100 Sermon Illustrations on Worry

Bonhoeffer's meditation on Jesus' teaching on anxiety. Anxiety pushes God of the picture of life, and is the result of a life that sees bread as a

reward, not a gift.

Calvin Coolidge, who never seemed to worry:

"Life is like standing on a road with 10 driver-less cars coming at you. If you wait long enough, 9 of them will end up in the ditch before they ever get to you. That still leaves one car, but I'd rather face one than 10."

#943

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Martin Luther, 500 years ago: "God wants nothing to do with the lazy, gluttonous bellies who are neither concerned nor busy; they act as if they just have to sit and wait for God to drop a roasted goose into their mouth."

Don’t Worry, Be Happy” song has brought about a backlash. Popular button in NYC is a Smiley Face with a bullet hole between the eyes. Smiley Faces started in England as a symbol of mind-altering drug users (especially of drug Ecstasy). Bobby McFerrin’s song has made him a fortune. Media has picked up on stories that show happy people live longer, etc.

Decisions don't have to be as hard as we sometimes make them.

I have always had difficulty making decisions. Pondering what to order from a menu immobilizes me. Deciding where to go on a vacation preoccupies me for weeks. Weighing which academic project to give a summer's vacation to makes me reflective and anxious. It gets even more complicated and I get more confused when I consider what God wants me to do. What, I keep asking myself, is the will of God for my life? Does God want me to take a new job or to stay where I am? Does God want me to speak at a family camp next summer or to spend the week at home with my kids? Does God want me to write another book or to do more administrative work at the college? Does God want me to marry or to remain single?

I may be asking the wrong question. When we ask, "What is the will of God for my life?" we usually have in mind some decision we made in the past and now regret, or some decision we must make in the future about which we are uncertain. But the will of God has less to do with the past or future and more to do with the present. We have no power to reverse decisions we have made in the past, and we may not know in precise terms what God wants us to do in the future. But we do know what God wants us to do in the present. We already know the will of God! Thus, no matter what we have done in the past or will do in the future, we can always, always give ourselves to the will of God we know now.

THE BIBLE AND GOD'S WILL

The biblical authors do not seem to agonize much over the will of God, at least as it is popularly understood today. When they explore the subject, they do not, as we often do, struggle, waffle, and question for days on end. If anything, the question itself is often a rhetorical one that leads to a simple and unequivocal answer. For example, when a crowd of people asked Jesus about the will of God, Jesus replied, "What God wants you to do is to believe in the one He sent" (see John 6:29).

Paul was equally clear. He concluded his great theological treatise of Romans 1-11 by spelling out the most important and immediate implication. "Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God -- this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is -- his good, pleasing and perfect will" (Rom 12:1-2). To believers in Thessalonica Paul exhorted, "Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus" (1 Thess 5:16-17).

The will of God, as it turns out, is not something we need to discover, for it is as plain as the nose on our face. Rather, it is something we need to do. God wills that we repent of our sins, believe the gospel (Mark 1:15), and obey God's commands, especially that we love God and love one another (Matt 22:37-40, John 15:12).

If in the minds of biblical authors there is agony involved, it is not in the process of discovering the will of God, but in the difficulty of doing it. Jesus knew what His mission was. He knew that it would culminate in His crucifixion. He asked His Father in heaven to "remove the cup" before His execution, yet submitted to God's will, obediently embracing His destiny of suffering and death. Likewise, the Apostle Paul did not seem to wrestle much with the problem of discerning the will of God for his life. It was doing the will of God that created such zeal and even fear in him. He spoke with great foreboding about disobeying God's will for his life: "Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!" (1 Cor 9:16).

In the rare moments when I am ruthlessly honest with myself, I realize that my anxious efforts to discover the will of God distract me from facing the real issue. I simply do not do the will of God that is already clear to me. I would rather assign the will of God to the far-off future, where I can safely or anxiously contemplate it as a range of options from which I must choose one. That option seems far safer than treating it as it really is, a set of commands (e.g., the general principles of the Ten Commandments) that show me in no uncertain terms how I should live my life every day in the light of God's grace. My problem is not that I do not know the will of God; it is that I do not do the will of God I already know. It is not ignorance that plagues me; it is lack of faith and stubbornness of heart. I am like a child who worries about what she is going to do on the weekend as a convenient excuse for not doing the chores assigned for the day.

PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE

We may have difficulty discovering the will of God for our lives because we misunderstand the biblical concept of time. God dwells in eternity (Psalm 90); He is therefore not bound by time. There is no past or future to God. All times are the present to Him. But we are bound by time. There is a past to our experience, just as there is a future. We carry the past with us in the form of consequences of decisions that we have no power to change; we anticipate the future as a range of possibilities that may or may not be realized. But we can only live in the present. "I tell you," Paul wrote, "now is the time of God's favor, now is the day of salvation" (2 Cor 6:2). We have only the present in which to love, trust, and obey God.

How we view time, then, will affect how we understand the will of God. If the will of God is associated in our minds with a bad decision we made in the past, we will become preoccupied with the past and live with regrets. "If only I had not taken that job," we will say to ourselves. "If only I had not married so quickly and impulsively." "If only I had not drunk so much that night." Soon we will begin to believe that we missed the will of God for our lives because of bad decisions we made in the past, and we will be left only with longing and regret. The past will be like the dust stirred up by a speeding car on a dirt road, which then lingers in the air and suffocates us.

If, on the other hand, we associate the will of God with a decision we must make in the future, we will become preoccupied with the future and live in anxiety. What if there is no clear direction? What if all our options are good ones, every one of which could be the will of God? What if we simply cannot decide? What if we made the wrong choice, though we have no way of knowing whether or not it is wrong? This uncertainty will cause us to keep looking ahead, always to the future, and obsess about decisions that have to be made. The future will be like a mirage that appears in the distance, shimmering, inviting us to rush toward it. But it keeps receding from us, always remaining just out of reach, refusing to yield to us.

But if we associate the will of God with decisions we can make in the present, we will be empowered to do the will of God we already know. We will direct all of our energies into the now. What is more, we will receive grace for the past. Though there is nothing we can do to reverse the past, there is much we can do to change how we respond to the past. Only God through Christ can forgive us for past sins and redeem the past by using it as a tool in the present to transform us. Thus we never have to live outside the will of God in the present if we repent of our sins and cast ourselves on the mercy of God. A person could be in prison for crimes committed in the past but still do the will of God in the present. If we do the will of God we already know, we will no longer have to live with regrets over past misdeeds but instead be able to embrace the grace of God given in the present moment. Paul describes this kind of grace as the grace of no regrets. Godly repentance will lead us into that kind of radical grace (2 Cor 7:5-12).

We will also experience the peace of God concerning the future. Of course, there is nothing we can do to control the future. It will continue to loom before us, forever eluding our grasp, surprising us with strange twists and turns. Worrying about the future will not change it. If anything, worry will keep us from doing what holds the greatest promise to INFLUENCE the future: Prepare for it in the present.

I have met people who worry so much about whether they will be able to find a stable job in the future that they never prepare themselves for need to the job they want. I have talked with people who fret so much over whether they will find a suitable marriage partner that they never become the kind of person a suitable marriage partner would want to marry.

Worry erodes the spirit, distracts the mind, dulls our creativity. It keeps us from embracing this present moment, which is the only one we have. If we use the present wisely and trust that, no matter what happened in the past or may happen in the future, God will work all things together for good for those who have been called according to His purposes (Rom 8:28), we can believe that God will redeem the past and prepare us for the future. As Jesus said, "Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own" (Matt 6:34).

DECISIONS, DECISIONS

Still, we cannot avoid decisions about the future. That decisions have to be made is obvious. That the will of God may be unclear is equally obvious. So what do we do?

When I reflect on Scripture, a pattern emerges. We can make decisions about the future in freedom and with security, trusting that our decisions are within the will of God, provided we fulfill four criteria: that we seek God above all else, that we pursue our unique sense of calling, that we live within the moral boundaries prescribed in Scripture, and that we remain open to God's divine interruptions.

SEEK GOD.

The most important principle is the first: We must seek God above all else (Mt. 6:33). We should pray for God's will to be revealed. Praying itself is the will of God (1 Thess. 5:17-18). We should get advice from godly counselors about the will of God. Learning from wise people is the will of God (Prov. 19:20, 20:18). We should wait for God (Ps. 27:14), grow in wisdom (Prov. 3:6-7), ponder the Word of God (Psalm 1), and worship God (Eph. 5:18- 19). These disciplines are the will of God. In other words, seeking God for the purpose of discovering the will of God is really a secondary concern. Seeking God is itself our fundamental purpose in life. Seeking God to know His will for the future is part of a larger whole.

PURSUE YOUR CALLING.

We should also pursue a unique sense of calling. Each person's calling (or "vocation," as it is sometimes referred to) involves more than a specific job or career, which is often what we associate with the idea of a calling.

When we ask young Sarah, "What do you want to do when you grow up?" we expect her to say something like, "I want to be a doctor." Yet when Sarah reaches adulthood she will learn, as all of us learn, that a calling is really a set of multiple responsibilities based on circumstances, talents, vision, and intuition.

I am, for example, a widower and father. Circumstances require me to manage my home alone and to function as the only living parent of three children. I am also an active member of a church, a volunteer in the community, and a college professor. And I feel a deep burden to help prepare a younger generation of Christians for leadership in the world.

Doing the will of God requires that I make choices that are congruent with these various responsibilities, all of which reflect the will of God for me. I cannot in good conscience do something that would, for example, sacrifice the well-being of my children or compromise my desire to train leaders.

OBEY GOD'S MORAL COMMANDS.

Scripture establishes moral boundaries within which we come to know the will of God. Some actions are clearly out of line. I do not have to pray for God's will if I am considering marriage to an unbeliever (2 Cor. 6:14). Some motives are unacceptable, too. It is not God's will for me to become, say, a lawyer if I am motivated by avarice and pride, although being a lawyer is itself a worthy occupation. In this case God cares more about who I am than about what I do. Some positions of responsibility are off-limits, too, if in pursuing them we neglect to do the will of God we already know. I have chosen, for example, not to serve as a senior pastor in the near future because I believe it would deprive me of the time I need to raise my children.

BE OPEN TO GOD'S INTERRUPTIONS.

Finally, we should always remain open to and even pray for God's interruptions. It appears that God does at times speak clearly and directly to us about the future, showing us in no uncertain terms what we should do. On some occasions that sense of unequivocal guidance comes to us through circumstances: Many doors close, one door opens. On other occasions such guidance comes to us intuitively: We simply know what we are supposed to do. On still other occasions, God speaks to us through the prophetic voice of a fellow believer, or through a dream or vision. When God speaks so directly, we must be open to what He says and ready to do what He commands.

But God does not always interrupt. If anything, God may at times seem very quiet and distant. Does that mean He is unconcerned or disconnected? Does that imply we could actually make a bad decision, a decision contrary to the will of God, yet not even know we were making it? In such situations I think it is wise to assume that God is always clear when He needs to be, even when He is silent. Perhaps His apparent silence is the result of misguided expectations on our part.

Let's say, for example, that we want to know if option A or option B is the will of God for our lives. We pray, fast, seek counsel, study Scripture, wait on God. But still no answer comes. Could it be that both options are within the will of God, that God will bless us no matter which one we choose?

I have gone on many backpacking trips over the years. During some of those trips I have come to an intersection where the trail I was following forked, and I could find no marker indicating which path I was supposed to take. I have learned that the National Forest Service posts signs only when it is necessary. If there are no signs, as is often the case, it is because no signs are needed. Both paths will eventually lead to the same destination. I am free to choose either one with confidence that I will arrive at my chosen destination.

Some decisions we make, in other words, are not as important as we think. Or perhaps it is better to say that some decisions, however important they seem to us, are neutral if we make other, more fundamental decisions first. Option A and option B may both be acceptable, both within the will of God for the future, if we have already decided to do the will of God we know in the present.

PAUL'S DECISION MAKING

The life of the Apostle Paul illustrates this point. After Paul became a Christian he gave himself to seeking God, even to the point of withdrawing into the wilderness for a time. His greatest passion in life was to know Jesus (Phil. 1:21). Moreover, Paul was faithful to his calling as an apostle to the Gentiles. Obviously Paul honored God's moral law, even to the point of suffering (1 Cor. 4:8-13). Finally, Paul was open to God's interruptions. He set off on his first missionary journey at the prompting of the Holy Spirit (Acts 13). He traveled to Macedonia when God called him through a dream to begin evangelistic work there (Acts 16:6-10). Still, Paul seemed to make many decisions without such direct guidance. He used common sense, made decisions when necessity required them, and never doubted that they were the right ones, regardless of the outcome. He exercised freedom in the choices he made, and he lived in the security that God was with him. Paul could have chosen to travel to Alexandria first to begin his missionary work rather than to Crete. Such a decision would have set him on a different course. But the outcome would have been the same, the evangelization of the Mediterranean world.

FREE TO DO GOD'S WILL

God's will is revealed to us in Scripture; it is what God calls us to do day by day. But by His providence it is also being worked out mysteriously so that even human beings at their worst and human history at its lowest will still lead inexorably to a grand conclusion, thus fulfilling the eternal plan of God. We will comprehend the whole of God's plan only at the end, when we see all things clearly from heaven's perspective. But even in this life we may catch glimpses of it as we look back on the course of our lives and see how God's hand has been at work.

In the meantime, there is work to be accomplished, life to be lived, the will of God to be done. We are freed from bondage to the past and freed from worry about the future. We are free to do the will of God in the present, the only moment we truly have to know God, trust God, and obey God.

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GERALD L. SITTSER is an associate professor of religion at Whitworth College in Spokane, Washington. Gerald's most recent book is A Cautious Patriotism (University of North Carolina Press).

1997 Discipleship Journal Online, The Navigators, All rights reserved.

Why do we take upon our own shoulders the needs that God has promised to fill?

1. The Trouble With Caring.

2. Worshipping Worry.

3. Prayer as Antidote.

4. Seeking God's Face.

Comment by a missionary from Haiti on daily provision:

Stephen Sorenson asked a visiting missionary about how American Christians differed from Haitian Christians. The missionary told him, “Most American Christians don't need God.”

She continued:

“American Christians have everything they need. “If they don't pray or read the Bible for weeks, it makes little difference in their daily lives. “They still have food to eat, a place to sleep, regular income. “They don't need to practice their faith every day.”

For many Christians in America, this is absolutely true. This missionary lived among some of the most impoverished people in North or South America. It seemed to give her a deeper understanding of how God provides. Sorenson was impressed with her firm trust in God to supply what she and her villagers needed for daily living. There are probably some lessons here that those of us in a more comfortable culture need to learn.

Evangelist David Ray was a chronic worrier. He worried about the weather, his health, national affairs, and really worried everyone else. One day people noticed a remarkable change, and he no longer worried. When asked what had happened he replied, "Well, it's simple. I hired somebody else to do my worrying for me."

"How much will it cost you?"

"One thousand dollars a day."

"Man, where are you going to get that kind of money?"

He replied, "I don't know, that's his worry."

(Paul Powell, Five Things To Remember When You Worry. Green Acres Baptist Church: 1984).

Matthew 6:27 says, "Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?" In other words, there is no value in worrying, and it won't change anything.

One minister saw worry in a different light. When asked whether or not he ever worried, the wise pastor said, "Of course not. Worry is sin. If I'm gonna sin, I pick something a lot more fun than worry."

________

Michael Dean, You Don't Have to Worry. The Baptist Hour: 1993.

Do we really trust God for our daily provisions?

I. Most Americans don't need God. [expanded: #3854]

A. Why do believers in a land of plenty need to ask for daily

bread?

B. Haiti missionary.

II. The God of all of life.

A. Bread represents what which is essential to sustain life.

1) Food, clothing, shelter.

B. God is active in every area of our daily activities.

C. Jesus sweat the details of human existence.

III. The source of all good gifts.

A. Food cannot be stored for centuries like oil.

B. Security is transient.

IV. My bread, your bread, our bread.

A. Communal needs in view here - "our" bread.

B. As we eat we should think of less fortunate.

1) Man who hired shelter people to renovate house.

V. One day at a time.

A. Daily survival vs. long term security.

1) Our inclination is to pray for a year's bread.

2) We want control.

B. Let faith be faith. Heb 11:1

1) Everything good comes from God's hand.

C. Planning for the future is wise.

1) Anxious preoccupation is not.

2) When manna was hoarded, it spoiled.

VI. Back to the basics.

A. God doesn't want us to live with abundant wealth.

B. Be satisfied with what you have.

C. Seek God's kingdom first.

#3853

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Deep-seated worry can even be harmful to your emotional and physical health. Dr. Charles Mayo, the founder of the Mayo Clinic, wrote this about worry: “Worry affects the circulation, the heart, the digestive system, and the entire nervous system. I’ve never known a person to die of overwork, but many who died from worry.” Our English word “worry” is derived from the old German word wurgen, meaning “to choke.” The term has come to be used to denote “mental strangulation” to describe the harmful effects of worry.

We must also remember that worry is a sin. The Bible says, “Everything that does not come from faith is sin” (Romans 14:23 NIV). The opposite of worry is faith. Whenever we approach a situation, we can grab it by the handle of faith or the handle of worry. Faith is the end of anxiety, and anxiety is the end of faith. Faith and worry are mutually exclusive. You can experience one or the other but not both at the same time.

Worry is a sin because it basically infers that God is a liar. God has promised to love us and to take care of us. He has promised that all things will work together for our good (Romans 8:28). He has invited us to cast our burdens upon Him because He cares for us (1 Peter 5:7). Whenever we worry we are suggesting that God cannot be trusted, that He cant fulfill His promise.

Many evangelical Christians would never commit adultery, steal, or commit gross sins of the flesh, but at the same time, they are chronic worriers. You will not have victory over your worry until you admit that worry is a sin.

Did you hear about the clock that had a nervous breakdown? One day it began thinking about how often it would have to tick in a year. Figuring two ticks a second, 120 a minute, 7,200 an hour, 172,800 a day, and 1,209,600 ticks every week, the clock suddenly realized that it would have to tick nearly 63 million times during the next twelve months. The more it thought about this, the more anxious it became. Finally the clock became so distraught that it suffered a nervous collapse.

Confiding in a clock psychiatrist (a “clock doc”), the clock complained that it didn’t have the strength to tick that often. The doctor responded, “But how many ticks must you tick at a time?”

The clock answered, “Only one.”

“Well, simply tick one tick at a time and don’t worry about the next one”, advised the doctor. “You will get along fine, Im sure.”

That’s exactly what the clock did, and as is true of all good stories, it ticked happily ever after.

Martha's choices robbed her of fellowship with Jesus.

What can we learn from her mistakes?

How could Martha worry? How could anyone worry when the one who stilled

storms, cast out spirits, healed diseases, and multiplied food was there?

1. Martha's Hospitality. Luke 10:38-42, John 12

2. Martha's First Mistake. Luke 10:40

3. Torn in two. Luke 10:41

4. In a tumult. Luke 10:41

5. Lord, Don't you care? Luke 10:40

6. Demanding a Response. Luke 10:40

7. Choosing the Best. Luke 10:41-42, Mark 6:31, Mark 1:38

TWO THINGS NOT TO WORRY ABOUT

In my life, I have found there are two things about which I should never worry. First, I shouldn't worry about the things I can't change. If I can't change them, worry is certainly most foolish and useless. Second, I shouldn't worry about the things I can change. If I can change them, then taking action will accomplish far more than wasting my energies in worry. Besides, it is my belief that, 9 times out of 10, worrying about something does more danger than the thing itself. Give worry its rightful place - out of your life.

_____________________________

By Source Unknown from Chicken Soup for the Surviving Soul, Copyright 1996 by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Patty Aubrey & Nancy Mitchell, R.N.

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Michael is the kind of guy you love to hate. He is always in a good mood and always has something positive to say. When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply, “If I were any better I would be twins!”

He was a natural motivator. If an employee was having a bad day, Michael was there telling the employee to look on the positive side of the situation. Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up to Michael and asked him, “I don’t get it! You can’t be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?”

Michael replied, “Each morning I wake up and say to myself, you have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or you can choose to be in a bad mood. I choose to be in a good mood. Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it. Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or I can point out the positive side of life. I choose the positive side of life.”

“Yeah, right, it not that easy,” I protested.

“Yes, it is,” Michael, said. “Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people affect your mood. Your bottom line; it’s your choice how you live life.”

I reflected on what Michael said. Soon thereafter, I left the Tower Industry to start my own business. We lost touch, but I often thought about him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it.

Several years later, I heard that Michael was involved in a serious accident, falling some 60 feet from a communications tower. After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, Michael was released from hospital with rods placed in his back. I saw Michael about six months after the accident. When I asked him how he was, he replied, “If I were any better I’d be twins. Wanna see my scars?”

I declined to see his wounds, but I did ask him what had gone through his mind as the accident took place. “The first thing that went through my mind was the well being of my soon to be born daughter,” Michael replied. “Then as I lay on the ground, I remembered that I had two choices; I could choose to live or I could choose to die. I chose to live.”

“Weren’t you scared? Did you lose consciousness?” I asked.

Michael continued, “…The paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the ER and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes I read, “He’s a dead man. I knew I needed to take action.”

“What did you do?” I asked. “Well, there was a big burly nurse shouting questions at me,” said Michael. “She asked if I was allergic to anything. “Yes I relied.” Said Michael. The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply. I took a deep breath and yelled, “Gravity.”

Over their laughter, I told them, “I am choosing to live. Operate on me as If I am alive, not dead.”

Michael lived, thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude. I learned from him that every day we have the choice to live fully. Attitude, after all, is everything.

“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Matthew 6:34 After all today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.

[original illustation at this number was added to HolwickID #16631]

Do you remember the name Karl Wallenda? He was the patriarch of a family of high-wire walkers. Karl and his family had successfully walked high-wires all over the planet. In 1978 Karl Wallenda fell to his death walking a wire 75 feet high in San Juan, Puerto Rico. His wife later discussed that performance: "All Karl thought about for three straight months prior to it was falling. It was the first time he'd ever thought about that and it seemed to me that he put all his energies into not falling rather than walking the tightrope."

In the 1800s Samuel Plimsoll was a member of the British Parliament. He became concerned because cargo ships were being loaded so heavily that some sank at sea, with the loss of many lives. He got a law passed that required danger lines to be painted on all ships. When the weight of the cargo lowered the ship down to where the line touched the water, all loading had to stop. Seamen still call this mark the "Plimsoll line."

In Greece, in the 4th or 5th century B.C., there was a war between two neighbouring city-states. A spy from one city was captured in the other city, and sentenced to be executed. But he insisted that he be granted an interview with the tyrant of that city, and when he got it, said "o great king, if you do not execute me, but instead allow me to live a mere five years longer, I will teach your favourite horse to sing."

The tyrant thought about it, and eventually decided, "what's five years? I can always kill him at the end of it." And he agreed, and the erstwhile spy was led away.

A few weeks after this, as the spy was in the stables playing the lyre to the tyrant's horse, two friends of his who had smuggled themselves into the city in disguise came to him to find out what was going on. He told them the story, and they said, "you're crazy! You'll never manage it, and in the end the king

will kill you!" To which our hero replied,

"In five years, anything can happen. The king may die; I may die: or, the horse may learn to sing." And he went on playing the lyre.

How to add worry/stress to your life:

1. Never say No to a request - always say YES.

2. Your job comes first; personal considerations are secondary.

3. Accept all invitations to meetings, banquets, committees, etc.

4. Go to the office evenings, Saturdays, Sundays and holidays.

5. Golf, bowling and hobbies are a waste of time.

6. It is a poor policy to take all the vacation time which is provided to you.

7. Never delegate responsibility to others; carry the whole load at all times.

8. Do not eat a restful, relaxing meal - always plan a conference for the dinner hour.

9. If your work calls for traveling - work all day and drive all night to make your appointment for the next

morning.

10. Fishing and hunting are a waste of time and money - you never bring back enough fish or game to

justify the expense.

11. Take the briefcase home on the evenings when you do not go to the office. This provides an

opportunity to review completely all the troubles and worries of the day.

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.

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

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Chronic worriers often worry about not having something to worry

about. - Unknown

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Worry doesn't help tomorrow's troubles, but it does ruin today's happiness.

Cited in BITS & PIECES

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Cheer up! Remember today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.

Cited in More of...The Best of BITS & PIECES

*

Ralph was head over heels in trouble, but doing little to help

himself. A friend advised, "Ralph, you've got two hands, why don't

you do something?" "I am," Ralph replied, "I'm wringing both of

them."

- Unknown

"The world is wide

In time and tide,

And -- God is guide;

Then do not hurry.

That man is blest

Who does his best

And -- leaves the rest,

Then do not worry.

By J. Wilbur Chapan, "Present Day Parables."

When Lincoln was on his way to Washington to be inaugurated, he

spent some time in New York with Horace Greeley and told him an

anecdote which was meant to be an answer to the question which

everybody was asking him: Are we really to have Civil War? In his

circuit riding days, Lincoln and his companions, riding to the next

session of court, had crossed many swollen rivers. But the Fox River

was still ahead of them; and they said one to another, "If these

streams give us so much trouble, how shall we get over Fox River?"

When darkness fell, they stopped for the night at a lodging place,

where they fell in with the Methodist presiding elder of the district

who rode through the country in all kinds of weather, and knew all

about the Fox River. They gathered about him and asked him about the

present state of the river. "Oh, yes," replied the circuit rider, "I

know all about the Fox River. I have crossed it often and understand

it well. But I have one fixed rule with regard to Fox River: I never

cross it till I reach it." --McCartney

Said the Robin to the Sparrow,

"I should really like to know

Why these anxious human beings

Rush about and hurry so."

Said the Sparrow to the Robin,

"Friend, I think that it must be

That they have no Heavenly Father

Such as cares for you and me."

--Elizabeth Cheney