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.