Prior Date

Archive Index

Next Date

WITandWISDOM(tm) - October 31, 2005 ISSN 1538-8794 ~~~~~~~ THOUGHTS: Heroism is endurance for one moment more. - Caucasian Mountain Proverb Source: Carol's Thought for Today, http://users.adelphia.net/~mrs.carol ~~~~~~~ SPECIAL THOUGHTS: There was a man in a congregation I pastored several years ago who was honest and sincere, and he meant well. His motives were pure, but his actions were wrong. I didn't want to "butt heads" with him, but the buck had to stop somewhere. The title on my door, the last time I checked it, still read "Pastor." I had to make a decision. I said, "I am sorry." Of course his feelings were a little hurt. I did all I could, but there seemed to be a continual cross there. I said, "Lord, how can I patch this up? What can I do?" The Lord began to deal with me. He said, "Be a servant." God then gave me a unique challenge to do just that. I began to try to be obedient to that voice of the Lord. I thought I had been a servant. I must admit I was rebuffed, until He dealt with me about serving my brother. Then the concept of servant hood began to be more real in my life. I was waiting in an airport one day when I asked one of the shoe-shine men, "How much money do you make?" He just smiled and wouldn't answer. I'm not a math major, but it takes about 10 minutes to get your shoes shined. I often have to wait in line to get mine done, so let's say six shoe-shines per hour times $5 per shine and you've got a man making $30 per hour. At the time, there was only one shoe-shine place in the whole city where we lived. I mentioned an idea to some of the teenagers in the church. "Let me tell you about a way you can make some serious money. I'll even help you." They were all ears until they heard what they had to do to make all that money. One kid's reply summed it up: "I'm not shining shoes." That is when the Lord whispered to me. He said, "Would you, Tommy?" I said, "Sure." Then God reminded me about the man whose feelings were hurt earlier. The Lord said, "Then shine his shoes." It took some doing. The next Sunday, I came to church and brought my shoe-shine kit. In the process of preaching, l called that gentleman up in front of the whole congregation and asked him to sit there while I preached. My message was on foot washing; my text from John 13. I "contemporized" foot washing to shoe shining. While I preached, I shined his shoes. I took off my coat, tucked in my tie and shined his shoes while I preached. He and I both knew what was going on even though the congregation at large did not. As I shined his shoes, I began to weep; he began to weep. The Holy Spirit moved as the spirit of a servant was exemplified. The spirit of antagonism was broken. People began to line up to shine each other's shoes. They pulled out handkerchiefs to wipe off each other's shoes. Hot tears trickled onto dirty shoes. A spirit of unity came over our church. Great revival ensued. Tenney, Tommy. God's Dream Team. Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 1999, p. 73-74. Source: Illustrator, http://www.answers2prayer.org ~~~~~~~ THIS & THAT: A Little Diet Fun: I try to lose weight, but it keeps finding me. My figure does nothing for me, so why should I do anything for it? Diet is 'die' with a T. The older you get, the tougher it is to lose weight, because by then your body and fat are really good friends. Every time I think about exercise, I lie down until the thought goes away. Thou shalt not weigh more than thy refrigerator. I am not fat! I am big boned. Mama taught me to clean my plate; she didn't teach me not to pile it high. I'm thinking of all the starving children in China, like Mama said. Forget health foods. I need all the preservatives I can get. Source: Smile a Day Newsletter (c), http://www.net153.com/best.htm ~~~~~~~ KEEP SMILING: Taking advantage of a balmy day in New York, a priest and three other men of the cloth swapped their clerical garb for polos and khakis and time out on the golf course. After several really horrible shots, their caddy asked, "You guys wouldn't be priests by any chance?" "Actually, yes, we are," one cleric replied. "How did you know?" "Easy," said the caddy, "I've never seen such bad golf and such clean language!" Source: Cybersalt Digest, http://www.cybersalt.org/ ~~~~~~~ TRIVIA: Tony Whittaker writes, "I came across this quotation recently. I can't locate the source--it may be Barna Research. But it rings true, tragically: 'When surveying people who stopped attending church after six weeks, 92% of them said it was because no one talked to them.'" Source: Weekend Encounter, by Dick Innes, Copyright (c) ACTS International, 2004, http://www.actsweb.org/subscribe.htm