3:12). It again seems an answer speaking beyond Moses' question. Moreover, it seems a strange sign: You will know it was me who sent you, when you find yourself worshiping me. Yet in the context of Moses' expression of uncertainty, is it not a statement of awe-inspiring certainty? To Moses God says, “When you do my will, when you seize the task I have placed before you, when you walk in my presence, you will find that I am worthy, you will see that which will cause you and all of Israel to fall before the Lord in worship. You will find in Me that which sets in you a heart of worship.”

Let us hold before us the promise of his nearness, the certainty of his faithfulness, the conviction of his worthiness. His truth abides still; his kingdom is forever.

__________

[*] Holwick - the Andromeda Galaxy is actually 2.1 million light years distant so we are even more insignificant than Roosevelt thought.

=======================================================

A second version titled "Big Enough" from Jan. 12, 2007:

While he was tending the flocks of his father-in-law, Moses learned that God was near. Fire bowed to the sovereignty of God as a bush burned but was not consumed. Through the fire, God declared the certainty of his omniscience, the sureness of his sovereignty, the certitude of his nearness: “I have seen the misery of my people... I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers... I have come to rescue them... So now, go. I am sending you” (Exodus 3:7-10). But Moses replied, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”

God’s response to Moses’s question is striking in both simplicity and its sublimity. Says the Lord, “I will be with you” (3:12). He does not explain to Moses the reasons why he was found worthy for the task, nor does God spell out the exact steps Moses is to take to accomplish it. He simply and profoundly answers with the promise of his presence. “I will be with you.”

Ravi Zacharias tells the story of former President Roosevelt’s routine habit of stepping outside to gaze at the late night sky. Finding the Spiral Galaxy of Andromeda, the president would recite its many facts. “It is as large as our Milky Way. It is one of a hundred million galaxies. It is seven hundred and fifty thousand light years away. It consists of one hundred billion suns, each larger than our own sun.” And at this Roosevelt would then pause and say: “Now I think we feel small enough! Let’s go to bed.”

How often do we stop to wonder at the promise that in all of the vastness of this universe, in all of the immensity of this world, God has chosen to be near us? When the task or even the days before us seem daunting and the places God has called us to go appear overwhelming, how often do we pause to contemplate that God has given us the promise that He is yet bigger? He is always bigger than what’s the matter. We can look back through the years when we were touched by loss, years that are marked with both tragedies and joys, hiding and seeking, and in the middle of those heavy moments in time God Himself declares, “I was there.”

Is this not what King David was speaking of when he sang of the fearfully wonderful existence of a personal God? “Where can I go to flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there” (Psalm 139:7,8). God is near. Whether we choose to draw near or turn away, He is near. And in the nearness of God and the person of Jesus Christ, all who stand diminutively beneath the vastness of this universe can trust to hope. As the hymn writer identifies:

Did we in our own strength confide,

our striving would be losing;

Were not the right Man on our side,

the Man of God’s own choosing:

Dost ask who that may be?

Christ Jesus, it is He;

Lord Sabaoth, His Name,

from age to age the same,

And He must win the battle.

But God not only responded to Moses’s question with the promise of his nearness. He also added, “And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain” (Exodus 3:12). It again seems an answer speaking beyond Moses’s question. Moreover, it seems a strange sign: You will know it was me who sent you, when you find yourself worshiping me. Yet in the context of Moses’s expression of uncertainty, is it not a statement of awe-inspiring certainty? To Moses God says, “When you do my will, when you seize the task I have placed before you, when you walk in my presence, you will find that I am worthy; you will see that which will cause you and all of Israel to fall before the Lord in worship. You will find in Me that which sets in you a heart of worship.”

Let us hold before us the promise of his nearness, the certainty of his faithfulness, the conviction of his worthiness. His truth abides still; his kingdom is forever.

________

Perspective

I woke up early today, excited over all I get to do before the clock strikes midnight.

• My job is to choose what kind of day I am going to have.

• Today I can complain because the weather is rainy or I can be thankful that the grass is getting watered for free.

• Today I can feel sad that I don’t have more money or I can be glad that my finances encourage me to plan my purchases wisely and guide me away from waste.

• Today I can grumble about my health or I can rejoice that I am alive.

• Today I can lament over all that my parents didn’t give me when I was growing up or I can feel grateful that they allowed me to be born.

• Today I can cry because roses have thorns or I can celebrate that thorns have roses.

• Today I can mourn my lack of friends or I can excitedly embark upon a quest to discover new relationships.

• Today I can whine because I have to go to work or I can shout for joy because I have a job to do.

• Today I can complain because I have to go to school or eagerly open my mind and fill it with knowledge and adventure.

• Today I can dejectedly murmur because I have housework to do or I can feel honored because the Lord has provided shelter for my mind, body and soul.

• Today stretches ahead of me, waiting to be shaped. And here I am, the sculptor who gets to do the shaping. What today will be like is up to me.

And I shall decide what kind of day I shall have!

Live With Heaven In View

Ephesians 2:19

ALIEN CITIZENS Live with heaven in view What would it have been like to be E.T., stranded in an unfamiliar place where everyone looked different than you, spoke a strange dialect, and had no concept of your history or roots? While we might find a few friends and grow less bewildered by our surroundings over time, that urge toward home, the place where we truly belonged, would never leave us.

Scripture tells us that believers in Jesus are in a similar predicament in this world (Ephesians 2:19; 1 Peter 2:11). While our appearance or mannerisms might not suggest a radical disorientation, the truth is that this place, this existence of competing cultures and politics and worldviews, is not our true home.

Paul said it this way: "Our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ" (Philippians 3:20). We live in a foreign land among a foreign people. We eat the same food, cry the same tears, hope for many of the same things. We love, we sweat, and we brood over discomforts. But we are ultimately not the same. We are aliens, and we are waiting for home.

Even if we are calloused to this reality, there are poignant moments where we are reminded of the truth. We have ecstatic times of joy, but soon life turns shallow -- for deep in our soul we know these fleeting moments never satisfy. We see the injustice and sorrow in the world around us, and something whispers strongly to us, "This isn't right. We weren't created for this."

We know we are aliens because our hearts turn toward home. Paul said we "eagerly await a Savior." Eager waiting is all about what might be and what will be. But it is also filled with disappointment over what could be and what is. To live as aliens, bound in this season to a world that isn't home, is to live with certain amounts of regret and certain amounts of disappointment.

But it is good. It points us toward home. As Moses said, "I have become an alien in a foreign land" (Exodus 2:22). -- Winn Collier

DESTINATION POINTS * What twinges have I felt, hints that this world is not my true home? * How does the reality of being an alien affect the way I use -- or abuse -- this world? * How does the reality of being an alien give me hope?

Live with heaven in view .

A Fence Or A Sidewalk?

Luke 14:21

A Southern California minister reports, “A neighboring church has just completed a large addition, including a new sanctuary, to house their growing congregation. Last week they discovered that 250 housing units were going in right behind them - they will share a property line.”

Their pastor said he had two conversations within a three-hour time period. The first individual said: “We need to build a fence so their kids don't wander onto our property.” The second person asked: “Do we have the money to build a sidewalk and steps up to our church so their kids can come to our ministries?”

________

Source unknown; submitted by Craig Watters, Senior Pastor, First Baptist Church of Louisville, Colorado

His Invisible Hand

God's providence is everywhere and, most of the time, hardly seen. The great Scriptwriter of the play sees far and wide into the future and with perfect access to the past. Just as the author of a book views what is coming long before the characters encounter it, so God sees the nuances of human choices and how they play into his story of his kingdom.

We rarely see prevented calamities because we rarely see their potential rise. These are the scientifically undetectable hands of God at work. He prevents the storm from raging the seaman so that the seaman may safely return to his family. He prevents the scorching draught so that the farmer may have crops at harvest. Even our little experiences play into the providence of God. Perhaps He prevented our catching the green light to protect us from the reckless driver at the next signal. Perhaps he prevented our choosing the fastest line at the grocers to delay our hurriedness. That three-minute delay may allow us to meet an old friend or encourage a disheartened neighbor.

We do not see these providences simply because our perspective sits on the wrong side of the page. We are in the story, as players in a play, and remember only parts of the pages before, and can hardly see the pages beyond. We do not know the Scriptwriter's work, except the portion He chooses to reveal. His thoughts are higher than ours, among other reasons, simply because they are above the page.

Several days before Halloween each year, my wife and I capture our part-Siamese cat because he had the unfortunate breeding of being birthed completely black. His name is Congo. Because of the season, we keep Congo indoors to prevent possible misfortunes that often accompany the superstitions of the holiday.

Congo has no idea why the cat-door has been locked. He perches on the couch and looks longingly at the wide world beyond the window. You can almost hear the silent protesting over the appalling fact that he has been forced to use the uncivilized litter-box. He meows after his white and gray brother because his sibling does not share the confinement. Yet as soon as Halloween concludes, Congo darts zealously into the wild world lost to him for four days.

I can imagine, if Congo had an inner monologue, what it would sound like. “These humans are mysterious. They pen me up indoors for more days that I can count. I did not go to the vet. I did not take any special medicines. I saw no dangerous coyotes outside the window, though I did see my brother scamper past a couple of times in search of mice. Those days were a waste of time for my masters as I could not catch the vermin for them. And, for obvious reasons, they were a waste of time for me.”

Little did Congo know the potential dangers that awaited him. He did not know the time of the year. He hardly knew the warnings produced by animal shelters for pet owners to protect their felines. All he knew were dull days of prevented fun and activity in the neighborhood.

This metaphor is a gift to me to remember that God is always behind the scenes preventing, allowing, and acting in the world for the good of his kingdom. No wonder Paul admonishes, “Do all things without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain” (Phil 2:14-16).

Our grumbling is often, from God's perspective, a resistance to trust his flawless character and His infinite wisdom. Our complaining against even the most trivial of inconveniences in life sounds as silly as the questioning of my cat or as peculiar as a player protesting the author of a play. Yet when we trust that our obedience falls into line with God's work in the world, it brings goodness both to our lives and the lives of our neighbors. And we can celebrate his invisible hand that lavishly moves on our behalf, even sometimes without the evidence.

________

*

Please Describe That Person Theologically

Some time ago I read a story told by Tom Long, who used to teach preaching at Princeton Seminary, about an old minister who for 30 years always asked the same theological question of every potential minister. He began by asking the candidate to look out the window. “Tell me when you see a person out there.”

“I see one.”

“Do you know that person personally?”

“No, sir.”

“Good. Now, my question is this: Will you please describe that person theologically?”

In three decades of asking that question, the old minister has found that candidates tend to give one of two different answers. Some will say something like, “That person is a sinner in need of the salvation of Jesus Christ.” Others, however, will respond, “Whether they know it or not, that person is a child of God, loved and upheld by the grace of God in Jesus Christ.”

“I suppose,” the old minister once reflected, “that, technically, both of these answers are theologically correct. But it is my experience that those who give the second answer make the better ministers.”

*

I Would Do Nothing

Luke 6:37

One morning an excited Bostonian rushed into the office of a Dr. Everett. A local newspaper had published an article about him, he said, which severely criticized his conduct. He wanted to know if Dr. Everett thought he should demand that an apology be printed, or if he should take legal action, asking for damages.

It was a good time for the doctor to remain calm and cool. Listening quietly while his visitor raved and fumed and sputtered, he finally had a chance to give the man some counsel.

“My dear sir,” he said, “I would do nothing. Half the people who got that paper never saw the article. Half of those who read it did not understand it. Half of those who did understand it did not believe it. Half of those who believed it were of no importance anyway.”

At one time somebody told President Lincoln that Stanton, his Secretary of War, had called him a fool. Lincoln replied that it must be true, for “Stanton is usually right.”

A teacher of elocution went a long distance one night to hear Rev. Beecher deliver an address. When the sermon was finished, he pushed up to the front and said to the speaker, “Mr. Beecher, I am an elocution teacher from the State of New Jersey. I came over to hear the greatest American preacher, but I am terribly disappointed.”

“What is the matter now?” asked Beecher.

“Well, sir, I counted eighty errors in grammar in your sermon.”

“Is that all?” asked Beecher. “I would have wagered my old hat that there were over eight hundred if you hadn't told me.”

We so often get our blood pressure up over something someone is supposed to have said about us. Maybe they said it, and maybe they didn't. If they did say something about us, perhaps the report which has reached us is terribly exaggerated. Most rumors or stories, if ignored, will die a natural death in a short time. One thing is sure, our friends will not believe them.

If someone is telling the truth about us, we surely should not object to that. If it is not true, why worry about it?

________

James Wallace, Reprinted from Our Times, June 1949, source: Signs of the Times, Copyright (c) March 2005, Pacific Press, http://www.signstimes.com

*

Good Mud

Hebrews 12:1

If I may judge sermons by the good they do me and the length of time I can remember them, then the best sermon I ever heard was preached by an old jungle farmer, standing up to his knees in mud in the middle of an extensive rice field, and it illustrated Hebrews 12:1-2 perfectly.

It was the monsoon season in Burma. Day by day the sky had emptied itself onto the thirsty land. The Salween River was swollen to overflowing. Every available man and woman was transplanting rice. I was taking supplies to Peter at our outstation in Naung Ka Ring. I had a pack on my back, huge rubber boots on my feet, and an umbrella over my head, but the journey was exceedingly unpleasant.

In the dry season it was only three miles across the fields, but now with the rice terraces planted or ready for planting, all filled with water and mud, the path zigzagged to six miles in, out, around, and on top of the little mud walls which bordered the tiny fields. I slipped frequently. It's no fun to sit down and pour mud and water out of your boots; it's no fun to itch all over with prickly heat; and I was feeling “gloriously miserable” as I sighed “Oh, there'll be joy when the work is done.”

It was just at this time that I approached a group of about 12 people planting one tiny field. Their backs were bent. Their lips were blue. Their skin was goose fleshed. What clothes they had were stuck to their bodies because of the rain. I paused. My heart went out to them in sympathy, and I said to the poor old man nearest to me, “Uncle, I'm so sorry for you.”

He looked up and said, “Huh?”

“I'm sorry for you, because you must be so tired,” I repeated.

The old man looked puzzled and again said, “Huh?”

“Why, look at your skin! Your lips!” I cried. “How tired must your back be! And that mud! Look, you are up to your knees in soft, oozy mud! And I'm sorry for you.”

A smile lit up his face. He turned to his companions and pointing to me with his thumb over his shoulder, he said: “Poor man! He doesn't understand! He doesn't understand!” Then he turned his radiant face toward me and added: “Teacher, you don't understand. This is the best mud in the river valley. Look how soft it is! How easy to poke in the young plants! We started very early this morning, and there is a little bit of a moon tonight; we will keep planting till we can't see another stalk of rice. Oh, Teacher, this is a good mud! We get 40 bushels of rice to the acre in mud like this!”

He bent again to his task. I murmured some good wishes, and turned to my journey. But something had happened. What a vision that dear old man had! The mud and the weariness were there, but he was not looking at them, he was looking at the 40 bushels of rice at the end of the harvest time, and the vision of that reward made him rejoice in his mud! Good mud!

Suddenly I found myself saying after him, “Good mud! Forty bushels of rice to the acre in mud like this!” And my weariness was gone, my feet weren't sore any more. My prickly heat didn't itch. I was thinking of the souls Peter and I were going to have at the harvest time, and I shouted again, “Good mud!”

________

Eric B. Hare, Our Times, January 1947.

*

Flying Upside Down

Luke 6:47

Recently a pilot was practicing high-speed maneuvers in a jet fighter. She turned the controls for what she thought was a steep ascent -– and flew straight into the ground. She was unaware that she had been flying upside down.

This is a parable of human existence in our times -– not exactly that everyone is crashing, though there is enough of that –- but most of us as individuals, and world society as a whole, live at high-speed, and often with no clue to whether we are flying upside down or right-side up. Indeed, we are haunted by a strong suspicion that there may be no difference -- or a least that it is unknown or irrelevant.

Climb High

Revelation 21:10

”He carried me away… to a great and high mountain.” Rev. 21:10.

It is understandable that in days like these we should tend to be pre-occupied with the vast affairs of the times. Wide-sweeping ideologies contend against each other. Huge world-movements are taking shape. Never did the individual seem so dwarfed. Yet it is true today, as ever, that the individual is the crux of the whole situation. Moreover, the omniscient heavenly Father never deals with men and women on the en masse principle of the modern Dictator. After all, the biggest of the stars is small against a human being made in the image of God! The humblest believer, bought with the precious blood of Calvary, is more precious to the heart of the Creator than Orion and Pleiades!

As Christians, we ought to see all the portentous developments of our time from a high altitude. Only when we stand high do we see far. Broad landscapes are never commanded from lowlands. It is elevation which gives wide vision. If we want greater latitudes and longitudes we must have higher altitudes. When John was to be shown the New Jerusalem descending out of heaven, he was carried away to “a great and high mountain.” Before this he had stood down by the sea shore and seen a “beast” rise up out of the deep (13:1). We see too many “beasts” today, rising up from our troubled modern world, and too few “New jerusalems” coming down from the sovereign skies!

There are too many of us living down at sea-level! There are many influences to keep us there. The average radio and television stuff will keep us there. So will the usual newspaper. So will the common run of magazines. So will the average conversation of the street and the place of daily business. Christ’s people were never meant to live at the world’s sea-level. We are meant to have the mountain view, the long view, the wide view, the really understanding view. We are meant to see the happenings of our time in the light of inspired prophecy, through the eyes of the Holy Spirit, from the high view-point of the divine purpose, and with our gaze on the ultimate victory of Christ. The “beasts” which are arising from the sea in our day are unknowingly preparing for the “New Jerusalem.” Even 666 will but prove the devil’s herald of the Lord’s final triumph.

But how shall we keep that high altitude of vision in our daily life? We must live near to the Scriptures. We must love the place of prayer. We must guard against easy-going toleration of things in our lives which grieve the Holy Spirit, and rob us of His inward witness. Many of us have been taught to distrust new- year resolves; but they can mean great blessing if they are made in dependence on the Holy Spirit.

It could mean untold blessing to go into this new year having made the following covenant with our Lord:

• I will give not less than thirty minutes each day to prayer.

• I will commend my saviour in earnest conversation to at least one person each week.

• I will read consecutively each day from both old and new testaments.

• I will allow nothing in my life which might in any way compromise the name of Jesus.

If we were thus to live through this incoming year, it could only prove a year of peaceful hope.

It's Better Higher Up

The American evangelist Dwight L. Moody told the story about a Christian woman who was always bright, cheerful and optimistic, even though she was confined to her room because of her illness. She lived in an attic apartment on the fifth floor of an old, rundown building. A friend decided to visit her one day and brought along another woman - a person of great wealth.

Since there was no elevator, the two ladies began the long climb upward. When they reached the second floor, the well-to-do woman commented, “What a dark and filthy place!” Her friend replied, “It's better higher up.”

When they arrived at the third landing, the remark was made: “Things look even worse here.” Again the reply: “It's better higher up.” Finally they reached the attic level, where they found the bedridden saint of God. A smile on her face radiated the joy that filled her heart.

Although the room was clean and flowers were on the windowsill, the wealthy visitor could not contain herself about the stark surroundings and blurted out: “It must be very difficult for you to be here like this!” Without a moment's hesitation the shut-in responded: “It will be better higher up.”

________

Source: Illustrations, http://www.cybersaltlists.org

*

A New Perspective On Blindness

John 9:39

One day, there was a blind man sitting on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet and a sign that read: “I am blind, please help.”

A creative publicist was walking by and stopped to observe. He saw that the blind man had only a few coins in his hat. He dropped in more coins and, without asking for permission, took the sign and rewrote it.

He returned the sign to the blind man and left. That afternoon the publicist returned to the blind man and noticed that his hat was full of bills and coins.

The blind man recognized his footsteps and asked if it was he who had rewritten his sign and wanted to know what he had written on it.

The publicist responded: “Nothing that was not true. I just wrote the message a little differently.” He smiled and went on his way.

The new sign read: “Today is Spring and I cannot see it.”

The Best Time of My Life

John 14:27

It was June 15, and in two days I would be turning thirty. I was insecure about entering a new decade of my life and feared that my best years were now behind me.

My daily routine included going to the gym for a workout before going to work. Every morning I would see my friend Nicholas at the gym. He was seventy-nine years old and in terrific shape. As I greeted Nicholas on this particular day, he noticed I wasn't full of my usual vitality and asked if there was anything wrong. I told him I was feeling anxious about turning thirty. I wondered how I would look back on my life once I reached Nicholas's age, so I asked him, “What was the best time of your life?”

Without hesitation, Nicholas replied, “Well, Joe, this is my philosophical answer to your philosophical question:

“When I was a child in Austria and everything was taken care of for me and I was nurtured by my parents, that was the best time of my life.

“When I was going to school and learning the things I know today, that was the best time of my life.

“When I got my first job and had responsibilities and got paid for my efforts, that was the best time of my life.

“When I met my wife and fell in love, that was the best time of my life.

“The Second World War came, and my wife and I had to flee Austria to save our lives. When we were together and safe on a ship bound for North America, that was the best time of my life.

“When we came to Canada and started a family, that was the best time of my life.

“When I was a young father, watching my children grow up, that was the best time of my life.

“And now, Joe, I am seventy-nine years old. I have my health, I feel good and I am in love with my wife just as I was when we first met. This is the best time of my life.”

________

Joe Kemp, Chicken Soup for the Soul; source: The Inspired Buffalo,

103 Sermon Illustrations on Perspective