100 Sermon Illustrations on Risk

Litigation is making American business afraid to try risky ventures. But without them we will not succeed in the future. Many drugs and processes are kept from Americans because of a litigious system. Society has actually ended up with more risk.

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Is anxiety over things you cannot control holding you back from fully participating in life?

“You miss 100 percent of the shots you never take.” — Hockey star Wayne Gretzky of the Los Angeles Kings.

Joshua and Caleb were only ones willing to take risk to enter the promised land. Missions is one area where Christians can take a worthwhile risk.

Sermon for Columbus Day, 500th anniversary.

Isaiah 60:9

"THE VOYAGE OF THE CHRIST-BEARER"

I. The many faces of Christopher Columbus.

II. Christopher Columbus as devout Christian.

A. Religion was the center of his life.

B. He saw his journeys to the Americas as missions from God.

C. Motivated by a desire to evangelize Asia.

D. He dreamed of using his profits to reconquer the Holy Land.

III. Columbus as a man of great faults.

A. His greed and arrogance.

B. Slavery and slaughter of Indians.

IV. What we can learn from Columbus.

A. One person can make a difference.

B. Columbus attempted great things, against great odds.

C. Even Christians have flaws.

I’ve heard that if fog prevents a small-boat sailor from seeing the buoy marking his course, he turns his boat rapidly in small circles, knowing that the waves he makes will rock the buoy in the vicinity. Then he stops, listens and repeats the procedure until he hears the buoy clang. By making waves, he finds where his course lies. Often the price of finding these guides is a willingness to take a few risks, to “make a few waves.” A boat that stays in the harbor never encounters danger – but it also never gets anywhere.

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“The Time of Your Life” (The Christophers)

Final sermon in series on Jesus. Jesus gives the church a mission and we will die if we don't carry it out. The church needs a vision, a challenge, power, and a plan to make it work. We need this on a personal level and on a church level.

To speak as a Christian against the mainstream of the Church of Jesus Christ is presumptuous. In my own presumption I am drawn to a letter from Martin Luther to Philip Melancthon dated August 1, 1521. Philip was accused of sin because of doctrinal positions he was taking in following Luther. Naturally he felt guilt because of the divisive controversy. Hence, he had written Luther, he was not speaking out much for reform.

Luther’s answer is the classic Reformation line “Pecca fortiter, sed fortius fide et gaude in Christo,” or “Sin boldly, but believe and rejoice in Christ more boldly still.”

Old Luther was vulgar when his dander was up. In this case he was taunting young Philip. “If you are preaching a true and not a fictitious grace, you must bear a true and not a fictitious sin,” irreverent Luther wrote his young friend. “God does not save fictitious sinners. You are a mighty sinner, Philip, sin boldly. Pray boldly, too.” Roland Bainton translates, “Sin for all you’re worth, but believe and rejoice in Christ for all you’re worth.”

[Letter is in reference to Williamson's church’s acceptance of active homosexuals.]

1 John 4:7-10 portrays the beauty and vulnerability of love. Jesus gave us who he was without needing anything at all from us in return. Most who received him wanted him to be something he was not. Most people are afraid to offer themselves to others in true love. We hide behind masks.

1. Fleeing fear by performing.

2. Fleeing fear by manipulating.

3. Fleeing fear by controlling.

Conquering fear.

Fear is conquered through repentance. "We must first have a biblical understanding of sin. Sin is more than just a behavior or thought that does not line up with the law. Sin, according to the Scriptures, is denying our dependency on God for life and turning to walk in a direction where we ourselves have taken responsibility for finding life separately from Him."

Repentance, then, requires admitting that the whole natural direction of our lives is away from God. The heart of Jesus offers us safe haven.

Sermon in Joshua series. A vision of Leadership. Joshua 1:1-9

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A LEADER FOR OUR TIMES

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I. How important is leadership?

II. Challenges of Joshua.

A. A time of crisis.

B. Our time of crisis.

III. Qualities of Joshua.

A. Prepared.

B. Spiritual.

1) Had God's presence. 1:5,9,17

2) Obedient. 1:7

3) Focused on Word. 1:8

C. Courageous and bold. 1:9

1) The alphabet of vision.

D. Committed to an ultimate goal. 1:14-15

IV. Impact of Joshua.

A. Successfully led Israel.

B. Inspired future generations.

C. Commended for his faith and integrity.

V. Are you a Joshua?

A. Even if you're not a leader, you can be a Joshua.

B. Attitude is everything.

C. Choose your commitment.

#1591

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In 1877 in Leadville, Colorado, everything Horace A.W. Tabor touched turned to silver. One day a man called Chicken Bill, who had been working a claim on Fryer Hill without finding anything but very dull rock, took a wagon on a dark night, went over to H.A.W.’s Little Pittsburgh and borrowed a load of Tabor’s carbonate ore lying outside the mine shaft. He salted his mine with the carbonate, then went into town the next day, stood next to H.A.W. at a bar, pretended to be drunk and bragged about his rich find. H.A.W. bought the mine for $1000, Chicken Bill ran, and H.A.W. put a crew of miners into his new possession. He very quickly found out that he had been taken, but he only laughed and, as long as they were already on the spot, kept his men working. By the time they reached thirty feet the miners uncovered a silver vein far richer than those in the Little Pittsburgh. Tabor called his mine the Chrysolite, and after a short while sold a half interest for $500,000.

Larry Walters strapped 42 weather balloons to an aluminum lawn chair and soared to 16,000 feet before he shot out some of the balloons with a BB gun and crashed into a power line. He was spotted by both TWA and Delta pilots.

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Version received by email in May 2000:

Larry Walters went to the local Army-Navy surplus store and purchased 45 weather balloons and several tanks of helium. He securely strapped the balloons to his sturdy lawn chair and anchored the chair to the bumper of his jeep and inflated the balloons with helium. Larry packed several sandwiches and a six-pack of beer and loaded his pellet gun figuring he could pop a few balloons when it was time to descend. Larry's plan was to lazily float up to a height of about 30 feet above his back yard and come back down in a few hours.

Things didn't quite work out for Larry. When he cut the cord anchoring the lawn chair to his jeep he streaked into the Los Angeles sky as if shot from a cannon. He didn't level off at 30 feet but 16,000 feet. At that height he couldn't risk shooting any of the balloons. So he stayed there, drifting cold and frightened for more than 14 hours when he found himself in the primary approach corridor of LAX (Los Angeles airport). A Pan Am pilot first spotted Larry. He radioed the tower and described passing a guy in a lawn chair ... with a gun! Radar confirmed the existence of an object floating 16,000 feet above the airport.

LAX emergency procedures swung into full alert and a helicopter was dispatched to investigate. The offshore breeze began to flow and carried Larry out to sea. Right on Larry's heels was the rescue helicopter. The helicopter ascended to a position several hundred feet above Larry and lowered a rescue line. Larry snagged the line, with which he was hauled back to shore.

As soon as Larry was hauled to earth, he was arrested by waiting members of the Los Angeles Police Department for violating LAX airspace.

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Another version from Don Johnson [quoting http://www.snopes2.com/spoons/noose/balloon.htm]:

Claim: Larry Walters soared three miles above Los Angeles in an "aircraft" consisting of an aluminum lawnchair tethered to helium weather balloons.

Status: True.

Origins: In 1997, a story about a lawnchair balloonist named Larry Walters began to circulate all over the Internet as a tale about another putative winner of the "Darwin Award" for stupidity above and beyond the call of duty. The story was essentially true, although Larry had actually made his flight fifteen years earlier, and many of the details presented in the 1997 version were made-up or greatly embellished.

The incredible flight of Larry Walters, a 33-year-old Vietnam veteran and North Hollywood truck driver with no pilot or balloon training, took place on 2 July 1982. Larry filled 45 weather balloons with helium and tethered them in four tiers to an aluminum lawn chair he purchased at Sears for $110, loading his makeshift aircraft (dubbed the "Inspiration I") with a large bottle of soda, milk jugs full of water for ballast, a pellet gun, a portable CB radio, an altimeter, and a camera.

Donning a parachute, Larry climbed into his chair from the roof of his girlfriend's home in San Pedro while two friends stood at the ready to untether the craft. He took off a little earlier than expected, however, when his mooring line was cut by the roof's sharp edges. As friends, neighbors, reporters and cameramen looked on, Larry Walters rocketed into the sky above San Pedro. A few minutes later Larry radioed the ground that he was sailing across Los Angeles Harbor towards Long Beach.

Walters had planned to fly 300 miles into the Mojave Desert, but the balloons took him up faster than expected and the wind didn't cooperate, and Walters quickly found himself drifting 16,000 feet above Long Beach. (He later reported that he was "so amazed by the view" that he "didn't even take one picture.") As Larry and his lawnchair drifted into the approach path to Long Beach Municipal Airport, perplexed pilots from two passing Delta and TWA airliners alerted air traffic controllers about what appeared to be an unprotected man floating through the sky in a chair.

Meanwhile, Larry, feeling cold and dizzy in the thin air three miles above the ground, shot several of his balloons with the pellet gun to bring himself back down to earth. He attempted to aim his descent at a large expanse of grass of a north Long Beach country club, but Larry came up short and ended up entangling his tethers in a set of high-voltage power lines in Long Beach about ten miles from his liftoff site. The plastic tethers protected Walters from electrocution as he dangled above the ground until firemen and utility crews could cut the power to the lines (blacking out a portion of Long Beach for twenty minutes). Larry managed to maneuver his chair over a wall, step out, and cut the chair free. (He gave away the chair to some admiring neighborhood children, a decision he later regretted when his impromptu flight brought him far more fame than he had anticipated.)

Larry, who had just set a new altitude record for a flight with gas-filled clustered balloons (although his record was not officially recognized because he had not carried a proper altitude-recording device with him) became an instant celebrity, but the Federal Aviation Administration was not amused. Unable to revoke Walters' pilot's license because he didn't have one, an FAA official announced that they would charge Walters "as soon as we figure out which part [of the FAA code] he violated."

Larry hit the talk show circuit, appearing with Johnny Carson and David Letterman, hosting at a New York bar filled with lawn chairs for the occasion, and receiving an award from the Bonehead Club of Dallas while the FAA pondered his case.

After Walters' hearing before an agency panel, the FAA announced on 17 December 1982 that they were fining him $4,000 for violating four regulations: operating "a civil aircraft for which there is not currently in effect an air-worthiness certificate," creating a collision danger to other aircraft, entering an airport traffic area "without establishing and maintaining two-way communications with the control tower," and failing to take care to prevent hazards to the life and property of others. Larry quickly indicated that he intended to challenge the fines, stating sardonically that if "the FAA was around when the Wright Brothers were testing their aircraft, they would never have been able to make their first flight at Kitty Hawk." He also informed the FAA (and reporters) that he couldn't possibly pay the fine, because he'd put all the money he could save or borrow into his flight.

In April the FAA signalled their willingness to compromise by dropping one of the charges (they'd decided his lawnchair didn't need an air-worthiness certificate after all) and lowering the fine to $3,000. Walters countered by offering to admit to failing to maintain two-way radio contact with the airport and to pay a $1,000 penalty if the other two charges were dropped. The FAA eventually agreed to accept a $1,500 payment because "the flight was potentially unsafe, but Walters had not intended to endanger anyone."

After Larry told interviewers that he didn't have a job or money and could use all the help he could get, patrons at Jumbo's Diner in Port Richmond, California, took up a collection for him. Despite his punishment, Walters didn't rule out the possibility of another flight. "We've been looking at the Bahamas and a couple of other possibilities. It depends on whether or not I can get somebody to finance it, because I sure can't," he stated.

Although Larry Walters never made another balloon flight, he did inspire someone else to try the same feat. On 1 January 1984, a licensed pilot, parachutist, and chute rigger named Kevin Walsh outfitted himself with 57 weather balloons, each six feet in diameter. Armed with five knives and carrying a parachute, Walsh tethered himself to the helium-filled balloons (no chair) and took off from Minuteman Airfield in Stow, Massachusetts, at 7:00 AM on New Year's Day. He shot into the sky even faster than Larry had, hitting the 1,000-foot mark in twelve seconds, reaching 6,000 feet in two minutes, and peaking at 9,000 feet after four minutes.

When one of Walsh's balloons popped, he came back down to 6,000 feet and settled in to enjoy the view. He had wrapped his tether lines in foil in the hope that they would show up on radar, and, sure enough, he was picked up on the screens of controllers at Boston's Logan airport, where he produced a radar blip the size of three stacked jetliners. After a 45-minute flight Walsh cut himself free of the balloons and parachuted to the ground, landing in Hudson and walking away. Kevin claimed that he had been planning his flight for seven years and did it "just to make a positive statement about mankind." Walters had been his inspiration: "I had to commend him for his ingenuity. That's when my dream hooked up with reality." Kevin Walsh soon found himself the recipient of the same kind of attention as his hero when he was cited with four violations of FAA regulations and fined $4,000.

Although Walters' flight brought him instant fame, it never proved very lucrative for him. He was paid a few hundred dollars here and there for television appearances and made a little money as a motivational speaker, but it wasn't until Timex paid him $1,000 in 1992 to appear in print advertisements featuring "adventurous individuals wearing Timex watches" that he saw any real payoff. Even then, he still hadn't recouped the estimated $4,000 it had cost him to make the flight ten years earlier.

Not much else in life worked out for Larry, either -- he broke up with his girlfriend of fifteen years, his speaking career didn't pan out, and he worked only sporadically as a security guard. On 6 October 1993, Larry hiked to one of his favorite spots in Angeles National Forest and put a bullet through his heart. It was a sad end for the man who had made one the most celebrated flights since Lindbergh, a man who said, "It was something I had to do. I had this dream for twenty years, and if I hadn't done it, I think I would have ended up in the funny farm. I didn't think that by fulfilling my goal in life -- my dream -- that I would create such a stir and make people laugh."

Remarkably, Walters seemingly original plan to float up into the sky in a chair tethered to balloons then shoot them down one by one when he wanted to return to terra firma was eerily presaged by an E.B. White piece which appeared in The New Yorker sometime between 1936 and 1954. Popping up in a 1984 collection of E.B. White tales, the pieces titled "Professor Picard Before" and "Professor Picard After" recount the saga of an adventurous professor who believed he could travel to the outer spheres in a basket attached to 2,000 toy balloons and would be able to bring himself back down by shooting out some of them. This being a work of fiction, though Picard descends in flames, he emerges unhurt and choked with laughter.

[see also HolwickID #6426]

Picture this: Eric Valli, a professional photographer, is dangling by a nylon rope from a 395-foot cliff in Nepal. Nearby on a rope ladder is another man, Mani Lal, doing what he has done for decades: hunting honey. Here in the Himalayan foothills, the cliffs shelter honeycombs of the world’s largest honeybee.

At the moment, thousands of them are buzzing around both of men. Lal, a veteran of hundreds of such attacks, is calm. Not so Mr. Valli. Describing that moment in National Geographic, he says, “There were so many bees I was afraid I might freak out. But I knew if I did, I would be dead. So I took a deep breath and relaxed. Getting stung would be better than finding myself at bottom of the cliff.” He overcame his fears and won a photo competition for his efforts.

Fear can send a person plummeting to destruction. Some believers, fearing the stings of persecution, testing, and temptation, have compromised their faith and slipped from the lifeline of Christ - which is why the Bible teaches us to fear God alone.

Old Testament Heroes sermon series: Joshua.

Joshua 1:5-9

BE STRONG AND COURAGEOUS

I. Joshua's background.

A. His name.

B. His significance.

C. His daunting task. 1:7

II. The fear of failure.

A. Joshua had plenty to worry about. 7:7

B. The "Imposter Phenomenon."

III. How Joshua overcame failure.

A. He had an accurate assessment of himself. 3:7

B. He had a strong faith in God. 1:8; 5:13-15

C. He had his priorities right. 8:30-35

D. He dared to take risks. Num 14:6-8

IV. The influence of courageous leaders.

A. Courageous leaders make an impact.

B. Following the leader.

V. Joshua's invitation.

A. All of God's good promises came true. 23:14

B. Choose whom you will serve. 24:15

Joke about Texan who was so rich everyone in area wanted to marry his daughter. He invited all the young men over for a party. When they got there, they found he had stocked his swimming pool with 30 alligators. He lined them all up on one side and announced, "Whoever can swim across this alligator-infested swimming pool can have my daughter's hand in marriage." They all stood there looking at each other, none of them about to do that.

All of a sudden there was a big splash as one of them jumped in the water and began swimming furiously. The alligators converged on him and snapping at him, and as he pulled himself out of the other end one just missed locking on his leg. He rolls on the side of the swimming pool gasping for breath. The big Texan goes over and says, "Congratulations, son, you get my daughter's hand in marriage." "I couldn't care less about your daughter -- I just want to get my hands on the guy that pushed me in the water!"

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Another version:

A very wealthy man bought a huge ranch in Arizona and he invited some of his closest associates to see it. After touring some of the 1,500 acres of mountains and rivers and grasslands, he took everybody to the house. The house was as spectacular as the scenery, and out back was the largest swimming pool you have ever seen. However, this gigantic swimming pool was filled with alligators.

The rich owner explained this way: “I value courage more than anything else. Courage is what made me a billionaire. In fact, I think that courage is such a powerful virtue that if anybody is courageous enough to jump in that pool, swim through those alligators and make it to the other side, I’ll give them anything they want, anything -- my house, my land, my money.”

Of course, everybody laughed at the absurd challenge and proceeded to follow the owner into the house for lunch ... when they suddenly heard a splash. Turning around they saw this guy swimming for his life across the pool, thrashing at the water, as the alligators swarmed after him. After several death-defying seconds, the man made it, unharmed, to the other side.

Our rich host was absolutely amazed, but he stuck to his promise. He said, “You are indeed, a man of courage and I will stick to my word. What do you want? You can have anything -- my house, my land, my money,-just tell me what you want and it is yours.”

The swimmer, breathing heavily, looked up at the host and said, “I just want to know one thing -- who pushed me in that pool?”

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Dr. Charles Garfield

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A third version:

Once there was a millionaire who collected live alligators. He kept them in the pool in back of his mansion. The millionaire also had a beautiful single daughter. So one day he decides to throw a huge party, and during the party he announces: “My dear guests, I have a proposition to every man here. I will give one million dollars or my daughter to the man that can swim across this pool full of alligators and emerge unharmed!”

As soon as he finished his last word there was the sound of a large SPLASH! One guy was in the pool, swimming as fast as he could, and the crowd was cheering him on. Finally he made it to the other side unharmed.

The millionaire was impressed. He said “My boy that was incredible! Fantastic! I didn’t think it could be done! Well I must keep my end of the bargain, so which do you want: my daughter or the one million dollars?

The guy says “Listen I don’t want your money! And I don’t want your daughter! I just want the goober who pushed me into that pool!"

From time to time, lobsters have to leave their shells. Apparently it is a

necessary part of their growth process. While they are growing, they need

their shell to protect them from being torn apart. And yet as a result of

having grown on the inside, their old shell would soon become their prison --

and finally their casket.

The tricky part for the lobster is the brief period of time between when the

old shell is discarded and the new one formed. During that terribly

vulnerable period, the transition must be scary to the lobster. Currents

gleefully cartwheel you from coral to kelp. Hungry school of fish are ready

to make you a part of their food chain. For awhile at least, that old shell

must look pretty good -- even if it had begun to feel like your kid sister's

girdle.

Sometimes lobsters die between shells. That's life and death in the ocean

blue. Though sad, perhaps it's not as sad as the possibility of slowly

suffocating in a shell that no longer fits.

We are not so different from lobsters. If we did not have a shell -- a

structure -- a framework -- within which to grow, then I doubt any of us

would have made it this far.

Even so, change and growth are necessary for survival. Discipleship means

being so committed to Christ that when he bids us follow, to change, to risk,

to grow, to leave our "shells" behind, we do what he asks.

#3150

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Gambling challenges the view of life which the Christian Church exists to uphold and extend. Its glorification of mere chance is a denial of the Divine order of nature. To risk money haphazard is to disregard the insistence of the Church in every age of living faith that possessions are a trust, and that men must account to God for their use. The persistent appeal to covetousness is fundamentally opposed to the unselfishness which was taught by Jesus Christ and by the New Testament as a whole. The attempt (which is inseparable from gambling) to make a profit out of the inevitable loss and possible suffering of others is the antithesis of that love of one’s neighbour on which our Lord insisted.

… William Temple (1881-1944)

Fill-in the blanks Bible study on how to reach people who are high-risk, who

seem unlikely to become Christians. Jesus focused on such people.

#4094

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In the realm of relationships, investments are always risky. When

Christians reach out to the losers of the world we risk being rejected.

(Several illustrations are given of churches in California reaching out to

homosexuals and then never hearing from them again.)

The last pulpit Jesus had was the cross, and his audience had dwindled to a

few. One man there begged for his recognition. That man was not a follower

who could give the comfort of a lasting, tested friendship. He could not slip

Jesus a drug to dull his pain. The only thing his association with Jesus

would bring was more scorn for the Savior. The man was a loser, a criminal

convicted of capital offenses. He could add nothing to the advancement of

Christianity. Yet from where he hung on the cross, Christ spoke to the man

with nothing to offer - who hung beside him - and received him, offering him

paradise.

The greatest barrier to reaching out to outcasts and losers is our PRIDE.

Jesus chose a lot of losers and unfit people to be his disciples. We cannot

know who is chosen by God, so we must reach out to them all.

#4096

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Horror gripped the heart of the World War I soldier as he saw his lifelong friend fall in battle. Caught in a trench with continuous gunfire whizzing over his head, the soldier asked his lieutenant if he might go out into the "No Man's Land" between the trenches to bring his fallen comrade back.

"You can go," said the Lieutenant, "but I don't think it will be worth it. Your friend is probably dead and you may throw your own life away." The Lieutenant's words didn't matter, and the soldier went anyway.

Miraculously he managed to reach his friend, hoist him onto his shoulder, and bring him back to their company's trench. As the two of them tumbled in together to the bottom of the trench, the officer checked the wounded soldier, then looked kindly at his friend. "I told you it wouldn't be worth it," he said. "Your friend is dead, and you are mortally wounded."

"It was worth it, though, sir," the soldier said.

"How do you mean, 'worth it?'" responded the Lieutenant. "Your friend is dead!"

"Yes sir," the private answered. "But it was worth it because when I got to him, he was still alive, and I had the satisfaction of hearing him say, 'Jim, I knew you'd come.'"

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From This Little Light of Mine, from A Cup of Chicken Soup for the Soul, Copyright 1996 by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen & Barry Spilchuk

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Another version by Max Lucado:

Once, two friends were fighting together in a war. The combat was ferocious, and many lives were being taken. When one of the two young soldiers was injured and could not get back to the trenches, the other went out to get him against his officer's orders. He returned mortally wounded, and his friend, whom he carried on his back, was dead.

The officer looked at the dying soldier, shook his head, and said, “It wasn't worth it.”

The young boy, overhearing the remark, smiled and said, “But it {was} worth it, sir, because when I got to him he said, 'Jim, I knew you'd come.'“

________

Max Lucado, On the Anvil (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishing Inc. 1985), 127

A number of years ago (1983-1987), I had the opportunity to play the character of Ronald McDonald for the McDonald’s Corporation. My marketplace covered most of Arizona and a portion of Southern California.

One of our standard events was “Ronald Day.” One day each month, we visited as many of the community hospitals as possible, bringing a little happiness into a place where no one ever looks forward to going. I was very proud to be able to make a difference for children and adults who were experiencing some “down time.” The warmth and gratification I would receive stayed with me for weeks. I loved the project, McDonald’s loved the project, the kids and adults loved it and so did the nursing and hospital staffs.

There were two restrictions placed on me during a visit. First I could not go anywhere in the hospital without McDonald’s personnel (my handlers) as well as hospital personnel. That way, if I were to walk into a room and frighten a child, there was someone there to address the issue immediately. And second, I could not physically touch anyone within the hospital. They did not want me transferring germs from one patient to another. I understood why they had this “don’t touch” rule, but I didn’t like it. I believe that touching is the most honest form of communication we will ever know. Printed and spoken words can lie; it is impossible to lie with a warm hug.

Breaking either of these rules, I was told, meant I could lose my job.

Toward the end of my fourth year of “Ronald Days,” as I was heading down a hallway after a long day in grease paint and on my way home, I heard a little voice. “Ronald, Ronald.”

I stopped. The soft little voice was coming through a half-opened door. I pushed the door open and saw a young boy, about five years old, lying in his dad’s arms, hooked up to more medical equipment than I had ever seen. Mom was on the other side, along with Grandma, Grandpa and a nurse tending to the equipment.

I knew by the feeling in the room that the situation was grave. I asked the little boy his name - he told me it was Billy - and I did a few simple magic tricks for him. As I stepped back to say good-bye, I asked Billy if there was anything else I could do for him.

“Ronald, would you hold me?”

Such a simple request. But what ran through my mind was that if I touched him, I could lose my job. So I told Billy I could not do that right now, but I suggested that he and I color a picture. Upon completing a wonderful piece of art that we were both very proud of, Billy again asked me to hold him. By this time my heart was screaming “yes!” But my mind was screaming louder. “No! You are going to lose your job!”

This second time that Billy asked me, I had to ponder why I could not grant the simple request of a little boy who probably would not be going home. I asked myself why was I being logically and emotionally torn apart by someone I had never seen before and probably would never see again.

“Hold me.” It was such a simple request, and yet...

I searched for any reasonable response that would allow me to leave. I could not come up with a single one. It took me a moment to realize that in this situation, losing my job may not be the disaster I feared.

Was losing my job the worst thing in the world?

Did I have enough self-belief that if I did lost my job, I would be able to pick up and start again? The answer was a loud, bold, affirming “yes!” I could pick up and start again.

So what was the risk?

Just that if I lost my job, it probably would not be long before I would lost first my car, then my home...and to be honest with you, I really liked those things. But I realized that at the end of my life, the car would have no value and neither would the house. The only things that had steadfast value were experiences. Once I reminded myself that the real reason I was there was to bring a little happiness to an unhappy environment, I realized that I really faced no risk at all.

I sent Mom, Dad, Grandma and Grandpa out of the room, and my two McDonald’s escorts out to the van. The nurse tending the medical equipment stayed, but Billy asked her to stand and face the corner. Then I picked up this little wonder of a human being. He was so frail and so scared. We laughed and cried for 45 minutes, and talked about the things that worried him.

Billy was afraid that his little brother might get lost coming home from kindergarten next year, without Billy to show him the way. He worried that his dog wouldn’t get another bone because Billy had hidden the bones in the house before going back to the hospital, and now he couldn’t remember where he put them.

These are problems to a little boy who knows he is not going home.

On my way out of the room, with tear-streaked makeup running down my neck, I gave Mom and Dad my real name and phone number (another automatic dismissal for a Ronald McDonald, but I figured that I was gone and had nothing to lose), and said if there was anything the McDonald’s Corporation or I could do, to give me a call and consider it done. Less than 48 hours later, I received a phone call from Billy’s mom. She informed me that Billy had passed away. She and her husband simply wanted to thank me for making a difference in their little boy’s life.

Billy’s mom told me that shortly after I left the room, Billy looked at her and said, “Momma, I don’t care anymore if I see Santa this year because I was held by Ronald McDonald.”

Sometimes we must do what is right for the moment, regardless of the perceived risk. Only experiences have value, and the one biggest reason people limit their experiences is because of the risk involved.

For the record, McDonald’s did find out about Billy and me, but given the circumstances, permitted me to retain my job. I continued as Ronald for another year before leaving the corporation to share the story of Billy and how important it is to take risks.

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Jeff McMullen, from Chicken Soup for the Soul at Work, Copyright 1996 by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Maida Rogerson, Martin Rutte & Tim Clauss

Several years ago, I heard the story of Larry Walters, a 33-year-old man who decided he wanted to see his neighborhood from a new perspective. He went down to the local army surplus store one morning and bought forty-five used weather balloons. That afternoon he strapped himself into a lawn chair, to which several of his friends tied the now helium-filled balloons. He took along a six-pack of beer, a peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich, and a BB gun, figuring he could shoot the balloons one at a time when he was ready to land.

Walters, who assumed the balloons would lift him about 100 feet in the air, was caught off guard when the chair soared more than 11,000 feet into the sky -- smack into the middle of the air traffic pattern at Los Angeles International Airport. Too frightened to shoot any of the balloons, he stayed airborne for more than two hours, forcing the airport to shut down its runways for much of the afternoon, causing long delays in flights from across the country. Soon after he was safely grounded and cited by the police, reporters asked him three questions:

"Where you scared?"

"Yes."

"Would you do it again?"

"No."

"Why did you do it?"

"Because," he said, "you can't just sit there."

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Leadership, Summer 1993, Page 35

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Another version:

Larry was a truck driver, but his lifelong dream was to fly. When he graduated from high school, he joined the Air Force in hopes of becoming a pilot. Unfortunately, poor eyesight disqualified him. So when he finally left the service, he had to satisfy himself with watching others fly the fighter jets that crisscrossed the skies over his backyard. As he sat there in his lawn chair, he dreamed about the magic of flying.

Then one day, Larry Walters got an idea. He went down to the local army-navy surplus store and bought a tank of helium and forty-five weather balloons. These were not your brightly colored party balloons, these were heavy-duty spheres measuring more than four feet across when fully inflated.

Back in his yard, Larry used straps to attach the balloons to his lawn chair, the kind you might have in your own back yard. He anchored the chair to the bumper of his jeep and inflated the balloons with helium. Then he packed some sandwiches and drinks and loaded a BB gun, figuring he could pop a few of those balloons when it was time to return to earth.

His preparations complete, Larry Walters sat in his chair and cut the anchoring cord. His plan was that after he enjoyed some flying time to lazily float back down to earth. But things didn't quite work out that way.

When Larry cut the cord, he didn't float lazily up; he shot up as if fired from a cannon! Nor did he go up a couple hundred feet. He climbed and climbed until he finally leveled off at eleven thousand feet! At that height, he could hardly risk deflating any of the balloons, let he unbalance the load and really experience flying! So he stayed up there, sailing around for fourteen hours, totally at a loss as to how to get down.

Eventually, Larry drifted into the approach corridor for Los Angeles International Airport. A Pan Am pilot radioed the tower and told the air traffic controller that he had just passed a guy in a lawn chair at eleven thousand feet who had a gun in his lap.

Eventually, a Navy helicopter dropped a rescue line over Larry, and gradually hauled him back to earth. As soon as Larry hit the ground, he was arrested. But as he was being led away in handcuffs, a television reporter called out, "Mr. Walters, why'd you do it?" Larry stopped, eyed the man, then replied nonchalantly, "A man can't just sit around."

Larry's statement has a message for us. We can not sit around any longer. We need to get out of our comfort zone and go make a difference in the lives of others.

_____________________

Stories For The Heart

Alice Gray, Multnomah, pp. 99-100.

[see also HolwickID #1677]

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Chances are, you'll never have to worry. 'Course, you never know:

Your risk of being attacked by a shark: one in 100,000,000. Your risk of getting struck by lightning: one in 1,900,000. Your risk of dying in a bathtub this year, or the lifetime chance of contracting flesh-eating disease: one in 1,000,000.

The chances of a woman giving birth to quintuplets: one in 1,000,000; quadruplets, one in 100,000; triplets, one in 10,000; or twins, one in 100. The odds of getting HIV from a blood transfusion: one in 400,000. The annual risk of being killed by a falling object: one in 342,100. Chances of dying because of someone's dog: one in 700,000. The odds of being killed by another person: two in 100,000.

The risk of death in a bicycle accident: one in 88,000. The number of Americans seriously injured by their clothing each year: 100,000. The annual number hurt by their toilets: 40,000. The risk of dying from smoking by age 35: one in 600. Chances a cat will die after falling six stories: 10%. Chances a person will die after falling six stories: 90%.

The risk a person will die, period: 100%.

Life is risky and unpredictable, which explains why TV psychics are so busy, and why so many people use God as a safety net, an emergency kit or a personal bodyguard. The operative word here is "use". We use Him, but He yearns for us to choose Him, without expecting protection against disease, discomfort and disappointment.

Look at the things we pray for. Our lists are dominated by concerns over health and happiness. That's not to say there's anything wrong with asking for what we want and need, especially when we intercede for the need of others. But sometimes the bigger blessings are found in the fires of pain, suffering and uncertainty. When we make our obedience conditional on the Lord giving us exactly what we want, it amounts to little more than spiritual prostitution. God will have none of it. Instead, He calls us to absolute and unreserved surrender. Surrender to His love and infinite wisdom -- even when we don't understand what He's doing, or why.

Just as we must be willing to risk everything for love in our human relationships, so it is with our love for Christ. Life in the Spirit is fraught with danger, unpredictability, change and constant challenge. Bare your heart in service to His children and chances are you'll get hurt. You'll certainly get tired and discouraged. But when life is precarious, He'll carry us. "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to His purpose" (Romans 8:28). His purpose, not ours. And what is that purpose? To "be changed into the likeness of His Son" (Romans 8:29).

God didn't spare His Son from suffering. He may not spare us. But we, too, will rise victorious, beating both the grave and the odds.

______________________

Rick Gamble, published in Cross Current, Brantford, Ontario, Canada. Publish at will.

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Last month, Major League Baseball decided to play games scheduled in Toronto despite concerns over the outbreak of SARS in that city. Players had expressed fear over the possibility of infection during road trips to Toronto.

And Major Leaguers aren’t the only ones feeling afraid these days. According to a recent WALL STREET JOURNAL article, “Americans believe danger lurks everywhere.”

It isn’t only the nervous types. A businessman from Chicago described in the article “has flown a small plane, tried bungee jumping, skied on glaciers” and has driven his sports car 152 miles an hour on a public road. Yet he will probably cancel a business trip to the Orient out of fear of contracting SARS.

And Americans’ fears aren’t limited to SARS, as the recent hoarding of bottled water, plastic sheeting, and duct tape illustrates. Despite living in the “safest society in recorded history, many people feel as though they have never been more at risk.”

Why? There are institutions in American life that have an interest in pointing out, if not exaggerating, the risks associated with everyday life. These include researchers, trial lawyers, environmentalists, and even the government.

The media, in its quest for viewers and readers, then hypes these risks — often without any qualification or real-world context. Since most people lack the necessary skills to make sense of these so-called threats, the result is a feeling of vulnerability that is out of proportion to any actual threat. And the government declares alerts over every indication of danger for fear of being criticized that it failed to warn people.

But there’s another, more important reason for our increased anxiety that the WALL STREET JOURNAL doesn’t address: It is a loss of faith in the biblical God, in the doctrine of providence.

For nearly two millennia, belief in the biblical God helped Western man make sense of the world. People believed that someone was in charge and that He was directing the events in accordance with some good purpose.

Even when bad things happened, the world wasn’t deemed to be senseless. As Thomas Cahill wrote in THE GIFTS OF THE JEWS, it was biblical religion, with its belief in one, all-powerful God, that gave the West its understanding of history and progress. Not only that, it provided the sense of hope.

It is precisely this belief in divine providence that has been most weakened by the ascent of materialism, especially Darwinism. Although most Americans profess to believe in God, for many this God isn’t terribly energetic, let alone being in charge of events. We increasingly feel that we live in a world “where no one cares and no one is in control.”

Every report about SARS or terrorism only reinforces this feeling and heightens our fears, despite our being, statistically speaking, safer than any generation in history. And I wish I could say that Christians are exempt from these fears. We’re not, even though we ought to know better.

The only way past this urge to, in the words of Scripture, “flee though none pursue” is faith in the biblical God and the worldview that engenders — precisely the point of BreakPoint. Without this faith, the fears described by the JOURNAL will continue to affect not only our national pastime, but our national character as well.

FURTHER READING AND INFORMATION:

Jane Spencer and Cynthia Crossen, “WHY DO AMERICANS BELIEVE DANGER LURKS EVERYWHERE?“ WALL STREET JOURNAL, April 24, 2003. (You must have a paid-subscriber log-in and password to access this article. HERE IS A SUMMARY.)

Thomas Cahill, THE GIFTS OF THE JEWS: HOW A TRIBE OF DESERT NOMADS CHANGED THE WAY EVERYONE THINKS AND FEELS (Anchor Books/Doubleday, 1999).

Charles Colson and Ellen Vaughn, BEING THE BODY: A NEW CALL FOR THE CHURCH TO BE LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS (W Publishing, 2003).

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Copyright (c) 2003 Prison Fellowship Ministries. Reprinted with permission. "BreakPoint with Chuck Colson" is a radio ministry of Prison Fellowship Ministries.

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[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #1831]

Don’t spend life playing it safe for God, columnist Jim Elliff says. Instead, as Elliff says -- using an illustration from Augusta National -- “go for broke” for the glory of God.

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

For some reason unknown to humankind, my older brother once got to play golf on the distinguished Augusta National golf course, the course where perhaps the best tournament of the year is held -- The Masters.

It was there that the following life-shaping event took place. He was playing through the course with the required caddy. After he landed in the middle of hole 13 of the notorious 3-hole Amen Corner, he asked the caddy for a certain short iron.

Astonished, the veteran caddy exclaimed, “What do you want with this iron?”

“I want to play it safe by laying up just this side of the creek,” my brother replied.

“Man,” the caddy exclaimed, “You didn’t fly all this way to hit [a] lay-up shot at the Amen Corner!” And he yanked out a fairway wood to hand to my brother.

My brother said, “But I might go into the water.”

“You might or you might not,” said the caddy, “but one thing is for sure -- you’ll never know till you try.”

My humbled sibling dutifully took the wood from his hands, smacked the ball, and it landed on the green!

Astounded, he exclaimed, “I’m going to go home and write down in my Bible what you just told me.”

“I don’t understand what you’re talking about.”

“You see,” said my brother, “a man can get to an age and stage in life where he can be content just to hit lay-ups -- short, easy, no risk shots. But you’re right, I haven’t come all this way in life just to hit lay-ups. Starting tomorrow morning, I’m going to get up and hit it as hard and as far as I can.”

There are those believers whose entire life is spent hitting lay-ups. These are the cautious, forever tentative people. Sadly, not much happens for the Kingdom of God through them.

There is a time to be careful, of course. It’s not courageous to play tennis on the highway, for instance -- it’s just stupid. But we’re talking here about the big issues of life. Are you tentative or tenacious in your approach to the future? Did God place you in the world just to protect yourself or to do something meaningful and courageous?

We should have the spirit of Caleb. He was no golfer, but he could still climb a mountain at age 85. As a friend of mine once said, “He was not of a retiring disposition.” In the allotment of lands in Canaan, this adventurous, faith-filled octogenarian requested that his portion be the hill country where the giants lived in “great fortified cities.” Life would not be flat and meaningless for this man. There was something to do.

God often commends boldness. “Be strong and very courageous,” God told Joshua. “We had the boldness of God,” said Paul. “The righteous are as bold as a lion,” stated Solomon.

You only have one trip through this world, or, to put it another way, you only get on the course once. You may not play out the entire 18 holes, or you may be blessed with a double round. Regardless, you had better take advantage of the short time you have. Life is not about lay-up shots, but bold advances for the Savior.

I remember a turning point in my life at age 38. Lots of men feel it. They know enough about their past to understand what they should and should not be doing. They are not that old, but they are more aware than before that the last hole is actually not all that far away. It’s time to decide. Do you hit a lay-up or do you go for broke?

With the help of a now deceased friend, J. Oswald Sanders, who had also experienced a great change in his life direction around my age, I decided against complacency in my Christian life and ministry. I took an entirely new direction, over my uncompromising creek, for the sake of the glory of God. Some of my friends and family were not sure I was sane, but I was determined to experience “God’s work, done in God’s way” (as missionary Hudson Taylor put it). I’ve never regretted it.

You cannot just dream something up for your life out of nothing, but rather must find out from God what you are to do. He leads you in a way that demands faith. But will you do it? Can you even bring yourself to think of it?

First, humbly tell God that you are ready to do something significant for Him, whatever glorifies Him at any cost. Second, pray, read the Bible, get counsel, and search until you find out the kind of faith-filled ministry that will make a difference in the kingdom. Get this from God. Third, ask others who will encourage your faith to pray with you. Surround yourself with “caddies” who have some spunk. And then, pull out your fairway wood and swing hard.

“For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it.” Luke 9:24.

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[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #6421]

It's hard to believe there was a time when you had to be carried by someone in order to get anywhere. You know, there was a time when it was a major, major breakthrough for you to finally figure out how to move yourself places. Recently, I had a chance to see our six-month-old granddaughter in that milestone struggle to figure out how to crawl. We stopped the presses not long ago because she had learned to sit up by herself. Now, that's a good start. The other day I was sitting on the living room carpet with her (I recently learned to sit up by myself, as well). I lay down a few feet from her, I held a favorite toy on the rug in front of me, and I started drumming my fingers rhythmically on the carpet. Well, she was definitely intrigued. And you could tell she really wanted to get to my fingers and to that toy. She finally figured out there was no easy way to get to what she wanted. She managed to fall forward from her sitting position, get up on all fours, and then rock back and forth in neutral. She reached my direction with one hand, risking that delicate balance she has. She didn't quite make it - but she will soon. Because she's going to eventually do whatever she has to do to get where she wants to be.

Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “When The Goal Is Beyond Your Reach.”

Sometimes you have to do things you've never done to reach what you've never had before. If you're a baby ... or if you're a child of God. If you always do what you've always done, you'll always have what you've always had. And that's all. And much of what you need in your life, and much of what you're restless for, and much of what God wants to give you is beyond your reach. As long as you stay in your comfort zone, it always will be.

Peter learned a lot about the life-stretching ways of Jesus one day on the lake called the Sea of Galilee. It's in Luke 5, beginning with verse 5, and it's our word for today from the Word of God. Peter, the veteran fisherman, had nothing to show for a whole night of fishing. Then, in the middle of the day (when fish are hard to find), Jesus tells him to put out in to the deep water and let down the nets that Peter has just finished cleaning. Well, the Bible says, “Simon answered, 'Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything. But because You say so, I will let down the nets.'“ Well, they caught so many fish it almost sank their boats!

Jesus was beckoning Peter to do something that he'd never done so he could experience something he'd never experienced. Just like I was doing with my little granddaughter. And that day Peter decided to take an even riskier step. He left the only life he knew, as a fisherman, and chose to follow Jesus wherever He took him. Which was to give to his life a spiritual significance he could have never imagined. But he had to move beyond what was safe, and so do you. And God has been trying to get you to make that move. Maybe that's why that door closed, that chapter ended, why those plans changed, why you've “worked hard all night and caught nothing.” He's not trying to frustrate you. He's trying to move you to something bigger and something better. Jesus wants to take you to another level. But you'll never get there if you just keep sitting where it's safe, settling only for what you can be sure of. Remember what faith is: “being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”

You'll never grow, you'll never see what you could be if you stay there where you've always been. Your Father is beckoning to you, inviting you to make a move in the direction of something greater. Don't just sit there!

________________

Copyright © Ron Hutchcraft Ministries, Inc., PO Box 400, Harrison, AR 72602. Used by permission. Written by Ron Hutchcraft. "Practical Answers to Real Life Issues"

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[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #9604]