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WITandWISDOM(tm) - July 12, 2001 ~~~~~~~ THOUGHTS: The test and the use of man's education is that he finds pleasure in the exercise of his mind." - Jacques Barzun Source: Awesome Quotes, http://www.coolnewsletters.com ~~~~~~~ SPECIAL THOUGHTS: "THOSE WHO SOW IN TEARS WILL . . ." Part 3 of 3 [July 10, 11, 12] An old man now, David Flood had remarried, fathered four more children, and generally dissipated his life with alcohol. He had recently suffered a stroke. Still bitter, he had one rule in his family: "Never mention the name of God-because God took everything from me. After an emotional reunion with her half brothers and half sister, Aggie brought up the subject of seeing her father. The others hesitated. "You can talk to him," they replied, "even though he's very ill now. But you need to know that whenever he hears the name of God, he flies into a rage. Aggie was not to be deterred. She walked into the squalid apartment, with liquor bottles everywhere, and approached the seventy-three-year-old man lying in a rumpled bed. "Papa~" she said tentatively. He turned and began to cry. "Aina," he said. "I never meant to give you away." "It's all right, Papa," she replied, taking him gently in her arms. "God took care of me. The man instantly stiffened. The tears stopped. "God forgot all of us. Our lives have been like this because of him." He turned his face back to the wall. Aggie stroked his face and then continued, undaunted. "Papa, I've got a little story to tell you, and it's a true one. You didn't go to Africa in vain. Mama didn't die in vain. The little boy you won to the Lord grew up to win that whole village to Jesus Christ. The one seed you planted just kept growing and growing. Today there are six hundred African people serving the Lord because you were faithful to the call of God in your life. ... "Papa, Jesus loves you. He has never hated you. The old man turned back to look into his daughter's eyes. His body relaxed. He began to talk. And by the end of the afternoon, he had come back to the God he had resented for so many decades. Over the next few days, father and daughter enjoyed warm moments together. Aggie and her husband soon had to return to America-and within a few weeks, David Flood had gone into eternity. A few years later, the Hursts were attending a high-level evangelism conference in London, England, when a report was given from the nation of Zaire (the former Belgian Congo). The superintendent of the national church, representing some 110,000 baptized believers, spoke eloquently of the gospel's spread in his nation. Aggie could not help going to ask him afterward if he had ever heard of David and Svea Flood. "Yes, madam," the man replied in French, his words then being translated into English. "It was Svea Flood who led me to Jesus Christ. I was the boy who brought food to your parents before you were born. In fact, to this day your mother's grave and her memory are honored by all of us." He embraced her in a long, sobbing hug. Then he continued, "You must come to Africa to see, because your mother is the most famous person in our history." In time that is exactly what Aggie Hurst and her husband did. They were welcomed by cheering throngs of villagers. She even met the man who had been hired by her father many years before to carry her back down the mountain in a hammock-cradle. The most dramatic moment, of course, was when the pastor escorted Aggie to see her mother's white cross for herself. She knelt in the soil to pray and give thanks. Later that day, in the church, the pastor read from John 12:24: "I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds." He then followed with Psalm 126:5: "Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy." The end. Fresh Power by Jim Cymbala, Published by Zondervan Publishing House, Copyright (c) January 2001, ISBN: 031023008X , http://isbn.nu/031023008X/price Submitted by Edie M. Ridenour ~~~~~~~ THIS & THAT: Tony Campolo tells of an elderly missionary who was discussing prayer at a women's conference. The missionary was explaining to the small group of women around her that when she first arrived on the mission field, she felt very alone. All the other missionaries were married and had children - she had no one. She begged God to pick out a husband for her. The missionary told how she prayed and prayed and prayed; she was sure that one day God would answer her prayers. One of the women in the group cried out, "But you've never married! You're still single!" To which the elderly missionary said replied, "You're right. But somewhere out there is a seventy-four-year-old man who has been resisting God's will for more than fifty years." Source: The Timothy Report, Copyright (c) 2001 Swan Lake Communications, http://www.swanlake.twoffice.com ~~~~~~~ KEEP SMILING: A stylist in the beauty salon where I work was cutting a four-year- old's hair while two women were having their nails done, laughing and carrying on. The four-year-old looked over at the women and finally asked her stylist, "How much sugar did those two ladies have?" - By Julie Stricker Source: Reader's Digest, Copyright (c) February 1999, http://www.readersdigest.com ~~~~~~~ TRIVIA: Who was the youngest President of the U.S.? You may say John F. Kennedy, but you'd be wrong. While Kennedy was the youngest man elected president, he was not our youngest president, as Teddy Roosevelt was younger at the time of his inauguration. But Kennedy's presidency was certainly not lacking in firsts - he was the first president to also be a Boy Scout, the first to hold a press conference on television, the first (and only) Roman Catholic president, the first born in the 20th century, and the first who had served in the U.S. Navy. Source: ArcaMax Trivia http://www.arcamax.com |