| Prior Date | Archive Index | Next Date |
|
WITandWISDOM(tm) - April 7, 1998 THOUGHTS: I have learned that sometimes all a person needs is a hand to hold and a heart to understand. - Author Unknown (Shared by Evelyn Hall) SPECIAL THOUGHTS: A Pause to Ponder God's Word "Crucified with Christ" Part 1 of 2 The greatest struggle in the Christian's life is a control issue. We want Jesus to be Lord but we don't want to loose control of our lives. We want to call the shots. Jesus is Lord - conditionally. That is, He is Lord as long as His will and direction agree with what we want. As someone once said, "the problem with a live sacrifice is that it continually climbs off the altar." This is the crux of our problem. As soon as we give ourselves to the Lord we are taking back what we gave Him - we climb off the altar. "I" keeps control, maintains lordship. Is there an answer to this wrestling, up and down life. Well, the way to ensure that the sacrifice remains on the altar it to kill it. Galatians 2:20 reveals how this is done for us; "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me." "I" is crucified and we are raised in Christ. "I" is not obliterated, rather given true life and made subservient to Christ's Lordship. He is our life; our identity; our Lord. He is the ground to our being. We are freed from self-domination. We are liberated from self-obsession. We are emancipated so that we can fully love and serve God will all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. J. D. McClurkan stated it well: "There is a sinful self to be crucified with Christ; a true self to be realized in Christ; and a human self to be disciplined by Christ." - Keep Close To Jesus, Pastor Gerry http://wesley.nnc.edu/churches/pausetoponder (Shared by Carol) THIS & THAT: Roosevelt and Deelya were astonished when Noah selected them to be the ants to represent their species in the ark. After all, they were considered inferior by the other ants in the anthill because of their large odor sensors. In humility they bowed before Noah and said "We is honored to join you in this here boat" although they weren't really sure what a boat was. In fact, just that same day they had heard a couple of termites joking about "Noah's Folly", saying the wood wasn't any good for chewing. Roosevelt and Deelya were glad they were small, because Noah was really packing the animals in, and things were getting crowded. Just when it seemed there was absolutely no room for anything else, water began to fall from the sky and Noah shut the doors. Soon the ark began to rock, and it floated off into the growing storm, with all hands (several thousand, including itty-bitty flea feet)accounted for. It was the middle of the night when the ark struck the side of Mt. Ararat (originally called Mt. Watchoutforthat). The sudden jolt and list to starboard woke the animals abruptly from their slumber. In the ensuing melee, Padre Porcupine accidently stuck Signor Skunk in the buttocks, causing the poor skunk to emit a full charge of "eau de pew" into the chaos. Noah had his hands full trying to secure the ark and get everybody quieted down. Some accounts, particularly from the giraffes, had God appearing with a clothespin on his nose, which uniquely altered his stentorian voice. But most likely God answered Noah's frantic prayer by giving him a spontaneous clear insight. In any event, Noah located Roosevelt and Deelya hiding in a coil of rope and said, "Friends, I need your help. I have all I can handle securing this arc and calming the bigger animals. God has told me that you have a special gift for getting rid of this skunk stink. Will you help me?" Deelya looked at Roosevelt. "What gift be dat?" she asked. "Only things different 'bout us be dese puffy noses, and child, they is getting a workout right about now." But Roosevelt, although unaccustomed to considering a higher calling, decided "If the Good Lord says it, it must be true." So he and Deelya went all around the ark, sniffing up the skunk stink with all the gusto they and their large odor sensors could manage. Before too long came the golden dawn of a new world. Noah had life's major constraints in place, and had called all the animals to a meeting outside the ark. The agenda centered mainly on God's providence and the necessity to begin repopulating the earth. Roosevelt and Deelya had sucked up all the stink and were a little bloated, but they responded to the call for them to come forward. Noah honored them in front of the assembly for their free use of their special gifts and the likelihood of a future anthill full of special noses. As they returned to their place, Roosevelt realized out loud "Y'know, we be de scent ants of Noah!" (Shared by Craig Boardman) ~~~~~~~~~~~~ At the Henry Street Hebrew School, Goldblatt, the new teacher, finished the day's lesson. It was now time for the usual question period. "Mr. Goldblatt," announced little Joey, "there's somethin' I can't figure out." "What's that Joey?" asked Goldblatt. "Well accordin' to the Bible, the Children of Israel crossed the Red Sea, right?" "Right." "An' the Children of Israel beat up the Philistines, right?" "Er--right." "An' the Children of Israel built the Temple, right?" "Again you're right." "An' the Children of Israel fought the 'gyptians, an' the Children of Israel fought the Romans, an' the Children of Israel wuz always doin' somethin' important, right?" "All that is right, too," agreed Goldblatt. "So what's your question?" "What I wanna know is this," demanded Joey. "What wuz all the grown-ups doin' all that time?" (Shared by John L. Bechtel) TRIVIA: Between 1980 and 1992, steel industry employment dropped from 400,000 to 180,000. But in the 1990s, the industry makes about the same amount of steel as it did in 1980 with less than half the workforce. - Robert J. Samuelson, "The Good Life and Its Discontents" (Shared by Elisa Wimer) |