Praise the Lord for
this new day. We will gather for our mid-week gathering this evening with a very
special meal at 6:00 PM. Dr. S. K. Patro, a professor in a graduate School of
theology in Madras,( Chennai) India will be sharing about the work of the Gospel
in India. It is amazing what the Lord is doing in India and around the world.
This coming Sunday
is Pentecost Sunday. We will recount the event of first Pentecost that occurred
in Jerusalem. Not a week goes by when the news does not focus on
Jerusalem.
Last Sunday we used
the song, "What a Friend We Have in Jesus" in a video format during the time of
prayer. It was a beautiful rendition by Amy Grant.
Peter Kreeft, a
Roman Catholic theologian, says, “We have time and prayer backwards. We think
time determines prayer, but prayer determines time. We think our lack of time is
the cause of our lack of prayer, but our lack of prayer is the cause of our lack
of time. When a little boy offered Christ five loaves and two fishes, he
multiplied them miraculously. He does the same with our time, but only if we
offer it to him in prayer. This is literally miraculous, yet I know it happens
from repeated experience. Every day that I say I am too busy to pray, I seem to
have no time, accomplish little, and feel frazzled and enslaved by time. Every
day that I say I’m too busy not to pray, every time I offer some time-loaves and
life-fishes to Christ, he miraculously multiplies them and I share his conquest
of time. I have no idea how he does it, I know that he does it, time after time.
And yet I resist sacrificing my loaves and fishes to him. I am an idiot. That’s
one of the things original sin means: spiritual insanity, preferring misery to
joy, little bits of hell to little bits of heaven. We must restore our spiritual
sanity. One giant step in that direction is to think truly about time.”
One Christian leader kept a sign on his desk that read, “Beware of the Barrenness of a Busy Life.” Our lives can be extremely shallow and barren as we get caught in the rush of things to do. Some call it the “tyranny of the urgent” — the urgent replaces the important and our lives become drained as a result. The Bible says, “Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life” (Proverbs 4:23).
Time magazine reported recently: “In the past 30 years, doctors and health officials have come to realize how heavy a toll stress is taking on the nation’s well-being. According to the American Academy of Family Physicians, two-thirds of office visits to family doctors are prompted by stress related symptoms.” I read once of a race in Pennsylvania called, “The Race to Nowhere.” Without realizing it, many of us have registered for and entered our personal race to nowhere. It is the frantic and directionless race in which we get caught that produces stress. But in our frenzied attempts to escape boredom we try to run faster, rather than go deeper in life. Someone has compared the way we live to drinking from a fire hydrant. “A little bit of water from a gentle fountain can go a long way,” he says. But we are being blasted from every side to do more, experience more, take in more, and have more fun.
From the book, Springs in the Valley comes this story which occurred during African colonial history: “In the deep jungles of Africa, a traveler was making a long trek. Workers had been engaged from a tribe to carry the loads. The first day they marched rapidly and went far. The traveler had high hopes of a speedy journey. But the second morning these jungle tribesmen refused to move. For some strange reason they just sat and rested. On inquiry as to the reason for this strange behavior, the traveler was informed that they had gone too fast the first day, and that they were now waiting for their souls to catch up with their bodies.”
The Bible says, “In quietness and in confidence shall be your strength” (Isaiah 30:15).
Joni Eareckson tells a story of how prayer works. She writes, “It all began when I received a letter from a quadriplegic in China. He had recently come to Christ and now saw his disabled friends as his mission field. He couldn’t use his hands, and so he needed a power wheelchair to get around. He wrote, asking for help. I thought, ‘Where am I going to get such a chair, and how will we get it to China?’ At the same time, I received a late-night call from John, a friend in Ohio. His disabled wife had recently passed away. ‘We just purchased a new $20,000 power chair. My wife hardly used it. Think you can find someone who needs it?’ Remembering the quadriplegic in China, I blurted, ‘Of course!’ Then I wondered, ‘How are we going to get a hold of this wheelchair? There’s crating and shipping and...’ Before I could say another thing, John added, ‘We received some financial gifts at the funeral... I’d love to cover the costs of sending this chair to whoever needs it, no matter how far away.’ I was breathless. I told John about the man in China. We rejoiced together, utterly amazed at how the eyes of the Lord were on a quadriplegic on the other side of the earth... his eyes were on a widower in Ohio with a slightly used wheelchair, too. And the Lord wanted to strengthen the hearts of both! It happens in China. It happens in Ohio. And it can happen to you. Of all the places in the earth, God has his eyes on you.”
One Christian leader kept a sign on his desk that read, “Beware of the Barrenness of a Busy Life.” Our lives can be extremely shallow and barren as we get caught in the rush of things to do. Some call it the “tyranny of the urgent” — the urgent replaces the important and our lives become drained as a result. The Bible says, “Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life” (Proverbs 4:23).
Time magazine reported recently: “In the past 30 years, doctors and health officials have come to realize how heavy a toll stress is taking on the nation’s well-being. According to the American Academy of Family Physicians, two-thirds of office visits to family doctors are prompted by stress related symptoms.” I read once of a race in Pennsylvania called, “The Race to Nowhere.” Without realizing it, many of us have registered for and entered our personal race to nowhere. It is the frantic and directionless race in which we get caught that produces stress. But in our frenzied attempts to escape boredom we try to run faster, rather than go deeper in life. Someone has compared the way we live to drinking from a fire hydrant. “A little bit of water from a gentle fountain can go a long way,” he says. But we are being blasted from every side to do more, experience more, take in more, and have more fun.
From the book, Springs in the Valley comes this story which occurred during African colonial history: “In the deep jungles of Africa, a traveler was making a long trek. Workers had been engaged from a tribe to carry the loads. The first day they marched rapidly and went far. The traveler had high hopes of a speedy journey. But the second morning these jungle tribesmen refused to move. For some strange reason they just sat and rested. On inquiry as to the reason for this strange behavior, the traveler was informed that they had gone too fast the first day, and that they were now waiting for their souls to catch up with their bodies.”
The Bible says, “In quietness and in confidence shall be your strength” (Isaiah 30:15).
Joni Eareckson tells a story of how prayer works. She writes, “It all began when I received a letter from a quadriplegic in China. He had recently come to Christ and now saw his disabled friends as his mission field. He couldn’t use his hands, and so he needed a power wheelchair to get around. He wrote, asking for help. I thought, ‘Where am I going to get such a chair, and how will we get it to China?’ At the same time, I received a late-night call from John, a friend in Ohio. His disabled wife had recently passed away. ‘We just purchased a new $20,000 power chair. My wife hardly used it. Think you can find someone who needs it?’ Remembering the quadriplegic in China, I blurted, ‘Of course!’ Then I wondered, ‘How are we going to get a hold of this wheelchair? There’s crating and shipping and...’ Before I could say another thing, John added, ‘We received some financial gifts at the funeral... I’d love to cover the costs of sending this chair to whoever needs it, no matter how far away.’ I was breathless. I told John about the man in China. We rejoiced together, utterly amazed at how the eyes of the Lord were on a quadriplegic on the other side of the earth... his eyes were on a widower in Ohio with a slightly used wheelchair, too. And the Lord wanted to strengthen the hearts of both! It happens in China. It happens in Ohio. And it can happen to you. Of all the places in the earth, God has his eyes on you.”
In
Christ,
Brown
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