Perspective in Christian preaching calls believers to view life and its challenges through the lens of God's eternal truth, encouraging trust and hope beyond immediate circumstances (2 Corinthians 4:18). Illustrations often employ images of shifting viewpoints—such as climbing a mountain, changing vantage points, or reframing fears—to highlight the contrast between earthly troubles and heavenly realities.
1. Reason to Fear
2. The One to Fear
3. A Clear View
4. Putting Fear in Perspective
A healthy fear of God, a faith-recognition of who He is--"the fire-core of the universe, the first and last of the living One"--puts human fear in perspective.
All our experiences are seen and heard by our caring God. We are not forgotten.
When my grandmother was raising me in Stamps, Arkansas, she had a particular routine when people who were known to be whiners entered her store. My grandmother would ask the customer, “How are you doing today, Brother Thomas?”
And the person would reply, “Not so good today, Sister Henderson. You see, it’s this summer heat. I just hate it. It just frazzles me up and frazzles me down. It’s almost killing me.” Then my grandmother would stand stoically, her arms folded, and mumble, “Uh-huh, uh-huh.” And she would cut her eyes at me to make certain that I had heard the lamentation.
As soon as the complainer was out of the store, my grandmother would call me to stand in front of her. And then she would say the same thing she had said at least a thousand times, it seemed to me. “Sister, did you hear what Brother So-and-So or Sister Much-to-Do complained about?” And I would nod. Mamma would continue, “Sister, there are people who went to sleep all over the world last night, poor and rich and white and black, but they will never wake again. And those dead folks would give anything, anything at all for just five minutes of this weather that person was grumbling about. So you watch yourself about complaining, Sister. What you’re supposed to do when you don’t like a thing is change it. If you can’t change it, change the way you think about it. Don’t complain.”
It is said that persons have few teachable moments in their lives. Mamma seemed to have caught me at each one I had. Whining is not only graceless, but can be dangerous. It can alert a brute that a victim is in the neighborhood.
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By from Condensed Chicken Soup for the Soul, Copyright 1996 by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen & Patty Hansen
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.
Charles Swindoll on a lazy football player who became motivated:
He liked to hear the cheers, but not to charge the line. He liked to wear the
suit, but not to practice. He did not like to put himself out. One day the
players were doing fifty laps, and this showpiece was doing his usual five.
The coach came over and said, "Hey kid, here is a telegram for you." The kid
said, "Read it for me, Coach." He was so lazy he did not even like to read.
The coach opened it up and read, "Dear son, your father is dead. Come home
immediately." The coach swallowed hard. He said, "Take the rest of the week
off." He didn't care if he took the rest of the year off.
Well, funny thing, game time came on Friday and here came the teams rushing
out on the field, and lo and behold, the last kid out was the goof-off. No
sooner did the gun sound than the kid said, "Coach, can I play today? Can I
play?" The coach thought, "Kid, you're not playing today, this is homecoming.
This is the big game. We need every real guy we have, and you are not one of
them." Every time the coach turned around, the kid badgered him: "Coach,
please let me play. Coach, I have got to play."
The first quarter ended with the score lopsided against the coach and his
team. At half time they, were still further behind. The second half started,
and things got progressively worse. The coach, mumbling to himself, began
writing out his resignation, and up came the kid. "Coach, Coach, let me play,
please!" The coach looked at the scoreboard. "All right," he said, "Get in
there, kid. You can't hurt anything now."
No sooner did the kid hit the field than his team exploded. He ran, blocked,
and tackled like a star. The electricity leaped to the team. The score
evened up. In the closing seconds of the game, this kid intercepted a pass
and ran all the way for the winning touchdown!
The stands broke loose. The kid was everybody's hero. Such cheering you
never heard. Finally the excitement subsided and the coach got over to the
kid and said, "I never saw anything like that. What in the world happened to
you out there?" He said, "Coach, you know my dad died last week." "Yes," he
said, "I read you the telegram." "Well, Coach," he said, "my dad was blind.
And today was the first day he ever saw me play." [1602]
*
In his book of sermons “The Living Faith,” Lloyd C. Douglas tells the story of Thomas Hearne, who, “in his journeys to the mouth of the Coppermine River, wrote that a few days after they had started on their expedition, a party of Indians stole most of their supplies. His comment on the apparent misfortune was: ‘The weight of our baggage being so much lightened, our next day’s journey was more swift and pleasant.’
“Hearne was in route to something very interesting and important; and the loss of a few sides of bacon and a couple of bags of flour meant nothing more than an easing of the load. Had Hearne been holed in somewhere, in a cabin, resolved to spend his last days eking out an existence, and living on capital previously collected, the loss of some of his stores by plunder would probably have worried him almost to death.”
How we respond to “losing” some of our resources for God’s work depends upon whether we are on the move or waiting for our last stand.
In "How Life Imitates the World Series," Dave Bosewell tells a story about Earl Weaver, former manager of the Baltimore Orioles. Sports fans will enjoy how he handled star Reggie Jackson.
Weaver had a rule that no one could steal a base unless given the steal sign. This upset Jackson because he felt he knew the pitchers and catchers well enough to judge who he could and could not steal off of. So one game he decided to steal without a sign. He got a good jump off the pitcher and easily beat the throw to second base. As he shook the dirt off his uniform, Jackson smiled with delight, feeling he had vindicated his judgment to his manager.
Later Weaver took Jackson aside and explained why he hadn't given the steal sign. First, the next batter was Lee May, his best power hitter other than Jackson. When Jackson stole second, first base was left open, so the other team walked May intentionally, taking the bat out of his hands.
Second, the following batter hadn't been strong against that pitcher, so Weaver felt he had to send up a pinch hitter to try to drive in the men on base. That left Weaver without bench strength later in the game when he needed it.
The problem was, Jackson saw only his relationship to the pitcher and catcher. Weaver was watching the whole game.
We, too, see only so far, but God sees the bigger picture. When he sends us a signal, it's wise to obey, no matter what we may think we know.
General Collin Powell occasionally cited this passage from Thomas Jefferson's First Inaugural:
"I shall often go wrong through defect of judgment. When right, I shall often be thought wrong by those whose positions will not command a view of the whole ground. I ask your indulgence for my own errors, which will never be intentional, and your support against the errors of others, who may condemn what they would not if seen in all its parts."
"Outland" cartoon has Opus the penguin, Bill the cat and the Cockroach sitting in a swamp. Oliver Jones, a brainy twerp, is rowing up to them in a small boat.
Oliver: "I've spent all week on the calculations. There'z no mistakes!
GALILEO WAS WRONG!!
The world ... revolves around ME."
(He flings the research papers to the winds, and rows off.)
Opus, calling out to the retreating figure: "Boy, are YOU ever wrong!"
(Each one is sitting in the swamp, concluding:)
Opus: "It goes around ME!!"
Bill the cat: "Me!"
Cockroach: "Me, Me, MEEEEE!"
From Henry David Thoreau's book WALDEN, written in 1845:
Why should we live with such hurry and waste of life? … When we are unhurried and wise, we perceive that only great and worthy things have any permanent and absolute existence, that petty fears and petty pleasures are but the shadow of the reality.
A venture into nature can do wonders for your worship. God wants us to reclaim nature's rightful place in our spiritual lives and remember anew his place in our hearts and our place in his purposes.
1. A diminished awareness of nature.
2. A diminished view of God.
3. A sense of wonder.
4. A sense of scale.
5. A sense of perspective.
6. Outward bound.
We are most prosperous generation America has ever seen, yet we think of ourselves as poor.
A story is told of an affluent kid whose family moved to a new city. The parents didn't want to draw attention to themselves, so they told their son that they were poor. “We really don't have much,” they told him. “Others are much better off than we are.
On the first day of school the teacher asked the children to write a paragraph about themselves. The young boy wrote, “I am poor, my father is poor, my mother is poor … our maid is poor, the man who flies our jet is poor...”
#3417
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The life of faith is sometimes an uphill trek, but the view from the top is
well worth it. Therefore we must keep moving forward.
1. Take it one step at a time.
2. Take time to eat.
3. Keep moving forward.
4. Travel in fellowship.
5. Look back (remember).
6. Stay on the alert.
7. Behold the beauty.
8. You will reach the peak.
#3483
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Pilots will understand when I say that Christian lives are often comparable to the disparity between front and backyards of many California homes.
On bright sunshiny days, when you’re blessed to be dancing with the clouds, you’ll be amazed to see the stark difference between the front and backyards of numerous homes.
You’ll see beautiful lush, green, landscaped front yards, one after another, like a Irish giant’s checkerboard quilt, but every third backyard or so will be Sahara-brown, weed-covered and trash-littered.
It may be difficult for us to see a man’s back yard but a pilot has no trouble.
Comments: Likewise, the soul and spirit of a man is as hidden from other men, as his backyard is hidden from the passerby. It may be impossible for one man to see the inner reality of another, but from God’s perspective, it’s no trouble at all.
________
Source/Attribution: © Sermon-Illustrations-Each-Week 1999
We prefer to ignore or deny the realization that death is coming. In this we are not unlike previous generations. It was the teaching of the ancients, in fact, that helped me to gain perspective on death. The classical spiritual-life writers found great spiritual benefit in looking death in the face, seizing its reality, and making it their servant. They used death to teach them how to live.
Francois Fenelon, a seventeenth-century French mystic who wrote the classic “Christian Perfection,” spoke eloquently of the denial of death: “We consider ourselves immortal, or at least as though [we are] going to live for centuries. Folly of the human spirit! Every day those who die soon follow those who are already dead. One about to leave on a journey ought not to think himself far from one who went only two days before. Life flows by like a flood.”
Most of us recognize that we will eventually die, but this recognition is reserved for a distant event, decades from now, not today, this week, this month, this year. Death is a foreigner, not a close neighbor. Or so we live our lives, clutching fiercely to this illusion.
How else can we explain the fact that so many die without a will? We live without a will not because we believe we’ll never die, but because we don’t expect to die this week. Thus, we have more important tasks to take care of, meetings to attend, things to buy, decorations to hang.
REMEMBRANCE OF THINGS FUTURE
Why do we deny death? Fenelon believed we avoid the thought of it so we are not saddened by it. But this, he says, is shortsighted: “It will only be sad for those who have not thought about it.”
William Law, the eighteenth-century Anglican author of “A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life,” wrote that the living world’s brilliance blinds us from eternity and the reality of death. “The health of our bodies, the passions of our minds, the noise and hurry and pleasures and business of the world, lead us on with eyes that see not and ears that hear not.”
Part of this denial comes from the company we keep.
[see #3552 for denial of death, and illustrations of Civil War general and Brezhnev’s widow.]
John Climacus, a seventh-century ascetic who wrote Ladder of Divine Ascent, urged Christians to use the reality of death to their benefit: “You cannot pass a day devoutly unless you think of it as your last,” he wrote. He called the thought of death the “most essential of all works” and a gift from God. “The man who lives daily with the thought of death is to be admired, and the man who gives himself to it by the hour is surely a saint.”
Remembrance of death acts like a filter, helping us to hold on to the essential and let go of the trivial. John Climacus pointed out that a “man who has heard himself sentenced to death will not worry about the way theaters are run.”
TURNING EVERYTHING RIGHT-SIDE UP
Forgetting death tempts us to lose perspective. Thinking about eternity helps us retrieve it. I’m reminded of this every year when I figure my taxes. During the year, I rejoice at the paychecks and extra income, and sometimes I flinch when I write out the tithe and offering. I do my best to be a joyful giver, but I confess it is not always easy, especially when there are other perceived needs and wants.
At the end of the year, however, all of that changes. As I’m figuring my tax liability, I wince at every source of income and rejoice with every tithe and offering check — more income means more tax, but every offering and tithe means less tax. Everything is turned upside down, or perhaps, more appropriately, right-side up.
I suspect judgment day will be like that. Those things that bother us now, that force us out of our schedules — taking time out to encourage or help someone — will be the very things that we deem the most important. We may not remember the movie we skipped to paint that elderly person’s house, or the meeting we missed to visit that prisoner or sick person, but in eternity, we will remember the acts of kindness and love, and we will be glad we took the time to do them.
Death not only filters our priorities, it also filters our passions. In his Pensées, seventeenth-century French mathematician and theologian Blaise Pascal wrote, “To render passion harmless let us behave as though we had only a week to live.” All of us are captive to various passions; some good, some bad. Which ones will we follow?
William Law suggests we pick and choose according to how we will feel upon our death. “The best way for anyone to know how much he ought to aspire after holiness is to consider not how much will make his present life easy, but to ask himself how much he thinks will make him easy at the hour of death.” What men or women in their right mind would continue an affair if they really believed they might not wake up in the morning? What person would risk entering eternity in a drunken stupor? What fool would ignore his loved ones and God for one last night so that he could make another quick ten thousand just before he died? Thomas a Kempis agreed with such reasoning, arguing that the remembrance of death is a powerful force for spiritual growth: “Didst thou oftener think of thy death than of thy living long, there is no question but thou wouldst be more zealous to improve. If also thou didst but consider within thyself the infernal pains in the other world, I believe thou wouldst willingly undergo any labor or sorrow in this world, and not be afraid of the greatest austerity. But because these things enter not to the heart, and we still love those things only that delight us, therefore we remain cold and very dull in religion.”
When we schedule our priorities and follow our passions without regard to eternity, we are essentially looking into the wrong end of a telescope. Instead of seeing things more clearly, our vision becomes distorted. We miss the big picture. “Feasts and business and pleasures and enjoyments seem great things to us whilst we think of nothing else; but as soon as we add death to them, they all sink into an equal littleness; and the soul that is separated from the body no more laments the loss of business than the losing of a feast,” wrote Law.
It is only the denial of death that allows us to continue rebelling against God. It is only because we are presuming on some future time to set things right that we ever even consider letting them go wrong. Some of us will be surprised in our presumption; eventually our spirits will be dulled until we forget we are presuming, and death will catch us by surprise, like all the rest.
That is why Thomas a Kempis urged, “Labor now to live so, that at the hour of death thou mayest rather rejoice than fear.” That hour is coming. If it comes tonight, will you be able to rejoice at your state? Or does the mere thought strike fear into your soul? More is involved than just our eternal destiny. God’s mercy may well pass us into his eternal presence, but do we want to enter heaven after faithfully serving God to the best of our ability, or rather after some desperate, last-minute confession, realizing that we have wasted our life?
I want to enter death tired. I want to have spent what energy God has apportioned me. The cross-country races that were most satisfying to me were not the ones I won most easily, but the ones that took everything I had to win. Weariness produced by hard, diligent labor is a reward, not a curse. An eternal rest awaits all who know Christ, so why are we preoccupied with rest now?
Death becomes our servant, then, when we use it to reorder our priorities and to grow in grace and holiness. There is yet one more way we can use death to our benefit.
Many problems in marriage grow out of emotional differences between men and women. To minimize conflict, we need to understand these differences:
1. Love.
Men show it by what they do, women interpret it by affection.
2. Identity placement.
Woman finds it in man, man finds it in job.
3. Tolerance for risk.
Men have greater tolerance for risk. Women are responsible for nurture
and so are driven to feel secure.
4. Sensitivity level.
Men tend to be less sensitive than women.
5. Long-term vs. short-term thinking.
Men tend to see the big picture, women tend to focus on the here and
now.
6. Bottom line vs. details.
Women tend to focus on the little things - the details. Men tend to
focus on the essence of the matter - the end result.
7. Logical vs. intuitive.
Men analyze everything, whereas women "sense" situations.
John Howard Griffin was a white man who believed he could never understand the plight of African-Americans unless he became like one. In 1959, he darkened his skin with medication, sun lamps, and stains, then traveled throughout the South. His book, "Black Like Me," helped whites better understand the humiliation and discrimination faced daily by people of color.
Jesus Christ became like us; the Incarnation is evidence that God understands our plight. "He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering" (Isa. 53:3).
[see also #1663]
#3932
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Sgt. Frank Smith, a medic in the Rangers in World War II, noticed something that also struck other medics: "During training it was not uncommon to hear one say, 'If I lose a leg (or arm or whatever) please shoot me. I don't want to go home a cripple.' Never, in combat, did I, or anyone I know, hear this, no matter how bad the wound."
Sermon #3 in Advent Adventure 1997. Romans 8:19-25
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FRUSTRATED?
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I. A frustrating season.
II. Should real Christians ever get frustrated?
A. An emotion we associate with immaturity, impatience.
B. Frustration will always be true of Christians in this life.
III. Frustrations this side of heaven. Romans 8:20-23
A. World is a mess.
B. Not just planet, but humanity in a mess. Eccl. 5:17
C. Not just humanity, but each of us.
IV. Special frustrations of Christians.
A. Frustration with incompleteness of other believers.
B. Frustrations with ourselves.
C. Frustrations with God himself?
V. How to deal with frustration.
A. Realize we cannot answer all the questions.
B. Deal immediately with roots of bitterness and stress.
C. Count your blessings.
VI. True contentment.
Multimillionaire John D. Rockefeller was asked once how much money it took to make a person happy. His answer was, "JUST A LITTLE MORE."
Socrates was asked, "Who is the wealthiest man?" His answer: "HE WHO IS CONTENT WITH THE LEAST."
True story of a heroin overdose victim who was seeking to feel free, and didn't find it until he ended up in a wheelchair.
__________________
Matthew Dougherty was dying when paramedics sped his limp body to the hospital emergency room. His fingernails and feet were blue. Glucose dripped through a tube in his arm. A "coma cocktail" of glucose and Narcan, a narcotic antidote given to unresponsive patients, had been injected a half hour earlier - with no effect. The cause of the coma was a mystery until an anonymous caller told them Matt had snorted heroin the night before. Dougherty's heart, liver, kidneys and lungs, starved for oxygen, were damaged. Fortunately, these could heal themselves. His brain could not.
Today Matt, 24, is in a wheelchair. His eyesight, once 20/20, now requires glasses but he still cannot read properly. He can converse normally and has begun to use a walker - more than four years after the coma that finally ended his drug use. "You can't tell an addict to stop. They have to find out for themselves. I thought I was invincible."
After beginning with other drugs, at age 18 he started heroin. "Once you tried it, it set you free. That's what we thought. It made me feel like I didn't care, almost like a bubble of protection around me... It made me feel, 'Now I have found peace,' but in a very fake way." The packet of heroin that sent Dougherty to the hospital was emblazoned with what could have been a warning: the word Satan, a brand name used by the dealers.
His friend Joseph Loia's death from a heroin overdose has helped put Dougherty's own tragedy in perspective. "I used to think, man, life is rotten. I'm in a wheelchair, this is horrible. Then I went to Joe's funeral and I thought: This could be worse." And without alcohol or drugs, Dougherty is beginning to feel in control of his life.
"I'M PROBABLY THE MOST FREE I HAVE EVER BEEN, IN THIS WHEELCHAIR."
When I was in elementary school, I got into a major argument with a boy in my class. I have forgotten what the argument was about, but I have never forgotten the lesson I learned that day.
I was convinced that "I" was right and "he" was wrong - and he was just as convinced that "I" was wrong and "he" was right. The teacher decided to teach us a very important lesson. She brought us up to the front of the class and placed him on one side of her desk and me on the other. In the middle of her desk was a large, round object. I could clearly see that it was black. She asked the boy what color the object was. "White," he answered.
I couldn't believe he said the object was white, when it was obviously black! Another argument started between my classmate and me, this time about the color of the object.
The teacher told me to go stand where the boy was standing and told him to come stand where I had been. We changed places, and now she asked me what the color of the object was. I had to answer, "White." It was an object with two differently colored sides, and from his viewpoint it was white. Only from my side was it black.
My teacher taught me a very important lesson that day: You must stand in the other person's shoes and look at the situation through their eyes in order to truly understand their perspective.
__________________
by Judie Paxton from Chicken Soup for the Kid's Soul Copyright 1998 by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Patty Hansen and Irene Dunlap
[Article by an entrepreneur which can be used in Christian applications.]
The mark of the superior thinker is his or her ability to accurately predict the consequences of doing or not doing something. The potential consequences of any task or activity are the key determinants of how important it really is to you and to your company. This way of evaluating the significance of a task is how you determine what your next frog really is.
LONG TIME PERSPECTIVE
Doctor Edward Banfield of Harvard University, after more than 50 years of research, concluded that "long-time perspective" is the most accurate single predictor of upward social and economic mobility in America. Long time perspective turns out to be more important than family background, education, race, intelligence, connections or virtually any other single factor in determining your success in life and at work.
Your attitude toward time, your "time horizon," has an enormous impact on your behavior and your choices. People who take the long view of their lives and careers always seem to make much better decisions about their time and activities than people who give very little thought to the future.
THINK ABOUT YOUR FUTURE
Successful people have a clear future orientation. They think five, ten and twenty years out into the future. They analyze their choices and behaviors in the present to make sure that they are consistent with the long-term future that they desire.
In your work, having a clear idea of what is really important to you in the long-term makes it much easier for you to make better decisions about your priorities in the short-term.
DETERMINE THE CONSEQUENCES
By definition, something that is important has long-term potential consequences. Something that is unimportant has few or no long-term potential consequences. Before starting on anything, you should always ask yourself, "What are the potential consequences of doing or not doing this task?"
The clearer you are about your future intentions, the greater influence that clarity will have on what you do in the moment. With a clear long-term vision, you are much more capable of evaluating an activity in the present and to assure that it is consistent with where you truly want to end up.
MAKE IT A TOP PRIORITY
If there is a task or activity with large potential positive consequences, make it a top priority and get started on it immediately. If there is something that can have large potential negative consequences if it is not done quickly and well, that becomes a top priority as well. Whatever your frog is, resolve to gulp it down first thing.
KEEP MOTIVATED
Motivation requires motive. The greater the positive potential impact that an action or behavior of yours can have on your life, once you define it clearly, the more motivated you will be to overcome procrastination and get it done quickly.
Thinking continually about the potential consequences of your choices, decisions and behaviors is one of the very best ways to determine you true priorities in your work and personal life.
ACTION EXERCISES
Review your list of tasks, activities and projects regularly. Continually ask yourself, "Which one project or activity, if I did it in an excellent and timely fashion, would have the greatest positive impact on my life?"
Whatever it is that can help you the most, set it as a goal, make a plan to achieve it and go to work on your plan immediately. Remember the wonderful words of Goethe, "Just begin and the mind grows heated; continue, and the task will be completed!"
On December 24th, the evening of my father's funeral, my siblings and I gathered together in our childhood home to decide where our mother would live. My father left behind five children and my mother, the love of his life for 54 years. She was barely able to walk or function and he had been her devoted helper. She could not live alone.
We began to talk, and as Mother listened on, the discussion quickly turned heated. With our thinking clouded by shock, our bonds loosened by our recent loss, the talk turned more to the cost of caring for Mother than to the quality of her care. As we began to argue, our pain deepened and our loss was compounded by the thought of losing each other. Mother listened in shock, and we feared the family would die with Dad.
At the height of the battle, we heard the sound of caroling, followed by a knock on the door. My brother went to open it and, grateful for the respite, we all got up to see. Outside, the lawn and porch were filled with young carolers. And leading them was the priest who that day had buried Dad. He was as surprised to see us as we were to see him. He did not know that this was my parents' house.
We stood chastened by the sounds of "Peace on Earth," then closed the door. My oldest brother, stunned by the sound, whispered: "Dad sent them. He's reminding us to behave ourselves and take care of our mother."
With those words echoing in our minds, the arguments ceased, and within hours, we had decided on a plan. Our mother would move in with one of my brothers. The house of our youth was closed and bare, but the family was furnished anew.
________
By Marilyn L. Teplitz, from A Cup of Chicken Soup for the Soul, Copyright 1996 by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen & Barry
There is a story of a young man who was told by his doctor that he had only six months to live. In shock, the young man asked if there was anything that could be done. After all, he was still a young man and had many things left to do in life.
The doctor thought about his question for a bit, and then finally gave him a solution. The doctor told the young man to go out and find the ugliest, most cantankerous woman in the county and marry her. He told the young man to insure that he found a woman who would incessantly nag him, and complain about everything he said or did.
Then he had to go out and buy the most beat-up old pickup truck he could find, preferably one that wouldn't run all of the time. Then he needed to buy a run down old apartment right in the middle of downtown Orlando.
Somewhat skeptical the young man looked at the doctor and asked, "Doc, are you sure that this will help me to live longer?" "Not at all," replied the doctor, "but it sure will make six months seem like a lifetime!"
THE PIT
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A man fell into a pit and couldn’t get himself out.
A SUBJECTIVE person came along and said, “I FEEL for you down there.”
An OBJECTIVE person came along and said, “It’ s logical that someone would fall down there.”
A CHRISTIAN SCIENTIST came along, “You only THINK that you are in a pit.”
A PHARISEE said, “Only BAD people fall into a pit.”
A NEWS-REPORTER wanted the exclusive story on his pit.
A FUNDAMENTALIST said, “You DESERVE your pit.”
CONFUCIUS said, “If you would have listened to me, you would not be in that pit.”
BUDDHA said, “Your pit is only a state of mind.”
A REALIST said, “That’s a PIT.”
A SCIENTIST calculated the pressure necessary (kgs./sq. cm) to get him out of the pit.
A GEOLOGIST told him to appreciate the rock strata in the pit.
A TAX MAN asked if he was paying taxes on the pit.
The COUNCIL INSPECTOR asked if he had a permit to dig a pit.
An EVASIVE person came along and avoided the subject of his pit altogether.
A SELF-PITYING person said, “You haven’t seen anything until you see MY PIT!!”
A CHARISMATIC said, “Just CONFESS that you’re not in a pit.”
An OPTIMIST said, “Things COULD be worse.”
A PESSIMIST said, “Things WILL get worse!!”
JESUS seeing the man, took him by the hand and LIFTED him OUT of the pit.
________
Kenneth D. Filkins
*
How do you react when you're talking with a friend and your conversation is suddenly interrupted by the piercing wail of an ambulance siren? Do you feel pure sympathy for the person inside -- or about to be picked up by -- the ambulance, or do you feel some measure of annoyance? Similarly, how do you react when you're awakened from a deep sleep by a series of clanging fire trucks or the wail of a police car?
I am embarrassed to admit that, along with many others, my initial reaction to such noises often is impatience and annoyance rather than empathy. My friend, Rabbi Zalman Schachter Shalomi, suggests that whenever we hear the sound of a passing ambulance, we accustom ourselves to offering a prayer that the ambulance arrive in time. Similarly, whenever our sense of calm is interrupted by fire trucks, we should pray to God that the trucks arrive in time to save the endangered people and home and that no firefighter be injured. And when we hear police sirens, we should implore God that the police respond in time to the emergency.
I find this suggestion profound. By accustoming ourselves to uttering a prayer at the very moment we feel unjustly annoyed, we become better and more loving people. The very act of praying motivates us to empathize with those who are suffering and in need of our prayers. Furthermore, imagine how encouraging it would be for those being rushed to a hospital to know that hundreds of people who hear the ambulance sirens are praying for their recovery.
Speaking not long ago in Baltimore, I shared this suggestion. After my talk, several people commented on how moved they were by this ideal but one woman seemed particularly emotional when she spoke of the suggestion. When she was ten, she told me, she had been awakened from a deep sleep by passing fire trucks. It was almost one in the morning, and now, twenty-five years later, she still remembered her first response: It was so unfair that her sleep had been ruined!
The next morning she learned that her closest friend, a girl who lived only a few blocks away, had died in the fire. Ever since, she told me, whenever she hears fire trucks go by, she prays that they arrive at their destination in time.
Loving one's neighbor is usually carried out through tangible acts, by giving money or food to those in need, by stepping in and offering assistance to a neighbor who is ill, or by bringing guests into one's home. But sometimes, loving our neighbor is expressed through a prayer, one that attaches us to our "neighbor" even when we have no way of knowing just who our neighbor is.
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Each year the staff at Beloit College in Wisconsin puts together a list to try to give the faculty a sense of the mindset of that year's incoming freshmen.
Here's this year's [1998] list:
1. The people who are starting college this fall across the nation were born in 1980.
2. They have no meaningful recollection of the Reagan Era and did not know he had ever been shot.
3. They were prepubescent when the Persian Gulf War was waged.
4. Black Monday 1987 is as significant to them as the Great Depression.
5. There has been only one Pope. They can only really remember one president.
6. They were 11 when the Soviet Union broke apart and do not remember the Cold War.
7. They have never feared a nuclear war. "The Day After" is a pill to them, not a movie.
8. They are too young to remember the space shuttle blowing up, and Tiananmen Square means nothing to them.
9. Their lifetime has always included AIDS.
10. They never had a Polio shot, and likely do not know what it is.
11. 11. Bottle caps have not only always been screw off, but have always been plastic. They have no idea what a pull-top can looks like.
12. Atari predates them, as do vinyl albums.
13. The expression "you sound like a broken record" means nothing to them.
14. They have never owned a record player.
15. They have likely never played Pac Man and have never heard of Pong.
16. Star Wars looks very fake to them, and the special effects are pathetic.
17. There have always been red M&Ms, and blue ones are not new. What do you mean there used to be beige ones?
18. They may have heard of an 8-track, but chances are they probably never have actually seen or heard one.
19. The Compact Disc was introduced when they were 1 year old.
20. As far as they know, stamps have always cost about 32 cents.
21. They have always had an answering machine.
22. Most have never seen a TV set with only 13 channels, nor have they seen a black-and-white TV.
23. They have always had cable.
24. There have always been VCRs, but they have no idea what BETA is.
25. They cannot fathom not having a remote control.
26. They were born the year that Walkmen were introduced by Sony.
27. Roller-skating has always meant inline for them.
28. The Tonight Show has always been with Jay Leno.
29. They have no idea when or why Jordache jeans were cool.
30. Popcorn has always been cooked in a microwave.
31. They have never seen Larry Bird play, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is a football player.
32. They never took a swim and thought about Jaws.
33. The Vietnam War is as ancient history to them as W.W.I, W.W.II, or even the Civil War.
34. They have no idea that Americans were ever held hostage in Iran.
35. They can't imagine what hard contact lenses are.
36. They don't know who Mork was or where he was from.
37. They never heard the terms: "Where's the beef?," "I'd walk a mile for a Camel," or "de plane, de plane!"
38. They do not care who shot J. R. and have no idea who J. R. is.
39. The Titanic was found? I thought we always knew where it was.
40. Michael Jackson has always been white.
41. Kansas, Chicago, Boston, America, and Alabama are places, not groups.
42. McDonald's never came in Styrofoam containers.
43. There has always been MTV.
44. Gasoline has always cost about a dollar a gallon.
_______________________________
Another version:
Are You Feeling Old? — If not, consider this:
• This fall’s college freshman class was born after 1980.
• The Iranian hostage crisis occurred before they were conceived.
• They have no memory of a time before MTV.
• “New Wave” is their parents’ musical generation.
• They have no meaningful recollection of the Reagan era.
• They were prepubescent when the Persian Gulf War was waged.
• If they have heard the name “Oliver North,” it was probably as a losing congressional candidate or perhaps in some obscure survey history text’s reference, such as might be made to Huey Long or Teapot Dome.
• Black Monday 1987 is as insignificant to them as the Great Depression.
• Their world has always included AIDS.
• Having not lived through the Disco Scare, they can romanticize the 1970’s.
• They see “Family Ties” as something middle-aged ladies watch.
• Atari predates them, as do vinyl albums and 8 tracks.
• From their earliest years, a camera was something you used once and threw away.
• The oil crisis is history of which they probably know nothing — and why anyone wouldn’t buy a suburban is beyond them.
Former Under Secretary of the Interior John C. Whitaker is reminded of how easy it is to get an out-of-perspective feeling about one's importance in government whenever he thinks of an 85-year-old woman who has lived her life in one spot in Nova Scotia. The population there swells to nine in summer and stays steady at two during the winter. Whitaker, who has been fishing there every year since he was 12, flew in one day. Miss Mildred welcomed him into her kitchen and said, "Johnny, I hate to admit I don't know, but where is Washington?" When Whitaker realized that she wasn't kidding, he explained: "That's where the President is. That's like where you have the Prime Minister in Ottawa." Then she asked how many people lived there, and Whitaker said there were about two million. She said, "Think of that, two million people living so far away from everything." From the Reader's Digest, May 1975, attributed to the Fairbanks, Alaska, News-Miner.
As I was driving home from work one day, I stopped to watch a local Little League baseball game that was being played in a park near my home. As I sat down behind the bench on the first-baseline, I asked one of the boys what the score was. "We're behind 14 to nothing," he answered with a smile. "Really," I said. "I have to say you don't look very discouraged." "Discouraged?" the boy asked with a puzzled look on his face. "Why should we be discouraged? We haven't been up to bat yet."
One family vacation we were enjoying the small mountain communities of Colorado when we had to stop for gas. "What's this place called?" we asked the station attendant.
"At’al depends," the grizzled old geezer drawled.
"How so?" we countered.
"Wal, do ya’ mean what’s it called by them what has ta live in this moth-eaten, dust-covered, dump or by them what's merely enjoying its quaint, picturesque and rustic charms as they pass through on the way ta som’ers else?"
______________________
[The previous illustration at this ID has a duplicate at HolwickID #2876]
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The Kebbitch Itch
There is an old Hasidic tale about a woman whose name was Anna
Kebbitch. She was a complainer. All day long she complained:
"I have so little money, my clothes are like old rags."
"My health is so bad, my back feels like the walls of Jericho."
"I must walk so far to draw water, my feet are like watermelons."
"My house is so small, I can barely move."
My children visit me so little that they hardly know me."
One day, Anna Kebbitch woke up with an itch on her nose. She went to visit
the rabbi and he asked her, "How are you, Anna?"
Anna replied with her list of problems and said: "And now I have this itch
on my nose and it plagues me so. Tell me, Rabbi, what does it mean?"
The rabbi said, "Anna, your itch is the Kebbitch Itch the 'complainer's itch.'
It means this: However you consider yourself, so shall you be."
The next morning, Anna woke up and her nose was still itching. Her back
had turned to stone like the walls of Jericho. Her house had shrunk until
she could not move in it. On the end of her legs, were two huge
watermelons. Her clothes turned to old rags. When her son and daughter
came walking by, they didn't know her.
In despair, Anna remembered the meaning of the Kebbitch Itch: However
you consider yourself, so shall you be. What does this mean?
Anna began to think:
I do have enough money to live on and a little more. Henceforth, I will give
out of my abundance to those who are not so well off.
My health is not so bad, for someone my age, I feel well.
I'm glad I have such a nice house to live in. It's not large, but it's
comfortable.
I really don't mind my walk to draw water.
And my children, I'm proud that they are independent and able to care for
themselves.
Miraculously, while Anna was saying these things, her situation returned
to normal and her outlook on life changed forever. When the rabbis tell
Anna's story, they end with this statement: May your noses itch forever.
We may not get the Kebbitch itch, but we need to be reminded that our
outlook affects outcomes. Our attitude makes a difference. Do you
complain all the time? Do you expect the worst in others? Do you always
resent it when other people have more than you or seem to be doing better
than you? The result of that kind of thinking is this: your situation will
probably get worse.
On the other hand, if you are a positive person who sees the good in others,
rejoices with others who are doing better than you, and praises God for all
that He has given to you, remember this: your situation will probably get
better.
Edited from Hot Illustrations for Youth Talks by Wayne Rice.
Copyright 1994 by Youth Specialties, Inc.
Two traveling angels stopped to spend the night in the home of a wealthy family. The family was rude and refused to let the angels stay in the mansion's guest room. Instead the angels were given a space in the cold basement. As they made their bed on the hard floor, the older angel saw a hole in the wall and repaired it. When the younger angel asked why, the older angel replied… ”Things aren't always what they seem”.
The next night the pair came to rest at the house of a very poor, but very hospitable farmer and his wife. After sharing what little food they had the couple let the angels sleep in their bed where they could have a good night's rest.
When the sun came up the next morning the angels found the farmer and his wife in tears. Their only cow, whose milk had been their sole income, lay dead in the field. The younger angel was infuriated and asked the older angel “how could you've let this happen!? The first man had everything, yet you helped him,” he accused. “The second family had little but was willing to share everything, and you let their cow die.” “Things aren't always what they seem,” the older angel replied.
“When we stayed in the basement of the mansion, I noticed there was gold stored in that hole in the wall. Since the owner was so obsessed with greed and unwilling to share his good fortune, I sealed the wall so he wouldn't find it. Then last night as we slept in the farmer's bed, the angel of death came for his wife. I gave her the cow instead. Things aren't always what they seem.”
Sometimes this is exactly what happens when things don't turn out the way they should. If you have faith, you just need to trust that every outcome is always to your advantage. You might not know it until some time later.
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Few people captured the American imagination like America's first astronauts - that's why, for many of us, names like John Glenn are on a list of 20th Century heroes. John Glenn was, of course, one of the first men to ride a rocket into space. Then, years later, as a “senior citizen,” he amazed the world by doing it again. So when John Glenn gives advice to today's space shuttle astronauts, he's got credentials! I love what he is reported to have told the Columbia astronauts before what turned out to be their last flight. He said, “Hey, don't forget to look out the window!”
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “Missing the View.”
Once they were in space, the Columbia astronauts - and other astronauts - expressed their appreciation for John Glenn's advice. They confessed to being so busy doing what they were doing that it was all too easy to miss the spectacular view all around them. A tendency, by the way, that isn't just limited to astronauts. Those of us who are highly task-oriented or goal-oriented (that's me), can easily get so consumed that we “forget to look out the window” - we miss the beautiful things happening right in front of us and all around us.
In our word for today from the Word of God, David seems to be addressing our tendency to miss or forget a lot of life's blessings. In Psalm 103, beginning with verse 1, he says, “Praise the Lord, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise His holy name. Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits - who forgives our sins and heals our diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things...”
When you take time to enjoy the beauty “out the window” you'll see the new beginnings the Lord has given you after you've blown it: the health that He's preserved or restored, the pits that He's rescued you from, the little and big things He's doing right now to show you His love, and the good things you wanted that He has provided. When you fail to stop and “smell the flowers” as some have said, you start to get all stressed, brittle and overwhelmed and even negative. But taking a timeout to catch your breath, regain your perspective, and appreciate all the good things around you will renew your joy, your energy, and your attitude.
Maybe in your hurry to get it done or to get to your destination you've inadvertently been running over people - including people you should stop and enjoy, stop and listen to. Maybe you're missing all the blessings in your situation because all you focus on is your burdens. You need to take some timeouts to let your soul catch up with your body. Enjoy the scenery. Stop the rat race long enough to just take a leisurely walk, take time to listen to a child (they often help us see the world as we ought to see it). Stop to give a hug, look for things you can compliment in the people around you, and consciously, intentionally thank God for specific blessings of the past 24 hours, or the past 24 minutes.
The Bible reminds us that God's “mercies are new every morning” (Lamentations 3:23), which means there's new God-stuff to appreciate each new day for those who are looking for evidence of God in their day. Now, if you're tired and tense and feeling overwhelmed, it could be that you've been so absorbed in your mission that you've forgotten to look out the window.
In the best of times, in the worst of times, no matter what universe you're in right now, there is always something beautiful to see - because of the awesome God who's always doing something new and something good.
________________
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 #15953]
The Big Picture
(Editor’s Note: The mosaic mentioned in this article can be viewed at: http://photomosaic.com/images/LIFE544x663.jpg)
Rob Silvers brought a new art form to Life -- the 60th anniversary edition of the magazine, to be exact.
While a grad student at MIT’s Media Lab, Silvers developed what he now calls “photomosaics”. In 1986, he used his own specially-designed computer program to fit together a collage of 60 Life covers to form a larger image of Marilyn Monroe. Though the original pictures of the covers were reduced to one centimetre wide, they were not altered in any way. Silvers and his computer merely arranged them by tone, brightness and texture to form the overall effect.
With each of his portraits of famous people, Silvers tries to use “tiles” or smaller pictures that represent the subject’s life. His rendering of Abraham Lincoln is made entirely of Civil War photographs; the one of Madonna -- “The Material Girl” -- is composed of material goods; and the portrait of billionaire Bill Gates is a mosaic of money from around the world.
If the artist sought to define you with a collage of dominant images from your life, what would be on those tiles? Or, looking at things from the other viewpoint, if he took a collection of photographs from your day-to-day situation, what larger image would they reveal? What defines you? And would you want your photomosaic on display for all to see?
For many of us, those are troubling questions when we take the time to answer with honesty and objectivity. But they’re even more troubling when we remember most people have already formed a Big Picture of us, based on the character, conduct and conversation they’ve witnessed in our lives.
The good news is, those pictures aren’t permanent. The life images recorded with every passing day are part of the record, but new ones are added all the time. Our God is a master Artist who can arrange them any way He sees fit. When we give Him access to every aspect of our sinful selves, He can take even the dark tones and ugly textures, set them amid the brilliance of his Son’s ever-increasing influence upon us and puzzle together an image of breath-taking beauty.
That’s because every living mosaic wrought by our Creator is a Self-portrait. When we yield the contents of our hearts and lives, He changes us through the mighty working of his Spirit. Over time, He takes a multitude of kind words, caring gestures and transformational worship moments and arrays them into a splendid reflection of Himself.
Ironically, Rob Silvers’ classic magazine cover is a fitting metaphor for our modern existence. The various issues of life, when reduced and put into proper context, reveal something much bigger than themselves. Each of us will determine what that something is, for ourselves and the people who watch us.
We in the church are right to encourage others to see things against the sweep of eternity and look for the spiritual dimension that puts life in perspective. But let’s remember that having them see the Big Picture is not as important as what Big Picture they see.
________
By Rick Gamble, published in Cross Current, Brantford, ON, Canada. Publish at will.
G-O-D-I-S-N-O-W-H-E-R-E
How did you read the title? It can be read two ways. One might see it as, "God is no where." Someone else may see it as "God is now here."
Isn't reading the title of an article a lot like life? It's the way we look at things that determines how much and in what ways something will affect us.
We might face the great trials of Job or it may be as insignificant as someone unintentionally wronging me, but the bottom line is, how will I react? Will I blame God for all the bad things in my life or will I grow stronger from my trials as did Job? Will I "fly off the handle" because another did something that bothered me, or will I realize that we all make mistakes?
Looking at life differently takes having a "transformed mind." Romans 12:1-2 tells us that God wants us to think differently as His children, "...but be changed within by a new way of thinking." Christ can provide this new way of thinking when we accept Him and begin to take on His way of life. Galatians 3:27 reminds us that when we are baptized into Christ "we put on Christ." That is, we put on His manner of life, His characteristics, His way of thinking! Philippians 2:5 exhorts us to have the "mind of Christ."
So how have you been looking at things in your life? As if God is no where? Why not start today renewing your mind and thinking on things that are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, good report (Phil. 4:8) and realize that each and every day, "God is here!"
--The Betta-View Bulletin, Oxford, AL
We see the world, not as it is, but as we are.... When we open
our mouths to describe what we see, we in effect describe
ourselves. - Steven Covey
The Blind Men and the Elephant
John Godfrey Saxe
It was six men of Indostan to learning much inclined,
Who went to see the elephant (though all of them were blind),
That each by Observation might satisfy his mind.
The First approached the elephant, and happening to fall
Against his broad and sturdy side, at once began to bawl:
"...Bless me! But the elephant is nothing but a wall!"
The Second, feeling of the tusk, cried: "Ho! What have we here?
So very round and smooth and sharp? To me 'tis mighty clear
This wonder of an elephant is very like a spear!"
The Third approached the animal, and happening to take
The squirming trunk within his hands, thus boldly up and spake:
"I see," quoth he, "the elephant is very like a snake!"
The Fourth reached out his eager hand, and felt about the knee:
"What most this wondrous beast is like is mighty plain," quoth he.
"Tis clear enough the elephant is very like a tree."
The Fifth, who chanced to touch the ear, said, "E'en the blindest man
Can tell what this resembles most, deny the fact who can?
This marvel of an elephant is very like a fan!"
The Sixth no sooner had begun about the beast to grope,
Than seizing on the swinging tail that feel within his scope,
"I see," quoth he, "the elephant is very like a rope!"
And so these men of Indostan disputed loud and long,
Each in his own opinion exceeding stiff and strong.
Though each was partly in the right, and all were in the wrong!
A MAN and a Lion traveled together through the forest. They soon
began to boast of their respective superiority to each other in
strength and prowess. As they were disputing, they passed a statue
carved in stone, which represented "a Lion strangled by a Man." The
traveler pointed to it and said: "See there! How strong we are, and
how we prevail over even the king of beasts." The Lion replied: "This
statue was made by one of you men. If we Lions knew how to erect
statues, you would see the Man placed under the paw of the Lion."
If we only look hard enough, everything in life can be seen from a
different perspective. Therefore, when things appear dark and gloomy,
look unto the Savior from Heaven who might give you a different
perspective on the situation.
Gary Thomas writes in Christianity Today: Thinking about eternity helps us retrieve [perspective]. I'm reminded of this every year when I figure my taxes. During the year, I rejoice at the paychecks and extra income, and sometimes I flinch when I write out the tithe and offering. I do my best to be a joyful giver, but I confess it is not always easy, especially when there are other perceived needs and wants. At the end of the year, however, all of that changes. As I'm figuring my tax liability, I wince at every source of income and rejoice with every tithe and offering check -- more income means more tax, but every offering and tithe means less tax. Everything is turned upside down, or perhaps, more appropriately, right-side up. I suspect judgment day will be like that.
Early in my ministry I met a seriously handicapped man. Worral had been stricken with rheumatoid arthritis at age 15, and when I met him 30 years later, he was totally paralyzed except for one finger, could barely speak and was totally blind. But he had a string tied to that one mobile finger that could turn on a recorder. He wrote for national magazines, authored books and led a happy and influential life from his bed.
This was possible because after initial prayers brought no healing, he accepted his lot graciously and said, “Well Lord! If this is the size plot in life you've staked out for me, let's you and me together show the world what we can grow on it.”
Down the path of humble acceptance, Worral achieved a happier and more useful life within the limitations of a very restricted circumstance than most people ever will manage with excellent abilities.
Kefa Sempangi (whose story is told in the book A DISTANT GRIEF) was a national pastor in Africa and barely escaped with his family from brutal oppression and terror in his home country of Uganda. They made their way to Philadelphia, where a group of Christians began caring for them. One day his wife said, “Tomorrow I am going to go and buy some clothes for the children,” and immediately she and her husband broke into tears. Because of the constant threat of death under which they had so long lived, that was the first time in many years they had dared even speak the word ‘tomorrow.’
Their terrifying experiences forced them to realize what is true of every person: there is no assurance of tomorrow. The only time we can be sure of having is what we have at the moment. To the self satisfied farmer who had grandiose plans to build bigger and better barns to store his crops, the Lord said, “You fool! This very night your soul is required of you” (Luke 12:20). He had already lived his last tomorrow.
The famous Thomas Nast, in a public exhibition of his skill, once performed a strange feat with his brushes. Taking a canvas about six feet long by two feet wide, he placed it nearly horizontal upon an easel before his audience and began to sketch rapidly a landscape. In quick succession appeared green meadows with cattle, fields of grain, the farmhouse and surrounding buildings with orchard near; while over all the bright sky with fleecy cloud seemed to pour Heavens benediction upon the scene below. At length no finishing touch was necessary. Still, the artist held his brush as he stepped aside to receive the hearty plaudits of the admiring audience.
When the applause had subsided, Mr Nast stepped back to the canvas as if he had not quite completed the picture. Taking darker colors, he applied them most recklessly to the canvas. Out went the bright sky. “Did you ever see a picture like this?” he asked as he blotted out meadows, fields, orchards, and buildings. Up, down and across, passed the artist’s hand until the landscape was totally obliterated, and nothing but a daub such as a child might make remained.
Then with a more satisfied look he stepped aside laying down his brush as if to say, “It is finished.” But no applause came from the perplexed audience, and Nast then ordered the stage attendants to place a gilded frame around the ruined work of art and to turn it to a vertical position. The mystery was revealed, for before the audience stood a panel picture of a beautiful waterfall, the water plunging over a precipice of dark rock, skirted with trees and verdure. It is needless to say that the audience burst into rounds of applause.
Thus it is that a greater Artist works. We paint our landscapes. How beautiful we make them, with all manner of earthy prosperity with bright skies above. We imagine our sketching to be perfect, but an unseen hand finishes more grandly our crude designs. houses and lots farms and merchandise disappear. Yes, our portraits of loved faces are blotted out. We cry, “Hold! Hold!” but the hand that applies the darker colors moves relentlessly on. We bewail our ruined pictures because we have not the true angle of vision. At last, God turns the canvas and there appears a work, not for a time, but for eternity.
While Mr. Nast was spoiling the landscape to produce the falls, he might have said to the mystified audience: “What I do thou knowest not now but thou shalt know hereafter.” What puzzled the audience was plain to him. In each destructive stroke upon the one picture he saw a creative stroke of the other; and what in the providence of God appears so strange to us is most clear to him Who would save us from being “conformed to this world” and would help us to be transformed by the renewal of our minds, that we may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Two brothers Rich and Mike, are complete opposites. Mike is a successful businessman. Rich, on the other hand, takes seasonal jobs at dude ranches, parks and resorts. Mike is always concerned for Rich's welfare and tries to entice him with the “good life.” He sends Rich photos labeled with messages like “My new sound system” or “My new car.” But one day the campaign ended when Mike received a poster from his brother showing a breathtaking view of Wyoming's Grand Teton National Park. On the back was a message from Rich: “My back yard.”
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The story is told of a man in China who raised horses for a living. When one of his prized stallions ran away, his friends gathered at his home to mourn his great loss. After they had expressed their concern, the man raised this question: “How do I know whether what happened is bad or good?”
A couple days later the runaway horse returned with several strays following close behind. The same acquaintances again came to his house -- this time to celebrate his good fortune. “But how do I know whether it’s good or bad?” the old gentleman asked them. That very afternoon the horse kicked the owner’s son and broke the young man’s leg.
Once more the crowd assembled -- now to express their sorrow over the incident. “But how do I know if this is bad or good?” the father asked again. Well, only a few days later, war broke out. The man’s son, however, was exempted from the military service because of his broken leg.
Yes, you guessed it, the friends again gathered -- but we’ll stop the story there. You can easily see how it could go on and on. This tale points out that from our limited human perspective, it’s impossible to know with certainty how to interpret the experiences of life.
==================
There are many variations of this story, which also appears in the movie "Charlie Wilson's War." Here is one version from the internet:
There’s an old Taoist story that I keep thinking of. Once there was a farmer who had only one horse. One day the horse got loose and ran away. “What bad luck!” his neighbors said. “Well, good, bad, who can say?” said the farmer, who was obviously a bit of a philosopher.
The next day the horse came back - leading several wild horses that it had befriended. “What good luck!” his neighbors said. “Good, bad, who knows?” said the farmer.
The farmer’s son, trying to tame one of the new horses, fell off and broke his leg. “How terrible!” said the farmer’s neighbors. “Perhaps. We’ll see,” said the old man.
A few days later, the army came through looking for young men to conscript, but they couldn’t take the farmer’s son because of his broken leg. “How fortunate!” “Maybe. Good, bad, who knows?”
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[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #2083]
[A commentary following the photo-finish 2000 American election.]
As I record this broadcast, it's nearly midnight on Tuesday [Nov. 7, 2000]. I feel a little bit like the people at The Chicago Tribune in 1948, who sent the paper to print with the now infamous headline "Dewey Wins."
You may remember that President Truman held that headline high for one of the most famous photos of the twentieth century. You see, at this very moment, it is unclear who will be the next president. And it could stay unclear for days, since absentee ballots have yet to be counted in many states.
It's an amazing cliff-hanger election. And most of us are going to wake up tomorrow morning very tired from having sat in front of the television late into the night. So I'll make no predictions. But I do have some things that I would like to communicate to the BreakPoint audience.
Whichever way things turn out, some people will be joyous, and some people will be dismayed. But one thing is absolutely clear. It should not alter in the slightest the course that we, as Christians, follow in our society.
One of my friends wrote me recently after a particularly discouraging situation and said, "Chuck, just remember. We have enlisted for the duration in service to the truth." I love that! As a matter of fact, I'm having that plaque made up and put in my office in Washington, alongside the one from Mother Teresa that says, "Faithfulness, not Success."
What we need to remember is, if you're disappointed in the election results when they're finally clear, that's understandable. All of us have our partisan choices. Maybe you'll be jubilant over them. If so, you're going to think, "Well, the culture war's been won." And if you're discouraged over the results, you'll think, "The culture war's been lost."
Nonsense!
Cultures are changed from the bottom up. Fads start from the top down. Movements start from the bottom up. Remember when de Tocqueville came to this country -- the French statesman who wrote so brilliantly about American life and talked about our churches being on fire and about the peculiar characteristics of American life -- he said that Americans really had a sense of civic duty and civic responsibility. Tocqueville said that what moves America are the "habits of the heart."
He was absolutely right! This is the genius of America. We are moved by the tastes and dispositions of the people. We're moved by the way we live with our neighbors around us. People need to see something better, something that they can long for in our lives. That isn't affected by elections. They're not going to look to Washington for that, they're going to look to us.
So we keep living in biblical faithfulness. And remember, too, that God appoints the leaders. And that whatever happens in the election that's now being tallied, we have to accept God's sovereign judgment.
We have to pray for those in authority. We have to respect those whom God has put in power over us, and live peaceably in the midst of whatever government we have. The first century church had to do that; the twenty-first century church ought to be doing exactly the same thing.
Don't be overly jubilant, but don't despair. Take a cool-headed perspective and keep your Christian faith and your Christian witness strong. God bless you.
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Copyright (c) 2000 Prison Fellowship Ministries. Reprinted with permission. "BreakPoint with Chuck Colson" is a radio ministry of Prison Fellowship Ministries.
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Series on the Psalms. Psalm 37:1-40
LOTS OF ROTTEN PEOPLE OUT THERE
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I. Does godly living pay off?
II. A psalm with a lot of wisdom.
A. Beautifully structured.
B. Jesus may have been influenced by this psalm.
III. The quiet spirit.
A. Don't fret.
B. Look ahead, look up, look to what you can change.
IV. God will give us what we need. 37:12-26
A. Persecuted, not forsaken. 37:12-15
B. Having nothing, possessing all. 37:16-20,25
C. Making many rich. 37:21,26
D. Cast down, not destroyed. 37:23-24
V. Keep the long view. 37:27-40
A. Do good - don't fight enemy with his own weapons. 37:27
B. Trust God's justice.
C. Promise: there is a solid future for person of peace.
D. A calm conclusion. 37:39-40
In Bill Moyers's book "A World of Ideas II," Jacob Needleman remembers, "I was an observer at the launch of Apollo 17 in 1975. It was a night launch, and there were hundreds of cynical reporters all over the lawn, drinking beer, wisecracking, and waiting for this 35-story-high rocket.
"The countdown came, and then the launch. The first thing you see is this extraordinary orange light, which is just at the limit of what you can bear to look at. Everything is illuminated with this light. Then comes this thing slowly rising up in total silence, because it takes a few seconds for the sound to come across. You hear a 'WHOOOOOSH! HHHHMMMM!' It enters right into you.
"You can practically hear jaws dropping. The sense of wonder fills everyone in the whole place, as this thing goes up and up. The first stage ignites this beautiful blue flame. It becomes like a star, but you realize there are humans on it. And then there's total silence.
"People just get up quietly, helping each other up. They're kind. They open doors. They look at one another, speaking quietly and interestedly. These were suddenly moral people because the sense of wonder, the experience of wonder, had made them moral."
When we have a sense of wonder toward God, we too have our lives changed for the better.
It was a balmy October afternoon in 1982. Badger Stadium in Madison Wisconsin was packed out. That day there were more than 60,000 die-hard University of Wisconsin football fans watching their team take on the Michigan State Spartans. It didn’t take long to determine who the better team was. Michigan State was moping up the field with the Badgers. But what seemed odd was that even as the score became increasingly lopsided against their team, there were bursts of applause and shouts of joy from the Wisconsin fans. How could they cheer when their team was getting trounced so decisively? It turns out that 70 miles away the Milwaukee Brewers were beating the St. Louis Cardinals in game 3 of the 1982 World Series. Many of the fans in the stands were listening to portable radios and responding to what was going on in another game, in another sport, in another place.
There is something to be said for being plugged into what is going on elsewhere. Sometimes, the things that are going on where you are become extremely difficult. So as Paul writes in Romans 8, he wants to make sure that our faith in God affects the perspective in which we view our circumstances. No matter how difficult or even desperate our situation seems, Paul says we can face it with hope.
A new driver for an interstate trucking company found the long cross-country trips extremely tiring. But he noticed that the older driver who traveled with him seemed to thrive on the road. He always looked as fresh at the end of the ride as he did at the start. So one day the young man asked the older one what his secret was. “It’s all in your attitude,” he replied. “While you went to work this morning, I went for a ride in the country.” Your focus will determine whether life is work or a ride in the country.
- Charles Lowery, {SBC Life,} June/July 1997, “Rise and Shine” p. 23
Dale Carnegie told of one time he was deeply depressed. After struggling in vain to lift himself out of his depression, he hit on a strange device. He took a sheet of paper. He assumed he had lost everything. On the paper, he made a lost of all the things he had lost. He listed the following:
1. No health
2. My wife has left me
3. My job is gone
4. Haven't any money
5. My children are all in jail
And he built up a horrible picture. Then he looked at the paper and said, "There isn't a word of truth in it." And he tore it up. Doing that, he said, helped him realize what he did have.
- {Plus: The Magazine of Positive Thinking}
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