HE WAS WHAT HE THOUGHT HE WAS

HE WAS WHAT HE THOUGHT HE WAS

One day, Mark had a strange find. He came upon an eagle’s egg, and decided to put it into the nest of a farmyard hen. In time the eaglet hatched with the hen’s brood of chicks, and grew up with them.

All his life the eagle did what farmyard chickens did, thinking he was a chicken. He scratched in the yard for worms, insects, and scraps of food; he clucked, cackled and would thrash his wings and rise a few feet into the air.

Years passed, and the eagle grew old. One day he saw a magnificent bird far above him in the clear blue sky. He watched it glide majestically among the powerful wind currents, with scarcely a beat of its strong golden wings. The old eagle looked up in awe “who’s that?” he asked. “That’s the eagle, the king of the birds,” said his neighbour. “He belongs to the sky. We belong to the earth – we’re chickens”. Eventually the old eagle died a chicken. He had lived a chicken and died a chicken, for that’s what he thought he was.

v     “Lord by your cross and resurrection, you have set us free” – but how free are we?

v     Jesus died, paid the debt and gave us his spirit, that we might be raised above and over the quicksands of our own selfishness and despair.

v     Despite all Jesus has done. We can settle to remain in bondage, without hope, and with no way out.

WHOSE FAULT?

WHOSE FAULT?

A man came to work each day with his lunch box under his are. At lunch time each day he went through the exact same ritual. He opened the box, unwrapped the sandwiches, took out one sandwich, separated the slices of bread, and exclaimed “Oh no! Not cheese again!”

This went on every day, until eventually his workmates could take no more. One man turned to him and said, “Look dummy, why don’t you ask your wife to put something else in the sandwiches?”

“What wife? I am not married,” replied the man. “Then who makes the sandwiches?” he was asked. “I do,” was the reply!

v     It is a principle in computer studies that the computer can only work with the information I feed into it. Feed it junk, I’ll get back junk!

v     It is a sign of personal maturity to take responsibility for my life, and for the way it is.

GOD ON TOP OF THINGS

GOD ON TOP OF THINGS

One day a man was walking through a field, deep in meditation and reflection. He stood in awe before a huge oak tree, reflecting on the tiny acorns lying around the base of the tree – the ones that had fallen off in the wind. He looked across the fence at a huge field of pumpkins, each one growing on a tine vine plant. Suddenly he had a thought: “God made a mistake, surely! Why should the huge pumpkins grow on tiny vines and the tiny acorns grow on a huge oak tree? It doesn’t make any sense”.

Just then there was a slight puff of wind and a tiny acorn fell from the oak tree, and plumb! It hit him on the crown of his head. He smiled a wry smile, and said “May be God was on top of things, after all!”

v     God knows what’s best for us.

v     God sees farther down the road than we can.

v     God will always do the loving thing.

UNTIL DEATH DO US PART

UNTIL DEATH DO US PART

Ruth Young Dahl Nelson tells the following story in her book, A Grandma’s Letters to God: There is a huge fortress on a hill overlooking the town of Weinsberg in Germany. One day, far back in feudal times, the fortress was surrounded by the enemy. The commander of the enemy troops agreed to let all women and children leave the fortress. He also agreed to allow each woman take one valuable possession with her.

Imagine the amazement and frustration of the commander when he saw each woman leave the fortress with her husband on her back!

v     What God has joined together, let no one put asunder.

v     When a couple get married they are but beginning a journey into love. If all goes well, then, hopefully, in about fifty years, they will have come to really love each other.

USING THE TONGUE

USING THE TONGUE

A man had a dream in which he was taken up to heaven. He was wandering around; when Jesus came along, and let him have a vision of something down here on earth. It was a church on a Sunday morning, and Mass was being celebrated. The organist was playing away the man could see the fingers move and the keys go up and down – but he couldn’t hear a sound. He could see the choir, watch them open their mouths, and sing all the words – but he couldn’t hear a sound. He watched the priests and the people stand up, sit down, turn the pages of the Mass leaflets, and open their mouths to say all the prayers, but once again, the man couldn’t hear a sound.

He was puzzled so he turned to Jesus and asked him why the silence. Jesus replied, “You see, unless these people pray or sing with their hearts, we cannot hear them here.”

v   “These people honour me with their lips but their hearts are far from me.” (Mt 15:8)

v   “Loving words are on their lips but they continue their greedy ways.” (Ez 33:31)

A SIN IS A SIN!

A SIN IS A SIN!

Anthony Mastroem wrote the following provocation comment:

No one steals any more…they simply lift something. No one lies any more…they simply misrepresent the facts. No one commits adultery…they simply play or fool around. No one kills an unborn baby…they simply terminate a pregnancy.

All of this, says Mastroem, is simply a clever, if dishonest way, of candy-waiting the reality of sin.

-    If God wanted a permissive society, God would have given us Ten Suggestions instead of Ten Commandments.

-     Calling a spade “an agricultural implement” does nothing to change what it is!”

SHUT UP, AND PEDAL

SHUT UP, AND PEDAL

There is a poem that likens our relationship with Jesus to two people on a tandem bicycle. At first, I sat in the front; Christ the rear. I couldn’t see him, but I knew he was there. I could feel his help when the road got steep. Then one day, Christ changed seats with me.

Suddenly everything went topsy-turvy. When I was in control, the ride was predictable – even boring; but when Jesus took over, it got wild! I could hardly hold on.

“This is madness,” I cried, but Christ just smiled and said, “Pedal!” And so I leaned to shut up and pedal – and trust my bike companion. Oh there are still times when I get sacred. But Christ just smiles, touches my hand – and says, “Pedal!”

-Jesus says, “Follow me, let’s go…stop thinking about it!”

- “He that follows me walks not in darkness, but has the light of life.” (Jn 8:12)

GOSSIP

GOSSIP

A woman once went to confession and confessed that she had been gossiping about others. As her penance the priest told her to go to the market and buy an unplucked hen and on her way back she was to pluck the hen, feather by feather and let each feather be carried off in the wind. She did that and returned to the priest.

He praised her for her obedience and he said, “Now, there’s one more thing to do. I want you to go back along the way, and pick up all the feathers belonging to that hen!” The woman was dumbfounded. The task was impossible. By now the wind had scattered many of those feathers mile away out across the country. “Exactly,” said the priest. “Now you see what has happened as a result of your gossiping. It is impossible to call the words back again, once you sent them on their way. Be very very careful what you speak, and especially what you gossip. It is generally impossible to repair that damage.

-  A great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue is a small part…but it can be a word of evil.” (Jas 3:5-6)

-     If A and B are gossiping about C, usually the conversations tells more about A and B than it does about C.

PROCLAIMING THE WORD

This story is told by a missionary in New Guinea. An old man, a recent convert to Christianity, used to come to the mission hospital every day to read the gospel for the patients. One day the man was having real difficulty reading. The doctor examined his eyes, and discovered that he was going blind and would probably be totally blind in a year or two. After that, there was no sign of the man coming to the hospital. No one knew what happened to him. Eventually a young man found him, and brought the mission doctor to him.

The old man explained the doctor that he was busy memorizing the gospels while he still could see. “Soon I’ll be back at the hospital, doctor, and I’ll continue my work of teaching the gospel to the patients.”

v    The barometer for my own level of being evangelized is my enthusiasm to tell the Good News to others.

v    If I don’t give away to others what God gives me, God may rightly take it away again.

PROCLAIMING THE WORD

PROCLAIMING THE WORD

LISTENING TO ANOTHER

LISTENING TO ANOTHER

A huge truck got struck under a bridge. It couldn’t move backward or forward. Traffic was backed up for miles in either direction. An official from the company arrived and all sorts of attempts were made to get the truck free.

A few school kids were sitting on a wall nearby, looking at all this. One little lad shouted across at the officials, “Do you want to know how to get it free, mister?” “All I need now is a know-it-all, smart ass! I don’t need your advice, thank you.” The young lad was unabashed as he replied, “Just let the air out of the tires and you are all right.”

The man stopped in his tracks, looked at the kid and smiled – and then proceeded to let the air out of the tires! In his heart he felt that the kid had let some air out of his tires, and brought him down a bit – and he knew that he deserved it.

v Being full of himself, being a know-all, thinking of my know-how as being superior to that of those around me – that is the kind of soil in which the fruits of the Spirit can never be grown.

v Often my biggest problem is not the one I’m dealing with right then but my inability or unwillingness to ask for help in dealing with that problem.

TIME TO THINK

TIME TO THINK

I heard of a man who got caught in a blizzard some years ago. His truck left that road, and the wheels were just spinning; there was no way he could mover. It was getting dark and it seemed pointless to walk through the snow to seek help so he decided to wait the morning light before taking any action.

When he woke up in the morning his truck was completely frozen shut and covered in snow. It was actually six days later when he was rescued from the truck. When he was rescued he was asked what he did during those long six days. He replied with total seriousness, “I did an awful lot of thinking.”

v One wonders about the thinking and the thoughts of a person in such situation.

v It is worth reflecting on how my present life would look if I had time to reflect on it for six days.

v One of the slogans of AA is THINK, THINK, THINK.

WE CAN MAKE A DIFFENRECE

WE CAN MAKE A DIFFENRECE

One day as he began his daily prayers, a holy hermit saw passing by, a cripple, a mother begging for food for her pathetically malnourished child, and the victim of what must have been a very severe beating. Seeing them, the holy man tuned to God and said, “Great God! How is it that such a loving Creator can see so much suffering, and yet do nothing about it? And deep within his heart he heard God reply, “I have done something about it. I made you.”

v Jesus ascended into heaven and took the body He had with Him. Now He had no others hands but ours.

v To see Christ in others and to be Christ to others that’s the ideal that the Spirit within us can make real and possible.

ABILITY  

Natural abilities are like natural plants; they need pruning by study.

-        Francis Bacon

Ability may get you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there.

-        John Wooden

We all have ability. The difference is how we use it.

-        Stevie Wonder

It is a fine thing to have ability, but the ability to discover ability in others is the true test.

-        Elbert Hubbard

The world cares very little about what a man or woman knows; it is what a man or woman is able to do that counts.

-        Booker T. Washington

Ability is of little account without opportunity.

-        Napoleon Bonaparte

Behind every able man, there are always other able men.

-        Chinese Proverb

THERE IS A WAY OUT

THERE IS A WAY OUT

Two frogs accidentally fell into a bucket of cream. They swam around and around in the cream, and every effort they mad to climb up the side of bucket was in vain. They were trapped, with no evident means of escape.

One of the frogs gave up, thinking there was no point in hoping where there was no clear hope and he just went to the bottom and drowned. The other frog was not quitter. He was convinced that there must be a way out, and he was determined to find it. He gave it his best shot, as he splashed and thrashed around in the cream. Imagine his surprise and his relief after a while when he found himself sitting on top of a big lump of butter! He rested there, regained his strength, and leaped out of the bucket.

v The only real sin for the Christian is despair. The victory is ours, but we often give up too soon, and leave, before the miracle.

v “Always have an explanation ready to give to those who ask you the reason for the hope that you have.” (1 Pet. 3:15)

DYING FOR OTHERS

DYING FOR OTHERS

A prisoner escaped form Auschwitz, a Nazi concentration camp in Poland. As a warning to the others the prison guards picked out ten men at random, to be executed in public. One of the men was the father of a family. As the victims were being marched out to execution, another prisoner, Maximillian Kolbe, a Franciscan priest, stepped forth and offered to take the man’s place.

The officer in charge was stunned but he accepted the offer. Maximillian died, and when he was canonized a saint some forty years later that man, whose place he had taken, was seen on international television, with tears streaming down his face.

He had met one man who really loved. “Greater love than this no man hath that a man should lay down his life for a friend.”
(Jn 15:13)

-     Putting other before myself is one way to think of living a Christian life.

JESUS AT THE DOOR

JESUS AT THE DOOR

There is a story about an old monk who had prayed all his life that he might be blessed by seeing a vision. At last one day, his prayers were answered. Just as he was beginning to “absorb” the full impact of the vision, the monastery bell rang. It was the bell which notified that there were beggars at the monastery gate waiting to be fed. On this particular day, it was this monk’s turn to attend to the beggars. For a mere second he hesitated, and then, despite the attraction of the vision, he turned his back on it, and went to feed the beggars.

On this particular day there were more than the usual number and it was over and hour later before he returned to his cell. To his surprise and delight the vision was still there. Then Jesus in the vision spoke to him and said. “Had you not gone to feed the poor, I would not have stayed.”

v     Jesus comes along the most awkward moments!

v     God doesn’t want to hear me say, “I’m sorry, I love you, praise you, thank you,” unless the people around me hear it first.

AS YOU SOW

AS YOU SOW

A building contractor built large luxury homes. He had no scruples whatever about cutting corners, and taking the easiest and cheapest way out of every situation.

As a result of years of experience he had become expert at this form of deception. Many of his buildings were fire hazards and danger zones, because of his shabby approach to his work.

His last house was probably his worst and most shameful attempt. But being his last house he just couldn’t care and he tool all sort of risky liberties with it.

Imagine his horror when he discovered that his retirement bonus from the firm was a present of the last house he had built!

v As you sow, so shall you reap. (Gal 6:7)

v We are often punished by our sins, rather than for them.

v God is eternal. Therefore God can afford to wait! The problem with us is that we get but one stab at life; we never get a second a change to go around.

READING ABOUT IT

READING ABOUT IT

Imagine the following situation. John is six years of age. For his birthday, his father buys him a beautiful bicycle. The father however, is a bureaucratic literalist, and with the bicycle comes a thick book, complete with diagrams, entitled, “You too, can master the techniques of cycling.” The father insists that the boy read the book, study it in great detail, memorize passages from it and pass a written exam on its contents before he is allowed or indeed, “qualified,” to ride the bicycle.

Seems ridiculous, doesn’t it? Yet we might well see people reading and studying books on prayer, for example, or about repentance, conversion, honesty etc.

-     I learn to pray by praying, not by reading a book about it!

-     One of the ways in which I’ll never get around to doing anything is to read and discuss it long enough.

TRUSTING THE FATHER



TRUSTING THE FATHER

A group of botanist was exploring almost inaccessible regions in search of new species of flowers. One day they spied through binoculars, a flower of great rarity and beauty. It lay in a deep ravine, with perpendicular cliffs a t both sides. To reach it, someone would have to be lowered over the sheer precipice by means of a rope, and it was certainly a very dangerous undertaking.

Approaching a young lad nearby, who was watching them with great curiosity, they said, “We’ll give you twenty dollars if you’ll let us lower you down below to obtain that beautiful rare flower for us.” The young lad took a look away down into the ravine and replied, “Just a minute. I’ll be back.” When he returned he was accompanied by an older man. Approaching one of the botanists, he said, “I’ll go over the cliff and get that flower for you if this man holds the rope. He’s my father.”

v God sent Jesus to tell us to call him “Abba, Daddy.”

v “I will not leave you orphans,” said Jesus. Then he gave His Father and His Mother. However, he went on to tell us that it wouldn’t work unless we became like children.

LOVE

LOVE

You are all familiar with the “Love is…” cartoons or drawings. We have many, many posters of nice “sugary” definitions of love. St Augustine answered the question: “What does love look like?” His answer is simple”

“Love has hands to help others.

It has feet to hasten to the poor and needy.

It has eyes to see misery and want.

It has ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of others.

That’s what love looks like.”

v The nearest I’ll ever come to seeing God in this life is if I ever come across a few people who really love one another!

v Love is always creative, always building up, always confirming.

LIVING THE GOSPELS

LIVING THE GOSPELS

Three people were discussing some recent translations of the Bible. One said, ‘I like the New American version. It is so much clearer than the older versions, and is so much easier to read.’

The second said, ‘I like the Jerusalem Bible. It’s not only clearer, but it’s more poetic, which makes it more suitable for us in prayer.’

The third said, ‘I like my mother’s translation best of all. She translated the Bible into actions, which makes it to much easier to apply to daily life.’

v You write a new page of the gospel each day, by the things you do, and the words that you say. People read what you are write, whether faithful or true. What is the gospel according to you?

v You may be the only gospel some people will ever read; they may never buy the books.

THE GRAIN OF WHEAT

THE GRAIN OF WHEAT

A little boy was crying bitterly in class. The teacher asked what was wrong and he said that his sister was really dead, because they had put her in the ground and covered her up!

The teacher took the boy by the hand and brought him over to the window, on which was a box of clay. Some weeks earlier the class had planted seeds in the clay. The teacher explained that they were not intended to remain as seeds. They were planted in the clay, and after a while they began to sprout and grow into plants and flowers – which is what they wee meant to become.

She poked in the clay with her finger and removed one of the seeds, which has already begun to put forth shoots and to put down roots. “The seed is not dead,” she said; “it is changing and it is now becoming what it was always meant to become.”

-    “For us Christian people, life is changed, not ended.”

-     When I die, I then become all that God created me to be.

-     If you ever wake up some morning, and you find that your life is all it should be, then, don’t move – just call the undertaker.