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Maybe you’ve heard about the preacher who was visiting various classes during the Sunday School Hour to see how they were doing. One Sunday he visited the class of 6th grade boys. They were talking about things in the O.T.
He listened for a while & then asked, “Who knows who knocked down the walls of Jericho?” Two boys answered, “Preacher, we don’t know who, but we sure didn’t do it.”
Surprised by their lack of Bible knowledge, he turned to the teacher & asked, “What do you think of that answer?” The teacher replied, “Well, I’ve known them since they were little, & they’ve always been honest. If they said they didn’t do it, I believe them.”
Dismayed, he went out into the hallway & saw the chairman of the church board. He told him, “I was just in the 6th grade boys’ class & asked who knocked down the walls of Jericho. Two boys held up their hands & said, “We didn’t do it, preacher.” And the teacher told me that if they said they didn’t do it, he believed them.”
The chairman of the board interrupted him & said, “Preacher, let’s not fuss about who did what. We’ll just fix the walls & pay for it out of the General Fund.”
One day a woman was rushing home from a doctor’s appointment. The doctor had been somewhat delayed at the hospital, and the lab work took a little longer than usual so by the time she left the clinic she was running quite a bit behind schedule. She still had to pick up her prescription, pick up the children from the baby-sitter, and get home and make supper, all in time to make it to the prayer meeting at her church that evening. As she began to circle the busy Wal-Mart parking lot, looking for a space, the windows of heaven were opened, as it says in Genesis, and a downpour began. While she wasn’t usually the type to bother God with small problems, she began to pray as she turned down the row closest to the front door. "Lord, you know what kind of a day I’ve had, and there’s still an awful lot to do. Could you please grant me a parking space right away, oh, and close to the building so I don’t get soaked." The words weren’t even completely out of her mouth when she saw the backup lights of a car come on at the end of the row. It was the best space in the whole parking lot, right next to the handicap spots and straight out from the front door. She made straight for it and as she pulled in, she said, "never mind God, something just opened up."
Years ago, I heard a story about a preacher who went to a small town to preach a series of gospel sermons. His attempt was to evangelize that little town. He preached for two weeks. During the whole time, only one little girl responded to the invitation at the end of one of his sermons. She confessed Christ, was baptized, and turned out to be the only convert during the entire meeting. The preacher judged the meeting a failure, and for years, bemoaned the great effort he had made for such little result.
However, he did not have the right view of things. That little girl grew up to be a strong, faithful Christian woman. She married a Christian man, and together they produced several sons, all of whom became preachers of the gospel. Those sons converted thousands of unbelievers to Christ.
Now, what do you suppose would have happened to that little girl and her family, had that gospel preacher not faithfully proclaimed Christ? Do you really think that preacher’s effort was a failure? Sometimes, what looks like a very small, insignificant effort on our part, turns out to be far greater than we think.
THANKSGIVING LIST
Here is a list of things housewives are most thankful for:
"For automatic dishwashers because they make it possible for us to get out of the kitchen before the family comes back in for their after-dinner snacks.
For husbands who attack small repair jobs around the house because they usually make them big enough to call in the professionals.
For children who put away their things & clean up after themselves. They’re such a joy you hate to see them go home to their own parents
For teenagers because they give parents an opportunity t...
"We never become truly spiritual by sitting down and wishing to become so. You must undertake something so great that you cannot accomplish it unaided."-Phillip Brooks
Our behavior should be an outward growth of our love of God. It is the soil in which our spiritual fruits are planted. The Holy Spirit is the fertilizer that makes our fruits grow and prosper. (Pastor Carl K.Benge
THE GRAY AREA
I heard a story about a 90-year-old grandfather who was complaining to his grandson about getting old. He said, "The worst part is the diapers." He continued, "I don’t mind wearin’ them, it’s just the name I hate. Depends! If I have to wear a diaper, I don’t want there to be any ’depends’ about it. I want for sure!"
It would be good if everything was "for sure," but it’s not.
When it comes to some things, it depends.
(From a sermon by Monty Newton, "Navigataing the Gray Areas" 1/30/2009)
The only ultimate disaster that can befall us, I have come to realize, is to feel ourselves at home here on earth.
GEORGE SANTAYANA ON FAITH
The late great Spanish philosopher, essayist, poet, and novelist, Jorge Augustin Nicolas Ruiz Santayana y Borras (1863 - 1952), better known as "George Santayana" once said:
"O world, thou choosest not the better part!
It is not wisdom to be only wise,
And on the inward vision close the eyes,
But it is wisdom to believe the heart.
Columbus found a world and had no chart,
Save one that faith deciphered in the skies;
To trust the soul’s invincible surmise
Was all his science and his only art.
Our knowledge is a torch of smoky pine
That lights the pathway but one step ahead
Across a void of mystery and dread.
Bid, then, the tender light of faith to shine
By which alone the mortal heart is led
Unto the thinking of the thought Divine."
(Sources: "God’s Treasury of Virtues," c1995 Tulsa, Oklahoma: Honor Books, Inc., ISBN 1-56292-153-3, pp. 300-302. "Leaves of Gold," Revised Edition, edited by Clyde Francis Lytle, c1948: A.C and D.G. Remley, published, Williamsport, Pennsylvania: The Coslett Publishing Company, p. 64. From a sermon by George Dillahunty, A Centurion’s Faith!, 12/11/2009.)
If I have seen farther than others, it is because I was standing on the shoulder of giants. --Isaac Newton
