march 18

The Prodigal Son Parable in the Key of "F"
Luke 15

Feeling footloose and frisky, a feather-brained fellow
forced his fond father to fork over the family
finances. He flew far to foreign fields and frittered
his fortune feasting fabulously with faithless
friends. Finally facing famine and fleeced by his
fellows in folly, he found himself a feed-flinger in a
filthy farmyard. Fairly famished he fain would have
filled his frame with the foraged foods of the fodder
fragments left by the filthy farmyard creatures.
'Fooey', he said, 'My father's flunkies fare far
fancier,' the frazzled fugitive found feverishly,
frankly facing facts. Frustrated by failure and filled
with foreboding he forthwith fled to his family.
Falling at his father's feet, he floundered forlornly.
'Father, I have flunked and fruitlessly forfeited
family favour.'

But the faithful father, forestalling further
flinching frantically flagged the flunkies. 'Fetch
forth the finest fatling and fix a feast.' But the
fugitive's fault-finding frater frowned on the fickle
forgiveness of the former folderol. His fury flashed.

But fussing was futile, for the far-sighted father
figured, such filial fidelity is fine, but what
forbids fervent festivity? The fugitive is found!
"Unfurl the flags, with fanfares flaring! Let fun and
frolic freely flow!" "Former failure is forgotten,
folly is forsaken! And forgiveness forms the
foundation for future fortitude." --Author unknown


When we rely upon organization, we get what organization can do;
when we rely upon education, we get what education can do;
when we rely upon eloquence, we get what eloquence can do, and so on.
I do not undervalue any of these things in their proper place, but when we rely upon prayer, we get what God can do. A.C. Dixon


The Christian does not say, "What cannot be cured must be endured." Christianity says, rather, that these things must be endured because they are part of the cure. They have the strange and mystic power to make whole and strong and so to lead on to victory and the final glory. Christianity is never the dour pessimism that submits. Christianity is optimism that cooperates with the process because it sees that, through suffering and weakness, joy and triumph must come. --G. Campbell Morgan

WHERE THE BIBLE WAS WRITTEN:
The wilderness, The palace, The field, Babylon, Jerusalem, Traveling, Prison, Patmos

A FEW PHONE GROANS
- I tried to call someone the other day from a pay phone but I inserted my donor card instead of my calling card. Man, that call cost me an arm and a leg.
- I took my phone to the beach so I could get call wading.
- If someone is using their cell phone while driving 60 miles per hour, is he or she talking a mile a minute?
- If I ask my girlfriend to marry me over the phone, does that still count as giving her a ring?


Why is it that when you eat too much for lunch, you feel drowsy all afternoon, but when you eat a big meal in the evening, you stay awake all night?

Sally was driving home from one of her business trips in Northern Arizona when she saw an elderly Navajo woman walking on the side of the road. As the trip was a long and quiet one, she stopped the car and asked the woman if she would like a ride. With a silent nod of thanks, the woman got into the car. Resuming the journey, Sally tried in vain to make a bit of small talk with the Navajo woman. The old woman just sat silently, looking at everything she saw, studying every little detail, until she noticed a white bag on the seat next to Sally. "What's in the bag?" asked the old woman.
Sally looked down at the bag and, smiling, said, "It's a box of chocolates. I got it for my husband." The Navajo woman was silent for another moment or two. Then speaking with the quiet wisdom of an elder, she said: "Good trade."

Circumstances may appear to wreck our lives and God's plans, but God is not helpless among the ruins. God's love is still working. He comes in and takes the calamity and uses it victoriously, working out His wonderful plan of love. --Eric Liddell

There was a boy who loved to listen to music was bitterly disappointed because he could neither play nor sing. But a kindly gentleman encouraged him with these words: "There are many ways of making music. What matters is the song in your heart." That boy—Antonio Stradivarius—took the man at his word and became the world's greatest violin maker. Prayer: "Dear God, help me to find the most effective way to use my God-given talents and abilities to serve you by serving others in a way that will bring the most glory to you. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus' name, amen."

The new pastor to an aging congregation told them that prune juice would now be served in Holy Communion. When asked why, they were told, “If the Holy Spirit won't move you--the prune juice will!"


Life Outside of Football That there is “life outside of football” may be a necessary eminder for some sports fans and couch potatoes now that Super Bowl XLI is over. Now that the Indianapolis Colts have the Lombardi Trophy in hand, some of them may be wondering what they will do until next season begins. But the line is actually from Tony Dungy, the Colts’ head coach. It wasn’t spoken after last Sunday’s water-logged victory over the Chicago Bears but just after his son James committed suicide 13 months ago. In a speech he made shortly after that tragedy, Dungy talked about all three of his sons. He spoke first of his middle son, Eric, and said his competitive nature is so focused on athletics that “it’s almost a problem.” Then he turned to his youngest son, Jordan, whose rare congenital condition makes him insensitive to pain. “That sounds like it’s good at the beginning, but I promise you it’s not,” said Coach Dungy. “We’ve learned some hurts are really necessary for kids. Pain is necessary for kids to find out the difference between what’s good and what’s harmful.” “Cookies are good,” the coach explained, “but – in Jordan’s mind – if they’re good out on the plate, they’re even better in the oven. He will go right in the oven when my wife’s not looking, reach in, take the rack out, take the pan out, burn his hands – then eat the cookies and burn his tongue and never feel it.” “Pain sometimes lets us know we have a condition that needs to be healed,” Dungy said. “Pain inside sometimes lets us know that spiritually we’re not quite right, and we need to be healed. And that God will send that healing agent right to the spot. Sometimes pain is the only way that will turn us as kids back to the Father.” Only then did Coach Dungy speak of his oldest son, James, who took his life three days before Christmas 2005. He spoke of his family’s pain. He talked about lessons they were learning from it. He and his wife have since joined an organization dedicated to preventing teen suicide.
I’m glad Dungy’s team won the big game. I am impressed by his humility, strength, and deep Christian faith. And I am grateful he could remind all of us there is life outside of football, work, and tragedy. There is the authentic love of God that carries us through, puts everything else in perspective, and reminds us of what really matters. Life isn’t about football. It is about accepting and sharing God’s love.

Henri Nouwen, one of the great spiritual writers of the twentieth century, commented on the “lostness” of both sons in the story of the Prodigal Son.
He wrote, “Did you ever notice how lost you are when you are resentful? It’s a very deep lostness. The younger son gets lost in a much more spectacular way — giving in to his lust and his greed, using women, playing poker, and losing his money. His wrongdoing is very clear-cut. He knows it and everybody else does, too. Because of it he can come back, and he can be forgiven. The problem with resentment is that it is not so clear-cut: It’s not spectacular. And it is not overt, and it can be covered by the appearance of a holy life. Resentment is so pernicious because it sits very deep in you, in your heart, in your bones, and in your flesh, and often you don’t even know it is there. You think you’re so good. But in fact you are lost in a very profound way.


A young single fellow had the fortune of inheriting $250,000 from the estate of his deceased uncle who had died with no direct descendants. The young man went about living the life of his dreams but alas within less than a year the large sum had all been spent and he was broke again. When the young man’s father heard that his son was broke, he asked him in astonishment, “What did you do with all that money?” “Well,” the son confessed, “I spent $60,000 on a new sports car, and $20,000 taking my girlfriend on a spring break trip to Tahiti, and then I went through $75,000 on my weekend in Las Vegas, and $15,000 on a toga party for my frat, and I’m afraid the remaining $80,000 I just squandered foolishly.”

"Manage by objectives. Tell people exactly what you want them to do and then get out of their way." -- Brian Tracy

"Their's is an endless road, a hopeless maze, who seek for goods before they seek for God." -- St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1091-1153)

"What we see depends mainly on what we look for." -- John Lubbock

"There's only one thing more painful than learning from experience and that is not learning from experience."

"Happiness is not a station you arrive at, but a manner of traveling." -- Margaret Lee Runbeck