“Christians are like tea: their strength is not drawn out until they get in hot water.”

Ben’s Quotebook c.1976 p.81

Someone recently told me, “It seems that all I ever do is mess up! The most amazing thing is that when I take it to God, He always cleans up my mess!” Do you ever feel like your life is shipwrecked? Do you feel like you always do things wrong – always mess up no matter how much you try to do it right? I have the most awesome news! God showed me a really cool passage in Psalms 107 that will shock your socks off!

The first group of people in the 107^th Psalm feel like they are in a desert! They are hungry and dying of thirst — struggling, panicking and in terrible need of help. They cry out in desperation to God. God saves them, delivers them, gives them water, feeds them, satisfies them and leads them down a direct path to a city where they could live. They spend time praising God for helping them.

The second group lived in darkness, in death-dark gloom, bound in misery and iron chains because they defied God’s word and scornfully spoke out against having God for a crutch. So God humbled their hearts with hard trials and when things really got bad, no one would help! They were alone in their dark misery and chains. Finally, they desperately cried out to God and He led them out of their darkness and despair. He shattered the chains. They praised God for setting them free.

The third group were people caught up in crime and sin and became sick. They became so ill they couldn’t stand to eat anything and were near death! They cried out to the Lord and He healed them and delivered them from their destruction! They offered sacrifices of thanksgiving and joyfully told everyone about what God had done. They sang praises to God.

There was a fourth group that hadn’t sinned: they hadn’t rebelled! They weren’t lost in the desert alone and without God! One day they went to work as usual on a ship where they were employed. While on the sea, a terrible wind (storm) arose. The ship rocked back and forth as the waves threatened to cause them to die for sure. Fear gripped them and they cried out to God! God stilled the wind and waves and brought them safely to shore. They gave thanks to God for all he had done.

There is more beauty in this chapter but we will stop here. I wanted us to think about the fact that no matter how badly we have messed up our lives (whether caused by us or others), Jesus can fix it if we will go to Him and let Him do so. Then we joyfully serve Him and find He helps us not to mess up so often.

The Lord’s Way

Author Unknown

I asked the Lord that I might grow

In faith and love and every grace;

Might more of His salvation know,

And seek more earnestly His face.

‘Twas He who taught me thus to pray,

And He, I trust, has answered prayer;

But it has been in such a way

As almost drove me to despair.

I hoped that in some favored hour

At once He’d answer my request;

And, by His love’s constraining power,

Subdue my sins, and give me rest.

Instead of this, He made me feel

The hidden evils of my heart,

And let the angry powers of hell

Assault my soul in every part.

Yea, more, with His own hand He seemed

Intent to aggravate my woe;

Crossed all the fair designs I schemed,

Blasted my gourds, and laid them low.

“Lord, why is this?” I trembling cried:

“Wilt Thou pursue Thy worm to death?”

“‘Tis in this way,” the Lord replied,

“I answer prayer for grace and faith.”

“These inward trials I employ,

From self and pride to set thee free

And break thy schemes of earthly joy,

That thou mayst seek thy all in Me.”

The Whale

e-mail

A female humpback whale had become entangled in a spider web of crab traps and lines. She was weighted down by hundreds of pounds of traps that caused her to struggle to stay afloat. She also had hundreds of yards of line and rope wrapped around her body, her tail, her torso, a line tugging in her mouth.

A fisherman spotted her just east of the Faralon Islands (outside the Golden Gate in San Francisco) and radioed for help.

Within a few hours, the rescue team arrived and determined that she was so bad off, the only way to save her was to dive in and untangle her. A very dangerous proposition. One slap of the tail could kill a rescuer.
They worked for hours with curved knives and eventually freed her.

When she was free, the divers say she swam in what seemed like joyous circles. She then came back to each and every diver, one at a time, nudged them, and pushed gently, thanking them. Some said it was the most incredibly beautiful experience of their lives.

The guy who cut the rope out of her mouth says her eye was following him the whole time, and he will never be the same…..

May you, and all those you love,
be so fortunate…
to be surrounded by people
who will help you get untangled
from the things that are binding you.
And, may you always know the joy
of giving and receiving gratitude.

“Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, And He saved them out of

their distresses. He sent His word and healed them, and delivered them from

their destructions.” Psalms 107:19-20 (NKJ)

“Another good thing about telling the truth is you don’t have to remember what you said.”

Uncle Ben’s Quotebook (Baker Book c1976)p.285

I remember meeting some people who never told the truth. They would get caught up in lies and forget what they had said. It didn’t seem to matter because they would make up another story to try to cover the latest lie. What miserable lives they led!

God talks about putting on clean garments. We used to be dirty, soiled and ugly with sin. Jesus paid the price for our sin. We went to Jesus and accepted His marvelous provision for us. We asked Him to forgive us, cleanse us and put on us His garments of righteousness. He gladly did. Now Paul in Ephesians 4 gives us a number of things that we are to get rid of in our lives and replace with something else. One of the things he talks specifically about is lying!

“So stop telling lies. Let us tell our neighbors the truth, for we are all parts of the same body. And ‘don’t sin by letting anger control you.’ Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry, for anger gives a foothold to the devil.” (Ephesians 4:25-27 NLT).

We need to know how to speak truth in love and to help us with this, let’s look at what the Bible says about keeping quiet.

DON’T OPEN YOUR MOUTH WHEN:
1	You are angry so you don’t act foolishly	Proverbs 14:17
2	You don’t have all the facts	Proverbs 18:13
3	You haven’t verified the story	Deuteronomy 17:6
4	Your words will offend a weaker person	1 Corinthians 8:11
5	It is time to listen	Proverbs 13:1
6	Be careful with your jokes	Ecclesiastes 5:2; Prov. 26:18-19
7	You excuse sin	Proverbs 14:9
8	Until you’ve chosen your words carefully	Proverbs 8:8
9	Your words would convey the wrong impression	Proverbs 17:28
10	You are tempted to lie	Proverbs 4:24
11	Your words will damage someone else’s reputation	Proverbs 16:27
12	Your words will damage a friendship	Proverbs 16:28
13	You are feeling critical	James 3:9-10
14	You can’t say something without screaming it.	Proverbs 25:28; 26:4; 15:18
15	Your words will be a poor reflection on the Lord	1 Peter 2:21-23
16	You might have to eat your words later	Proverbs 18:21
17	If you have already said it more than once	Proverbs 19:13
18	You are tempted to flatter a wicked person or agree with a lie	Proverbs 24:24
19	You should be working	Proverbs 14:23

Have you ever looked at your child in astonishment and asked, “Why did you say that? Don’t you know you hurt his feelings?” What was the child’s response? “But, Mom, I was only telling him the truth!”

Have you ever walked in on your toddler (after telling him he was not to eat any of the fresh chocolate fudge until after lunch) to find chocolate all over his face? What do you do? You ask, “Sonny, did you eat some fudge after mommy told you not to?” What is his response? He innocently smiles up at you through the chocolate mess and says, “No, mommy, honest – I didn’t do it!”

Truth-telling is an area I think we are struggling with a bit in our current world. This is a terrible adult problem — not a problem just with children. We think about some of these cute stories to point out that we do not have to be taught to lie. We have to be taught to tell the truth. In fact children can tend to be more honest in some ways than adults.

What about the times we have hurt others by an unthinking but truthful remark spoken without love? Do we justify ourselves by saying, “I was just telling him the truth? Doesn’t the Bible say to tell the truth?” What does God mean by all this anyway?

God is telling us to take this a step further than merely telling the truth. We are to speak it in the love only God can give. I think my dad’s adage to think before I speak could be better translated to “pray before you speak.” What would happen if we asked God for guidance in timing and method of speaking truth under His direction? Even those who know how to tell the truth, have to work at doing it in love.

Let’s look at a poem showing us how a little boy bluntly speaks the truth in love.

AIN’T…
Author unknown

He was just a little boy,

On a week’s first day.

Wandering home from Bible school,

And dawdling on the way.

He scuffed his shoes into the grass;

He even found a caterpillar.

He found a fluffy milkweed pod,

And blew out all the ‘filler.’

A bird’s nest in a tree overhead,

So wisely placed up so high.

Was just another wonder,

That caught his eager eye.

A neighbor watched his zig zag course,

And hailed him from the lawn;

Asked him where he’d been that day

And what was going on.

‘I’ve been to Bible School,’

He said and turned a piece of sod.

He picked up a wiggly worm replying,

‘I’ve learned a lot about God.’

‘M’m very fine way,’ the neighbor said,

‘for a boy to spend his time.’

‘If you’ll tell me where God is,

I’ll give you a brand new dime.’

Quick as a flash the answer came!

Nor were his accents faint.

‘I’ll give you a dollar, Mister,

If you can tell me where God ain’t.’

“For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.” James 3:16 NIV

Not Our Fruit Alone

A voyaging ship was wrecked during a storm at sea and only two of the men on it were able to swim to a small, desert like island. The two survivors, not knowing what else to do, agreed that they had no other recourse but to pray to God. However, to find out whose prayer was more powerful, they agreed to divide the territory between them and stay on opposite sides of the island.

The first thing they prayed for was food. The next morning, the first man saw a fruit-bearing tree on his side of the land, and he was able to eat its fruit. The other man’s parcel of land remained barren.

After a week, the first man was lonely and he decided to pray for a wife. The next day, another ship was wrecked, and the only survivor was a woman who swam to his side of the land. On the other side of the island, there was nothing.

Soon the first man prayed for a house, clothes, more food. The next day, like magic, all of these were given to him. However, the second man still had nothing.

Finally, the first man prayed for a ship, so that he and his wife would leave the island. In the morning, he found a ship docked at his side of the island. The first man boarded the ship with his wife and decided to leave the second man on the island. He considered the other man unworthy to receive God’s blessings, since none of his prayers had been answered. As the ship was about to leave, the first man heard a voice from heaven booming,

“Why are you leaving your companion on the island?”

“My blessings are mind alone, since I was the one who prayed for them,” the first man answered. “His prayers were all unanswered and so he does not deserve anything.”

“You are mistaken!” the voice rebuked him. “He had only one prayer, which I answered. If not for that, you would not have received any of my blessings.”

“Tell me,” the first man asked the voice, “What did he pray for that I should owe him anything?”

“He prayed that all your prayers be answered.”

For all we know, our blessings are not the fruits of our prayers alone, but those of another praying for us.

-E-mail

God truly warns us repeatedly about selfishness. I am sure the heart of God shudders at some of our common American slogans.

• Look out for number one.

• Whatever you want to do, do it.

• If it feels good, do it.

• If you don’t feel like it’s wrong, it is not wrong for you.

• Life is up to you. You need to decide what you want and go for it.

• Get out of my way, world! Here I come!

So many of our slogans totally emphasize ME! I have to take care of myself. If it is something I want, it is okay. Morality is MY decision. But this is contrary to all of God’s teaching in the Bible. Like the story above, many times all our praying is selfish. Are we like the first man or the second when we pray: “Please meet my needs. Make me feel better. Give me a better car. Give me more….” Do not get me wrong. Jesus said we are to ask the Father for our daily bread and our needs to be met. But we need also to pray for others.

Upward and Outward

by Marvine Scott

If you want to be free

Of the stress and the strife

Just get rid of the ‘me’

That’s controlling your life.

Jesus gives a fresh start

He forgives all our sin.

His peace is a part

Of the New Life within.

Let’s look ‘up’ and then ‘out’

Loving others, you know.

Trust in God and don’t doubt

And God’s love He’ll bestow.

Stop the focus on ‘me’

Instead, look at God’s Son.

Let’s help others get free

So God’s victory is won!

THE OTHER BOOT

By Meg Seaman

“My Father used to tell my brothers and me a story of World War 1.

“While a young soldier was praying before bedtime one night, another soldier told him to stop that noise and threw one of his boots at him.

“The next morning, the soldier who had been praying returned the boot to its owner cleaned and polished, and asked for the other one and said he would also polish that one.

“My father said the young soldier was never abused again.

“I was only a little girl when my father told this story but I have never forgotten it.”

-A Mountain Wings Moment #3328, wings@mountainwings.com Nov. 24, 2003

OTHERS

by C.D. Meigs

“Lord help me to live from day to day

In such a self forgetful way

That even when I kneel to pray

My prayer shall be for – OTHERS.

Help me in all the work I do

To be ever sincere and true

And know that all I’d do for YOU

Must needs be done for – OTHERS.

Let SELF be crucified and slain

And buried deep; and all in vain

May my efforts be to rise again

Unless to live for – OTHERS

And when my work on earth is done

And my new work in Heaven’s begun

May I forget the crown I’ve won

While still thinking of – OTHERS.

OTHERS, Lord – yes, OTHERS

Let this my motto be

Help me to live for – OTHERS

That I might live like Thee.”

“Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.”

(Revelation 3:20 KJV)

Jesus knocking at our heart’s door is such a famous picture that almost everyone has seen it. Have you thought about what it means? He wants to come in and have a chat – to have fellowship with you! Have you ever thought about having fellowship with God? God is saying, “Child, talk to Me.”

OH, LORD!

By Dixie Briggs

“Oh Lord, I have a mountain,

It’s just too high for me to climb!”

“Let Me carry you over it, my child.

I’ll take you to heights sublime!”

“Oh Lord, I have a valley,

That is so dark and drear!”

“My child let My love light up your path,

And chase away your fear.”

“Oh, Lord, I see dangers and snares,

In the way that I must tread.”

“My child let Me lead you,

And chase away your dread.”

“Oh Lord, the night,

Is so very long and dark.”

“Come into My arms, My child.

I’ll hold you close to My heart.”

“I am frightened, oh Lord,

As to what the future may hold!”

“As to your future, My child,

With My love, it I will enfold.”

“Oh Lord, there are troubled waters,

Upon the seas of my life!”

“My child, I can still the waters,

And rid you of your strife.”

“Oh Lord, is there nothing,

That you will not see me through?”

“No, my child, there is nothing.

I will always be with you.”

I love the verse, “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he shall give you the desires of your heart.” Psalms 37:4. I really like Ken’s paraphrase: “When you make God’s desires, your desires, God will give you the desires of your heart.” When we ‘delight ourselves in the Lord’ is not that what we are doing? Are we not searching the scriptures and spending time in prayer with Him until we find what pleases Him?

Can we actually ‘delight ourselves in the Lord,’ without looking at all that God did for us? I recently saw a video where the suffering Jesus went through was so graphically described, that I wept openly and brokenly even though I was very aware all my life of what He did for me. Somehow thinking how his face and body was so beaten that no one could even recognize Him, broke my heart. Why would He do such a thing? He says it is because He loves us. What is there about mankind that God would care about us? I do not know but I am grateful that He does. When we see Him for Who He is, we want to worship Him and ‘have fellowship’ with Him.

When I Met The Master

I had walked life’s way with an easy tread,

Had followed where comforts and pleasures led;

Until one day in a quiet place

I met my Master, face to face.

I had builded my castles, had reared them high

With their tops had pierced the blue of the sky;

I had sworn to rule with an iron mace

Till I met the Master face to face.

With station and rank and wealth as my goal

Much thought for my body and none for my soul;

I had entered to win in life’s mad race

When I met the Master face to face.

I met Him and knew Him and blushed to see

That His eyes full of sorrow were fixed on me;

And I faltered and fell at His feet that day,

While my castles melted and vanished away.

Melted and vanished and in their place

Naught else did I see but the Master’s face.

And I cried aloud, “O make me meet

To follow the steps of Thy wounded feet.”

My thoughts are now for the souls of men

I have lost my life to find it again

E’er since one day – in a quiet place

I met the Master face to face.

-Poems For Sunshine And Shadow (Back to the Bible NE c1962) p.69

GOD’S BOXES

Author Unknown

I have in my hands two boxes,

Which God gave me to hold.

He said, “Put all your sorrows in the black box,

And all your joys in the gold.”

I heeded His words, and in the two boxes,

Both my joys and sorrows I stored,

But though the gold became heavier each day,

The black was as light as before.

With curiosity, I opened the black,

I wanted to find out why.

And I saw, in the base of the box, a hole,

Which my sorrows had fallen out by.

I showed the hole to God, and mused,

“I wonder where my sorrows could be!”

He smiled a gentle smile and said,

“My child, they’re all here with me.”

I asked God, why He gave me the boxes,

Why the gold and the black with the hole?

“My child, the gold is for you to count your blessings,

The black is for you to let go.”