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If you sometimes find yourself feeling far away from God, guess who moved.
One day, a very discouraged teacher, sat down and wrote the following:
“TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:
I have taught high school for ten years. During that time I have given assignments to, among others, a murderer, an evangelist, a pugilist and a thief.
The murderer was a quiet, small boy who sat on the front row and regarded me with pale blue eyes. The evangelist, easily the most popular boy in school, had the lead in the Junior Play. The pugilist would often lounge by the window and at intervals let loose a raucous laugh that startled even the geraniums. The thief was a gay-hearted Lothario with a song on his lips.
Now the murderer awaits death in the state penitentiary. The evangelist has lain a year in the village graveyard. The pugilist lost an eye in a brawl in Hong Kong, and the thief, by standing on tiptoe, can see the windows of my classroom from the county jail.
All of these pupils once looked at me gravely across their worn brown desks. I had the chance to teach them. I had every chance in the world.”
Nor should there be any doubt that she tried, and yes, sometimes failed. That terrible word – failure. Tried so hard but was unable to impart the wisdom of her knowledge, education and years to some students who too often would not listen.
It happens all the time, this wasting of the wisdom of the ages falling on deaf ears. The drawing of our own confusions.
We multiply our possessions while reducing our values.
Talk too much and pray too little.
Travel around the world and ignore our next door neighbor.
Conquer outer space but not the inner space of our soul.
Do bigger and bigger things, but not often enough better things.
Grow physically taller, yet shorter in character.
It isn’t that good advice is not available from the master teacher. While we face a problem shouting it is impossible He reminds, “What is impossible with men is possible with God.”
And what does our Lord want us to do? He wants us to let the Bible speak to us. When we say, “It’s impossible,” read in Luke (18:27) where Jesus says, What is impossible with men is possible with God.
A case in point; one day a small factory had to shut down.
A piece of machinery had quit and wouldn’t start again, no matter what anyone did. Finally, they called in an expert. The mechanic stood in front of the machine for a moment, then walked over and gave it a light tap with his hammer. Immediately it started up and continued running as if nothing had ever been wrong.
However, when he submitted his bill for $100.00 the plant manager hit the roof and demanded an itemized bill. When submitted it read as follows: Tapping the machine - $1.00. Knowing where to tap the machine - $99.00.
And that’s how it is with your Lord and mine.
He is the resident expert on how to keep our souls running on all cylinders, and running well.
Which is why He wants us to hire Him to manage our lives on a regular basis.
And once we do, He then asks for the right to make some major changes in our lives. And that’s where the rub comes in.
Because we human beings don’t like change we complain that the price is too high and put forth our own agenda. We ask for trouble – and get it.
Which is why our progress report, called life, often comes up so lacking. It is, after all, a recording of our attitudes and actions, an on-going reflection of whether we have a reverence for God in life or create a Godless life.
It is all, really, very much like a game of cards. And whether we win or lose often depends not so much on the cards we are dealt, but how we play the game.
In Mexico City, in 1968, out of cold darkness that had descended, John Stephen Akhwari of Tanzania staggered into the Olympic Stadium, his leg bloody and bandaged. The winner of the Olympic marathon had been declared well over an hour earlier. But the lone runner pressed on. As he finally crossed the finish line, the now small crowd roared. When asked by a reporter why he hadn’t quit, he replied, “My country did not send me to Mexico City to start the race. They sent me to finish it.”
And that is what our God has sent us to do.
In the race of life to sometimes stumble, even fall, but never allow ourselves to be confused when making the proper choices for living.
Charles Darwin in his book, Life and Letters, describes years of self inflicted pain. In his younger days he loved music, art and literature and took such great delight in their pursuit. He then writes of how his one-sided concentration on scientific calculations caused him to reach a point where he could not endure one line of poetry. Where even Shakespeare became nauseatingly dull.
It happens. The giving up of the foods for the soul. The dulling of response to things beautiful for beauty’s sake. The killing off of the child’s hungering for God, as becoming grownup such childish things are put aside.
Or to put it more plainly, a rewriting of Paul’s thoughts: When I was a child, I thought as a child, I sought God with a child’s delight. My prayers were simple, but sincere. God was real and I was glad. But when I became a man, I put away childish things. Childish beliefs. I became a man and was self sufficient unto myself. I had all the answers. And what answers I didn’t have, I made up.
It doesn’t have to be this way. The Bible tells us how to keep it from happening.
PRAYER – persistent, sincere. “Ask and it shall be given unto you, seek and ye shall find.”
WORSHP – letting go and letting God. “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and soul, and strength, and mind.”
GOOD WORKS – decent deeds. “Show me thy works, and I will show you your faith.”
How does one stop drawing one’s own confusions? By stop believing everything the newspapers say and stop questioning what the Bible says.
From the cradle to the grave is a long journey. Its beginning is a miracle. Its end a mystery. It is also an education. It is also a challenge. Someone has said that, “Life is a grindstone. It either grinds a man down or polishes him up. It depends on the stuff he is made of.” And it should be added, seeks to be made of.
Part of a poem from the Sanskrit reads, “….today, well lived, makes every yesterday a dream of happiness and every tomorrow a vision of hope.”
Christianity is a lifestyle. It has in it the thrill of victory and the joy of over-coming defeats. It is a mindset that sets the thermostat of the soul to God control. It shouts with an overwhelming faith that God can improve life’s climate.
With a little imagination we can picture Galilee at the close of a day and see Jesus surrounded by the sick, the blind, the maimed and the weary. We can see and feel His heavenly wisdom. We can revel in His insights that guilt can weigh a thousand pounds without forgiveness. That grief can stain the brightest day with bitterness. That temptation sucks the goodness out of a man until he can sin without remorse.
Some might call it an oversimplification but “ viva la simplification.” What? The old French saint sitting quietly at the end of the day and in answer to a question “What are you doing?” replying, “I am just looking to the Lord and feel Him looking back at me.”
It’s called calling in the Master Mechanic who knows what makes us tick and can improve the ticking.
Dial heaven. Cry out with David, Oh Lord, Thou understandest my thoughts afar off.
And the scripture that reads, They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not be faint.
And today’s scripture, Restore to me the joy of thy salvation and uphold me with a willing spirit.
Let me close by telling you of a little girl, Samantha, whose parents were atheists and never told her about the Lord. One night they had a terrible fight. Finally her father pulled out a gun and shot the little girl’s mother, then killed himself. She saw it all.
Afterwards, Samantha was sent to a foster home. Her foster mother was a Christian and took her to church. On that first day in Sunday school it was explained to the teacher that the new little girl had never heard of Jesus and would she please have patience with Samantha. Later, as the teacher was telling a story she held up a picture of Jesus and asked, “Does anyone know who this is?”
The little girl raised her hand and said, “I do. That’s the man who was holding me the night my mommy and daddy died.”
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A new Series on PRAYER has begun.
Each week there is a continuation of the Serialization of his Internationally distributed novel RUST ON MY SOUL.
To view an abundance of unusual stories and comments by Neil Wyrick go to his other blog ONE A DAY, YOUR SPIRITUAL VITAMINS
Click on the following URL
http://oneadayyourspiritualvitamins.blogspot.com/
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