These thoughts are added to each Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday)
(Scroll down to read previous thoughts)
(Use in your personal or church newsletters)
There are only two choices when there are too many problems and too much pain.
One is to rebel and the other is to attempt to relate.
Poets and philosophers and theologians and the Apostle Paul have mightily sought to give satisfactory answers to this mighty question.
Paul says “...the thorn in his side...” which is never readily identified “..perfected his weakness.”
Yet another unknown writer wrote,
“My life is but the weaving
Between my God and me.
I only choose the colors
He weaveth steadily.
Sometimes he weaveth sorrow.
And I in foolish pride,
Forget he sees the upper.
And I the under side.”
His name was Cardinal Mercier and shells had destroyed his cathedral and all his precious library had gone up in smoke. He stood amidst the ruins and said to someone standing by his side, “Suffering accepted and vanquished...will give you a serenity which may well prove the most exquisite fruit of your life.”
Accept some of the rules of life even if you do not understand. Stand before the throne of grace and simply say, “Thy will be done” and mean it and “the peace that passeth understanding” comes. I do not completely understand how or why, but it comes.
In 1982 when my left arm hung limp and useless from my shoulder, paralyzed and futile, I was not a happy camper. Indeed I could have worn myself weary by berating my foolishness in taking up hang gliding. Instead I prayed, “Lord, make my arm well, or let me learn a lesson from this accident. But most of all, thy will be done.” He chose to heal my arm. But even more he did wonderful things for my psyche.
“I walked a mile with Pleasure,
She chattered all the way,
But left me none the wiser
For all she had to say.
I walked a mile with Sorrow,
And ne’re a word said she;
But, oh, the things I learned from her
When Sorrow walked with me!”
Have a friend visit my ONE A DAY YOUR SPIRITUAL VITAMINS site. Have them go to Google and where it says “Google Search” type in “Neil Spiritual Vitamins”
Or type in the URL http://oneadayyourspiritualvitamins.blogspot.com/
And, yes, if this site has met any of your needs share it with a friend. Just have them go to “Google Search” and type in “Wyrick’s Writings”
Or type in the URL http://wyrickswritings.blogspot.com/
And, yes, maybe they will back track a few weeks to read other of my musings.
DO YOU HAVE A BLOG OR FACEBOOK? IF YOU ENJOY THESE WRITINGS COULD YOU CALL ATTENTION TO THIS BLOG? IF YOU DO, THANKS IN ADVANCE.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
WORN THIN, WORN OUT!
These thoughts are added to each Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday)
(Scroll down to read previous thoughts)
In a novel, The Way of All Flesh, a young ministerial candidate has a nervous breakdown. He is on a too fast treadmill, caught between a traditionalist view and a more liberal view of looking at things.
Rushing in a crazy-quilt life, back and forth between the two he has worn himself out. Then comes on the scene a wise, old doctor prescribing a cure.
“Go to the zoo and daily study the elephants,” advises the physician. Willing to try anything the young man follows the instructions. Day after day he observes and studies the slow but steady movements of these ponderous pachyderms.
Not far away from the elephants he has also observed the tigers frantically pacing back and forth. Rushing to nowhere. Impatient, and rightly so. Nervous, and without restraint. But nevertheless, rushing to nowhere.
And bit by bit the message fights through and sinks in. He begins to understand that he must slow his pace. Find a new rhythm. Find a proper balance in his life.
We’ve all been more like the tiger and less like the elephant sometimes. And more than once folk have one foot firmly planted on a banana peel while gingerly taking a step toward our faith.
We’ve slipped and we’ve slud, as Dizzy Dean used to say, and looked up at the Christmas star, while sometimes having trouble keeping it in focus - because it’s impossible to always be shouting hallelujahs - because we’re all entitled to some Uh Ohs because we’re human.
Oh, so human, and so in need.
You know, when I was about 11 years old I finally got my first electric train. It had taken four years of Mom and Dad saving for it because it was depression time and little boys didn’t always get what they wanted when they wanted it. Oh, it was a great little train. It ran around in circles going toot-toot-toot like little trains are supposed to do. And then another Christmas I got a football suit. And then very early on… I got a Christ. I have no idea where my train set is or my football suit, but I know where my Christ is.
And Christ gently, quietly, lovingly stands by our Christmas tree and says, “Come, take my gift again…and again…and again, for I offer you My love not only on Christmas Day. I offer it your whole life long.”
Have a friend visit my ONE A DAY YOUR SPIRITUAL VITAMINS site. Have them go to Google and where it says “Google Search” type in “Neil Spiritual Vitamins”
Or type in the URL http://oneadayyourspiritualvitamins.blogspot.com/
And, yes, if this site has met any of your needs share it with a friend. Just have them go to “Google Search” and type in “Wyrick’s Writings”
Or type in the URL http://wyrickswritings.blogspot.com/
And, yes, maybe they will back track a few weeks to read other of my musings.
DO YOU HAVE A BLOG OR FACEBOOK? IF YOU ENJOY THESE WRITINGS COULD YOU CALL ATTENTION TO THIS BLOG? IF YOU DO, THANKS IN ADVANCE.
(Scroll down to read previous thoughts)
In a novel, The Way of All Flesh, a young ministerial candidate has a nervous breakdown. He is on a too fast treadmill, caught between a traditionalist view and a more liberal view of looking at things.
Rushing in a crazy-quilt life, back and forth between the two he has worn himself out. Then comes on the scene a wise, old doctor prescribing a cure.
“Go to the zoo and daily study the elephants,” advises the physician. Willing to try anything the young man follows the instructions. Day after day he observes and studies the slow but steady movements of these ponderous pachyderms.
Not far away from the elephants he has also observed the tigers frantically pacing back and forth. Rushing to nowhere. Impatient, and rightly so. Nervous, and without restraint. But nevertheless, rushing to nowhere.
And bit by bit the message fights through and sinks in. He begins to understand that he must slow his pace. Find a new rhythm. Find a proper balance in his life.
We’ve all been more like the tiger and less like the elephant sometimes. And more than once folk have one foot firmly planted on a banana peel while gingerly taking a step toward our faith.
We’ve slipped and we’ve slud, as Dizzy Dean used to say, and looked up at the Christmas star, while sometimes having trouble keeping it in focus - because it’s impossible to always be shouting hallelujahs - because we’re all entitled to some Uh Ohs because we’re human.
Oh, so human, and so in need.
You know, when I was about 11 years old I finally got my first electric train. It had taken four years of Mom and Dad saving for it because it was depression time and little boys didn’t always get what they wanted when they wanted it. Oh, it was a great little train. It ran around in circles going toot-toot-toot like little trains are supposed to do. And then another Christmas I got a football suit. And then very early on… I got a Christ. I have no idea where my train set is or my football suit, but I know where my Christ is.
And Christ gently, quietly, lovingly stands by our Christmas tree and says, “Come, take my gift again…and again…and again, for I offer you My love not only on Christmas Day. I offer it your whole life long.”
Have a friend visit my ONE A DAY YOUR SPIRITUAL VITAMINS site. Have them go to Google and where it says “Google Search” type in “Neil Spiritual Vitamins”
Or type in the URL http://oneadayyourspiritualvitamins.blogspot.com/
And, yes, if this site has met any of your needs share it with a friend. Just have them go to “Google Search” and type in “Wyrick’s Writings”
Or type in the URL http://wyrickswritings.blogspot.com/
And, yes, maybe they will back track a few weeks to read other of my musings.
DO YOU HAVE A BLOG OR FACEBOOK? IF YOU ENJOY THESE WRITINGS COULD YOU CALL ATTENTION TO THIS BLOG? IF YOU DO, THANKS IN ADVANCE.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
WHY DO SOME CHURCHES GROW? WHY DO SOME CHURCHES DIE?
These thoughts are added to each Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday)
(Scroll down to read previous thoughts)
Why do some churches die? First, because they become spiritual Dead Seas, always feeding in on themselves.
Like an old car constantly recharging the battery but never driving out of the driveway.
Why do some churches die? Secondly, because they fall victim to an ill-conceived assumption, that they are limited by geography. “We should have built where people can daily SEE us?” rather than “We’ll BE SO BUSY to and for the people they will HEAR about us and then come to us on their own.”
Thirdly that religion is a Sunday thing and not be remembered or discussed on other days or other places. EMPTY CHURCHES DURING THE WEEK ALMOST GUARANTEE AN EMPTY CHURCH ON SUNDAY MORNING.
Fourthly, that whatever needs to be done to keep a church alive must be done by the clergy. Since laymen outnumber clergy believing this fourth reason to be true is enough in itself to court disaster.
Again, why do some churches grow? Because it’s members won’t shut up about their Lord or their church.
In THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON Boswell relates how as a boy Johnson refused to go to the market place with his father, to sell books. He was, for some boyish reason, ashamed. Years later, he was shamed by the remembrance of this refusal so much that as an old man he stood all one day in the spot where his father’s bookstall had been…the rain came down in torrents but he never moved.
Why do some churches die? Because it’s members, for some reason are ashamed and secretive and quiet about their faith, very very quiet.
In the 19th chapter of John, the 38th verse, there is the following quote “Joseph of Arimathea, a disciple of Jesus, but secretly.” That is the problem, now isn’t it? The secret society called Christians. Neither by word nor deed making anywhere near as big a mark on the community as it could and should.
Have a friend visit my ONE A DAY YOUR SPIRITUAL VITAMINS site. Have them go to Google and where it says “Google Search” type in “Neil Spiritual Vitamins”
Or type in the URL http://oneadayyourspiritualvitamins.blogspot.com/
And, yes, if this site has met any of your needs share it with a friend. Just have them go to “Google Search” and type in “Wyrick’s Writings”
Or type in the URL http://wyrickswritings.blogspot.com/
And, yes, maybe they will back track a few weeks to read other of my musings.
DO YOU HAVE A BLOG OR FACEBOOK? IF YOU ENJOY THESE WRITINGS COULD YOU CALL ATTENTION TO THIS BLOG? IF YOU DO, THANKS IN ADVANCE.
(Scroll down to read previous thoughts)
Why do some churches die? First, because they become spiritual Dead Seas, always feeding in on themselves.
Like an old car constantly recharging the battery but never driving out of the driveway.
Why do some churches die? Secondly, because they fall victim to an ill-conceived assumption, that they are limited by geography. “We should have built where people can daily SEE us?” rather than “We’ll BE SO BUSY to and for the people they will HEAR about us and then come to us on their own.”
Thirdly that religion is a Sunday thing and not be remembered or discussed on other days or other places. EMPTY CHURCHES DURING THE WEEK ALMOST GUARANTEE AN EMPTY CHURCH ON SUNDAY MORNING.
Fourthly, that whatever needs to be done to keep a church alive must be done by the clergy. Since laymen outnumber clergy believing this fourth reason to be true is enough in itself to court disaster.
Again, why do some churches grow? Because it’s members won’t shut up about their Lord or their church.
In THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON Boswell relates how as a boy Johnson refused to go to the market place with his father, to sell books. He was, for some boyish reason, ashamed. Years later, he was shamed by the remembrance of this refusal so much that as an old man he stood all one day in the spot where his father’s bookstall had been…the rain came down in torrents but he never moved.
Why do some churches die? Because it’s members, for some reason are ashamed and secretive and quiet about their faith, very very quiet.
In the 19th chapter of John, the 38th verse, there is the following quote “Joseph of Arimathea, a disciple of Jesus, but secretly.” That is the problem, now isn’t it? The secret society called Christians. Neither by word nor deed making anywhere near as big a mark on the community as it could and should.
Have a friend visit my ONE A DAY YOUR SPIRITUAL VITAMINS site. Have them go to Google and where it says “Google Search” type in “Neil Spiritual Vitamins”
Or type in the URL http://oneadayyourspiritualvitamins.blogspot.com/
And, yes, if this site has met any of your needs share it with a friend. Just have them go to “Google Search” and type in “Wyrick’s Writings”
Or type in the URL http://wyrickswritings.blogspot.com/
And, yes, maybe they will back track a few weeks to read other of my musings.
DO YOU HAVE A BLOG OR FACEBOOK? IF YOU ENJOY THESE WRITINGS COULD YOU CALL ATTENTION TO THIS BLOG? IF YOU DO, THANKS IN ADVANCE.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
FOUR IMPERATIVES!!!!
These thoughts are added to each Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday)
(Scroll down to read previous thoughts)
There are four imperatives that deserve our time and consideration.
There is repentance - which allows you to use a mistake as a stepping stone instead of a stumbling block. It is renouncing a bad yesterday for a better tomorrow. How you define it is your choice. Whether you repent or not is God’s imperative.
The second of the four imperatives is overwhelming love for God and your fellowman. Sometimes, for some people, it is easier to say, “I am sorry I was bad” than it is to love the neighbor they have been bad to. To love the unlovely is a challenge, but that is exactly what this imperative is all about.
Third, having asked forgiveness for what you did that was wrong yesterday, what do you plan to do to improve how you live tomorrow? It isn’t that God is not patient and loving. You never use up some spiritual quota of forgiveness. But gosh, a little honest effort at improvement would most likely be appreciated. And that an understatement.
What criteria should you set up? Well, questions such as: will you be a nicer? Make your husband or wife happier? Be more honest in all of your every day doings. Remember the commandments more readily and follow them more often? Those who work with you, will they be able to see a difference? Make a criteria list that never stops growing.
A story to make my point. A young man when he called on a girl for their second date was approached by her father with the following question, “Well, what are your intentions, young man?” The boy never moved so fast. He was gone in a second and was down the street faster than can be described. You see he didn’t have any intentions.
Some people have dates with the Lord but never have any intentions.
And yes, fourth - think about how often the word “way” is used in the Bible. Hundreds of times. “The way of the Lord is perfect.” (2nd Samuel) “The way of the ungodly shall (to) perish.” (1st Psalm) The question, when it comes to commitment…what are your intentions.
Have a friend visit my ONE A DAY YOUR SPIRITUAL VITAMINS site. Have them go to Google and where it says “Google Search” type in “Neil Spiritual Vitamins”
Or type in the URL http://oneadayyourspiritualvitamins.blogspot.com/
And, yes, if this site has met any of your needs share it with a friend. Just have them go to “Google Search” and type in “Wyrick’s Writings”
Or type in the URL http://wyrickswritings.blogspot.com/
And, yes, maybe they will back track a few weeks to read other of my musings.
DO YOU HAVE A BLOG OR FACEBOOK? IF YOU ENJOY THESE WRITINGS COULD YOU CALL ATTENTION TO THIS BLOG? IF YOU DO, THANKS IN ADVANCE.
(Scroll down to read previous thoughts)
There are four imperatives that deserve our time and consideration.
There is repentance - which allows you to use a mistake as a stepping stone instead of a stumbling block. It is renouncing a bad yesterday for a better tomorrow. How you define it is your choice. Whether you repent or not is God’s imperative.
The second of the four imperatives is overwhelming love for God and your fellowman. Sometimes, for some people, it is easier to say, “I am sorry I was bad” than it is to love the neighbor they have been bad to. To love the unlovely is a challenge, but that is exactly what this imperative is all about.
Third, having asked forgiveness for what you did that was wrong yesterday, what do you plan to do to improve how you live tomorrow? It isn’t that God is not patient and loving. You never use up some spiritual quota of forgiveness. But gosh, a little honest effort at improvement would most likely be appreciated. And that an understatement.
What criteria should you set up? Well, questions such as: will you be a nicer? Make your husband or wife happier? Be more honest in all of your every day doings. Remember the commandments more readily and follow them more often? Those who work with you, will they be able to see a difference? Make a criteria list that never stops growing.
A story to make my point. A young man when he called on a girl for their second date was approached by her father with the following question, “Well, what are your intentions, young man?” The boy never moved so fast. He was gone in a second and was down the street faster than can be described. You see he didn’t have any intentions.
Some people have dates with the Lord but never have any intentions.
And yes, fourth - think about how often the word “way” is used in the Bible. Hundreds of times. “The way of the Lord is perfect.” (2nd Samuel) “The way of the ungodly shall (to) perish.” (1st Psalm) The question, when it comes to commitment…what are your intentions.
Have a friend visit my ONE A DAY YOUR SPIRITUAL VITAMINS site. Have them go to Google and where it says “Google Search” type in “Neil Spiritual Vitamins”
Or type in the URL http://oneadayyourspiritualvitamins.blogspot.com/
And, yes, if this site has met any of your needs share it with a friend. Just have them go to “Google Search” and type in “Wyrick’s Writings”
Or type in the URL http://wyrickswritings.blogspot.com/
And, yes, maybe they will back track a few weeks to read other of my musings.
DO YOU HAVE A BLOG OR FACEBOOK? IF YOU ENJOY THESE WRITINGS COULD YOU CALL ATTENTION TO THIS BLOG? IF YOU DO, THANKS IN ADVANCE.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
WHY YOU HAVEN'T CHANGED A BIT
These thoughts are added to each Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday)
(Scroll down to read previous thoughts)
There is a favorite compliment that I imagine David spoke to Bathsheba in her waning years and probably Anthony must have given to Cleopatra when he returned to the fertile valley of the Nile, and every Joe and Jane banter about on every city street and country lane. It is the compliment that usually goes like this, “Why, Mary, you haven’t changed a bit.” I am aware of what this means, but if taken very literally, you suddenly realize it is no compliment.
To live from one day to the next and not change is an insult to your intelligence and blight on the sensitivity of your soul.
Some people go to sleep standing up. They never change. They live a lifetime in the same old rut. The rewrite the old favorite hymn to read, “Take my life and let it be, just like it was yesterdee." There is real danger in such a mode of living for it can change the road of life into a road to oblivion.
You see, if I were to meet a friend from my almost 60 years ago college days I want him to say, “Neil, you’ve changed. You are more mature, emotionally and spiritually. You may sag a little more here and there but I think you soul is firmer.”
I don’t know who first said it or who repeated it to me but one of my favorite quotes on this subject reads as follows. “Nobody can go back and start a new beginning but anyone can start today and make a new ending.”
Have a friend visit my ONE A DAY YOUR SPIRITUAL VITAMINS site. Have them go to Google and where it says “Google Search” type in “Neil Spiritual Vitamins”
And, yes, if this site has met any of your needs share it with a friend. Just have them go to “Google Search” and type in “Wyrick’s Writings”
And, yes, maybe they will back track a few weeks to read other of my musings.
(Scroll down to read previous thoughts)
There is a favorite compliment that I imagine David spoke to Bathsheba in her waning years and probably Anthony must have given to Cleopatra when he returned to the fertile valley of the Nile, and every Joe and Jane banter about on every city street and country lane. It is the compliment that usually goes like this, “Why, Mary, you haven’t changed a bit.” I am aware of what this means, but if taken very literally, you suddenly realize it is no compliment.
To live from one day to the next and not change is an insult to your intelligence and blight on the sensitivity of your soul.
Some people go to sleep standing up. They never change. They live a lifetime in the same old rut. The rewrite the old favorite hymn to read, “Take my life and let it be, just like it was yesterdee." There is real danger in such a mode of living for it can change the road of life into a road to oblivion.
You see, if I were to meet a friend from my almost 60 years ago college days I want him to say, “Neil, you’ve changed. You are more mature, emotionally and spiritually. You may sag a little more here and there but I think you soul is firmer.”
I don’t know who first said it or who repeated it to me but one of my favorite quotes on this subject reads as follows. “Nobody can go back and start a new beginning but anyone can start today and make a new ending.”
Have a friend visit my ONE A DAY YOUR SPIRITUAL VITAMINS site. Have them go to Google and where it says “Google Search” type in “Neil Spiritual Vitamins”
And, yes, if this site has met any of your needs share it with a friend. Just have them go to “Google Search” and type in “Wyrick’s Writings”
And, yes, maybe they will back track a few weeks to read other of my musings.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE?
These thoughts are added to each Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday)
(Scroll down to read previous thoughts)
Boring? Boring? Boring? Really? Why it is not boring at all but exciting!
The 5th chapter portion of Genesis is a series of begettings - “In this chapter beginning with the 18th verse it begins “When Jared had lived 162 years, he became the father of Enoch. And after he became the father of Enoch, Jared lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Jared lived 962 years, and then he died. When Enoch had lived 65 years, he became the father of Methuselah. And after he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked with God…”
It is one long list of beginnings and it is as about as boring as any genealogy can get. For thirty two verses all it does is list the names of people born and when they died. A nice neat long row of cradles followed by a nice neat long row of coffins.
We are told nothing about these individuals. Absolutely nothing. And then it reads, “And Enoch walked with God, and Enoch was not, for God took him.”
It is like a lightening bolt on a dull grey day. It is like a shout in the midst of deadly silence.
And as you read it you think to yourself, this Enoch must have had quite a relationship with the Kingdom of God to have been so singled out. This Enoch must have been quite a man.
“His name was Enoch and he walked with God.” Why did they write that? Did they write that because he refused to play the game called ring-around-the-gossip tree? Did they write that because he loved much and hated not at all? Did they write that because he listened to his own drummer and that drummer’s name was God? Did they write that because he prayed deep and rooted his faith deep and lived like it? Ask Enoch about his ongoing enthusiasm for God and he would probably have just smiled as if to say, “Is there any other way?”
His name had been Saul, a Roman citizen named after the first King of Israel. He had had a tremendous name change. He was a member of the tribe of Benjamin, which in that day was the same as being a member of the jet set. Certainly in the upper echelon. He had had wealth, position and leisure time when most people died of overwork at 40. He had been a follower of the majority opinion, which at the time was persecuting Christians. And then he had a name-changing experience on the road to Damascus. Accepted the Enoch principal. Became Paul.
Changed from persecutor to one who would now be persecuted.
Do you know what a life without a worthy purpose is? It is like a wheel with a lot of spokes but no hub. Does it make a difference? Well, let a cave prove to you it truly does.
You see, once upon a time there was a cave, and it was, as most caves are, a place of darkness. Then one day there came a persistent voice speaking to the cave and it kept saying, “Come out and find light.” And the cave replied, “There is no such thing as light, there is only darkness.” But the voice was persistent, so finally the cave came outside and found there was such a thing as light. Then the cave looked up and saw the sun and said, “Come down and enter at my opening I will show you darkness.” But the sun replied, “There is no such thing as darkness.” However, the cave was persistent, so the sun came down and went through the opening of the cave to find darkness. But there was no darkness, for where there is light it is never dark.
It is another week, another Sunday and we celebrate the Light of Life come to live among men. And it is not our call is to not go around in ritualistic circles but to live in such a manner we become in our 21st century more like Enoch of centuries ago. Enough so, that if we were written about in some genealogy it would read, “And Bill walked with God…” “And Mary walked with God.” And…
Have a friend visit my ONE A DAY YOUR SPIRITUAL VITAMINS site. Have them go to Google and where it says “Google Search” type in “Neil Spiritual Vitamins”
And, yes, if this site has met any of your needs share it with a friend. Just have them go to “Google Search” and type in “Wyrick’s Writings”
(Scroll down to read previous thoughts)
Boring? Boring? Boring? Really? Why it is not boring at all but exciting!
The 5th chapter portion of Genesis is a series of begettings - “In this chapter beginning with the 18th verse it begins “When Jared had lived 162 years, he became the father of Enoch. And after he became the father of Enoch, Jared lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Jared lived 962 years, and then he died. When Enoch had lived 65 years, he became the father of Methuselah. And after he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked with God…”
It is one long list of beginnings and it is as about as boring as any genealogy can get. For thirty two verses all it does is list the names of people born and when they died. A nice neat long row of cradles followed by a nice neat long row of coffins.
We are told nothing about these individuals. Absolutely nothing. And then it reads, “And Enoch walked with God, and Enoch was not, for God took him.”
It is like a lightening bolt on a dull grey day. It is like a shout in the midst of deadly silence.
And as you read it you think to yourself, this Enoch must have had quite a relationship with the Kingdom of God to have been so singled out. This Enoch must have been quite a man.
“His name was Enoch and he walked with God.” Why did they write that? Did they write that because he refused to play the game called ring-around-the-gossip tree? Did they write that because he loved much and hated not at all? Did they write that because he listened to his own drummer and that drummer’s name was God? Did they write that because he prayed deep and rooted his faith deep and lived like it? Ask Enoch about his ongoing enthusiasm for God and he would probably have just smiled as if to say, “Is there any other way?”
His name had been Saul, a Roman citizen named after the first King of Israel. He had had a tremendous name change. He was a member of the tribe of Benjamin, which in that day was the same as being a member of the jet set. Certainly in the upper echelon. He had had wealth, position and leisure time when most people died of overwork at 40. He had been a follower of the majority opinion, which at the time was persecuting Christians. And then he had a name-changing experience on the road to Damascus. Accepted the Enoch principal. Became Paul.
Changed from persecutor to one who would now be persecuted.
Do you know what a life without a worthy purpose is? It is like a wheel with a lot of spokes but no hub. Does it make a difference? Well, let a cave prove to you it truly does.
You see, once upon a time there was a cave, and it was, as most caves are, a place of darkness. Then one day there came a persistent voice speaking to the cave and it kept saying, “Come out and find light.” And the cave replied, “There is no such thing as light, there is only darkness.” But the voice was persistent, so finally the cave came outside and found there was such a thing as light. Then the cave looked up and saw the sun and said, “Come down and enter at my opening I will show you darkness.” But the sun replied, “There is no such thing as darkness.” However, the cave was persistent, so the sun came down and went through the opening of the cave to find darkness. But there was no darkness, for where there is light it is never dark.
It is another week, another Sunday and we celebrate the Light of Life come to live among men. And it is not our call is to not go around in ritualistic circles but to live in such a manner we become in our 21st century more like Enoch of centuries ago. Enough so, that if we were written about in some genealogy it would read, “And Bill walked with God…” “And Mary walked with God.” And…
Have a friend visit my ONE A DAY YOUR SPIRITUAL VITAMINS site. Have them go to Google and where it says “Google Search” type in “Neil Spiritual Vitamins”
And, yes, if this site has met any of your needs share it with a friend. Just have them go to “Google Search” and type in “Wyrick’s Writings”
Thursday, October 15, 2009
WHY YES? WHY NO?
WHY YES? WHY NO?
These thoughts are added to each Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday)
(Scroll down to read previous thoughts)
The following happens. Someone is truly considering joining the church and giving their lives to Christ and someone or ones comes up and says, “You must be ready and willing to read 5 chapters of the Bible every day and pray for 1 hour and 32 minutes every day and wear a certain type of clothing in a certain kind of way” or…whatever that person does that for them is right but not necessarily more righteous, and the new almost Christian becomes a “Not on your life Christian.”
And then there is the response that says I go to God and follow God not by rules but by that which is greater than any rule.
C.S. Lewis put it well, so very well indeed, “If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it, that does not prove that the universe is a fraud. Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing. If that is so, I must take care, on the one hand, never to despise, or be unthankful for, these earthly blessings, and on the other, never to mistake them for the something else of which they are only a kind of copy, or echo, or mirage. I must keep alive in myself the desire for my true country, which I shall not find till after death; I must never let it get snowed under or turned aside; I must make it the main object of life to press on to that other country and to help others to do the same."
Have a friend visit my ONE A DAY YOUR SPIRITUAL VITAMINS site. Have them go to Google and where it says “Google Search” type in “Neil Spiritual Vitamins”
And, yes, if this site has met any of your needs share it with a friend. Just have them go to “Google Search” and type in “Wyrick’s Writings”
And, yes, maybe they will back track a few weeks to read other of my musings.
These thoughts are added to each Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday)
(Scroll down to read previous thoughts)
The following happens. Someone is truly considering joining the church and giving their lives to Christ and someone or ones comes up and says, “You must be ready and willing to read 5 chapters of the Bible every day and pray for 1 hour and 32 minutes every day and wear a certain type of clothing in a certain kind of way” or…whatever that person does that for them is right but not necessarily more righteous, and the new almost Christian becomes a “Not on your life Christian.”
And then there is the response that says I go to God and follow God not by rules but by that which is greater than any rule.
C.S. Lewis put it well, so very well indeed, “If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it, that does not prove that the universe is a fraud. Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing. If that is so, I must take care, on the one hand, never to despise, or be unthankful for, these earthly blessings, and on the other, never to mistake them for the something else of which they are only a kind of copy, or echo, or mirage. I must keep alive in myself the desire for my true country, which I shall not find till after death; I must never let it get snowed under or turned aside; I must make it the main object of life to press on to that other country and to help others to do the same."
Have a friend visit my ONE A DAY YOUR SPIRITUAL VITAMINS site. Have them go to Google and where it says “Google Search” type in “Neil Spiritual Vitamins”
And, yes, if this site has met any of your needs share it with a friend. Just have them go to “Google Search” and type in “Wyrick’s Writings”
And, yes, maybe they will back track a few weeks to read other of my musings.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
AN EGG, A WATERMELLON AND A DIRTY BABY
(These thoughts are added to each Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday)
(Scroll down to read previous thoughts)
Sometime, somewhere, in the long ago someone took one look at an egg, tasted it’s shell, examined its texture and hardness and said to themselves, “This is worthless,” and then threw it away. It was, indeed, many many back in time but I have no doubt it happened. People throw away good and gracious things all the time.
Once upon a time someone picked up a heavy watermelon and ran their tongue along its greenness. It was heavy, ungainly and obviously unacceptable as an eatable. It had not passed a multiple of tests and so it obviously was of no use and so they threw it away. People with faulty observations and faulty conclusions throw good and gracious things away all the time.
The baby was dirty, dirtier than any baby had been in a long long while and so when the bath was finished the water was filthy. And someone then threw the baby out with the bathwater, the water so dirty they couldn’t see him. This I doubt. But it is an old saying “Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water.
People do this with faith. They see the faithless in the midst of the faithful. They concentrate on the hypocrite. They demand that Christians be perfect and when they reach wrong conclusions because of faulty observations they pass an eternal faith by because of temporal men leaving wrong impressions. Ah yes, good and gracious and in this case a great thing is thrown away. Why? Because people do this kind of thing all the time.
And you and me? Well, people are watching us. Always watching us and noting how much difference there is between our words and our deeds or very little difference at all. And if we are not careful we will lead people to throw away their faith…it shouldn’t be but it happens…
There is a kind of twisted logic about this kind of thinking and that is the problem. It is a twisted logic. It forgets that as I have said many many times the church is not a country club of saints but a congregation of sinners. And throwing out the fundamentals along with the foolish really is foolish.
“He that gives good advice, builds with one hand; he that gives good counsel and example, builds with both; but he that gives good admonition and bad example, builds with one hand and pulls down with the other.” (Francis Bacon, Sr.)
Have a friend visit my ONE A DAY YOUR SPIRITUAL VITAMINS site. Have them go to Google and where it says “Google Search” type in “Neil Spiritual Vitamins”
And, yes, if this site has met any of your needs share it with a friend. Just have them go to “Google Search” and type in “Wyrick’s Writings”
And, yes, maybe they will back track a few weeks to read other of my musings.
(Scroll down to read previous thoughts)
Sometime, somewhere, in the long ago someone took one look at an egg, tasted it’s shell, examined its texture and hardness and said to themselves, “This is worthless,” and then threw it away. It was, indeed, many many back in time but I have no doubt it happened. People throw away good and gracious things all the time.
Once upon a time someone picked up a heavy watermelon and ran their tongue along its greenness. It was heavy, ungainly and obviously unacceptable as an eatable. It had not passed a multiple of tests and so it obviously was of no use and so they threw it away. People with faulty observations and faulty conclusions throw good and gracious things away all the time.
The baby was dirty, dirtier than any baby had been in a long long while and so when the bath was finished the water was filthy. And someone then threw the baby out with the bathwater, the water so dirty they couldn’t see him. This I doubt. But it is an old saying “Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water.
People do this with faith. They see the faithless in the midst of the faithful. They concentrate on the hypocrite. They demand that Christians be perfect and when they reach wrong conclusions because of faulty observations they pass an eternal faith by because of temporal men leaving wrong impressions. Ah yes, good and gracious and in this case a great thing is thrown away. Why? Because people do this kind of thing all the time.
And you and me? Well, people are watching us. Always watching us and noting how much difference there is between our words and our deeds or very little difference at all. And if we are not careful we will lead people to throw away their faith…it shouldn’t be but it happens…
There is a kind of twisted logic about this kind of thinking and that is the problem. It is a twisted logic. It forgets that as I have said many many times the church is not a country club of saints but a congregation of sinners. And throwing out the fundamentals along with the foolish really is foolish.
“He that gives good advice, builds with one hand; he that gives good counsel and example, builds with both; but he that gives good admonition and bad example, builds with one hand and pulls down with the other.” (Francis Bacon, Sr.)
Have a friend visit my ONE A DAY YOUR SPIRITUAL VITAMINS site. Have them go to Google and where it says “Google Search” type in “Neil Spiritual Vitamins”
And, yes, if this site has met any of your needs share it with a friend. Just have them go to “Google Search” and type in “Wyrick’s Writings”
And, yes, maybe they will back track a few weeks to read other of my musings.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
WHO IS GOD?
(These thoughts are added to each Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday)
(Scroll down to read previous thoughts)
I don’t remember how my thinking processes worked when I was pre-double-digit-age, and probably neither do you. Nine years old? Eight years old? That was a million years ago. However, I’m sure my thoughts were quite simple and uncomplicated, for most of we adults did once think as a child.
However, as we have grown up, too often we have foolishly put away what we now call childish things and make everything very complicated.
Ask a theologian who this God is that I keep talking about being nearer to and he can go on forever.
Ask a child what he thinks about God and…well, I sat down and began to think about what my children and grandchildren have said about God, and children I’ve worked with at camps and vacation Bible school and some thoughts other children have written down through the years. And all kind of sources that have gotten inside a children’s mind.
Here are a few of their thoughts, condensed but true to their childish insights.
God makes people and he’s pretty good at it because he’s been doing it a long time. He doesn’t make grown-ups, just babies, because he decided a long time ago that grown-ups can sometimes be very difficult to get along with.
God spends a lot of time listening to prayers and that makes everyone feel very good when they get around to talking to Him. But some people get too busy and only pray when they’re scared. That seems stupid to me because I know that if I don’t talk to my friends very often, we’re not that good a friend anymore.
There are some people who are called atheists because they don’t believe in God. I’m sure this makes God unhappy but just because they don’t believe in Him doesn’t mean He doesn’t exist. I feel sorry for them.
I haven’t been eight or nine years old for a long time, but yes, I think that’s pretty much the way lots of children would put it. Nearer my God to Thee? What was it Jesus said? “Suffer the little children to come unto me.”
Have a friend visit my ONE A DAY YOUR SPIRITUAL VITAMINS site. Have them go to Google and where it says “Google Search” type in “Neil Spiritual Vitamins”
And, yes, if this site has met any of your needs share it with a friend. Just have them go to “Google Search” and type in “Wyrick’s Writings”
And, yes, maybe they will back track a few weeks to read other of my musings.
(Scroll down to read previous thoughts)
I don’t remember how my thinking processes worked when I was pre-double-digit-age, and probably neither do you. Nine years old? Eight years old? That was a million years ago. However, I’m sure my thoughts were quite simple and uncomplicated, for most of we adults did once think as a child.
However, as we have grown up, too often we have foolishly put away what we now call childish things and make everything very complicated.
Ask a theologian who this God is that I keep talking about being nearer to and he can go on forever.
Ask a child what he thinks about God and…well, I sat down and began to think about what my children and grandchildren have said about God, and children I’ve worked with at camps and vacation Bible school and some thoughts other children have written down through the years. And all kind of sources that have gotten inside a children’s mind.
Here are a few of their thoughts, condensed but true to their childish insights.
God makes people and he’s pretty good at it because he’s been doing it a long time. He doesn’t make grown-ups, just babies, because he decided a long time ago that grown-ups can sometimes be very difficult to get along with.
God spends a lot of time listening to prayers and that makes everyone feel very good when they get around to talking to Him. But some people get too busy and only pray when they’re scared. That seems stupid to me because I know that if I don’t talk to my friends very often, we’re not that good a friend anymore.
There are some people who are called atheists because they don’t believe in God. I’m sure this makes God unhappy but just because they don’t believe in Him doesn’t mean He doesn’t exist. I feel sorry for them.
I haven’t been eight or nine years old for a long time, but yes, I think that’s pretty much the way lots of children would put it. Nearer my God to Thee? What was it Jesus said? “Suffer the little children to come unto me.”
Have a friend visit my ONE A DAY YOUR SPIRITUAL VITAMINS site. Have them go to Google and where it says “Google Search” type in “Neil Spiritual Vitamins”
And, yes, if this site has met any of your needs share it with a friend. Just have them go to “Google Search” and type in “Wyrick’s Writings”
And, yes, maybe they will back track a few weeks to read other of my musings.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
MAJOR, MINOR AND OTHERWISE
(These thoughts are added to each Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday)
(Scroll down to read previous thoughts)
There was a young man who was able to attend college courtesy of a baseball scholarship. He was an average student at best and his Biblical background was close to nil. However, the school required that he take a Bible course which he actually found to his liking. It did not however make him anywhere near as good a student as a baseball player. Therefore, when examination time came, knowing that the professor always asked for a listing of the Kings of Israel and Judah, he properly prepared. It was a long an arduous task, but he succeeded and entered the classroom ready to be tested.
But in this particular year, the professor turned the tables on him. Instead of asking for a listing of the Kings of Israel and Judah, he asked for a listing of the major and minor prophets. The baseball player/student’s response was interesting to say the least. On his examination paper he wrote the following:
“Who am I, a sophomore in college, of limited intellectual capacities, to be so presumptuous as to be able to evaluate and prioritize which of the prophets were major and which of the prophets were minor when all of them were great enough to be authors of God’s Holy Word, the Bible? Therefore, I will make no attempt to do this on this examination, but I do feel that I am qualified to list the Kings of Israel and the Kings of Judah.”
He then proceeded to do so.
Did he pass? I haven’t got a clue, but my memory lane reminds me what I did on my college chemistry exam one year. Rather than give the answers in a traditional manner, I decided to turn my answers into a baseball game with all the different chemicals interacting as if they were playing out their roles on a baseball field.
Perhaps I put my old chemistry professor in a state of shock. I don’t know. Obviously I passed. A sense of humor isn’t a bad companion along the highway of life either.
One of the ways Jesus can help us with our worries is not to necessarily be able to name the major and minor prophets, but certainly to help us to recognize what are major and minor problems.
Some people have a Ph.D. in worry and each day line up at least a dozen things to worry about before the sun is tree high on the horizon.
Not good. Not good at all. If we can’t differentiate BETWEEN WHAT IS MAJOR AND WHAT IS MINOR, we are all capable of worrying ourselves to death sometimes over things that don’t require or earn the right to be that much worried about.
Indeed, it is amazing how much trouble a professional worrier can accumulate without any collateral.
Have a friend visit my ONE A DAY YOUR SPIRITUAL VITAMINS site. Have them go to Google and where it says “Google Search” type in “Neil Spiritual Vitamins”
And, yes, if this site has met any of your needs share it with a friend. Just have them go to “Google Search” and type in “Wyrick’s Writings”
And, yes, maybe they will back track a few weeks to read other of my musings.
(Scroll down to read previous thoughts)
There was a young man who was able to attend college courtesy of a baseball scholarship. He was an average student at best and his Biblical background was close to nil. However, the school required that he take a Bible course which he actually found to his liking. It did not however make him anywhere near as good a student as a baseball player. Therefore, when examination time came, knowing that the professor always asked for a listing of the Kings of Israel and Judah, he properly prepared. It was a long an arduous task, but he succeeded and entered the classroom ready to be tested.
But in this particular year, the professor turned the tables on him. Instead of asking for a listing of the Kings of Israel and Judah, he asked for a listing of the major and minor prophets. The baseball player/student’s response was interesting to say the least. On his examination paper he wrote the following:
“Who am I, a sophomore in college, of limited intellectual capacities, to be so presumptuous as to be able to evaluate and prioritize which of the prophets were major and which of the prophets were minor when all of them were great enough to be authors of God’s Holy Word, the Bible? Therefore, I will make no attempt to do this on this examination, but I do feel that I am qualified to list the Kings of Israel and the Kings of Judah.”
He then proceeded to do so.
Did he pass? I haven’t got a clue, but my memory lane reminds me what I did on my college chemistry exam one year. Rather than give the answers in a traditional manner, I decided to turn my answers into a baseball game with all the different chemicals interacting as if they were playing out their roles on a baseball field.
Perhaps I put my old chemistry professor in a state of shock. I don’t know. Obviously I passed. A sense of humor isn’t a bad companion along the highway of life either.
One of the ways Jesus can help us with our worries is not to necessarily be able to name the major and minor prophets, but certainly to help us to recognize what are major and minor problems.
Some people have a Ph.D. in worry and each day line up at least a dozen things to worry about before the sun is tree high on the horizon.
Not good. Not good at all. If we can’t differentiate BETWEEN WHAT IS MAJOR AND WHAT IS MINOR, we are all capable of worrying ourselves to death sometimes over things that don’t require or earn the right to be that much worried about.
Indeed, it is amazing how much trouble a professional worrier can accumulate without any collateral.
Have a friend visit my ONE A DAY YOUR SPIRITUAL VITAMINS site. Have them go to Google and where it says “Google Search” type in “Neil Spiritual Vitamins”
And, yes, if this site has met any of your needs share it with a friend. Just have them go to “Google Search” and type in “Wyrick’s Writings”
And, yes, maybe they will back track a few weeks to read other of my musings.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
THE NORMAN VINCENT PEALE OF 20 CENTURIES AGO
(These thoughts are added to each Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday)
(Scroll down to read previous thoughts)
If you were sitting in the county jail with the usual kind of individuals who people such places, would you be anxious or at ease? If it looked as if you might soon be walking down execution row, how do you think you would handle it? To top it all off, suppose you hadn’t been feeling very good. Indeed, were pretty sick and worried about maybe getting sicker.
Well, meet the Apostle Paul, because these were his problems. Things had gone from bad to worse and weren’t getting any better. So what did he do? Well, he did not begin to beat his head against his jail bars in frustration. He did not throw a hissy fit. He just kept repeating over and over and over again, “Rejoice!”
And then sat down and began to write to his largely Gentile congregation in Philippi a letter filled with exuberant optimism. Unbelievably, not with fear and frustration oozing out of every sentence, but rather with a host of whoopee admonitions: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God. And the peace of God which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Paul was the Norman Vincent Peale of 20 centuries ago.
Worry about nothing - pray about everything, he admonishes. Read the entire book of Philippians and it really begins to get down to the nitty-gritty. A quitter never wins. A winner never quits. Hang in there.
Jesus doesn’t hold back. “Watch out,” He says, “I’m going to make you a better, stronger edition than you would ever be without me.”
Perfect? Don’t hold your breath, but better, stronger, definitely.
Have a friend visit my ONE A DAY YOUR SPIRITUAL VITAMINS site. Have them go to Google and where it says “Google Search” type in “Neil Spiritual Vitamins”
And, yes, if this site has met any of your needs share it with a friend. Just have them go to “Google Search” and type in “Wyrick’s Writings”
And, yes, maybe they will back track a few weeks to read other of my musings.
(Scroll down to read previous thoughts)
If you were sitting in the county jail with the usual kind of individuals who people such places, would you be anxious or at ease? If it looked as if you might soon be walking down execution row, how do you think you would handle it? To top it all off, suppose you hadn’t been feeling very good. Indeed, were pretty sick and worried about maybe getting sicker.
Well, meet the Apostle Paul, because these were his problems. Things had gone from bad to worse and weren’t getting any better. So what did he do? Well, he did not begin to beat his head against his jail bars in frustration. He did not throw a hissy fit. He just kept repeating over and over and over again, “Rejoice!”
And then sat down and began to write to his largely Gentile congregation in Philippi a letter filled with exuberant optimism. Unbelievably, not with fear and frustration oozing out of every sentence, but rather with a host of whoopee admonitions: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God. And the peace of God which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Paul was the Norman Vincent Peale of 20 centuries ago.
Worry about nothing - pray about everything, he admonishes. Read the entire book of Philippians and it really begins to get down to the nitty-gritty. A quitter never wins. A winner never quits. Hang in there.
Jesus doesn’t hold back. “Watch out,” He says, “I’m going to make you a better, stronger edition than you would ever be without me.”
Perfect? Don’t hold your breath, but better, stronger, definitely.
Have a friend visit my ONE A DAY YOUR SPIRITUAL VITAMINS site. Have them go to Google and where it says “Google Search” type in “Neil Spiritual Vitamins”
And, yes, if this site has met any of your needs share it with a friend. Just have them go to “Google Search” and type in “Wyrick’s Writings”
And, yes, maybe they will back track a few weeks to read other of my musings.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
FROM THE WILDERNESS TO WASHINGTON
SOME THOUGHTS FROM MY 9TH BOOK “The Spiritual Abraham Lincoln)
(These thoughts are added to each Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday)
(Scroll down to read previous thoughts)
“When Abe swore on the Bible to uphold the Constitution, the faith he brought with him helped him to honestly support the five reference to God found in the Declaration of Independence; supreme Lawmaker, Creator, Source of certain unalienable rights, world’s supreme Judge and Protector on whom we can rely. It is not that an atheist or agnostic could not pay lip service to these; it is just that an obvious lack of enthusiasm would make its mark.”
“Incredibly, few had envisioned all the maimed and wounded on both sides of the Mason-Dixon Line. Bullets would now proliferate because ballots had failed, until finally one day, like all wars, it would come to a final bitter end."
In Washington there was nothing Lincoln could do when things in the field got out of hand. He was their Commander-in-Chief, but he could not be everywhere. He could speak with an unrelenting concern, but his words could not control every soldier dressed in blue. He watched and prayed that the weariness of war, if not wisdom, would make it all soon come to an end. And when that finally happened, that good men in both North and South would outnumber the bad.”
“Lincoln believed that “We should be too big to take offense and too noble to give it.” And, “I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom, and that of all about me, seemed insufficient for the day.”
This child of the wilderness had had no city lights to mute the stars or compete with moonlight. He had watched his own growing, side by side with all the other growing things in field and forest. It seemed natural to him to ponder that human life must be more of mind, and soul a reality.”
"Though six-foot four and weighing one hundred eighty-four pounds, Abraham Lincoln was never too big for his long legged britches. He was not overly impressed with himself, but always impressed by the works of the Almighty.
In his growing up he knew little of the thin two hundred square mile strip of civilization hugging the eastern coast. He would, of course, live and die there one day, this man who would travel so far from the wilderness to Washington. Would travel, but never alone, for his was a soul attuned to heaven.
Much has been made of the fact that Lincoln’s death took place on Good Friday, and that while Christ died for the world, Lincoln died for his country. Certainly he was no saint, but he was a good and kindly man who brought his Christian heart to Washington along with his head.”
Have a friend visit my ONE A DAY YOUR SPIRITUAL VITAMINS site. Have them go to Google and where it says “Google Search” type in “Neil Spiritual Vitamins”
And, yes, if this site has met any of your needs share it with a friend. Just have them go to “Google Search” and type in “Wyrick’s Writings”
And, yes, maybe they will back track a few weeks to read other of my musings.
(These thoughts are added to each Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday)
(Scroll down to read previous thoughts)
“When Abe swore on the Bible to uphold the Constitution, the faith he brought with him helped him to honestly support the five reference to God found in the Declaration of Independence; supreme Lawmaker, Creator, Source of certain unalienable rights, world’s supreme Judge and Protector on whom we can rely. It is not that an atheist or agnostic could not pay lip service to these; it is just that an obvious lack of enthusiasm would make its mark.”
“Incredibly, few had envisioned all the maimed and wounded on both sides of the Mason-Dixon Line. Bullets would now proliferate because ballots had failed, until finally one day, like all wars, it would come to a final bitter end."
In Washington there was nothing Lincoln could do when things in the field got out of hand. He was their Commander-in-Chief, but he could not be everywhere. He could speak with an unrelenting concern, but his words could not control every soldier dressed in blue. He watched and prayed that the weariness of war, if not wisdom, would make it all soon come to an end. And when that finally happened, that good men in both North and South would outnumber the bad.”
“Lincoln believed that “We should be too big to take offense and too noble to give it.” And, “I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom, and that of all about me, seemed insufficient for the day.”
This child of the wilderness had had no city lights to mute the stars or compete with moonlight. He had watched his own growing, side by side with all the other growing things in field and forest. It seemed natural to him to ponder that human life must be more of mind, and soul a reality.”
"Though six-foot four and weighing one hundred eighty-four pounds, Abraham Lincoln was never too big for his long legged britches. He was not overly impressed with himself, but always impressed by the works of the Almighty.
In his growing up he knew little of the thin two hundred square mile strip of civilization hugging the eastern coast. He would, of course, live and die there one day, this man who would travel so far from the wilderness to Washington. Would travel, but never alone, for his was a soul attuned to heaven.
Much has been made of the fact that Lincoln’s death took place on Good Friday, and that while Christ died for the world, Lincoln died for his country. Certainly he was no saint, but he was a good and kindly man who brought his Christian heart to Washington along with his head.”
Have a friend visit my ONE A DAY YOUR SPIRITUAL VITAMINS site. Have them go to Google and where it says “Google Search” type in “Neil Spiritual Vitamins”
And, yes, if this site has met any of your needs share it with a friend. Just have them go to “Google Search” and type in “Wyrick’s Writings”
And, yes, maybe they will back track a few weeks to read other of my musings.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
WHAT DOES MAKE SENSE?
(These thoughts are added to each Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday)
Christianity doesn’t make good sense This business of thinking of other people before yourself. Giving away money instead of keeping it. Sacrificing time and energy in some idiotic expression of benevolence. Wearing out your heart and head over other people’s problems when you have enough of your own. The only thing that makes sense is selfishness. Get all you can. Keep all you can. Let the other fellow get by as best he can. Create your own private little corporation of greed and selfishness.
And there are those who prove by their actions, if not by the wringing out of their inner thoughts, that they do think this way. And the world is hardly a better place each time this all comes true. Because...
There are three divine imperatives in the Christian faith and they do make good sense.
They are justice, love and mercy.
These three divine imperatives do make good sense but what doesn’t make good sense is our refusal to too often practice them.
We certainly can’t blame ignorance for our behavior. We know enough about Christ divine imperatives. It’s the not doing that doesn’t make sense. Or as a man named Chesterton commented, “Christianity has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult and not tried.”
You know why more Christians don’t act like it and in the process inspire more non-Christians? Well, I think sometimes we’re so busy claiming the rest of the world is going to the dogs we forget to examine our own kennel.
In a biography I read many years ago a man tells of a time when he sat one morning as a little boy in church and felt the presence of Almighty God. The feeling was so magnificent and vivid that he could hardly wait for the service to end so he could share it with others who worshipped with him. When the service was over, he rushed over to a group of adults and admittedly made a fumbling attempt to explain. They politely ignored him. One even made a quip about how church had been hard on him that morning. And they went back to talking about business, what they had planned for the afternoon, and all the usual trivia that can be part and parcel of conversations. At this moment, the little boy began to become disillusioned with religion.
It was not until many years later when he was a young man that he again returned to church. His first Sunday back he again sensed the overwhelming Holy presence of his Creator. Again when the service was over, he sought out some adults to share the experience with. Again he was politely but specifically ignored. Again, it seem a subject somewhat embarrassing to them. And he says he felt like shouting at them…”Look who’s here! Your God. You just finished worshipping Him. You just finished singing to His glory and praying to His power. How can you be so embarrassed, so reluctant, so inarticulate about the very sense and source of your being? Is it that worship is for you a nothing, and therefore you have nothing to say?”
When was the last time you had a religious experience? Felt the presence of God’s hand in yours? Felt God’s warm power and peace inside? Felt God so real and near, you would like to have captured the moment and never let it go?
Perhaps it was when you stood by a coffin and cried out, “God, help me and He did.” Perhaps it was when you first fell in love and felt like shouting for all the world to hear, “God, thank you.” Perhaps, it was when you were sick and afraid and you prayed, “God, don’t let me die., and God heard your prayer. And today your hearing these words is proof He heard you.
From the cradle to the grave is a long journey. It is also an education. It is also a challenge. It’s beginning is a miracle, it’s end a mystery. The man of faith says it is of God.
A young man went to his minister and told im of his lifes ambitions. He said, “I plan to go to the University and become an architect.” “What then?” asked his minister. “Well, I expect to become famous by designing magnificent public buildings.” “What then?” asked his minister? “I expect to marry and have family.” “What then/” continued the reply. “I expect to become wealthy and retire.” What then?’ “Oh, I see what you mean. I will then make my peace with God.” “Why not do that in the first place?”
Have a friend visit my ONE A DAY YOUR SPIRITUAL VITAMINS site. Have them go to Google and where it says “Google Search” type in “Neil Spiritual Vitamins”
And, yes, if this site has met any of your needs share it with a friend. Just have them go to “Google Search” and type in “Wyrick’s Writings”
And, yes, maybe they will back track a few weeks to read other of my musings.
Christianity doesn’t make good sense This business of thinking of other people before yourself. Giving away money instead of keeping it. Sacrificing time and energy in some idiotic expression of benevolence. Wearing out your heart and head over other people’s problems when you have enough of your own. The only thing that makes sense is selfishness. Get all you can. Keep all you can. Let the other fellow get by as best he can. Create your own private little corporation of greed and selfishness.
And there are those who prove by their actions, if not by the wringing out of their inner thoughts, that they do think this way. And the world is hardly a better place each time this all comes true. Because...
There are three divine imperatives in the Christian faith and they do make good sense.
They are justice, love and mercy.
These three divine imperatives do make good sense but what doesn’t make good sense is our refusal to too often practice them.
We certainly can’t blame ignorance for our behavior. We know enough about Christ divine imperatives. It’s the not doing that doesn’t make sense. Or as a man named Chesterton commented, “Christianity has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult and not tried.”
You know why more Christians don’t act like it and in the process inspire more non-Christians? Well, I think sometimes we’re so busy claiming the rest of the world is going to the dogs we forget to examine our own kennel.
In a biography I read many years ago a man tells of a time when he sat one morning as a little boy in church and felt the presence of Almighty God. The feeling was so magnificent and vivid that he could hardly wait for the service to end so he could share it with others who worshipped with him. When the service was over, he rushed over to a group of adults and admittedly made a fumbling attempt to explain. They politely ignored him. One even made a quip about how church had been hard on him that morning. And they went back to talking about business, what they had planned for the afternoon, and all the usual trivia that can be part and parcel of conversations. At this moment, the little boy began to become disillusioned with religion.
It was not until many years later when he was a young man that he again returned to church. His first Sunday back he again sensed the overwhelming Holy presence of his Creator. Again when the service was over, he sought out some adults to share the experience with. Again he was politely but specifically ignored. Again, it seem a subject somewhat embarrassing to them. And he says he felt like shouting at them…”Look who’s here! Your God. You just finished worshipping Him. You just finished singing to His glory and praying to His power. How can you be so embarrassed, so reluctant, so inarticulate about the very sense and source of your being? Is it that worship is for you a nothing, and therefore you have nothing to say?”
When was the last time you had a religious experience? Felt the presence of God’s hand in yours? Felt God’s warm power and peace inside? Felt God so real and near, you would like to have captured the moment and never let it go?
Perhaps it was when you stood by a coffin and cried out, “God, help me and He did.” Perhaps it was when you first fell in love and felt like shouting for all the world to hear, “God, thank you.” Perhaps, it was when you were sick and afraid and you prayed, “God, don’t let me die., and God heard your prayer. And today your hearing these words is proof He heard you.
From the cradle to the grave is a long journey. It is also an education. It is also a challenge. It’s beginning is a miracle, it’s end a mystery. The man of faith says it is of God.
A young man went to his minister and told im of his lifes ambitions. He said, “I plan to go to the University and become an architect.” “What then?” asked his minister. “Well, I expect to become famous by designing magnificent public buildings.” “What then?” asked his minister? “I expect to marry and have family.” “What then/” continued the reply. “I expect to become wealthy and retire.” What then?’ “Oh, I see what you mean. I will then make my peace with God.” “Why not do that in the first place?”
Have a friend visit my ONE A DAY YOUR SPIRITUAL VITAMINS site. Have them go to Google and where it says “Google Search” type in “Neil Spiritual Vitamins”
And, yes, if this site has met any of your needs share it with a friend. Just have them go to “Google Search” and type in “Wyrick’s Writings”
And, yes, maybe they will back track a few weeks to read other of my musings.
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