October 21
Justice - When you get what you deserve
Mercy - When you don't get what you deserve
Grace - When you get what you don't deserve
God is in no hurry. We tend to think that if God is really engaged, He will change things within the next hour or so. Certainly by sundown. Absolutely by the end of the week. But God is not a slave to the human clock. Compared to the works of mankind, He is extremely deliberate and painfully slow. As religion poet George Herbert wisely penned, "God's mill grinds slow, but sure." --Charles Swindoll
"A wise old owl, lived in an oak,
The more he saw the less he spoke!
The less he spoke, the more he heard,
Why can't we be like that wise old bird?"
MOM WAS GETTING swamped with calls from strangers. The reason? A medical billing service had launched an 800 number that was identical to hers. When she called to complain, they told her to get a new number. "I've had mine for twenty years," she pleaded. "Couldn't you change yours?" They refused. So Mom said, "Fine. From now on I'm going to tell everyone who calls that their bill is paid in full." The company got a new number the next day.
A couple on a safari was going through Africa when a lion leaped out, attacking the husband.
As the lion was about to put the man's head in his mouth, the victim yelled to his wife, "Shoot! Shoot!"
The wife called back, "I can't, I'm out of film!"
After our friend Tom had been a temporary bachelor for several weeks, we stopped by his home to visit him. My wife asked if he was eating properly. "Well, I do eat a lot of dog food," Tom told her.
"Dog food!" my wife exclaimed, horrified. "I can't believe you would be eating anything like that!"
"Come to the kitchen and I'll show you," Tom replied.
Opening the refrigerator door, he waved his hand at a row of doggie bags from half of the restaurants in town.
- A careful study of economics has recently revealed that the best time to buy anything is last year.
- For every action there is an equal and opposite government program.
- If a shepherd takes care of sheep, shouldn't a coward take care of cows?
- When I'm not in my right mind, well, my left mind can get awful crowded.
“God creates out of nothing. Therefore until a man is nothing, God can make nothing out of him.”
My pastor-husband Scott has a sweet tooth, so I knew the chocolate chip cookies I'd just baked might disappear before I returned from running errands.
To discourage him, I taped a verse on the wrapped goodies: "'Everything is permissible for me'—but not everything is beneficial ... " (1 Cor. 6:12).
When I returned I found half the cookies gone and another verse attached: "The righteous eat to their heart's content, but the stomach of the wicked goes hungry" (Prov. 13:25).
Being a Christian is like being a pumpkin. God lifts you up, takes you in, and washes all the dirt off of you. He opens you up, touches you deep inside and scoops out all the yucky stuff-- including the seeds of doubt, hate, greed, etc. Then He carves you a new smiling face and puts His light inside you to shine for all the world to see.
"You will become as small as your controlling desire, or as great as your dominant aspiration." -- James Allen
"Many persons have a wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose." -- Helen Keller
In a Peanut’s cartoon Lucy encourages Charlie Brown: "Look at it this way, Charlie Brown," she consoles. "These are your bitter days. These are the days of your hardship and struggle ..." The next frame goes on: "... but if you just hold your head up high and keep on fighting, you'll triumph!" "Gee, do you really think so, Lucy?" Charlie asks. As she walks away Lucy says: "Frankly, no!"
Hope is like that. We speak of it more often than we believe in it. Hope is not a strong word for us. It has more to do with "wishing" than "expecting." It has the sound of resignation, an inability to bring about, influence, or even believe that a desired event or goal might ever come to be.
-"That person is about as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs."
-"I feel about as helpless as a trombone player in a phone booth."
-"You can't tell how much gas is in the tank by how loud the horn honks!"
-"Going to church doesn't make you a Christian, any more than going to McDonald's makes you a Big Mac."
-But my all time favorite comes from the old TV program, "Cheers". Norm walked into the bar, and Sam the bartender asked him, "How's it going, Norm?" And Norm answered, "It's a dog eat dog world out there, Sammy and I'm wearing Milk Bone underwear."
Milton Berle understood persistence. “Mr. Television” during the 1950’s was one of the great entertainers of the 20th century on stage, in film, radio and finally as a pioneer of television. Here are a couple of his one-liners about persistence: How would the guy have felt if he quit after 6 UP? Or the guy that stopped at Preparation G?
A THOUGHT ON PREACHING: "I preached in a little church not long ago. While I was waiting to preach I looked and saw a fire extinguisher on the side of the pulpit. Strangest thing I'd ever seen! But the more I thought about it, the more appropriate it seemed, because if a fire is going to start anywhere it's likely to start in the pulpit. If it doesn't start there, you can forget about the rest of it." (William Hinson)
I'd rather be able to pray than to be a great preacher; Jesus Christ never taught his disciples how to preach, but only how to pray. -- Dwight L. Moody,
LIFE AT THE TWO YARD LINE GALATIANS 6:10
Paul Dietzel, former head coach of LSU, said, "You learn more character on the 2 yard line than anywhere else in life." He's got a point. When you're on the 2 yard line you’re either about to score or the other team is about to score on you. That's when it's time to dig in. At the 2 yard line you find out whether you have the fortitude to push the rest of the way through to the end zone and/or make a last minute stand against defeat.
You may be on the two yard line now -- advancing toward success or staving off defeat. Or all of the above ... because, unlike football, in life it's possible to be both places at once. Take a look at the challenges you're facing today. What do you need to do? Push a little harder in one area? Stand a little stronger in another? Most importantly, we all need to persevere, to persist in doing good one more day, making one more effort to accomplish that to which we have been called. "Let us not become weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not." (Galatians 6:10 KJV)--Steve May
Handling Life's Burdens
It has been well said that no man ever sank under the burden of the day. It is when tomorrow's burden is added to the burden of today that the weight is more than a man can bear. Never load yourselves so, my friends. If you find yourselves so loaded, at least remember this: it is your own doing, not God's. He begs you to leave the future to Him and mind the present. - George MacDonald
"I'm into golf now. I'm getting pretty good. I can almost hit the ball as far as I can throw the clubs." - Bob Ettinger
A Prayer for the Presidential Candidates
Lord, Pressure can bring out the best in us. It can also bring out the worst in us.
But almost always, pressure squeezes out whatever is already in us.
As we come to the beginning of this brutal, nasty presidential campaign, the candidates---particularly the frontrunners— will feel themselves under intense pressure. Open the hearts, souls, minds, and wills of each to You. Help them to think about things that are noble and from You.
Help them to avoid being self-serving.
Help them to take the pressure and respond not with personal attacks, but with magnanimity, equamimity, wisdom, and self-control.
Send to each sensitive, caring but firm followers of Jesus Christ who will remind them that even kings stand naked before Your throne, that no political principal is of utmost importance, and that Your presence can make even the humblest of people in the meanest of circumstances more powerful than any army. Grant that these same emissaries from You will share the comforting, energizing Good News of Jesus' death and resurrection that has a power outlasting every nation, every leader, every idea.
Finally, God, grant to each of these leaders the wisdom to open their mouths when they should and to shut them when they should.
We pray these things in Jesus' awesome Name! AMEN!
"If America is to survive, we must elect more God-centered men and women to public office; individuals who will seek Divine guidance in the affairs of state." Billy Graham
--In the confrontation between the stream and the rock, the stream always wins -- not through strength but by perseverance. --H. Jackson Brown
--It's not whether you get knocked down, it's whether you get up. --Vince Lombardi
Mercy - When you don't get what you deserve
Grace - When you get what you don't deserve
God is in no hurry. We tend to think that if God is really engaged, He will change things within the next hour or so. Certainly by sundown. Absolutely by the end of the week. But God is not a slave to the human clock. Compared to the works of mankind, He is extremely deliberate and painfully slow. As religion poet George Herbert wisely penned, "God's mill grinds slow, but sure." --Charles Swindoll
"A wise old owl, lived in an oak,
The more he saw the less he spoke!
The less he spoke, the more he heard,
Why can't we be like that wise old bird?"
MOM WAS GETTING swamped with calls from strangers. The reason? A medical billing service had launched an 800 number that was identical to hers. When she called to complain, they told her to get a new number. "I've had mine for twenty years," she pleaded. "Couldn't you change yours?" They refused. So Mom said, "Fine. From now on I'm going to tell everyone who calls that their bill is paid in full." The company got a new number the next day.
A couple on a safari was going through Africa when a lion leaped out, attacking the husband.
As the lion was about to put the man's head in his mouth, the victim yelled to his wife, "Shoot! Shoot!"
The wife called back, "I can't, I'm out of film!"
After our friend Tom had been a temporary bachelor for several weeks, we stopped by his home to visit him. My wife asked if he was eating properly. "Well, I do eat a lot of dog food," Tom told her.
"Dog food!" my wife exclaimed, horrified. "I can't believe you would be eating anything like that!"
"Come to the kitchen and I'll show you," Tom replied.
Opening the refrigerator door, he waved his hand at a row of doggie bags from half of the restaurants in town.
- A careful study of economics has recently revealed that the best time to buy anything is last year.
- For every action there is an equal and opposite government program.
- If a shepherd takes care of sheep, shouldn't a coward take care of cows?
- When I'm not in my right mind, well, my left mind can get awful crowded.
“God creates out of nothing. Therefore until a man is nothing, God can make nothing out of him.”
My pastor-husband Scott has a sweet tooth, so I knew the chocolate chip cookies I'd just baked might disappear before I returned from running errands.
To discourage him, I taped a verse on the wrapped goodies: "'Everything is permissible for me'—but not everything is beneficial ... " (1 Cor. 6:12).
When I returned I found half the cookies gone and another verse attached: "The righteous eat to their heart's content, but the stomach of the wicked goes hungry" (Prov. 13:25).
Being a Christian is like being a pumpkin. God lifts you up, takes you in, and washes all the dirt off of you. He opens you up, touches you deep inside and scoops out all the yucky stuff-- including the seeds of doubt, hate, greed, etc. Then He carves you a new smiling face and puts His light inside you to shine for all the world to see.
"You will become as small as your controlling desire, or as great as your dominant aspiration." -- James Allen
"Many persons have a wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose." -- Helen Keller
In a Peanut’s cartoon Lucy encourages Charlie Brown: "Look at it this way, Charlie Brown," she consoles. "These are your bitter days. These are the days of your hardship and struggle ..." The next frame goes on: "... but if you just hold your head up high and keep on fighting, you'll triumph!" "Gee, do you really think so, Lucy?" Charlie asks. As she walks away Lucy says: "Frankly, no!"
Hope is like that. We speak of it more often than we believe in it. Hope is not a strong word for us. It has more to do with "wishing" than "expecting." It has the sound of resignation, an inability to bring about, influence, or even believe that a desired event or goal might ever come to be.
-"That person is about as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs."
-"I feel about as helpless as a trombone player in a phone booth."
-"You can't tell how much gas is in the tank by how loud the horn honks!"
-"Going to church doesn't make you a Christian, any more than going to McDonald's makes you a Big Mac."
-But my all time favorite comes from the old TV program, "Cheers". Norm walked into the bar, and Sam the bartender asked him, "How's it going, Norm?" And Norm answered, "It's a dog eat dog world out there, Sammy and I'm wearing Milk Bone underwear."
Milton Berle understood persistence. “Mr. Television” during the 1950’s was one of the great entertainers of the 20th century on stage, in film, radio and finally as a pioneer of television. Here are a couple of his one-liners about persistence: How would the guy have felt if he quit after 6 UP? Or the guy that stopped at Preparation G?
A THOUGHT ON PREACHING: "I preached in a little church not long ago. While I was waiting to preach I looked and saw a fire extinguisher on the side of the pulpit. Strangest thing I'd ever seen! But the more I thought about it, the more appropriate it seemed, because if a fire is going to start anywhere it's likely to start in the pulpit. If it doesn't start there, you can forget about the rest of it." (William Hinson)
I'd rather be able to pray than to be a great preacher; Jesus Christ never taught his disciples how to preach, but only how to pray. -- Dwight L. Moody,
LIFE AT THE TWO YARD LINE GALATIANS 6:10
Paul Dietzel, former head coach of LSU, said, "You learn more character on the 2 yard line than anywhere else in life." He's got a point. When you're on the 2 yard line you’re either about to score or the other team is about to score on you. That's when it's time to dig in. At the 2 yard line you find out whether you have the fortitude to push the rest of the way through to the end zone and/or make a last minute stand against defeat.
You may be on the two yard line now -- advancing toward success or staving off defeat. Or all of the above ... because, unlike football, in life it's possible to be both places at once. Take a look at the challenges you're facing today. What do you need to do? Push a little harder in one area? Stand a little stronger in another? Most importantly, we all need to persevere, to persist in doing good one more day, making one more effort to accomplish that to which we have been called. "Let us not become weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not." (Galatians 6:10 KJV)--Steve May
Handling Life's Burdens
It has been well said that no man ever sank under the burden of the day. It is when tomorrow's burden is added to the burden of today that the weight is more than a man can bear. Never load yourselves so, my friends. If you find yourselves so loaded, at least remember this: it is your own doing, not God's. He begs you to leave the future to Him and mind the present. - George MacDonald
"I'm into golf now. I'm getting pretty good. I can almost hit the ball as far as I can throw the clubs." - Bob Ettinger
A Prayer for the Presidential Candidates
Lord, Pressure can bring out the best in us. It can also bring out the worst in us.
But almost always, pressure squeezes out whatever is already in us.
As we come to the beginning of this brutal, nasty presidential campaign, the candidates---particularly the frontrunners— will feel themselves under intense pressure. Open the hearts, souls, minds, and wills of each to You. Help them to think about things that are noble and from You.
Help them to avoid being self-serving.
Help them to take the pressure and respond not with personal attacks, but with magnanimity, equamimity, wisdom, and self-control.
Send to each sensitive, caring but firm followers of Jesus Christ who will remind them that even kings stand naked before Your throne, that no political principal is of utmost importance, and that Your presence can make even the humblest of people in the meanest of circumstances more powerful than any army. Grant that these same emissaries from You will share the comforting, energizing Good News of Jesus' death and resurrection that has a power outlasting every nation, every leader, every idea.
Finally, God, grant to each of these leaders the wisdom to open their mouths when they should and to shut them when they should.
We pray these things in Jesus' awesome Name! AMEN!
"If America is to survive, we must elect more God-centered men and women to public office; individuals who will seek Divine guidance in the affairs of state." Billy Graham
--In the confrontation between the stream and the rock, the stream always wins -- not through strength but by perseverance. --H. Jackson Brown
--It's not whether you get knocked down, it's whether you get up. --Vince Lombardi
posted by joypastordon at 10:42 PM
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