‘Though I ride the wings of the morning’

Posted on April 26, 2016 by vincentsmithauthor

‘Though I ride the wings of the morning
Ronald Reagan used to tell of a photographer, who was sent to photograph a bush fire. His editor told him that time was of the essence, and an aircraft was waiting for him. He drove to the runway where a plane was standing with engine running, got aboard, and at five thousand feet he took his camera out and told the young pilot to fly above the fire. The young man just looked at him then said: ‘Aren’t you the flying instructor?’
Some of us may feel that’s the situation we’re in. We think everything is under control, then suddenly realize what we thought was a competent hand on the controls of our life isn’t. That’s the time to remember that old Bible wisdom that says: … even there may your hand guide me, and your strength support me.’

Posted in Assurance, Faith, God's presence, Life, Life's journey | Tagged | Leave a comment

You never know how high your dreams will take you.

Posted on April 26, 2016 by vincentsmithauthor

In nineteen eighty two, Larry Waters, who had always wanted to fly but couldn’t afford the lessons, decided to achieve his dream by purchasing forty five surplus weather balloons, filling them with helium and attaching them to an aluminium deck chair. Then, with a CB radio in his lap, a paper bag full of peanut butter sandwiches tied to his leg, and an air-rifle over his shoulder to pop the balloons when he wanted to come down, he lifted off, expecting to climb a couple of hundred feet over his neighbourhood. But instead he shot up eleven thousand feet, right through the approach corridor to the Los Angeles International Airport. It gave him one heck of a scare and got him arrested, but his story went round the world as an example of the truth that you never know how high your dreams will take you.

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The Power of One

Posted on April 18, 2016 by vincentsmithauthor

Do you know that one vote made Oliver Cromwell Lord Protector and gave him control of England. One vote caused Charles the First to be executed. One vote changed France from a monarchy to a republic. One vote also made Adolf Hitler head of the Nazi Party.
We may often think of our contributions as being so insignificant that they mean nothing. But history sometimes shows otherwise. One of the best known stories of Jesus is about how he received a small boy’s lunch, freely given to him, and used it to feed a multitude. The early Christians must have loved that story because it appears in all four gospels.
It is a great statement of the power of one. I may only be one, and I can’t do everything, but I can do something; and what I can do, I ought to do and, by the grace of God, it will have its effect too.

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Cock-eyed optimists

Posted on April 18, 2016 by vincentsmithauthor

Do you remember that scene from the film South Pacific, where Nurse Nellie Thorbush looks out across the islands and sees what she thinks are clouds but then realizes they’re gun smoke, and that even in that South Sea paradise people are being killed? But then she sings: “When the sky is a bright canary yellow, I forget every cloud I’ve ever seen. So they call me a cock-eyed optimist, immature and incurably green. I could say life is just a bowl of Jell-O, and appear more intelligent and smart. But I’m stuck like a dope with a thing called hope, and I can’t get it out of my heart.”
Well, I’m stuck with the same thing: hope. I believe that what I may see at this moment in time is not all that there is. But I also believe those timeless words of the Bible which tell us that “God is,” and “rewards those who diligently seek him.”

Posted in Faith, Hope, Hope of Glory | Leave a comment

Forgiven, Forgotten Forever

Posted on April 18, 2016 by vincentsmithauthor

There was once a celebrated court case in which the wife of a Scottish doctor examined his financial records after his death and found that a number of accounts were crossed through with a notation: “debt forgiven–too poor to pay.” She however decided that those accounts must be paid, and proceeded to sue for the money. When the case came to court, the judge asked one question: Is this your husband’s handwriting? When she replied that it was he said: “There is no court in the land that can obtain a debt once the word ‘forgiven’ has been written.”
And that is the good news of the Gospel. God’s attitude is not “I’ll forgive but I won’t forget,” but rather, “Forgiven, Forgotten Forever.” “If we confess our sins,” the Bible says, “God is faithful and forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Posted in Forgiveness, God, God's love, Gospel | Leave a comment

Plucking weeds and planting flowers

Posted on April 18, 2016 by vincentsmithauthor

Abraham Lincoln once said: ‘Die when I may, I want it said of me that I plucked a weed and planted a flower wherever I thought a flower would grow.’ Someone said that the whole process of evolution in this world is to produce useful things, and that what is useful will go on from strength to strength, while what is useless will be eliminated. It leaves us with the question of whether we are people who take out of life more than we give, or give more than we take.
This was the message in Jesus’ parable about a figtree, which, after being planted in good soil and tended for three years, by which time it should have been fruitful, still failed to produce anything. Its owner gave it one more year to change.
The message is: God is infinitely good to us, but eventually we have to show something for it.

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The Myth of Religious Violence

Posted on April 18, 2016 by vincentsmithauthor

It’s widely thought that religion is the major cause of war. However, William T. Cavanaugh, in his book, The Myth of Religious Violence, points out how superficial this perception is. Indeed, the authoritative Encyclopedia of War reports that of all the wars fought during recorded history, 3.8% of them have been caused by Islam; 3.2% by other religions; but 93% by governments seeking their own political ends.
As far as Christianity goes, the illogic of such generalisations is clear when we remember that Jesus actually taught that we should ‘love our enemies.’ To do otherwise in his name is to show the truth of that old Biblical truth that: ‘the heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?’

Posted in Loving your enemies, Religion, War | Tagged | Leave a comment

Our best defence against the rising threat of radical Islamism

Posted on April 18, 2016 by vincentsmithauthor

There’s been a lot of interest recently in a quote from renowned atheist Richard Dawkins, who admits that Christianity may be our best defence against the rising threat of radical Islamism – even acknowledging that the teachings of Jesus Christ do not lead to terrorism, but quite the opposite. Further, Dawkins ponders whether the Christianity he has so publicly belittled might offer an antidote to protect western civilization against jihad.
It’s also rather interesting that the Church of England, so often the target of Dawkins’ ridicule, has called upon its members everywhere to pray for him and his family in the light of Dawkins’ recent suffering of a stroke – a good example of the very thing he noted about Christian teaching; loving your enemies and praying for those who give you a bad time.

Posted in Example, Islamism, Loving God, Loving other people, Loving your enemies, Terrorism | Leave a comment

The factors which contribute most to emotional stability

Posted on April 18, 2016 by vincentsmithauthor

Duke University’s landmark study on peace of mind found that the factors which contribute most to emotional stability are: the absence of resentment, not living in the past, not wasting energy fighting things you cannot change, cooperating with life instead of trying to run away from it, refusing to indulge in self-pity, and accepting the fact that nobody gets through life without some misfortune. But, underlying all these factors, the study says that to really achieve peace of mind, we have to find something bigger than ourselves to believe in; and that, of course, is the reason why people with faith in God consistently score higher in tests for measuring happiness. For them the words of scripture are a living reality: ‘If God be for us, who can be against us?’

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Storing up wealth – for nothing

Posted on March 29, 2016 by vincentsmithauthor

The current world financial troubles remind us of how easily we forget the lessons of the past. Just before the Great Depression, the world’s twelve wealthiest men met in Chicago. They controlled more money than the American Treasury. They included Charles Schwab, President of the largest independent steel company; Richard Whitney, President of the New York Stock Exchange; Leon Fraser, President of the Bank of International Settlements; and Ivar Kreuger, head of Kreuger Steel. The eventual outcome of that meeting was that three of them committed suicide, two died bankrupts, and two went to prison for fraud.
As the Bible says: ‘To those who please Him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the foolish He gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth – for nothing.’

Posted in Greed, wealth, Wisdom | Leave a comment