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)