Erma Bombeck offered some good advice to those graduates of Meredith College in Raleigh, North Carolina. At the Commencement Ceremonies, Ms. Bombeck gave some good maternal counsel, “Don’t confuse fame with success. Madonna is one; Helen Keller is the other.” (The Houston Chronicle, May 1991, p. 2) IOWJUL91

The Bible has a lot to say about success:

Joshua 1:8

This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

Ecclesiastes 10:10   

If the ax is dull, and one does not sharpen the edge, then he must use more strength; But wisdom brings success.

There is a time-proven stone that can sharpen your old ax, and it is the Word of God. Rest your head against it and let it do its work.

Give it some thought.

Gary

He was my brother and a combat-marine at the age of eighteen. They dropped those young boys off near the DMZ by helicopter. Immediately the North Vietnamese rockets came down. He was wounded but didn’t lose consciousness. The sensation of blood pulsating from his back was evident. Out of nowhere, a young African-American medic appeared and pulled him into a depression to shield from further injury. Medical helicopters approached under fire and he was thrown into one.

In that field that day, there were no hyphenated names, only marines trying to get home again. My brother didn’t know that hero but was forever grateful he was there. This marine turned seventy-four in May because of that medic.

How many unknown individuals do we owe our lives to?

Hebrews 12:1

Therefore, we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,

They went on before so that you could go on today.

Give it some thought.

Gary

“Yesterday” is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, written by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon–McCartney. It was first released on the album Help! in August 1965. It was a song about how easy things were yesterday. The songwriter believes that the past was better.  He is struggling with the present.

You can’t get yesterday back, but if that were possible, it would sure make today miserable.  We need to concentrate on the present, and trust the future to our Lord. The Scripture tells us much about the future based on the now.

Revelation 3:21

The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.

Philippians 1:6

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

Know who you are, where you’re going and always remember Jesus has dealt with your past.

Give it some thought.

Gary

There is no room for Jesus in the economic world.

There was no room for Jesus in the legal realm.

There was no room for Jesus in the realm of the religious order.

There was no room for Jesus in the world of politics.

Is there any room for Jesus in your world?

Have you any room for Jesus,
He who bore your load of sin?
As He knocks and asks admission,
Sinner, will you let Him in?

Refrain:
Room for Jesus, King of Glory!
Hasten now His Word obey;
Swing the heart’s door widely open,
Bid Him enter while you may.

Room for pleasure, room for business,
But for Christ the Crucified,
Not a place that He can enter,
In the heart for which He died?

Matthew 7:23

And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

Give it some thought.

Gary

She is unknown to most, but is owed a debt by many. Here is a brief account of her service.

The opening paragraph from a chapter in Tom Brokaw’s book, The Greatest Generation:

There are so many impressive numbers connected to World War II that it’s difficult for one or two to catch your eye. Here are a few that caught me by surprise: more than sixty thousand women served in the Army Nurse Corps. Sixteen died as a result of enemy action. Sixty-seven nurses were taken prisoner of war. More than sixteen hundred were decorated for bravery under fire or for meritorious service.

The chapter is titled “Mary Louise Roberts Wilson.” It’s a profile of Mary L. Roberts, a Methodist Hospital nurse who enlisted in the Army Nurse Corps in 1942. She served with the 56th Evacuation Hospital Unit alongside many other medical professionals from Dallas (the unit — sometimes called the “Baylor Unit” — was organized by the Baylor University College of Medicine in Dallas). She knew she would be serving overseas in field hospitals in combat zones.

As far as seeing action, the worst of the worst for the 56th was on February 10, 1944, when their hospital tents on the Anzio beachhead in Italy were attacked by German long-range artillery shells for a full thirty minutes. Several operations were underway during the attack, and Roberts, the chief nurse of the operating tent, managed to keep a calm head and help to maintain as much order as possible.

“I wanted to jump under the operating table, but first we had to lower litter cases to the floor. Pieces of steel already were ripping through tents. There were four litters. I saw a patient on the operating table had his helmet near him, so I put it over his head to give him that much protection.” (Mary L. Roberts, Dallas Morning News, Feb 23, 1944)

I often ponder as to how many in the Lord’s army served under dangerous conditions for the good of all.  She never let her fellow soldiers down and neither should we. She made sure they suffered no added injuries.

Romans 16:1

I commend to you Phoebe our sister, who is a servant of the church in Cenchrea,

Give it some thought.

Gary

The Christmas Truce is memorialized in the following song:

“Belleau Wood,” sung by Garth Brooks; songwriters Joe Henry and Garth Brooks (1997).

Oh, the snowflakes fell in silence
Over Belleau Wood that night
For a Christmas truce had been declared
By both sides of the fight

As we lay there in our trenches
The silence broke in two
By a German soldier singing
A song that we all knew

 Though I did not know the language
The song was “Silent Night”

Then I heard my buddy whisper,
“All is calm and all is bright”

Then the fear and doubt surrounded me
‘Cause I’d die if I was wrong
But I stood up in my trench
And I began to sing along

Then across the frozen battlefield
Another’s voice joined in
Until one by one each man became
A singer of the hymn

Then I thought that I was dreaming
For right there in my sight
Stood the German soldier
‘Neath the falling flakes of white

And he raised his hand and smiled at me
As if he seemed to say
Here’s hoping we both live
To see us find a better way

Then the devil’s clock struck midnight
And the skies lit up again
And the battlefield where heaven stood
Was blown to hell again

But for just one fleeting moment
The answer seemed so clear
Heaven’s not beyond the clouds
It’s just beyond the fear

No, heaven’s not beyond the clouds
It’s for us to find it here

John 3:16

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Isaiah 26:3

You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.

In a world gone crazy, heaven’s not far away.

Give it some thought.

Gary

The children get together and decide to give their father a history of the family, drawn up by a professional, for his 75^th birthday. But they warn this man about the family’s black sheep, the skeleton in the closet, Great-Uncle George. He went over to the states after the war and ended up being executed in the electric chair for murder. “It’s all right,” said the biographer. “I can handle that. I’ll say that Great-Uncle George occupied a chair of applied electronics at an important government institution in America. He was attached to his position by the strongest of ties and his death came as a terrible shock.”

                         –  Author unknown

Perfect example of giving a message to an audience that, on face value, is truthful but leading one away from honesty. This is how false teachers in the Word were described.

Jeremiah 23:16

This is what the LORD Almighty says: “Do not listen to what the prophets are prophesying to you; they fill you with false hopes. They speak visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of the LORD.

Matthew 24:24

For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.

2 Timothy 4:3-4

For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.

They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.

When listening to the modern preacher, perhaps we need to check a little deeper than the surface.

Give it some thought.

Gary