Never, Never Give Up!

Derek Redmond being helped by Jim Redmond.

The Barcelona Olympics of 1992 provided one of track and field's most incredible moments.

Britain's Derek Redmond had dreamed all his life of winning a gold medal in the 400-meter race, and his dream was in sight as the gun sounded in the semi-finals at Barcelona.

He was running the race of his life and could see the finish line as he rounded the turn into the backstretch.

Suddenly he felt a sharp pain go up the back of his leg. He fell face first onto the track with a torn right hamstring.

Sports Illustrated recorded the dramatic events: As the medical attendants were approaching, Redmond fought to his feet. "It was animal instinct," he would say later. He set out hopping, in a crazed attempt to finish the race.

When he reached the stretch, a large man in a T-shirt came out of the stands, hurled aside a security guard and ran to Redmond, embracing him.

It was Jim Redmond, Derek's father. "You don't have to do this," he told his weeping son. "Yes, I do," said Derek. "Well, then," said Jim, "we're going to finish this together."

And they did. Fighting off security men, the son's head sometimes buried in his father's shoulder, they stayed in Derek's lane all the way to the end, as the crowd gaped, then rose and howled and wept.

Derek didn't walk away with the gold medal, but he walked away with an incredible memory of a father who, when he saw his son in pain, left his seat in the stands to help him finish the race.

Astonishing, isn't it?

That's what God does for us when we place our trust in Him.

When we are experiencing pain and we're struggling to finish the race, we can be confident that we have a loving Father who won't let us do it alone.

You see, He left His place in heaven to come alongside us in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ. "I am with you always," says Jesus to His followers, "to the very end of the age."

We just have to keep our eyes, heart, and mind in God's Word. 

Don and Dawn

Keeping Very still

ice and sawdust

Before refrigerators, people used ice houses to preserve their food. Ice houses had thick walls, no windows, and a tightly fitted door.

In winter, when streams and lakes were frozen, large blocks of ice were cut, hauled to the ice houses, and covered with sawdust. Often the ice would last well into the summer.

One man lost a valuable watch while working in an ice house. He searched diligently for it, carefully raking through the sawdust, but didn't find it. His fellow workers also looked, but their efforts, too, proved futile.

A small boy who heard about the fruitless search slipped into the ice house during the noon hour and soon emerged with the watch.

Amazed, the men asked him how he found it.

"I closed the door," the boy replied, "lay down in the sawdust, and kept very still. Soon I heard the watch ticking."

Often the question is not whether God is speaking, but whether we are being still enough, and quiet enough, to hear.

In this busy generation, it has become harder to be still and spend quality time with God.

Unless you develop the habit of spending time with God daily, you'll continue to struggle.

Remember: Habit is the key to your continuous spiritual growth. 

Don & Dawn

A Polish Pastor, A Jewish Doctor and A Gestapo Officer

Gestapo Officer

From the pages of The Wall Street Journal comes the story of a Polish man named William E. Wallner who became a Lutheran minister in Prague. 

Author John Murray writes: "By 1939, Wallner was leading a Lutheran parish in Prague. Shortly after Hitler's invasion of Czechoslovakia, a doctor in Wallner's parish was sent to a Nazi concentration camp...The doctor, a Jewish convert to Christianity, encouraged his fellow prisoners 'to die bravely, with faith in their hearts.' As a result, the doctor became a target of Gestapo officers.

"Although struck with an iron rod until one of his arms had to be amputated, the doctor would not be quieted. Finally... 'one Gestapo officer beat the doctor's head against a stone wall until blood was streaming down his face.' Holding a mirror before the doctor, the Gestapo officer sneered: 'Take a look at yourself. Now you look like your Jewish Christ.'

"Lifting his remaining hand up, the doctor exclaimed, 'Lord [Jesus], never in my life have I received such honor—to resemble You.' Those would be his last words on Earth.

"Distraught by the doctor's proclamation, the Gestapo officer sought out Wallner that night. 'Could Pastor Wallner help him, free him from the terrible burden of his guilt?'

"After praying with him, Wallner advised, 'Perhaps God let you kill that good man to bring you to the foot of the Cross, where you can help others.' The Gestapo officer returned to the concentration camp. And through the aid of Wallner and the Czech underground, he worked to free many Jews over the years that followed." In fact, he helped save more than 350 Jewish children from death at Nazi hands."

The power of the risen Christ can transform lives -- a Polish minister, a Jewish doctor, a Gestapo officer. He can even change you and me.

My Daddy Is....

David Elkind the Psychologist

David Elkind, a psychologist, tells the story of visiting his middle son's nursery school class, at the request of his teacher. She wanted him to observe a "problem child" in the class.

While he was there, he caught a conversation between his son and some other boys. There conversation went like this.

Child A: "My daddy is a doctor and he makes lots of money and we have a swimming pool."

Child B: "My daddy is a lawyer and he flies to Washington and talks to the president."

Child C: "My daddy owns a company and we have our own airplane."

Then David Elkind's boy said, "My daddy is here!" And he proudly looked in his father's direction.

Dads, your presence means more than anything else to your children - more than your money, more than your position at work, more than the toys you buy them. Your time means more to them than anything else, because it says, "I care." 

Don & Dawn

Burn the Bush, Collapse the Walls and Still the Waves

Once there was a man who dared God to speak.

“Burn the bush like you did for Moses, God and I will follow. 

Collapse the walls like you did for Joshua, God and I will fight.
 

Still the waves like you did on Galilee, God and I will listen.”

And so the man went and sat by a bush, near a wall close to the sea and waited for God to speak.

And God heard the man , So God answered.
 

He sent fire, not for the bush, but for a church.
 

He brought down a wall, not of brick, but of sin.
 

He stilled a storm, not of the sea, but of a soul.

And God waited for the man to respond.
 

And he waited …
 

And waited …
 

And waited…

But because the man was looking at bushes, not hearts; bricks, not lives; seas and not souls, he decided that God had done nothing.
 

Finally he looked at God and asked, “Have you lost your power?”
 

And God looked at him and said, “Have you lost your hearing?”

A story by Max Lucado, from A Gentle Thunder : Hearing God Through the Storm

The Prison Door That Houdini Could Not Open

Harry Houdini, the famed escape artist issued a challenge wherever he went.

He could be locked in any jail cell in the country, he claimed, and set himself free quickly and easily.

Always he kept his promise, but one time something went wrong. 

Houdini entered the jail in his street clothes; the heavy, metal doors clanged shut behind him.

He took from his belt a concealed piece of metal, strong and flexible.

He set to work immediately, but something seemed to be unusual about this lock.

For 30 minutes he worked and got nowhere.

An hour passed, and still he had not opened the door.

By now he was bathed in sweat and panting in exasperation, but he still could not pick the lock.

Finally, after laboring for 2 hours, Harry Houdini collapsed in frustration and failure against the door he could not unlock.

But when he fell against the door, it swung open! It had never been locked at all!

But in his mind it was locked and that was all it took to keep him from opening the door and walking out of the jail cell.

Nitty-Gritty Reasons by Jim Rohn

Nitty-Gritty Reasons 

by Jim Rohn

Wouldn't it be wonderful to be motivated to achievement by such a lofty goal as benevolence? I must confess, however, that in the early years of my struggle to succeed, my motivation was a lot more down to earth. My reason for succeeding was more basic. In fact, it fell into the category of what I like to call "nitty-gritty reasons." A nitty-gritty reason is the kind that any one of us can have—at any time, on any day—and it can cause our lives to change. Let me tell you what happened to me.

Shortly before I met Mr. Shoaff, I was lounging at home one day when I heard a knock at the door. It was a timid, hesitant knock. When I opened the door I looked down to see a pair of big brown eyes staring up at me. There stood a frail little girl of about 10. She told me, with all the courage and determination her little heart could muster, that she was selling Girl Scout cookies. It was a masterful presentation—several flavors, a special deal, and only two dollars per box. How could anyone refuse? Finally, with a big smile and ever so politely, she asked me to buy. And I wanted to. Oh, how I wanted to!   

Except for one thing. I didn't have two dollars! Boy, was I embarrassed! Here I was—a father, had been to college, was gainfully employed—and yet I didn't have two dollars to my name.

Naturally I couldn't tell this to the little girl with the big brown eyes. So I did the next best thing. I lied to her. I said, "Thanks, but I've already bought Girl Scout cookies this year. And I've still got plenty stacked in the house."

Now that simply wasn't true. But it was the only thing I could think of to get me off the hook. And it did. The little girl said, "That's okay, sir. Thank you very much." And with that she turned around and went on her way.

I stared after her for what seemed a very long time. Finally, I closed the door behind me and, leaning my back to it, cried out, "I don't want to live like this anymore. I've had it with being broke, and I've had it with lying. I'll never be embarrassed again by not having any money in my pocket." That day I promised myself to earn enough to always have several hundred dollars in my pocket at all times.

This is what I mean by a nitty-gritty reason. It may not win me any prize for greatness, but it was enough to have a permanent effect on the rest of my life.

My Girl-Scout-cookie story does have a happy ending. Several years later, as I was walking out of my bank where I had just made a hefty deposit and was crossing the street to get into my car, I saw two little girls who were selling candy for some girls' organization. One of them approached me, saying, "Mister, would you like to buy some candy?"

"I probably would," I said playfully. "What kind of candy do you have?" "It's almond roca." "Almond roca. That's my favorite. How much is it?" "It's only two dollars." Two dollars. It couldn't be! I was excited. "How many boxes of candy have you got?" "I've got five."

Looking at her friend, I said, "And how many boxes do you have left?"

"I've got four." "That's nine. Okay, I'll take them all."

At this, both girls' mouths fell open as they exclaimed in unison, "Really?"

"Sure," I said. "I've got some friends that I'll pass some around to."

Excitedly, they scurried to stack all the boxes together. I reached into my pocket and gave them eighteen dollars. As I was about to leave, the boxes tucked under my arm, one of the girls looked up and said, "Mister, you're really something!" How about that! Can you imagine spending only eighteen dollars and having someone look you in the face and say, "You're really something!"

Now you know why I always carry a few hundred dollars on me. I'm not about to miss chances like that ever again.

And to think it all resulted from my own embarrassment, which when properly channeled, acted as a powerful motivator to help me achieve.

How about you? What nitty-gritty reasons do you have waiting to challenge and provoke you into change for the better? Look for them, they are there. Sometimes it can be as simple as a brown-eyed girl selling Girl Scout cookies.

God's Coffee

A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life.

Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups - porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite - telling them to help themselves to the coffee.

When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said: "If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress.

Be assured that the cup itself adds no quality to the coffee. In most cases it is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink.

What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups... And then you began eyeing each other's cups.

Now consider this: Life is the coffee; the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life, and the type of cup we have does not define, nor change the quality of Life we live.

Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee God has provided us."

God brews the coffee, not the cups. Enjoy your coffee!

"The happiest people don't have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything."

Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly. Leave the rest to God.