Tuesday, November 11, 2008

God's Love

We call it mercy - it is God's forgiving love.
We call it providence - it is God's caring love.
We call it kindness - it is God's understanding love.
We call it Christ's passion and death - it is God's proven love.
We call it happiness - it is God's encouraging love.
We call it the will of God - it is God's unerring love.
We call it heaven - it is God's rewarding love.
We call it eternity - it is God's unending love

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Mission / Purpose of the Church

On a dangerous seacoast where shipwrecks often occur, there was once a crude little lifesaving station. The building was just a hut, there was only one boat, but a few devoted members kept constant watch over the sea. With no thought for themselves, they went out day and night tirelessly searching for the lost. Many lives were saved by this station. Soon the station became famous. Some of those who were saved, and various others in the local area. wanted to become associated with the station, giving of their time, money and effort for the support of its work. New boats were bought, new crews trained.

Some of the members of the station were unhappy that the building was so crude and poorly equipped. They felt that a more comfortable place should be provided as the first refuge of those saved from the sea. They replaced the emergency cots with beds, put better furniture in an enlarged building and used the station as a popular gathering place for its members. Fewer members were interested in going to sea on lifesaving missions, so they hired lifeboat crews to do this work.

Then a large ship was wrecked off the coast, the hired crews brought in boatloads of cold, wet, half-drowned people. They were dirty and sick, and some had black skin, while others had yellow skin. The beautiful new club was in chaos.

At the next meeting there was a split in the club membership. most of the members wanted to stop the lifesaving activities as being unpleasant and a hindrance to the normal social life of the club. Some members insisted upon lifesaving as their primary purpose, pointing out that they were still called a lifesaving station. These members were voted down with "If you want to save the lives of all the various kinds of people shipwrecked in these waters, begin you own lifesaving station down the coast."

This these members did, but the station experienced similar changes as before. The station evolved into a club, another lifesaving station was formed. History continued to repeat itself. The coast line has a number of exclusive clubs along the shore. Shipwrecks still occur, but most of the people drown.

Brokenness

God uses broken things. It takes soil to produce a crop, broken clouds to give rain, broken grain to give bread, broken bread to give strength. It is the broken alabaster box that gives forth perfume... it is Peter, weeping bitterly, who returns to greater power than ever.

Where is happiness?

Not in unbelief -- Voltaire was an infidel of the most pronounced type. He wrote: "I wish I had never been born."
Not in pleasure -- Lord Byron lived a life of pleasure, if anyone did. He wrote: "The worm, the canker and the grief are mine alone."
Not in money -- Jay Gould, the American millionaire, had plenty of that. When dying, he said: "I suppose I am the most miserable man on earth."
Not in possesion and fame -- Lord Beaconsfield enjoyed more than his share of both. He wrote: "Youth is a mistake, manhood a struggle, old age a regret."
Not in military glory -- Alexander the Great conquered the known world of his day. Having done so, he wept in his tent, because, as he said: "There are no more worlds to conquer."
Where, then is happiness found?

The answer is simple: "In Christ alone." He said: "I will see you again and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you." (John 16:22)

Monday, March 10, 2008

The Teacup




There was a couple who used to go to England to shop in the beautiful stores. They both liked antiques and pottery and especially teacups. This was their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary. One day in this beautiful shop they saw a beautiful teacup.They said, "May we see that? We've never seen one quite so beautiful."
As the lady handed it to them, suddenly the teacup spoke.
"You don't understand," it said. "I haven't always been a teacup. There was a time when I was red and I was clay. My master took me and rolled me and patted me over and over and I yelled out, 'let me alone, but he only smiled, 'Not yet.'
"Then I was placed on a spinning wheel," the teacup said, "and suddenly I was spun around and around and around. Stop it! I'm getting dizzy! I screamed. But the master only nodded and said, 'Not yet.'
Then he put me in the oven. I never felt such heat. I wondered why he wanted to burn me, and I yelled and knocked at the door. I could see him through the opening and I could read his lips as He shook His head, 'Not yet.'
Finally the door opened, he put me on the shelf, and I began to cool. 'There, that's better,' I said. And he brushed and painted me all over. The fumes were horrible. I thought I would gag. 'Stop it, stop it!' I cried. He only nodded, 'Not yet.'
Then suddenly he put me back into the oven, not like the first one. This was twice as hot and I knew I would suffocate. I begged. I pleaded. I screamed. I cried. All the time I could see him through the opening nodding his head saying, 'Not yet.'
Then I knew there wasn't any hope. I would never make it. I was ready to give up. But the door opened and he took me out and placed me on the shelf. One hour later he handed me a mirror and said, 'Look at yourself. And I did. I said, 'That's not me; that couldn't be me. It's beautiful. I'm beautiful.' 'I want you to remember, then,' he said, 'I know it hurts to be rolled and patted, but if I had left you alone, you'd have dried up. I know it made you dizzy to spin around on the wheel, but if I had stopped, you would have crumbled. I knew it hurt and was hot an disagreeable in the oven, but if I hadn't put you there, you would have cracked. I know the fumes were bad when I brushed and painted you all over, but if I hadn't done that, you never would have hardened; you would not have had any color in your life. And if I hadn't put you back in that second oven, you wouldn't survive for very long because the hardness would not have held. Now you are a finished product. You are what I had in mind when I first began with you.

Always Remember Those Who Serve

In the days when an ice cream sundae cost much less, a 10 year old boy entered a hotel coffee shop and sat at a table. A waitress put a glass of water in front of him."How much is an ice cream sundae?""Fifty cents," replied the waitress.The little boy pulled his hand out of his pocket and studied a number of coins in it."How much is a dish of plain ice cream?" he inquired.Some people were now waiting for a table and the waitress was a bit impatient."Thirty-five cents," she said brusquely.The little boy again counted the coins. "I'll have the plain ice cream," he said.The waitress brought the ice cream, put the bill on the table and walked away. The boy finished the ice cream, paid the cashier and departed. When the waitress came back, she began wiping down the table and then swallowed hard at what she saw. There, placed neatly beside the empty dish, were two nickels and five pennies - her tip