To Illustrate

Okay, Start with an Easy One

Patrick O’Boyle recalls the late-1940s Hyde Park “Speakers’ Corner” appearances of Frank Sheed, the Catholic author and publisher:

“Sheed could be devastating with hecklers. Once, after he had described the extraordinary order and design to be seen in the universe, a persistent challenger retorted by pointing to all the world’s ills, and ended shouting, ‘I could make a better universe than your God!’ ‘I won’t ask you to make a universe,’ Sheed replied. ‘But would you make a rabbit—just to establish confidence?'”

—Commonweal (4/23/99) (Creation, Pride) Genesis 1, Psalm 139

Jesus the Translator

In Just Like Jesus, Max Lucado writes: There were a few occasions in Brazil when I served as a translator for an English speaker. He stood before the audience, complete with the message. I stood at his side, equipped with the language. My job was to convey his story to the listeners.

I did my best to allow his words to come through me. I was not at liberty to embellish or subtract. When the speaker gestured, I gestured. As his volume increased, so did mine. When he got quiet, I did, too.

When he walked this earth, Jesus was “translating” God all the time. When God got louder, Jesus got louder. When God gestured, Jesus gestured. He was so in sync with the Father that he could declare “I am the Father and the Father is in me” (John 14:11, NRSV).

(Incarnation, the Word) John 14:11

Opinions Aplenty

Anna Greenberg, assistant professor of public policy at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, observes:

“Polls show that Americans have the perplexing ability to hold ideologically contradictory views. As many scholars note, Americans are simultaneously attached to both limited and activist government policies; they are capable, for instance, of favoring both cutting the federal budget and increasing spending on education, health care, and other social programs. Americans are also quite willing to offer opinions to poll takers on subjects that they concede they know nothing about.”

—Chronicle of Higher Education (5/14/99) (Foolishness, Wisdom) James 1:5-8

Never Satisfied QB

In Texas Monthly, Skip Hollandsworth writes:

[Troy] Aikman [quarterback of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys] is an elusive hero, difficult to understand, clearly driven by something other than fame. On the night of that first Super Bowl victory, he delayed attending a party with his teammates, instead ordering beer from room service and sitting alone in his hotel room for a couple of hours. “I kept thinking back to the time when I was a teenager—how I thought that all my problems in my life would be solved the moment I turned sixteen and was able to get a car,” he recalls. “Well, here I was at the top of professional football, and I found myself thinking, ‘Now what? Now what?'”

“Why would you feel that way?” I asked.

For several seconds, Aikman just stares at me. He appears dumbfounded that I would even ask such an absurd question. “Well, isn’t that what it’s all about?” he asks. “To keep raising the bar for yourself?”

It is precisely this attitude that makes Aikman such a fierce player—but it is also his curse, and he knows it. “I’ve always known that the lows have been lower for me than the highs have been high,” he confesses. After a loss, he does not answer the phone, even when close friends or family are calling to console him. He lies in bed and replays each offensive play in his mind.

—”The Real Troy Aikman,” Texas Monthly (December 1998) (Ambition, Competition, Contentment, Depression, Fame, Losing, Success) Ecclesiastes 1:2; Philippians 4:11-13

What’s Important These Days

In a New York Times survey, the percentage of those who rated these values as “very important”:

—New York Times/CBS News poll, conducted July 17-19, 1999 (Culture, Priorities, Values) Luke 16:15

The Mercury Mystery

In Albert Einstein’s early days physicists had scratched their heads for some 50 years over the unexplainable orbit of the planet Mercury. Newton’s theories of gravity had served well for centuries to understand the orbits of all the other planets, but in Mercury’s elliptical orbit, the point nearest the sun drifted by a very small amount . …

Astronomers theorized that another small hidden planet, which they named Vulcan, might orbit near the sun and exert gravitational force on Mercury. But Vulcan was never discovered . …

Then Einstein formulated his general theory of relativity. When he applied this gravitational formula to the eccentric orbit of Mercury, he had one of the breathtaking moments of his scientific life: the numbers fit. Mercury was a mystery no more.

My life will on occasion have an orbit like Mercury that for a time simply defies my best efforts to explain it. Nonetheless as surely as there is order in the universe, there is a heavenly reason for my circumstances utterly consistent with God’s Word and character. I just cannot understand it yet.

—Craig Brian Larson, Pastoral Grit (Bethany, 1998) (Doubts, Mysteries, Purpose, Trust) Romans 11:33-36; Proverbs 3:5

Blocking the Entrance

A few years ago I had a chance to become a hero, but it turned out to be an embarrassing moment. I was in China on a tour group. Our tour bus was on the way to a scenic spot with another tour bus in front of us. It was snowing, and the road was muddy.

Suddenly the bus ahead of us skidded off the road and tipped over on its side in a rice field. I quickly jumped off my tour bus, ran to the overturned bus, and jumped on top. Windows were shattered, and people inside were obviously hurt. The emergency door was facing upward, so I grabbed the handle of the emergency door and pulled. The door did not open. I kept pulling hard, but it wouldn’t budge.

By this time, others had come and were pulling people out through the windows, so I gave up on the door and joined them. After I moved away from the door, another man went over to the door. He turned the door handle, and the door opened easily.

I suddenly realized why the door did not open for me: I had been standing on the door as I tried to open it. With good intentions to save lives, I had become the biggest obstacle blocking the door of rescue.

Sometimes those who want to lead others to Christ likewise become the biggest obstacle to their salvation.

—Charles Chu (Evangelism, Example, Testimony) 1 Timothy 6:1; Titus 2:9-10

Marriage Versus Cohabitation

The number of “unmarried-couple households” has increased from 523,000 in 1970 to 4,236,000 in 1998. Professor Roger Rubin, a University of Maryland specialist in family studies, says, “We estimate that by the year 2000, half of all American adults will have had a cohabiting experience by the age of 30.”

The Houston Chronicle reports that couples who live together have an 80 percent greater chance of divorce than those who don’t cohabit.

A Washington State researcher discovered that women who cohabit are twice as likely to experience domestic violence as married women. The National Center for Mental Health revealed that cohabiting women’s incidence of depression is four times greater than that of married women, and two times greater than unmarried women.

In a survey of over 100 couples who lived together, 71 percent of the women said they would not live-in again.

—Christian Single (September 1999) (Divorce, Marriage, Sex)

What Really Matters

The question to ask at the end of life’s race is not so much “What have I accomplished?” but “Whom have I loved, and how courageously?”

—Geoff Gorsuch, “Journey to Adelphos,” Discipleship Journal (Issue 14) (Accomplishment, Love, Priorities,) Amos 5:18-24 (Lec.); 1 Corinthians 13

Something Worth Dying for

It’s hard to read any of the sermons the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. preached about death and heaven without hearing echoes of gunshots.

“The minute you conquer the fear of death, at that moment you are free,” he said in 1963. “I submit to you that if a man hasn’t discovered something that he will die for, he isn’t fit to live.”

Decades later, these words still inspire faith and courage, said social activist Johann Christoph Arnold, who marched with King in the Civil Rights Movement. That’s why the patriarch of the nine Bruderhof communes in the U. S., England, and Australia included this quotation in his most recent book, Seeking Peace.

This was the book that Cassie Bernall and other teenagers at Littleton’s West Bowles Community Church were supposed to have discussed on the evening of April 20th. After that tragic day at Columbine High School, Bernall’s parents showed Arnold her copy of Seeking Peace, with its handwritten notes for the study session that was never held.

Cassie had boldly underlined King’s thoughts on death. Did she hear echoes of gunshots?

“Why did these words speak to her at such a young age? It is such a great mystery,” said Arnold. “But I do know this. She had found something she was willing to live for, and even to die for, and that made all the difference in her life.”

—Syndicated columnist Terry Mattingly (Death, Courage) Matthew 16:25

Survey: Money or Home?

Fast Company magazine asked its readers, “If you could have one more hour per day at home or a $10,000 a year raise, which would you choose?”

The percentages:

• Money: 83

• Time at home: 17

—Fast Company (July/August 1999) (Family, Money, Priorities, Time) Ecclesiastes 5:10; Philippians 4:10-13

Where Have Those Lips Been?

According to a radio report, a middle school in Oregon faced a unique problem.

A number of girls were beginning to use lipstick and would put it on in the bathroom. After they put on their lipstick, they would press their lips to the mirrors leaving dozens of little lip prints.

Finally the principal decided that something had to be done. She called the girls to the bathroom and met them there with the custodian. She explained that all these lip prints were causing a major problem for the custodian, who had to clean the mirrors every day. To demonstrate how difficult it was, she asked the custodian to clean one of the mirrors. He took out a long-handled brush, dipped it into the toilet, and scrubbed the mirror. Since then there have been no lip prints on the mirrors.

Try thinking of this story when you’re tempted to sin. If you could only see the real filth you’d be kissing, you wouldn’t be attracted to it.

—Brett Kays (Consequences, Sin, Temptation, Warnings) Galatians 6:7-8

I Got Scripture an’ I Know How to Use It

According to one of those passed-along stories on the Internet: An elderly woman had just returned to her home from a church service when she was startled to find an intruder in the act of robbing her home of its valuables.

She yelled, “Stop! Acts 2:38!” (which reads, “turn from your sin”).

The burglar stopped dead in his tracks. The woman calmly called the police and explained what she’d done.

As the officer cuffed the man, he asked the burglar, “Why did you just stand there? All the old lady did was yell a Scripture at you.”

“Scripture?” replied the burglar. “She said she had an ax and two .38’s!”

—Unknown (God’s Word, Power) Hebrews 4:12

Keep Asking

A Chicago company is one of the world’s largest magazine fulfillment firms. That means they handle subscription mailings by computer. Among other things, they send out renewal and expiration notices.

One day the company’s computer malfunctioned. Soon after, a rancher in Powder Bluff, Colorado, got 9,734 separate mailings informing him that his subscription to National Geographic had expired.

This got the rancher’s attention. He dropped what he was doing and traveled 10 miles to the nearest post office, where he sent in money for a renewal—along with a note that said, “I give up! Send me your magazine!”

There is something about multiple requests that brings answers. For reasons known only to God, that is true also in prayer.

—Stand Firm (September 1999) (Persistence, Prayer) Psalm 123; Matthew 7:7-8; Luke 11:5-10; Luke 18:1-8

Wilt’s Wish: One Woman

The late Wilt Chamberlain had great numbers as an NBA star, but the number he will probably be remembered for most is 20,000. That is how many women the never-married Chamberlain claimed in his autobiography to have slept with.

What few may remember though, says columnist Clarence Page, is Chamberlain “went on to write that he would have traded all 20,000 for the one woman he wanted to stay with for keeps.”

—Clarence Page, “Remembering The Big Dipper’s Other Statistics,” Chicago Tribune (10/17/99) (Commitment, Fornication, Marriage, Sex) Ephesians 4:19

The Right Risks

In an article on old-timer pickup softball games—where seniors in Naperville, Illinois, gather twice weekly to test their skills against one another—writer Ted Gregory explains the risks: not pulled muscles and sprained ankles, but sometimes senior softball players suffer heart attacks from exerting themselves in the hot sun.

Despite the risks, 63-year-old Bill Body explained why he plays: “If I’m going to die, I’m going to die doing what I love doing, whether it’s playing softball, fishing, hunting, or something else.”

We’re often tempted in the church to slow down, cut back, take it easy because we get tired of taking risks—and in Christ’s work, there are a lot of emotional or spiritual risks. But Bill Body is exactly right: life itself is a risk—we’re all going to die. So we might as well get involved, take the risks, and do the things in Christ we really love.

—Mark Galli, reference: Chicago Tribune (7/23/99) (Aging, Fear, Joy, Passion) 2 Corinthians 11:16-33; Philippians 1:19-26

Ministering from Weakness

Elisa Morgan, president of MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) International, writes:

I’m probably the least likely person to head a mothering organization. I grew up in a broken home. My parents were divorced when I was 5. My older sister, younger brother, and I were raised by my alcoholic mother.

While my mother meant well––truly she did––most of my memories are of me mothering her rather than her mothering me. Alcohol altered her love, turning it into something that wasn’t love. I remember her weaving down the hall of our ranch home in Houston, Texas, glass of scotch in hand. She would wake me at 2 a.m. just to make sure I was asleep. I would wake her at 7 a.m. to try to get her off to work.

Sure, there were good times like Christmas and birthdays when she went all out and celebrated us as children. But even those days ended with the warped glow of alcohol. What she did right was lost in what she did wrong.

Ten years ago, when I was asked to consider leading MOPS International, a vital ministry that nurtures mothers, I went straight to my knees––and then to the therapist’s office. How could God use me––who had never been mothered-to nurture other mothers?

The answer came as I gazed into the eyes of other moms around me and saw their needs mirroring my own. God seemed to take my deficits and make them my offering––”My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor. 12:9).

—Elisa Morgan, Christian Parenting Today (May/June 1999) (Alcoholism, Ministry, Mothers, Parenting, Service, Weakness) 2 Corinthians 3:4-6; 12:9)

How Enemies Help

I heard a story about attempts to ship fresh North Atlantic cod from Boston to San Francisco during the nineteenth century.

At that time the only way to ship the fish to the West Coast was to sail around the South American continent—a trip that took months. As you can imagine, the first attempts to dress the cod in Boston and pack them in ice failed miserably. By the time they reached California, the fish weren’t exactly fit for consumption.

Next, the cod were placed in holding tanks full of water, shipped to California alive, and dressed there. The results were less than satisfactory. The fish didn’t get much exercise during the trip, and as a result they were pasty and relatively tasteless.

Finally, someone hit upon an interesting idea. “Why don’t we put some catfish in with the cod?”

Why? Because catfish are cods’ natural enemy. Sure enough, when a few catfish were placed in those tanks with them, the cod were always alert and swimming around. This time, when the fish reached San Francisco, they were in perfect shape.

—Bill Myers and David Wimbish, The Dark Side of the Supernatural (Bethany) (Spiritual Warfare, Temptation, Trials) John 15:18-16:4; Ephesians 6:10-18

Worshipers Live Longer

Gregg Easterbrook writes in The New Republic:

“Recent studies indicate that men and women who practice in any of the mainstream faiths have above-average longevity, fewer strokes, less heart disease, less clinical depression, better immune-system function, lower blood pressure, and fewer anxiety attacks, and they are much less likely to commit suicide than the population at large. These findings come from secular medical schools and schools of public health.

“In the most striking finding, Dr. Harold Koenig of Duke University Medical Center has calculated that, with regard to any mainstream faith, ‘lack of religious involvement has an effect on mortality that is equivalent to 40 years of smoking one pack of cigarettes per day.’ …

“Another new study, conducted mainly by researchers at the University of Texas, found that those who regularly attended worship services lived an average of seven years longer than those who never attended.”

—The New Republic (July 19 & 26, 1999) (Church attendance, Health, Worship) Exodus 20:24; Hebrews 10:24-25

Only in Horseshoes

98-year-old Charles Fackler was to receive France’s Legion of Honor medal for service in World War I.

Bill Fackler, his son, later said, “It was a sad occasion. We had everything organized for that day. The presentation was to be at 2 p.m. He died at quarter to 12. He missed it by two hours.”

—Adapted from World (2/20/99) (Perseverance, Persistence, Reward, Time) Deuteronomy 34:1-12; Psalm 90:1-6, 13-17; Hebrews 10:36

Temporary Contentment

A mother and son, a story goes, were outside when a tornado surprised them. The mother clung to a tree and tried to hold her son. But the swirling winds carried him into the sky. He was gone.

The woman began to weep and pray: “Please, O Lord, bring back my boy! He’s all I have. I’d do anything not to lose him. If you’ll bring him back, I’ll serve you all my days.”

Suddenly the boy toppled from the sky, right at her feet—a bit mussed up, but safe and sound. His mother joyfully brushed him off.

Then she stopped, looked to the sky, and said, “He had a hat, Lord.”

—Stand Firm (September 1999) (God’s Gifts, Bargaining, Mothers) Philippians 4:6

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