EXAMPLE SPEAKS LOUDEST

EXAMPLE SPEAKS LOUDEST

Some young Christians were attending an international summer camp. One of the projects set before them was to discuss and explore ideas for spreading the Gospel in the world.

The discussing was wide and varied. It included the use of television and radio programmes, newspaper articles, notices in magazines, and so on. Finally, when they were out of ideas an African girl stood up and gave her opinion:

“In my country when we think that a pagan village is ready for Christianity, we don’t send them books and missionaries. We send them a good Christian family. The family’s example is a more powerful proclamation of the gospel than all the books in the world.

v     “You shall be my witnesses,” says Jesus (Acts 1:8)

v     “By this shall men know that you are my disciples, if you love one another?” (John 13:35)

v     The witness value of Christianity is central. A Christian is in the business of attracting, not promoting. 

PERSEVERANCE

PERSEVERANCE

Wilma Rudolph was a disaster from birth. She was a tiny premature baby, who caught pneumonia, then scarlet fever, and finally polio. The polio left one leg bodily crippled, with her foot twisted inward.

Until the age of eleven, Wilma hobbled around on metal braces. Then she asked her sister to keep watch while she practiced walking without the braces. She kept this up every day, afraid that her parents might discover what she was doing and she might be compelled to stop. Eventually feeling guilty she told her doctor, who was flabbergasted. However he gave her permission to continue as she was, but only for a short period of time.

Anyhow to make a long story short, Wilma worked away at it until she eventually threw away her crutches for good. She progressed to running and by the time she was sixteen she won a bronze medal in a relay race in the Melbourne Olympics. Four years later in the Roma Olympics she became the first woman in history to win three gold medals in track and field.

She returned to  a ticker tape welcome in the US had a private meeting with President Kennedy, and received the Sullivan Award as the nation’s top amateur athlete.

v     We can grow in faith, love, patience, etc. by day-in-day-out practice and perseverance.

THE LEAST OF THESE

THE LEAST OF THESE

A king who had no son to succeed him posted a notice inviting young men to come along and apply for adoption into his family. The two qualifications were love of God and love of neighbour.

A poor peasant boy was tempted to apply, but fell unable to do so because of the rags he wore. He worked hard, earned some money, bought some new clothes, and headed off to try his luck at being adopted into the king’s family.

He was halfway there, however, when he met a poor beggar on the road, who was shivering with the cold. The young man felt sorry for him and he exchanged clothes with him. There was hardly much point in going any further toward the king’s palace at this stage, now that he was back in rags again. However, the young man felt that having come this far, he might as well finish the journey.

He arrived at the palace and despite the sneers and jibes of the courtiers; he was finally admitted into the presence of the king. Imagine his amazement to see that the king was the old beggar man he had met on the road, and he was actually wearing the good clothes the young man had given! The king got down form his throne, embraced the young man, and said, “Welcome, my son!”

v     There is a direct lesson in this story to show the welcome of God for king kind and the good when they come before him after death.

v     Whatever you do to the least of these, that’s what you do unto me. (Mt. 25:40)

FOR OR AGAINST

FOR OR AGAINST

It was during the Mexican war. Thoreau, the philosopher and writer, vehemently opposed to the war, because he believed it to be an attempt to expand slaveholding territories. He refused to pay taxes, because the money was going to the work effort. He ended up in jail, rather than pay taxes.

Emerson, another philosopher and writer, a friend of his, and someone who was also strongly opposed to the war and to slavery visited him in prison. Emerson asked Thoreau, “Henry, why are you in prison?” Thoreau looked straight in the eye, and quickly asked him, “Waldo, why are you not here?”

v     Happy are they who dream dreams, and are prepared to pay the price to make their dreams come true.

v     The acid test of our conviction about anything is our willingness to be faithful to it, no matter what the consequences.

GETTING OUR OWN BACK

GETTING OUR OWN BACK

A foolish man heard that Buddha taught that you should never return evil for evil. One day the man met Buddha, and decided to test him to see if he practiced what he taught others to do. The man began to heap all kinds of verbal abuse upon the great teacher, shouting at him, and calling him all kinds of names.

All the while Buddha listened quietly. When the man had run out of things to say, Buddha said to him “My son, if a man declines to accept a gift from another, to whom does the gift go?” “Any fool knows that,” sneered the man, “the gift goes back to the giver.” “My son,” said Buddha, “you have just given me much verbal abuse. I decided to accept your gift.” The man made no reply.

Buddha continued, “My son, a man who slanders a virtuous person is like a man who spits at the sky. The spit doesn’t soil the sky, it returns to soil the face of the one who spat.”

v     The “law of the echo” said the teacher, whether you shout, curse, sing or laugh into an echo chamber – that’s what will come to you!

WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM FRIEND

WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM FRIEND

Mt Ranier is a 14, 000 – foot mountain in Washington state. Some years ago, nine physically handicapped people succeeded in climbing to summit.

One had an artificial leg, five were blind, two were deaf, and one was an epileptic. In spite of all this, they climbed the mountain, and came down together, without a mishap. When asked how they achieved such an extraordinary feat, one of the blind men said, “We got a lot of help form each other.”

v     That must surely rank as one of the understatement of the century.

v     A good example of the body of Christ in action, where the blind could see with someone else’s eyes, the deaf could hear with someone else’s ears etc.

A TRUE STORY

A TRUE STORY
 
 
Spend some time to read this! Really touching!

I was walking around in a Big Bazar store making shopping, 
when I saw a Cashier talking to a boy couldn't have been more than 5 or 6 years old.
 The Cashier said, 'I'm sorry, but you don't have enough money to buy this doll. 
Then the little boy turned to me and asked: ''Aunty, are you sure 
I don't have enough money?''
I counted his cash and replied: ''You know that you don't have enough money to buy 
 
the dolll, my dear.'' The little boy was still holding the doll in his hand. Finally, 
I walked toward him and I asked him who he wished to give this doll to. 
'It's the doll that my sister loved most and wanted so much . 
Iwanted to Gift her for her BIRTHDAY. I have to give the doll to my mommy so 
that she can give it to my sister when she goes there.' 
His eyes were so sad while saying this. 'My Sister has gone to be with God. 
Daddy says that Mommy is going to see God very soon too, so 
I thought that she could take the doll with her to give it to my sister.
'' My heart nearly stopped. The little boy looked up at me and 
aid: 'I told daddy to tell mommy not to go yet. I need her to wait until 
I come back from the mall.' 
Then he showed me a very nice photo of him where he was laughing. 
He then told me 'I want mommy to take my picture with her so my sister 
won't forget me.' 'I love my mommy and I wish she doesn't have to leave me, 
but daddy says that she has to go to be with my little sister.
' Then he looked again at the doll with sad eyes, very quietly.
I quickly reached for my wallet and said to the boy. 'Suppose we check again, 
just in case you do have enough money for the doll?'' 'OK' he said, 
I hope I do have enough.' I added some of my money to his with out him seeing and 
we started to count it. There was enough for the doll and even some spare money. 
The little boy said: 'Thank you God for giving me enough money!
' Then he looked at me and added, 'I asked last night before 
I went to sleep for God to make sure I had enough money to buy this doll, 
so that mommy could give It to my sister. He heard me!'' 'I also wanted to have 
enough money to buy a white rose for my mommy, but I didn't dare to ask 
God for too much. But He gave me enough to buy the doll and a white rose. 
My mommy loves white roses.'
I finished my shopping in a totally different state from when I started. 
I couldn't get the little boy out of my mind.. Then I remembered a local news 
paper article two days ago, which mentioned a drunk man in a truck, who 
hit a car occupied by a young woman and a little girl. The little girl died right away, 
and the mother was left in a critical state. The family had to decide whether 
to pull the plug on the life-sustaining machine, because the young woman would 
not be able to recover from the coma. Was this the family of the little boy?
Two days after this encounter with the little boy, I read in the newspaper that 
the young woman had passed away.. I couldn't stop myself as I bought a bunch 
of white roses and I went to the funeral home where the body of the young 
woman was exposed for people to see and make last wishes before her burial. 
She was there, in her coffin, holding a beautiful white rose in her hand with the 
photo of the little boy and the doll placed over her chest. 
I left the place, teary-eyed, feeling that my life had been changed for ever. 
The love that the little boy had for his mother and his sister is still, 
to this day, hard to imagine. And in a fraction of a second, 
a drunk driver had taken all this away from him.

PLEASE DO NOT DRINK & DRIVE.

THE VALUE OF A MAN OR WOMAN RESIDES IN WHAT HE OR SHE GIVES, NOT IN WHAT HE OR SHE IS CAPABLE OF RECEIVING.