The ship that shot itself

Posted on July 13, 2014 by vincentsmithauthor

During World War Two the American submarine Tang fired her last eight torpedoes against a Japanese convoy off the coast of China. The first seven were on target, but the eighth suddenly deviated and boomeranged back unseen to strike the crew that launched it. The USS Tang received a direct hit and sank almost instantly. It has gone down in history as the ship that torpedoed itself.
In the same way we’re also capable, while intent on attacking others, of doing irreparable damage to ourselves. The missiles of anger and bitterness that we launch can and do return to hurt us. Modern medicine has documented proof that emotions such as bitterness and anger cause headaches, backaches, allergic disorders, ulcers, high blood pressure, and heart attacks. Unresolved anger can be a poison that kills; but it’s forgiveness that brings healing

Posted in Anger, Attitude, Bad Habits, Bitterness, Forgiveness, Hurting ourselves | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Disappointed, discouraged, defeated?

Posted on July 13, 2014 by vincentsmithauthor

I have a friend who has spent most of his life working with people in distress. He has a motto based on some words from the Bible that say: “We are often troubled, but not crushed; sometimes in doubt, but never in despair; there are many enemies, but we are never without a friend; and though badly hurt at times, we are never destroyed…” His motto goes like this: “Disappointed? – often. Discouraged? – sometimes. Defeated? – never!”
Life can often be tough, filled with disappointments and discouragement. But if our lives are built on the firm foundation of a living faith in God, we will never be defeated. We may be down, but we will never be out. “Who can separate us from the love of Christ?” says the Bible. “In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loves us…” “If God be for us, who can be against us.”

Posted in Defeated, Disappointed, Discouraged, Faith, God, God with us, Hope, Love of Christ, Trials and testings | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

There’s nothing to fear but fear

Posted on July 13, 2014 by vincentsmithauthor

Fred Culbertson is the creator of a website called Phobialist.com, which lists more than five hundred fears that people experience. Among the unusual fears he lists are: Peladophobia – fear of bald people; eniophobia – fear of chins; Aulophobia – fear of flutes; Entheraphobia – fear of mothers-in-law; Pteronophobia – fear of being tickled by feathers; and, best of all, paraskavedekatriaphobia – fear of Friday the 13th.
Well, in a world where people face so many fears, both real and imagined, it’s comforting to know that the most frequent command in the Bible is “fear not.” But for many of us that’s easier said than done. It only happens as we learn to entrust our lives by faith into the care and keeping of God. “Cast all your care on Him,” the Bible says. “For He cares for you.”

Posted in Faith, Fear, Fred Culbertson, Phobialist.com, Phobias, Trust in God, Uncertainty of Life | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Tempted, Tried and Tested

Posted on July 13, 2014 by vincentsmithauthor

During the construction of the Union Pacific Railroad, an elaborate trestle bridge was built across a large canyon in the Rockie Mountains. Wanting to test the bridge, the chief engineer loaded a train with enough extra cars and equipment to double its normal payload, drove it onto the bridge and left it there a whole day. People got worried and asked if he was trying to break the bridge. His response was “No, I’m proving that the bridge won’t break.”
It reminds me of that story from the gospels how Jesus, before he set out on his life ministry, spent forty days in the desert and was subjected to all sorts of testing, without giving way. Those testings weren’t designed to see if He would fail, but to prove that He wouldn’t. And with his help in our lives, the same will be true when we are put to the test

Posted in Tempted, Tested, Trials and testings, Tried | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Paradise Lost

Posted on June 15, 2014 by vincentsmithauthor

Years ago there was a place I used to visit occasionally that seemed like paradise to me. I used to daydream about what it would be like to live and work there. Then, some years later, an opportunity came to actually do that very thing, and I took a job and moved there, hardly able to believe my luck and that I’d actually arrived at where I’d always wanted to be. Eighteen months later, as a result of some complex and distressing relationships, that place I thought of as heaven became hell, and I couldn’t wait to leave it.
It reminds me that Christianity has always taught that life is a journey, not a destination. Robert Louis Stevenson said: ‘To travel hopefully is a far better thing than to arrive.’ And Jesus made it clear that the direction in which we are facing is always more important than the particular place we have reached.

Posted in Conflict, Heaven, Hell, Life, Life's journey, Paradise, Trials and testings, tribulation and trouble | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Queen’s Commission

Posted on June 15, 2014 by vincentsmithauthor

When I became an Army chaplain I felt embarrassed that I’d been given the Queen’s Commission without having gone through the same long and gruelling military process that general service officers went through to earn theirs. Eventually it was a tough old sergeant major who put me at ease when he told me to stop feeling guilty and just accept the fact that I had that commission because the Governor General of Australia had signed it and chosen to give it to me.
When a person does a day’s work and receives a day’s pay, that is a wage. When a person competes and receives a trophy, that is a prize. When a person receives recognition for achievement, that is an award. But when a person is given a status as a gift, that is an act of grace.
And that’s how the Bible describes God’s forgiveness – an act of grace that we cannot earn, just receive.

Posted in Accepting, Faith, Gift of God, God, Grace, Works | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Faith makes us bigger than our problems

Posted on June 15, 2014 by vincentsmithauthor

There’s a saying that ‘the beginning of anxiety is the end of faith, and the beginning of faith is the end of anxiety. One Easter during the Napoleonic Wars the French General Massena with eighteen thousand soldiers laid siege to an Austrian town. The town council agreed they had no choice but to surrender. But the old dean of the cathedral begged them to hold Easter services as usual and to leave the trouble in God’s hands. They followed his advice and the dean had the cathedral bells rung to announce the Easter service. The French army, hearing the church bells concluded that the Austrian army had arrived to rescue the town. They broke camp, and before the bells had ceased ringing, went their way. Life doesn’t always present such easy answers, but faith always makes us bigger than the problem.

Posted in Faith, Life's journey, Trials and testings, tribulation and trouble | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

God has no favourites

Posted on June 15, 2014 by vincentsmithauthor

A minister who parked his car in a no-parking zone, hoping that the parking police would take pity on him, attached a note to his windscreen that read, ‘I am a minister of religion and I have an important appointment to keep. I have circled this block ten times looking for a parking spot without success. ‘Forgive us our trespasses.”’ When he returned to his car he found he had been given him a ticket, along with a note that said: ‘I am a parking officer and I’ve circled this block for ten years. If I don’t give you a ticket, I lose my job. “Lead us not into temptation.”’
It’s a message that minister probably preached about many times, particularly where the Bible says, ‘God has no favourits, but is pleased with everyone who worships him and does what is right, no matter who they are.’

Posted in Faithfulness, Favourites, Forgiveness, God, God's pleasure, Obedience, Temptation | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Humming birds and vultures

Posted on June 15, 2014 by vincentsmithauthor

There are two particular types of bird native to the deserts of the American South West.One is the hummingbird and the other is the vulture. Vultures live off the rotting meat of the desert, and that’s what they look for. But hummingbirds seek out the colourful blossoms of desert plants. The vultures fill themselves with things that are dead and rotten, while hummingbirds feed on what is alive and beautiful. And each finds what it is looking for – as we all do. Jesus taught the same thing – in life there are two types of people: the scavengers who feed on other people’s misfortune, and those who find their joy in beauty and love. And like those desert birds, both find what they are looking for.
The Bible puts it this way, ‘Keep your minds on what is true, pure, right, and proper…and God who gives peace will be with you

Posted in Beauty, Food, God with us, Life, Life's journey, Peace, Scavengers, Seeking and Finding | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Many Happy Returns

Posted on June 15, 2014 by vincentsmithauthor

The Hollywood mogul Louis B. Mayer used to tell the story of how as a boy he vowed to get even with an older boy who had beaten him in a fight. His mother overheard him and next day, on a picnic in the mountains, she took him to a spot that faced a mountain wall and told him to shout out what she had overheard him say the night before. So he did, and from the mountains all around his words echoed back to him. Then his mother told him to shout, “Bless you.” And as he did it the whole world seemed to say the same thing back to him. Then she reminded him of those great words of the Bible, “Do not repay evil with evil…but with blessing,” for as Jesus said, “What we measure out to other people is exactly what God will measure out to us.

Posted in Blessings, Curses, Living Life, Mother's words, Self Destruction, Spiritual Insight, Uncategorized, Wisdom | Tagged , | 2 Comments