A BIT OF HUMOR

A pious man who had reached the age of 105 suddenly stopped going to synagogue. Alarmed by the old fellow’s absence after so many years of faithful attendance the Rabbi went to see him. He found him in excellent health, so the Rabbi asked, “How come after all these years we don’t see you at services anymore?”

The old man looked around and lowered his voice. “I’ll tell you, Rabbi,” he whispered. “When I got to be 90, I expected God to take me any day. But then I got to be 95, then 100, then 105. So I figured that God is very busy and must’ve forgotten about me, and I don’t want to remind Him!”

…..Teddi’s Humor (umor (Humor

redactatrix@gmail.com) by way of “Christian Voices” (www.ChristianVoicesWorldwide.net)

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I LOVE ATHEISTS! AND SO SHOULD YOU

Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.”

— Matthew 16:17

I Love Atheists

Don’t be afraid to talk to atheists and agnostics…
In fact, love them!

Now, you’re probably thinking, “this guy loves atheists?”  Yes, that’s exactly right.  You see, I was one at one time.  I had no desire for God.  I had no proof of His existence.  I didn’t even think about Him.  That was, until I hit rock bottom.  When I reached a crisis in my life, I started questioning why I even existed.  What’s the point of living?  I contemplated suicide.  Then I heard an old Southern Baptist preacher, whose name unfortunately escapes me, mention that you have a purpose in life.  God created you for a reason.  I had never thought of my existing for a purpose.  Do you mean my head was meant for more than a hat rack?  Incredibly yes!

When I share the gospel, I am not afraid to talk to atheists, agnostics, or evolutionists.  When I see them and speak to them, I just think back on my life prior to Christ and realize, “there go I but by the grace of God.”  I am no better than they are.  I was no more worthy to be called a child of God than they are. The only reason that I have placed my trust in Christ is because He called me.  My own flesh and blood didn’t make me realize who Christ was, it was the Father.  Here is my answer for why He called me and not others….”I don’t know!” There was nothing in me worthy.  I had no special abilities.  I was not a sensitive, tender-hearted person who God thought, “Hey, he’d make a mighty fine Christian.”  God did not look down from heaven and think, “We gotta save this one. He‘s something special.“  No, not at all.  I still consider myself unworthy.  Incredibly, I went from disaster to pastor.  I was the weakest link in my family, in my class in school, at my places of work.  I would have been the last one that I would have chosen.  It’s exactly as Paul said, “But when God, who set me apart from birth and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not consult any man” (Gal 1:15-16).

So the next time you see someone who is an unbeliever, think in your heart, “that could have been me.”  Why did God call me and not them? I have no clue at all.  That’s why I love witness to those who have no desire, no passion, and no hunger for God.  Because… that was me!  But, here I am and only by the grace of God.

Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.”  – Matt 16:17 (NIV)

This daily devotional was written by Pastor Jack Wellman a writer at What Christians Want To Know.  To read more from What Christians Want To Know check out the article below or follow WCWTK on Facebook for daily Christian encouragement

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ENCOURAGEMENT FOR THE DAY

Mary-Ellen’s Note

The autumn season always brings with it a sense of fruition as harvests come in and as we begin to celebrate the seasonal holidays. I rejoice in the lovely bright and cool weather of autumn; and the beauty of the earth and all nature always brings a strong sense of joy and gratitude to God. The luscious taste of the last tomatoes coming in ripe, red, and juicy from the gardens, the moist beauty of mums and lingering annuals, and the rich colors of leaves and fall decorations bring a sense of well-being and fulfillment. The sparkling, brisk, blue and gold days are a welcome blessing.

This year, however, I recently received a DVD in my Missions mail which brought a sober thoughtfulness to the fruition of autumn. This film was a story of world poverty, ranging from Ethiopia and Africa, to the Holy Land, to India, and other “third world” nations. Scenes of people living in squalor after earthquakes, living in shanty sections of large, crowded cities, or surviving in dry, desolate areas or laboring in quarries were the focus of the film. Frequently these folks had little food, scant clothing, terrible living conditions in shacks or huts, unclean water, and little if any safety or security. The people spoke of no happiness and the lack of dreams. They felt it was better to have no dreams than face the inevitable disappointment when compared with their hopelessness in living.

The point of this visual aid for Missions was that there are enough resources to go around if Christian people will remember to share and care, if the churches will minister and send workers and aid to these desperate regions. And, of course, right within our own countries, the poor and needy are all around us.

Perhaps in this season of fruition and celebration, we could each take on one new charity, urge one new mission at church, and begin to do volunteer work in our communities to help meet the needs of our own needy. The book of James reminds us, “Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, ‘Go, I wish you well, keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” (James 2: 15-17 NIV)

…..Mary-Ellen Grisham (meginrose@gmail.com) (eternal_ink@associate.com) way of “Christian Voices” (www.ChristianVoicesWorldwide.net)

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1 Peter 2:15-16 BIBLE VERSE OF THE DAY

November 13

1 Peter 2:15-16

It is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men. Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God.

Thoughts on today’s verse

What does the world most need to hear from me today? A life tuned to the melody of grace that I claim I believe. Doing good, being like Christ, is Peter’s answer to opposition, cynicism, and even persecution. We are free in Jesus, but being free means that we don’t have to pretentiously prove we are free. Instead, we can live for him who died to conquer death. He renounced absolute heavenly freedom so we could find it. We are free to serve others, and most of all to serve God.

Prayer:

Holy Father, my Great Emancipator, you have freed me from sin, law, and death at the cost of your precious Son. I open my heart to you today to say I love you and want to thank you. Please accept the actions of my life, the words of my mouth, the thoughts of my mind, and the emotions of my heart today as my offering of thanks. Through Jesus my Sacrifice and your holy Son I pray. Amen.

heartlight.org

http://www.christianity.com/devotionals/heartlight-daily-verse-phil-ware/

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GIVE YOUR PROBLEMS TO THE LORD

We all have problems that plague us – some worse than others. Ignoring them or pretending they don’t exist won’t make them go away. If we give those problems to the Lord, it allows us to put them in perspective. Your problems won’t necessarily go away, but praying to God about them will certainly make those problem seem far less significant.

One day an elderly man entered into a hospital. He was grumpy from being on medication and the nurses thought him to be insane, as he yelled for his wife to get the apple basket. By the time they had checked him into his room the nurses were exhausted from the fight he was putting up.

“Sir you have to calm down we are doing everything we can for you” they would try to explain.

“I don’t need your help” the grumpy man would yell “I want my apple basket”. He finally slept. The nurses sighed with relief and talked among themselves whether they should call the hospital psychologist about the old man and his obsession with the apple basket.

As they talked and laughed about the situation the wife came in carrying the basket of apples. They looked kind of stunned as she asked if she could see her husband and deliver his basket. Sure, they
agreed as they watched her slip past into his room.

Curiosity consumed them over the next few weeks as they tended to the elderly man. He was eaten with cancer and the doctors had given him no
hope of survival. He turned out to be a very calm, happy man once he had his basket. His wife, they noticed, would come in with apples and go out with apples and the curiosity grew even more till one nurse couldn’t stand the suspense.

One night as he was nearing the end, the nurse sat down in a chair by the wife.” May I ask why do you have that apple basket? I just don’t
understand the significance.”

“I am an apple farmer by trade he sighed. From the time I was 20 till the day I do die I will forever have my apples.” The nurse nodded thinking she understood. He just likes his work, she thought, assured now he was a little bit crazy.

As she started to leave, the old man asked her to sit down. “At age 20 I was saved, I accepted the Lord as my Savior.” Oh no, the nurse thought. Here comes the lecture on religion. The old man continued.
“The day I accepted the Lord as my Savior I got this basket, and each time I had a problem or concern that I could not handle, I put an apple in the basket un-shined.”

“Why?” the nurse said shaking her head.

“Because it reminded me to give those problems to the Lord for him to shine. See my basket now, he stated. As my problems disappear so do the apples. As I get new problems, ones I cannot handle alone, I put an apple in.”

The humble nurse looked into the basket…only one apple was there.

With that, he took a big breath and grabbed his wife by the hand and faded into eternal sleep. The wife paused for a moment and got up from her place to take from the basket the last remaining apple. She whispered in his ear that his reward awaits him in heaven.

The nurse stayed still and asked with tears in her eyes, “what do you think his riches will be?”

The wife knew what they were, eternal life with Jesus Christ. But she could see the concern and sadness upon the young nurses’ face and handed her the apple and said “the biggest apple pie you can imagine!”

That was the day the young nurse was saved, and from that day on she always had a basket by her bed.

- Author Unknown

http://jesus-loves-you.org/?p=2248

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A BIT OF HUMOR

So we were lying on our backs on the grass in the park next to our hamburger wrappers, my 14-year-old son and I, watching the clouds loiter overhead, when he asked me, “Dad, why are we here?”

 

And this is what I said: “I’ve thought a lot about it, son, and I don’t think it’s all that complicated. I think maybe we’re here just to teach a kid how to bunt or eat sunflower seeds without using his hands. We’re here to pound the steering wheel and scream as we listen to the game on the radio, 20 minutes after we pulled into the garage. We’re here to look all over, give up, and then find the ball in the hole.

“We’re here to wear our favorite sweat-soaked Boston Red Sox cap, torn Slippery Rock sweatshirt, and the Converse sneakers we lettered in on a Saturday morning with nowhere we have to go and no one special we have to be. We’re here to tie the perfect fly, make the perfect cast, catch absolutely nothing, and still call it a perfect morning. We’re here to nail a yield sign with an apple core from half a block away. We’re here to win the stuffed bear or go broke trying.

“I don’t think the meaning of life is gnashing our teeth over what comes after death but tasting all the tiny moments that come before it. We’re here to be there when our kid has three goals and an assist. And especially when he doesn’t. I don’t think we’re here to make Sports Center. The really good stuff never does. Like finding ourselves with a free afternoon, a little red 327 fuel-injected 1962 Corvette convertible, and an unopened map of Vermont’s back roads.

None of us will find ourselves on our deathbeds saying, I wish I’d spent more time on the Hibbings account. We’re going to say, That scar? I got that scar stealing a home run from Consolidated Plumbers!  See, grown-ups spend so much time doggedly slaving toward the better car, the perfect house, the big day that will finally make them happy, when happy just walked by wearing a bicycle helmet two sizes too big for him. We’re not here to find a way to heaven. The way is heaven.

Does that answer your question, son?

And he said, Not really, Dad.

And I said, No?

And he said, No, what I meant is, why are we here when Mom said to pick her up 40 minutes ago?

…..Laughter for a Saturday by way of Chaplain’s Notes (http://www.chapnotes.org) and “Christian Voices” (www.ChristianVoicesWorldwide.net)

 

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ENCOURAGING THE STRONG

 

Encouraging the Strong

Mighty men of valor, men trained for war, who could handle shield and spear, and whose faces were like the faces of lions. 1 CHRONICLES 12:8 

Recently I had the distinct honor and privilege of meeting with a high-ranking officer at the Pentagon in Washington. What was planned as a 15-minute appointment turned into more like 45. He told me that two of his sons were currently serving in the same unit in Iraq. A war takes on a different face when you talk to dads and moms whose sons and daughters are in harm’s way every day.

He said he starts his day by reviewing a list of names of the men and women who have died in battle.

We closed our time by praying for this officer and his family. As I prepared to leave—after praying with him for his work and the safety of his family—he handed me a pair of bronze medallions. On one side were these four statements that are especially meaningful to soldiers:

Mission first.
Never accept defeat.
Never quit.
Never leave a fallen comrade.

As he pressed the medallions into my palm, he left me with instructions to give each one to a soldier who I met during my travels. “Tell him not to lose heart and to be courageous.”

About a month later, I had my first opportunity to accept his commission, placing one of these medallions into the hand of an officer at one of our Weekend to Remember conferences. He was preparing to return to Baghdad for the seventh time, and tears welled in my eyes as I thanked him for protecting our country, my family, my kids and my grandkids.

As you have the opportunity, I hope you’ll encourage these brave men and women as well.

DISCUSS

How do the four admonishments on the medallions pertain to your own wars at home, at work and in the prevailing culture?

PRAY

Pray for our soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen who are out there right now, sacrificing all to honor our nation and keep us safe.

 FamilyLife® Website,

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ENCOURAGEMENT FOR THE DAY

A Lesson In Joy

In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ -Acts 20:35

Often times a young person’s (or maybe not always a young person, unfortunately) first choice, when given the opportunity, is to play a prank on someone that will upset or distress them. Doing the right or kind thing by default is typically a learned trait. Even the most mature adults struggle to act compassionately all the time.

The following story is such a wonderful illustration of how a older person can demonstrate to the younger that bringing joy to others is so much more rewarding than playing pranks. For those of you with children of your own, considering using this as a teaching tool. Read your child the story, then ask them how they could play a “prank” on other members of the family. They could hide some candy in their siblings belongings or draw a nice picture to leave where another parent might find it. There are so many ways they could bring joy to those around them!

A Good Lesson

A young man, a student in one of our universities, was one day taking a walk with a professor, who was commonly called the students’ friend, from his kindness to those who waited on his instructions. As they went along, they saw lying in the path a pair of old shoes, which they supposed to belong to a poor man who was employed in a field close by, and who had nearly finished his day’s work.

The student turned to the professor, saying: “Let us play the man a trick: we will hide his shoes, and conceal ourselves behind those bushes, and wait to see his perplexity when he cannot find them.”

“My young friend,” answered the professor, “we should never amuse ourselves at the expense of the poor. But you are rich, and may give yourself a much greater pleasure by means of the poor man. Put a coin into each shoe, and then we will hide ourselves and watch how the discovery affects him.”

The student did so, and they both placed themselves behind the bushes close by. The poor man soon finished his work, and came across the field to the path where he had left his coat and shoes. While putting on his coat he slipped his foot into one of his shoes; but feeling something hard, he stooped down to feel what it was, and found the coin. Astonishment and wonder were seen upon his countenance. He gazed upon the coin, turned it round, and looked at it again and again. He then looked around him on all sides, but no person was to be seen. He now put the money into his pocket, and proceeded to put on the other shoe; but his surprise was doubled on finding the other coin. His feelings overcame him; he fell upon his knees, looked up to heaven and uttered aloud a fervent thanksgiving, in which he spoke of his wife, sick and helpless, and his children without bread, whom the timely bounty, from some unknown hand, would save from perishing.

The student stood there deeply affected, and his eyes filled with tears. “Now,” said the professor, “are you not much better pleased than if you had played your intended trick?”

The youth replied, “You have taught me a lesson which I will never forget. I feel now the truth of those words, which I never understood before: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

- Author Unknown

http://jesus-loves-you.org/?p=6145

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EXODUS 5:22-23 BIBLE VERSE OF THE DAY

Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Why, Lord, why have you brought trouble on this people? Is this why you sent me? Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has brought trouble on this people, and you have not rescued your people at all.”

– Exodus 5:22-23 (NIV)

Today’s commentary
by Dave Whitehead, Senior Pastor, GraceNYC.org

When Moses was sent to free the people of Israel from slavery in Egypt, the narrative tells us that God allowed—even orchestrated—things to get worse before they got better. This was as confusing to Moses as the people who were told that they had God’s favor! So don’t be dismayed if the answer to prayer causes even more problems for you, for God has a purpose that you or I don’t see. We just want to get out of the bondage of Egypt, but God wants to prepare us to walk with Him in the Promised Land.

http://www.thedailybibleverse.org/

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EVIL CANNOT EXIST WITH GOOD

“Good can exist without evil, whereas evil cannot exist without good…” – Thomas Aquinas

The deepest human desire is for happiness. But it seems, more often than not, that that dream is an illusive one. The fact of the matter, and this is something that Christians know by experience and by reason, is that happiness is meaningless without a knowledge of the good and a habitual commitment to live in accord with it.

The world, though, often militates against the good. In a post-modern, relativistic and agnostic age, like the one we live in, the good, it is said, no longer has a common meaning. Rather, it is argued that “the good” is determined by each individual’s private ego. Because of this, the concept of evil is no longer clear, indeed, it often wears the disguise of the good.

Christians, believe that there is such a thing as absolute moral good, because we know God and the truth that God is the one and only source of the good. We know that the Kingdom of God is where we belong, and that it is the only thing in all of eternity that is completely, absolutely free from suffering. No tears exist there, precisely because good can exist without evil.

But Christians also know that our present existence is fallen and that we live in the midst of suffering as a result. Yet we also know, through the light of faith and the power of human reason, through the reality of experience, and through the truth of scripture, and the life, death and resurrection of our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ, that there is such a thing as the identifiable, universal good. We know this also because of what defies it, hates it, and opposes it—-identifiable evil.

Evil exists and can be identified precisely because it is in opposition with the good. It cannot exist without good. Why is that? Because evil finds its existence only in competition. It’s desire is to be at war with the good. It’s desire is to defeat the good. The great irony is that it’s power is limited and delusional. In the end it cannot win. It is always shown for what it is when good makes itself known in the minds and hearts of men and women.

Satan, for all of his rage against God, for all of his desire to be equal to God, is finally a fool, and ultimately a loser. Evil is recognized clearly for what it is precisely because there is such a thing as the Good. The Good is the mirror in which evil is revealed and reflected back upon itself.

Jesus conquered the arrogant, yet utterly finite reality of evil when he died for all of us on the Cross. Only Jesus could have borne all the weight of our sin on his shoulders. Only Jesus could forgive all sin with the infinite power of love. Only Jesus could erase sin’s efforts to separate us from the love of God. Jesus opened the gates of Paradise to us again, because of his infinite love for each and every one of us.

Evil, on the other hand, because it knows deep down that it is foolish, is desperate to gather others around it in order to relieve its own foolishness and to declare some kind of “meaning.”

Good needs nothing beyond itself. It exists for its own sake. It exists because it is of God, the eternal, Ground of Being in which goodness and love finds its existence and meaning.

Evil cannot exist without the contrast of the good. Evil can only exist in this world, where it constantly disguises itself as “good.” It knows that it will never be attractive unless it can “appear” to be good. Good needs no disguise. It simply is what it is. Evil, on the other hand, cannot exist without the disguise of the good. It needs to “appear” to be good, in order to compete with what is really good. Evil will have no existence in the Kingdom of God. It won’t even be remembered. Why? Because “good can exist without evil”

Human beings, in light of the conscience written into the depths of their hearts, minds and souls, know and desire the good. Christians know this personally, yet, we also know how weak we are and how attractive evil can make itself look. But because we know the good, we also can recognize evil’s disguises. Because we know the infinitely good God, personally and intimately, we can hope for, and believe in, the goodness of the Life Eternal in Paradise. Thanks be to God!

Dan Doyle is a retired professor of English and Humanities. He taught 13 years at the high school level and 22 years at the university level. He spends his time now babysitting his granddaughter. He is a poet and a blogger as well. Dan holds an AA degree in English Literature, a BA in Comparative Literature, and an MA in Theology. To read more of Dan’s work, click here.

http://jesus-loves-you.org/?p=8085

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