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Bravery
Child’s
Fear
A little boy
had a part in the school play that read
“It is I
be not afraid.” He
came out on stage and said
“It’s me
and I’m scared.” ── Michael P. Green《Illustrations
for Biblical Preaching》
Student’s
Fear
Scrawled in a
nervous hand across a blackboard at Southern Methodist University during finals
week was this message: “We have nothing to fear
but F itself.”
──
Michael P. Green《Illustrations for Biblical Preaching》
Thief’s
Fear
A farmer looked
out his window one day and saw several young fellows stealing watermelons from
his field. He pulled out his gun and fired over their heads once or twice to
scare the thieves off. Later
when the boys met
one said
“Did
you hear those bullets?” Another replied
“I
heard them twice
once when they passed me
and once when I passed them!”
The farmer
accomplished his purpose
since fear kept the boys from further stealing. Fear
is a powerful motive-directing behavior. Perhaps love is the most desirable
motive
but fear will also do. ── Michael P. Green《Illustrations
for Biblical Preaching》
Hugh Lattimer once
preached before King Henry VIII. Henry was greatly displeased by the boldness
in the sermon and ordered Lattimer to preach again on the following Sunday and
apologize for the offence he had given. The next Sunday
after reading his
text
he thus began his sermon: "Hugh Lattimer
dost thou know before whom
thou are this day to speak? To the high and mighty monarch
the king's most
excellent majesty
who can take away thy life
if thou offendest. Therefore
take heed that thou speakest not a word that may displease. But then consider
well
Hugh
dost thou not know from whence thou comest--upon Whose message thou
are sent? Even by the great and mighty God
Who is all-present and Who
beholdeth all thy ways and Who is able to cast thy soul into hell! Therefore
take care that thou deliverest thy message faithfully." He then preached
the same sermon he had preached the preceeding Sunday--and with considerably
more energy. ── M. Cocoris
Evangelism
A Biblical Approach
Moody
1984
p. 126.
One summer morning as Ray
Blankenship was preparing his breakfast
he gazed out the window
and saw a
small girl being swept along in the rain-flooded drainage ditch beside his Andover
Ohio
home. Blankenship knew that farther downstream
the ditch disappeared
with a roar underneath a road and then emptied into the main culvert. Ray
dashed out the door and raced along the ditch
trying to get ahead of the
foundering child. Then he hurled himself into the deep
churning water.
Blankenship surfaced and was able to grab the child's arm. They tumbled end
over end. Within about three feet of the yawning culvert
Ray's free hand felt
something--possibly a rock-- protruding from one bank. He clung desperately
but the tremendous force of the water tried to tear him and the child away.
"If I can just hang on until help comes
" he thought. He did better
than that. By the time fire-department rescuers arrived
Blankenship had pulled
the girl to safety. Both were treated for shock. On April 12
1989
Ray
Blankenship was awarded the Coast Guard's Silver Lifesaving Medal. The award is
fitting
for this selfless person was at even greater risk to himself than most
people knew. Ray Blankenship can't swim.── Paul
Harvey
Los Angeles Times Syndicate.
The Prussian king
Frederick the Great was widely known as an agnostic. By contrast
General Von
Zealand
one of his most trusted officers
was a devout Christian. Thus it was
that during a festive gathering the king began making crude jokes about Christ
until everyone was rocking with laughter--all but Von Zealand
that is.
Finally
he arose and addressed the king: "Sire
you know I have not
feared death. I have fought and won 38 battles for you. I am an old man; I
shall soon have to go into the presence of One greater than you
the mighty God
who saved me from my sin
the Lord Jesus Christ whom you are blaspheming. I
salute you
sire
as an old man who loves his Savior
on the edge of eternity."
The place went silent
and with a trembling voice the king replied
"General Von Zealand--I beg your pardon! I beg your pardon!" And with
that the party quietly ended. ── Today
In The Word
August
1989
p. 7.
Leonidas
King of Sparta
was preparing to make a stand with his Greek troops against the Persian army in
480 B.C. when a Persian envoy arrived. The man urged on Leonidas the futility
of trying to resist the advance of the huge Persian army. "Our archers are
so numerous
" said the envoy
"that the flight of their arrows
darkens the sun." "So much the better
" replied Leonidas
"for we shall fight them in the shade." Leonidas made his stand
and
died with his 300 troops. ── Today
in the Word
November 4
1993.
Author Leo Buscaglia tells
this story about his mother and their "misery dinner." It was the
night after his father came home and said it looked as if he would have to go
into bankruptcy because his partner had absconded with their firm's funds. His
mother went out and sold some jewelry to buy food for a sumptuous feast. Other
members of the family scolded her for it. But she told them that "the time
for joy is now
when we need it most
not next week." Her courageous act
rallied the family.── Christopher News Notes
August
1993.
During his years as
premier of the Soviet Union
Nikita Khrushchev denounced many of the policies
and atrocities of Joseph Stalin. Once
as he censured Stalin in a public
meeting
Khrushchev was interrupted by a shout from a heckler in the audience.
"You were one of Stalin's colleagues. Why didn't you stop him?"
"Who said that?" roared Khrushchev. An agonizing silence followed as
nobody in the room dared move a muscle. Then Khrushchev replied quietly
"Now you know why." ── Today
in the Word
July 13
1993.
On May 4
1897
Duchess
Sophie-Charlotte Alencon was presiding over a charity ball in Paris when the
hall caught fire. Flames spread to the paper decorations and flimsy walls
and
in seconds the place was an inferno. In the hideous panic that followed
many
women and children were trampled as they rushed for the exits
while workmen
from a nearby site rushed into the blaze to carry out the trapped women. Some
rescuers reached the duchess
who had remained calmly seated behind her booth.
"Because of my title
I was the first to enter here. I shall be the last
to go out
" she said
rejecting their offer of help. She stayed and was
burned to death along with more than 120 others.── Today
in the Word
April 14
1993.
The late Earl J. Fleming
an Alaska state biologist
was perhaps the only man to investigate objectively
the bear's reputation for attacking humans. When Fleming encountered a bear
he
neither ran nor shot. At the end of his unique study
he had encountered 81
brown bears
and although several staged mock charges
not one actually
attacked.── Mark Walters
Reader's
Digest
November 1992
p. 35.
Mstislav "Slava"
Rostopovich is a world-famous cellist. Since his exile from his native Russia
in 1974
he has lived in the West. He is currently music director of the
National Symphony Orchestra here in Washington. When the Kremlin hard-liners
pulled their August Coup
"Slava" was in Paris. Instead of scurrying
back to the U.S. and safety
he and his family flew straight home to Moscow.
There
he took up his place in the "White House
" the Russian
Federation Building that President Boris Yeltsin and his elected allies vowed
to hold against every assault. In the darkened corridors
someone gave him a
Kalashnikov automatic rifle
but he returned it. Rather
he took out his cello
and gave an impromptu recital to break the awful tension of the siege. ── Washington Watch
Vol. 2
No. 11
September
1991.
There was a test conducted
by a university where 10 students were placed in a room. 3 lines of varying
length were drawn on a card. The students were told to raise their hands when
the instructor pointed to the longest line. But 9 of the students had been instructed
beforehand to raise their hands when the instructor pointed to the second
longest line. 1 student was the stooge. The usual reaction of the stooge was to
put his hand up
look around
and realizing he was all alone
pull it back
down. This happened 75% of the time
with students from grade school through
high school. The researchers concluded that many would rather be president than
be right. ── C. Swindoll
March 27
1984.
David
a 2-year old with
leukemia
was taken by him mother
Deborah
to Massachusetts General Hospital
in Boston
to see Dr. John Truman who specializes in treating children with
cancer and various blood diseases. Dr. Truman's prognosis was devastating:
"He has a 50-50 chance." The countless clinic visits
the blood tests
the intravenous drugs
the fear and pain--the mother's ordeal can be almost as
bad as the child's because she must stand by
unable to bear the pain herself.
David never cried in the waiting room
and although his friends in the clinic
had to hurt him and stick needles in him
he hustled in ahead of his mother
with a smile
sure of the welcome he always got. When he was three
David had
to have a spinal tap--a painful procedure at any age. It was explained to him
that
because he was sick
Dr. Truman had to do something to make him better.
"If it hurts
remember it's because he loves you
" Deborah said. The
procedure was horrendous. It took three nurses to hold David still
while he
yelled and sobbed and struggled. When it was almost over
the tiny boy
soaked
in sweat and tears
looked up at the doctor and gasped
"Thank you
Dr.
Tooman
for my hurting." ── Monica
Dickens
Miracles of Courage
1985.
A condemned prisoner
awaiting execution was granted the usual privilege of choosing the dishes he
wanted to eat for his last meal. He ordered a large mess of mushrooms.
"Why all the mushrooms and nothing else?" inquired the guard.
"Well
" replied the prisoner
"I always wanted to try them
but
was afraid to eat them before!"── Source
Unknown.
When I was a small boy
I
attended church every Sunday at a big Gothic Presbyterian bastion in Chicago.
The preaching was powerful and the music was great. But for me
the most
awesome moment in the morning service was the offertory
when twelve solemn
frock-coated ushers marched in lock-step down the main aisle to receive the
brass plates for collecting the offering. These men
so serious about their
business of serving the Lord in this magnificent house of worship
were the business
and professional leaders of Chicago. One of the twelve ushers was a man named
Frank Loesch. He was not a very imposing looking man
but in Chicago he was a
living legend
for he was the man who had stood up to Al Capone. In the
prohibition years
Capone's rule was absolute. The local and state police and
even the Federal Bureau of Investigation were afraid to oppose him. But
singlehandedly
Frank Loesch
as a Christina layman and without any government
support
organized the Chicago Crime Commission
a group of citizens who were
determined to take Mr. Capone to court and put him away. During the months that
the Crime Commission met
Frank Loesch's life was in constant danger. There
were threats on the lives of his family and friends. But he never wavered.
Ultimately he won the case against Capone and was the instrument for removing
this blight from the city of Chicago. Frank Loesch had risked his life to live
out his faith. Each Sunday at this point of the service
my father
a Chicago
businessman himself
never failed to poke me and silently point to Frank Loesch
with pride. Sometime I'd catch a tear in my father's eye. For my dad and for
all of us this was and is what authentic living is all about. ── Bruce Larson
in Charles Swindoll
Living
Above the Level of Mediocrity
p.124-5.
One day in 1956
songwriter Johnny Mercer received a letter from Sadie Vimmerstedt
a widowed
grandmother who worked behind a cosmetics counter in Youngstown
Ohio.
Vimmerstedt suggested Mercer write a song called "I Want to Be Around to
Pick Up the Pieces When Somebody Breaks Your Heart." Five years later
Mercer got in touch to say he'd written the song and that Tony Bennett would
record it. Today
if you look at the label on any recording of "I Wanna Be
Around
" you'll notice that the credits for words and music are shared by
Johnny Mercer and Sadie Vimmerstedt. The royalties were split 50-50
too
thanks to which Vimmerstedt and her heirs have earned more than $100
000. In my
opinion
Mercer's generosity was a class act.
By "class act
"
I mean any behavior so virtuous that it puts normal behavior to shame.
-It was a class act
for instance
when Alexander Hamilton aimed high and fired
over Aaron Burr's head. Benjamin
Geggenhiem performed a class act on the Titanic when he gave his life jacket to
a woman passenger and then put on white tie and tails so he could die
"like a gentleman."
-That same year
1912
Capt
Lawrence Oates became so frostbitten and lame on
Robert Scott's ill-fated expedition to the South Pole. Rather than delay the
others in their desperate trek back from the Pole
he went to the opening of
the tent one night and said
"I am just going outside and may be some
time." He thereupon walked to his death in a blizzard. Certainly a class
act.
-On the stage
the tradition that the show must go on has produced a number of
class acts. Katharine Hepburn and Orson Wells have both appeared onstage in
wheelchairs.
-During the run of The King and I
Gertrude Lawrence was dying of cancer
but told no one. When she missed a series of performances
the producers wrote
her lawyers
suggesting she was faking illness. They warned that if this
continued
she would forfeit her share of the profits. The letter arrived on a
Monday; Gertrude Lawrence had died over the weekend.
-It was a class act of a different order
but a class act nonetheless
for
writer Laurence Housman to take off his jacket at a proper English tea party so
that a man who had just arrived in shirt sleeves would not feel embarrassed.
-Even simple good sportsmanship can rise to the level of class act
as it did
with tennis player Mats Wilander in the semifinals of the 1982 French Open. At
match point
a shot by Wilander's opponent was ruled out. Wilander walked over
to the umpire and said
"I can't win like this. The ball was good."
The point was played over
and Wilander won fair and square.── John Berendt
Esquire
April
1991.
"I often wish that I
could lie down and sleep without waking. But I will fight it out if I
can." So wrote one of the bravest
most inspiring men who ever lived
Sir
Walter Scott. In his 56th year
failing in health
his wife dying of an
incurable disease
Scott was in debt a half million dollars. A publishing firm
he had invested in had collapsed. He might have taken bankruptcy
but shrank
from the strain. From his creditors he asked only time. Thus began his race
with death
a valiant effort to pay off the debt before he died.
To be able to write free
from interruptions
Scott withdrew to a small rooming house in Edinburgh. He
had left his dying wife
Charlotte behind in the country. "It withered my
heart
" he wrote in his diary
but his presence could avail her nothing
now. A few weeks later she died. After the funeral he wrote in his diary:
"Were an enemy coming upon my house
would I not do my best to fight
although oppressed in spirits; and shall a similar despondency prevent me from
mental exertion? It shall not
by heaven!" With a tremendous exercise of
will
he returned to the task
stifling his grief. He turned out Woodstock
Count Robert of Paris
Castle Dangerous
and other works. Though twice stricken
with paralysis
he labored steadily until the fall of 1832. Then came a
merciful miracle. Although his mental powers had left him
he died September
21
1832
happy in the illusion that all his debts were paid. (They were
finally paid in 1847 with the sale of all his copyrights.) Thomas Carlyle was
to write of him latter: "No sounder piece of British manhood was put
together in the eighteenth century of time." ── Bits & Pieces
August 20
1992
pp. 16-18.
Who was United States
Senator Edmund G. Ross of Kansas? I suppose you could call him a "Mr.
Nobody." No law bears his name. Not a single list of Senate
"greats" mentions his service. Yet when Ross entered the Senate in
1866
he was considered the man to watch. He seemed destined to surpass his
colleagues
but he tossed it all away by one courageous act of conscience.
Let's set the stage.
Conflict was dividing our government in the wake of the Civil War. President
Andrew Johnson was determined to follow Lincoln's policy of reconciliation
toward the defeated South. Congress
however
wanted to rule the downtrodden
Confederate states with an iron hand. Congress decided to strike first. Shortly
after Senator Ross was seated
the Senate introduced impeachment proceedings
against the hated President. The radicals calculated that they needed
thirty-six votes
and smiled as they concluded that the thirty-sixth was none
other than Ross'. The new senator listened to the vigilante talk. But to the
surprise of many
he declared that the president "deserved as fair a trial
as any accused man has ever had on earth." The word immediately went out
that his vote was "shaky." Ross received an avalanche of anti-Johnson
telegrams from every section of the country. Radical senators badgered him to
"come to his senses."
The fateful day of the
vote arrived. The courtroom galleries were packed. Tickets for admission were
at an enormous premium. As a deathlike stillness fell over the Senate chamber
the vote began. By the time they reached Ross
twenty-four "guilties"
had been announced. Eleven more were certain. Only Ross' vote was needed to
impeach the President. Unable to conceal his emotion
the Chief Justice asked
in a trembling voice
"Mr. Senator Ross
how vote you? Is the respondent
Andrew Johnson guilty as charged?" Ross later explained
at that moment
"I looked into my open grave. Friendships
position
fortune
and
everything that makes life desirable to an ambitions man were about to be swept
away by the breath of my mouth
perhaps forever." Then
the answer came --
unhesitating
unmistakable: "Not guilty!" With that
the trial was
over. And the response was as predicted.
A high public official
from Kansas wired Ross to say: "Kansas repudiates you as she does all
perjurers and skunks." The "open grave" vision had become a
reality. Ross' political career was in ruins. Extreme ostracism
and even
physical attack awaited his family upon their return home. One gloomy day Ross
turned to his faithful wife and said
"Millions cursing me today will
bless me tomorrow...though not but God can know the struggle it has cost
me." It was a prophetic declaration.
Twenty years later
Congress and the Supreme Court verified the wisdom of his position
by changing
the laws related to impeachment. Ross was appointed Territorial Governor of New
Mexico. Then
just prior to his death
he was awarded a special pension by
Congress. The press and country took this opportunity to honor his courage
which
they finally concluded
had saved our country from crisis and division.── Jon Johnston
Courage - You Can Stand Strong
in the Face of Fear
1990
SP Publications
pp. 56-58.
Adrian Rogers tells about
the man who bragged that he had cut off the tail of a man-eating lion with his
pocket knife. Asked why he hadn't cut off the lion's head
the man replied:
"Someone had already done that." ── Adrian
Rogers.
During his years as
premier of the Soviet Union
Nikita Khrushchev denounced many of the policies
and atrocities of Joseph Stalin. Once
as he censured Stalin in a public
meeting
Khrushchev was interrupted by a shout from a heckler in the audience.
"You were one of Stalin's colleagues. Why didn't you stop him?"
"Who said that?" roared Khrushchev. An agonizing silence followed as
nobody in the room dared move a muscle. Then Khrushchev replied quietly
"Now you know why."── Today
in the Word
July 13
1993.
Ambition usually
progresses through the following stages: to be like Dad...to be famous...to be
a millionaire...to make enough to pay the bills...to hang on long enough to
draw a pension. ── Bits
& Pieces
September 1989.
Don't be afraid to take a
big step. You can't cross a chasm in two small jumps. ── David Lloyd George
Keep away from people who
try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that
but the
really great people make you feel that you
too
can become great.── Mark Twain
Hold fast to dreams
for
if dreams die
life is a broken winged bird that cannot fly.── Langson Hughes
The moment one definitely
commits oneself
then providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to
help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of
events issues from the decision
raising in one's favor all manner of
unforeseen incidents and meeting and material assistance which no man could
have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do or dream you
can
begin it. Boldness has genius
power and magic in it. Begin it
now.── Commonly attributed to Goethe.
Courage is doing what
you're afraid to do. There can be no courage unless you're scared. ── Eddie Rickenbacker
Bits & Pieces
April 29
1993
p. 12.
I would define true
courage to be a perfect sensibility of the measure of danger
and a mental
willingness to endure it. ── W.T.
Sherman.
There's a fine line
between courage and foolishness. Too bad it's not a fence. ── Jim Fiebig
NANA.
Whatever you do
you need
courage. Whatever course you decide upon
there is always someone to tell you
that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising that tempt you to
believe your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to
an end requires some of the same courage that a soldier needs. Peace has its
victories
but it takes brave men and women to win them. ── Ralph Waldo Emerson.
A study was recently
completed on corporate managers. In it they were asked if they voiced positions
that 1. focused on the good of the company
rather than personal benefit and 2.
jeopardized their own careers. Emerging from this study were the four
leader-types which are found in all organizations.
Type #1 -- courageous.
These people expressed ideas to help the company improve
in spite of personal
risk or opposition.
Type #2 -- confronting.
These people spoke up
but only because of a personal vendetta against the
company.
Type #3 -- calloused.
These people didn't know
or care
whether they could do anything for the
company; they felt helpless and hopeless
so they kept quiet.
Type #4 -- conforming.
These people also remained quiet
but only because they loathed confrontation
and loved approval.
The researchers discovered
that the courageous managers accomplished the most
reported the highest job
satisfaction
and eventually were commended by superiors. Their commitment had
certainly improved the quality of their lives.
── Jon
Johnston
Courage - You Can Stand Strong in the Face of Fear
1990
SP
Publications
pp. 138-139.
It is a poor thing to fear
that which is inevitable.
Tertullian
third-century
church father
speaking of death.
A man who hid for 32 years
fearing punishment of pro-Nazi wartime activity says he used to cry when he
heard happy voices outside
but dared not show himself even at his mother's
funeral. Janez Rus was a young shoemaker when he went into hiding at his
sister's farmhouse in June
1945. He was found years later after she bought a
large supply of bread in the nearby village of Zalna. "If I had not been
discovered
I would have remained in hiding. So I am happy that this
happened
" Rus told a reporter. Throughout those years he did nothing. He
never left the house
and could only look down at the village in the
valley.
Today in the Word
October 17
1993.
During his years as
premier of the Soviet Union
Nikita Khrushchev denounced many of the policies
and atrocities of Joseph Stalin. Once
as he censured Stalin in a public
meeting
Khrushchev was interrupted by a shout from a heckler in the audience.
"You were one of Stalin's colleagues. Why didn't you stop him?"
"Who said that?" roared Khrushchev. An agonizing silence followed as
nobody in the room dared move a muscle. Then Khrushchev replied quietly
"Now you know why."
Today in the Word
July 13
1993.
Black Bart was a
professional thief whose very name struck fear as he terrorized the Wells Fargo
stage line. From San Francisco to New York
his name became synonymous with the
danger of the frontier. Between 1875 and 1883 he robbed 29 different stagecoach
crews. Amazingly
Bart did it all without firing a shot. Because a hood hid his
face
no victim ever saw his face. He never took a hostage and was never
trailed by a sheriff. Instead
Black Bart used fear to paralyze his victims.
His sinister presence was enough to overwhelm the toughest stagecoach guard.
Today in the Word
August 8
1992.
Sometimes the Lord calms
the storm. Sometimes he lets the storm rage and calms his child.
Unknown.
Keep your fears to
yourself; share your courage with others.
Robert Louis Stevenson.
Louis Pasteur is reported
to have had such an irrational fear of dirt and infection he refused to shake
hands. President and Mrs. Benjamin Harrison were so intimidated by the
newfangled electricity installed in the White House they didn't dare touch the
switches. If there were no servants around to turn off the lights when the
Harrisons went to bed
they slept with them on.
Jane Goodsell
Not a
Good Word About Anybody
Ballantine.
It is said that the Soviet
dictator Joseph Stalin so feared for his safety that his residence in Moscow
contained eight bedrooms. Each night Stalin chose a bedroom at random to ensure
that no one knew exactly where he was sleeping.
During World War II
a
military governor met with General George Patton in Sicily. When he praised
Patton highly for his courage and bravery
the general replied
"Sir
I am
not a brave man. . . The truth is
I am an utter craven coward. I have never
been within the sound of gunshot or in sight of battle in my whole life that I
wasn't so scared that I had sweat in the palms of my hands." Years later
when Patton's autobiography was published
it contained this significant
statement by the general: "I learned very early in my life never to take
counsel of my fears."
Unknown.
5-year old Johnny was in
the kitchen as his mother made supper. She asked him to go into the pantry and
get her a can of tomato soup
but he didn't want to go in alone. "It's
dark in there and I'm scared." She asked again
and he persisted. Finally
she said
"It's OK--Jesus will be in there with you." Johnny walked
hesitantly to the door and slowly opened it. He peeked inside
saw it was dark
and started to leave when all at once an idea came
and he said: "Jesus
if you're in there
would you hand me that can of tomato soup?"
Charles Allen
Victory
in the Valleys.
Researchers at Johns
Hopkins University reported that 30 years ago
the greatest fears of grade
school children were: 1) Animals
2) Being in a dark room
3) High places
4)
Strangers
5) Loud noises. Today
kids are afraid of the following: 1) Divorce
2) Nuclear war
3) Cancer
4) Pollution
5) Being mugged.
Back to the Bible Today
Summer
1990
p. 5.
Peladophobia: fear of
baldness and bald people. Aerophobia: fear of drafts. Porphyrophobia: fear of
the color purple. Chaetophobia: fear of hairy people. Levophobia: fear of
objects on the left side of the body. Dextrophobia: fear of objects on the
right side of the body. Auroraphobia: fear of the northern lights.
Calyprophobia: fear of obscure meanings. Thalassophobia: fear of being seated.
Stabisbasiphobia: fear of standing and walking. Odontophobia: fear of teeth.
Graphophobia: fear of writing in public. Phobophobia: fear of being
afraid.
Fraser Kent
Nothing to
Fear
Doubleday & Company
1977.
Acute stress can provoke
changes in the heart that may lead to death
say Drs. Marilyn S. Cebelin of
Cleveland and Charles S. Hirsch of Cincinnati. The two doctors recently
identified 15 cases in which people died after a physical assault
although the
injuries alone would not have been enough to kill them. Eleven of the 15 cases
showed a type of heart-cell death called myofibrillar degeneration
similar to
a reaction in experimental animals who are helpless to anticipate or avoid
danger.
Unknown.
I am inwardly fashioned
for faith
not for fear. Fear is not my native land; faith is. I am so made
that worry and anxiety are sand in the machinery of life; faith is the oil. I
live better by faith and confidence than by fear
doubt and anxiety. In anxiety
and worry
my being is gasping for breath--these are not my native air. But in
faith and confidence
I breathe freely--these are my native air. A John Hopkins
University doctor says
"We do not know why it is that worriers die sooner
than the non-worriers
but that is a fact." But I
who am simple of mind
think I know; We are inwardly constructed in nerve and tissue
brain cell and
soul
for faith and not for fear. God made us that way. To live by worry is to
live against reality.
Dr. E. Stanley Jones.
One summer night during a
severe thunderstorm a mother was tucking her small son into bed. She was about
to turn the light off when he asked in a trembling voice
"Mommy
will you
stay with me all night?" Smiling
the mother gave him a warm
reassuring
hug and said tenderly
"I can't dear. I have to sleep in Daddy's
room." A long silence followed. At last it was broken by a shaky voice
saying
"The big sissy!"
Unknown.
Two explorers were on a
jungle safari when suddenly a ferocious lion jumped in front of them.
"Keep calm" the first explorer whispered. "Remember what we read
in that book on wild animals? If you stand perfectly still and look the lion in
the eye
he will turn and run." "Sure
" replied his companion. "You've
read the book
and I've read the book. But has the lion read the book?"
Unknown.
Former heavy-weight boxer
James (Quick) Tillis is a cowboy from Oklahoma who fought out of Chicago in the
early 1980s. He still remembers his first day in the Windy City after his
arrival from Tulsa. "I got off the bus with two cardboard suitcases under
by arms in downtown Chicago and stopped in front of the Sears Tower. I put my
suitcases down
and I looked up at the Tower and I said to myself
'I'm going
to conquer Chicago.' "When I looked down
the suitcases were
gone."
Today in the Word
September 10
1992.
The American painter
John
Sargent
once painted a panel of roses that was highly praised by critics. It
was a small picture
but it approached perfection. Although offered a high
price for it on many occasions
Sargent refused to sell it. He considered it
his best work and was very proud of it. Whenever he was deeply discouraged and
doubtful of his abilities as an artist
he would look at it and remind himself
"I painted that." Then his confidence and ability would come back to
him.
Bits & Pieces
September 19
1991
p. 9.
Discouragement is
dissatisfaction with the past
distaste for the present
and distrust of the
future. It is ingratitude for the blessings of yesterday
indifference to the
opportunities of today
and insecurity regarding strength for tomorrow. It is
unawareness of the presence of beauty
unconcern for the needs of our
fellowman
and unbelief in the promises of old. It is impatience with time
immaturity of thought
and impoliteness to God. William Ward.
Today in the Word
April
1989
p. 18.
COURAGE.
Ⅰ. Courage is the Divine
nerve that enables us to go forward at the Lord’s bidding in spite of all
obstacles
as seen in the case of Joshua (Joshua i.6; 7
9
18).
Ⅱ. Courage give fibre to the
moral nature
so that we gladly keep the Lord’s Word (Joshua 23:6).
Ⅲ. Courage is the helm that
keeps the soul according to the Divine compass of God’s truth
and makes us
regardless of the storms we may encounter (Deut. 31:6
7).
Ⅳ. Courage is the secret of
a true life
for the God of Grace and Power is the feeder of it (
1.Chron.22:13; 28:20).
Ⅴ. Courage is the fire that
shall make us burn with a holy zeal for the Lord’s honour and glory
as we are
acting under the Lord’s instructions (11.Chron.15.8; Ezra 10:4)
Ⅵ. Courage is the forerunner
of blessing
for as we wait on the Lord in good courage
He comes in His grace
and strengthens us (Psalm 27:14; 31:24).
Ⅶ. Courage is the
steadfastness of faith
which looks up to the Lord
and counts upon Him to give
the victory in conflict ( 11.Som.10:12).
── F.E. Marsh《Five Hundred Bible Readings》
ENDURANCE.
Believers are
called to endure—
Ⅰ. Hardness. As good soldiers. “ Endure
hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ” (11. Tim.2：3)。
Ⅱ. Affliction. As workers. “ Endure
afflictions
do the work of an evangelist” (11. Tim.4:5).
Ⅲ. Chastening. As Children. “ If ye
endure chastening
God dealeth with you as with sons” (Heb.12:7).
Ⅳ. Grief. As Christians. “ For this
is thankworthy
if a man for conscience toward God endure grief” (1. Peter
2:19).
Ⅴ. Contradiction. Partners with Christ.
“Consider Him that endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself”
(Heb.12:3).
Ⅵ. Temptation. Tried ones. “ Blessed is
the man that endureth temptation” (James 1:12).
Ⅶ. All things. Elect’s sake. “ Therefore I
endure all things for the elect’s sake” (11. Tim.2:10).
── F.E. Marsh《Five Hundred Bible Readings》