Abundant Rain May Not Be Good

Neil Orchard was talking with a farmer about his soy bean and corn crops.

Rain had been abundant, and the results were evident.

So his comment surprised him: "My crops are especially vulnerable. Even a short drought could have a devastating effect."

"Why?" Orchard asked.

He explained that while we see the frequent rains as a benefit, during that time the plants are not required to push roots deeper in search of water.

The roots remain near the surface. A drought would find the plants unprepared and quickly kill them.

Some Christians receive abundant "rains" of worship, fellowship, and teaching.

Yet when stress enters their lives, many suddenly abandon God or think Him unfaithful.

Their roots have never pushed much below the surface.

Remember this, only roots grown deep into Jesus Christ help us endure times of drought in our lives.

Mirror Image

Ben Kinsley as Gandhi

"Instead, we will hold to the truth in love, becoming more and more in every way like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church."1

Dr. William Barker tells about the actor, Ben Kingsley who "starred as the main character in the motion picture GANDHI. He spent months preparing for the role, visiting the various Indian locales Gandhi had frequented. He even learned to spin cotton thread on a wooden wheel while holding conversations as Gandhi did. The physical resemblance between Gandhi and Kingsley was almost startling. After filming a scene in a village south of Delhi, Kingsley stepped out of a car, and an elderly peasant knelt to touch his feet. Embarrassed, Kingsley explained that he was merely an actor playing Gandhi. 'We know,' replied the villager, 'but through you he will surely live again.'"2

As Christians, if we truly follow and serve the Lord, we will become more and more in every way like Christ. May God help us to so live that others will see the likeness of Jesus in us—as this is by far the most powerful and effective witness of our Christian faith that any one of us could ever have.

1. Ephesians 4:15 (NLT).
2. Dr. William P. Barker, Tarbell's Teacher's Manual, (Elgin, Illinois: David C. Cook Church Ministries, 1994). Quoted in a sermon by Rev. Billy D. Strayhorn, "One in Christ" http://www.epulpit.net/billy112.htm
3. Thomas O. Chisholm.

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By Dick Innes

I Know Them

Jesus says, "My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish".John 10:27-28

We expect Jesus to say that the sheep follow Him because they know Him, but instead He says that they follow Him because He knows them. We long to be known—to be understood at the deepest levels.

(Donovan)

A fifth century prayer:

O Lord Jesus Christ,
Thou Good Shepherd of the sheep,
who camest to seek the lost,
and to gather them into Thy fold,
have compassion upon those
who have wandered from Thee,
feed those who hunger,
cause the weary to lie in Thy pastures,
bind up those who are with broken heart,
and strengthen those who are weak,
that we, relying on Thy care
and being comforted by Thy love,
may abide in Thy guidance to our lives' end.
Amen.

Can An Egg Learn How To Fly?

Can An Egg Learn How To Fly?

It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly sight harder for a bird to learn to fly while remaining an egg. 

We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. 

We must be hatched or go bad.

C.S. Lewis 

Mere Christianity

Tripping Over A Three-Year-Old

It was a busy day in our Costa Mesa, California, home. But then, with 10 children and one on the way, every day was a bit hectic. On this particular day, however, I was having trouble doing even routine chores — all because of one little boy.

Len, who was three at the time, was on my heels no matter where I went. Whenever I stopped to do something and turned back around, I would trip over him. Several times, I patiently suggested fun activities to keep him occupied. "Wouldn't you like to play on the swing set?" I asked again.

But he simply smiled an innocent smile and said, "Oh, that's all right, Mommy. I'd rather be in here with you." Then he continued to bounce happily along behind me.

After stepping on his toes for the fifth time, I began to lose my patience and insisted that he go outside and play with the other children. When I asked him why he was acting this way, he looked up at me with sweet green eyes and said, "Well, Mommy, in Primary my teacher told me to walk in Jesus' footsteps. But I can't see him, so I'm walking in yours."

I gathered Len in my arms and held him close. Tears of love and humility spilled over from the prayer that grew in my heart — a prayer of thanks for the simple, yet beautiful perspective of a three-year-old boy.

Davida Dalton

God's Discipline

"No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it."¹

Billy Graham commented how, "When a ship's carpenter needed timber to make a mast for a sailing vessel, he did not cut it in the valley, but up on the mountainside where the trees have been buffeted by the winds. These trees, he knew, were the strongest of all. Hardship is not our choice; but if we face it bravely, it can toughen the fiber of our souls."

And that's exactly why God disciplines us and allows us to go through trials. They are designed to strengthen us and help us to grow healthy and strong. And while "No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful," what we always need to remember is that "the Lord disciplines those he loves."²

 
Suggested prayer: "Dear God, thank you that you love me as I am, but love me too much to leave me as I am. Thank you, too, that you allow trials to come into my life to help me grow, mature and become strong. Help me to accept your discipline and use it to fulfill your purpose for my life. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus' name. Amen."

1. Hebrews 12:11 (NIV).
2. Hebrews 12:11,6 (NIV).

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By Dick Innes

All Disciples Unfit For Management Positions Except One

To: Yeshua ben Yosef

Yosef's Carpentry
Nazareth Jn3:16

From: Haman Management Consultants

Dear Sir,

Thank you for submitting the resumes of the twelve men you have picked for managerial positions in your new organization. All of them have now taken our battery of tests; and we have not only run the results through our computer, but also arranged personal interviews for each of them with our psychologist and vocational aptitude consultant. 

The profiles of all tests are included, and you will want to study each of them carefully.

As part of our service, we make some general comments for your guidance, much as an auditor will include some general statements. This is given as a result of staff consultation, and comes without any additional fee. 

It is the staff opinion that most of your nominees are lacking in background, education and vocational aptitude for the type of enterprise you are undertaking. They do not have the team concept. We would recommend that you continue your search for persons of experience in managerial ability and proven capability. 

Simon Peter is emotionally unstable and given to fits of temper. 

Andrew has absolutely no qualities of leadership. 

The two brothers, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, place personal interest above company loyalty. 

Thomas demonstrates a questioning attitude that would tend to undermine morale. 

We feel that it is our duty to tell you that Matthew had been blacklisted by the Greater Jerusalem Better Business Bureau; 

James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus definitely have radical leanings, and they both registered a high score on the manic-depressive scale. 

One of the candidates, however, shows great potential. He is a man of ability and resourcefulness, meets people well, has a keen business mind, and has contacts in high places. He is highly motivated, ambitious, and responsible. 

We recommend Judas Iscariot as your controller and right-hand man. All of the other profiles are self-explanatory. 

We wish you every success in your new venture.

Sincerely,

Haman Hammedatha

Haman Management Consultants 

Susa City, Iran 

Haman Hammedatha

Adapted from Tim Hansel, Eating Problems for Breakfast, Word Publishing, 1988, pp. 194-195.

Fixing Our Eyes

Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Pioneer and Perfecter of faith. For the joy set before Him He endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.(Hebrew 12:2)

In the cotton farming country around Lamesa, Texas, where I grew up, the land was flat and the cotton rows often where as straight as an arrow. 

I asked a farmer how he made the rows so straight. He said, "When I plow a new role I fix my eyes on an object at the far end of the field and never look back. You can't plow looking back. 

- Calvin T. Partain, Proclaim,Oct-Dec 1995, Pg11 

The Spiritual Karate

In the movie Karate Kid, young Daniel asks Mister Miagi to teach him karate. Miagi agrees under one condition: Daniel must submit totally to his instruction and never question his methods. 

Daniel shows up the next day eager to learn. To his chagrin, Mister Miagi has him paint a fence. Miagi demonstrates the precise motion for the job: up and down, up and down. Daniel takes days to finish the job. 

Next, Miagi has him scrub the deck using a prescribed stroke. Again the job takes days. Daniel wonders, What does this have to do with karate? but he says nothing. 

Next, Miagi tells Daniel to wash and wax three weather-beaten cars and again prescribes the motion. Finally, Daniel reaches his limit: "I thought you were going to teach me karate, but all you have done is have me do your unwanted chores!" 

Daniel has broken Miagi's one condition, and the old man's face pulses with anger. "I have been teaching you karate! Defend yourself!" Miagi thrusts his arm at Daniel, who instinctively defends himself with an arm motion exactly like that used in one of his chores. Miagi unleashes a vicious kick, and again Daniel averts the blow with a motion used in his chores. 

After Daniel successfully defends himself from several more blows, Miagi simply walks away, leaving Daniel to discover what the master had known all along: skill comes from repeating the correct but seemingly mundane actions. The same is true of godliness.

Why Some Christians Do Not Know How To Save Souls

Charles Finney (1792-1875) wrote: 

Make it an object of constant study, and of daily reflection and prayer, to learn how to deal with sinners so as to promote their conversion. It is the great business on earth of every Christian, to save souls.

People often complain that they do not know how to take hold of this matter. Why, the reason is plain enough; they have never studied it. They have never taken the proper pains to qualify themselves for the work. If people made it no more a matter of attention and thought to qualify themselves for their worldly business, than they do to save souls, how do you think they would succeed? 

Now, if you are thus neglecting the main business of life, what are you living for? If you do not make it a matter of study, how you may most successfully act in building up the Kingdom of Christ, you are acting a very wicked and absurd part as a Christian.

—From Charles Finney's sermon “To Win Souls Requires Wisdom”

The Sheep With A Broken Leg

"No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it." (Hebrews 12:11)

Robert Munger writes about an American traveling in Syria who became acquainted with a shepherd. Each morning he noticed the shepherd taking food to a sheep that had a broken leg. As he looked at the animal, he asked the shepherd, "How did the sheep break its leg? Did it meet with an accident, fall into a hole, or did some animal break its leg?"

"No," said the shepherd, "I broke this sheep's leg myself."

"You broke it yourself?" queried the surprised traveler.

"Yes, you see, this is a wayward sheep; it would not stay with the flock, but would lead the sheep astray. Then it would not let me near it so I had to break the sheep's leg so that it would allow me, day by day to feed it. In doing this it will get to know me as its shepherd, trust me as its guide, and keep with the flock."²

Sometimes, just sometimes, when we insist of going our own stubborn way and leading others astray, the Shepherd of the fold, may have to "break our leg" too for our own good and that of others. 

SOURCE: DICK INNES

Robert Boyd Munger in Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations by Paul Lee Tan
 

The Laboring Crew

Many churches today remind me of a laboring crew trying to gather in a harvest while they sit in the tool shed. 

They go to the tool shed every Sunday and they study bigger and better methods of agriculture, sharpen their hoes, grease their tractors, and then get up and go home. 

Then they come back that night, study bigger and better methods of agriculture, sharpen their hoes, grease their tractors, and go home again. 

They comeback Wednesday night, and again study bigger and better methods of agriculture, sharpen their hoes, grease their tractors, and get up and go home. 

They do this week in and week out, year in and year out, and nobody ever goes out into the fields to gather in the harvest.

Paul W. Powell, in The Complete Disciple