Fuel for the Soul

By Dr. James C. Denison
Pastor for Teaching, Park Cities Baptist Church, Dallas, Texas

Topic: help for stressed souls

Stop and smell the jet fuel. My father used to tell me that I needed to "slow down" when I was eating, or talking, or walking, or doing pretty much anything but sleeping. As Will Rogers said, the older I get the smarter my father has become. Now even the nation's airlines seem to agree with my dad.

Today's New York Times tells us that airplanes are flying more slowly these days and saving millions on fuel as a result. Southwest Airlines is extending each flight by one to three minutes, and thinks it will save $42 million in fuel this year. A Northwest Airlines flight from Paris to Minneapolis this week flew at an average speed of 532 m.p.h. instead of the usual 542 m.p.h., adding eight minutes to the flight and saving $535 worth of fuel. Adding four minutes to its Hawaii flights saves the airline $600,000 a year on that route. JetBlue apparently started all of this two years ago, adding an average of just under two minutes to each flight and saving $13.6 million a year in jet fuel.

Not everyone in aviation has joined the trend. An American Airlines spokesman said, "We have the flying schedule to protect." They'll agree with my father eventually.

So should you. We live in the most hectic, fast-paced, stressed-out culture in history. Our society is changing more rapidly than ever before. Sociologists speak of these days as "whitewater" times. We're rafting faster than we can row, with no real idea what's around the next turn in the river. For instance, today's Times reports that some on Wall Street think the economy has bottomed out and will rebound later this year, but others are quick to disagree. People are buying more small cars than ever as gas prices continue to escalate, but no one knows if the trend will continue. Everyone is wondering how next week's presidential primaries will affect the Democratic race, if they do at all.

In times like these, we will save more than jet fuel if we slow our souls down. For centuries, people seeking God have kept spiritual "hours," following a fixed schedule which stops to pray at various times through the day. The Psalmist said, "Seven times a day I praise you for your righteous laws" (Psalm 119:164), so liturgical traditions have often recommended prayer at 6 a.m., 9 a.m., noon, 3 p.m., 6 p.m., 9 p.m., and midnight. Other Christian communions follow the example of Psalm 55:17, praying when they rise, at noon, and before going to bed. What matters is not so much the specific schedule we choose as that we choose one.

When is your next appointment for your soul to meet with your Father today?
from: http://www.godissues.org/articles/categories/God-Issues-Today/This-Year/

Days of Remembrance

This past week while in Washington D. C. I visited the Holocaust Museum. It was an incredible place to experience. I am so glad I went. As it turned out this week has been known as the Days of Remembrance. Take a moment today to remember those that lost their lives or were prisoners of such horrible monstrosity. -mr
May it never happen again.
http://www.ushmm.org/remembrance/dor

The United States Congress established the Days of Remembrance as our nation's annual commemoration of the victims of the Holocaust and created the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum as a permanent living memorial to those victims. In accordance with its Congressional mandate, the Museum is responsible for leading the nation in commemorating the Days of Remembrance, and for encouraging and sponsoring appropriate observances throughout the United States.

Observances and remembrance activities can occur during the week of Remembrance that runs from the Sunday before "Yom Hashoah" (Holocaust Remembrance Day) through the following Sunday. Days of Remembrance are observed by state and local governments, military bases, workplaces, schools, churches, synagogues, and civic centers.

Since 1982, The Museum has organized and led the national Days of Remembrance ceremony in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda, with Holocaust survivors, liberators, members of Congress, White House officials, the diplomatic corps, and community leaders in attendance.

The Bigger Picture

Leith Anderson shared a story about when he was a boy. He grew up outside of New York City and was an avid fan of the old Brooklyn Dodgers. One day, his father took him to a World Series game between the Dodgers and the Yankees. He was so excited, and he just knew the Dodgers would trounce the Yankees. Unfortunately, not a single Dodger ever got on base and his excitement was shattered.

Years later, he was engrossed in a conversation with a man who was a walking sports almanac. Leith told him about the first major league game he attended and added, "It was such a disappointment. I was a Dodger fan and the Dodgers never got on base."

The man said, "You were there? You were at the game when Don Larsen pitched the first perfect game in all of World Series history?"

Leith replied, "Yeah, but uh, we lost."

He then realized that he had been so caught up in his team's defeat that he missed out on the fact that he was a witness to a far greater page of history.

"You were there?"

I wonder how often the same thing happens to us. We get so caught up in the "defeats" in our lives -- the times when things don't turn out the way we want them to. So we're depressed because an illness continues to linger, or when people don't treat us the way we think they ought to, or when we face financial difficulties.

But, we are often so blinded by the pain and disappointment of our "defeat" that we fail to appreciate the fact that we might be witness to something far greater that God is doing in our lives.

Remember when Paul was in prison? He wrote to the Christians in Philippi: "My dear friends, I want you to know that what has happened to me has helped to spread the good news." (Philippians 1:12)

While most of us would have focused on the "defeat" (being in prison even though he was innocent), Paul was able to see what God was doing in his life. It's not an easy thing to do. It's never easy to view things from a heavenly perspective rather than an earthly one, but it is especially difficult in the midst of pain and defeat. But it is learning how to have a heavenly view that helps us to know joy no matter what happens in our lives.
(c) 2007 Alan Smith
alansmith.servant@gmail.com
Thought for the Day
www.TFTD-online.com

Four Open Secrets About the Rest of Your Life

Tell a child you have a secret and you have his undivided attention. All of us children - big and little, young and old - love secrets; love to hear them, love to tell them. Today, I am opening the vault and revealing four of the best-kept secrets in the Kingdom of God.


Secret #1 - God has big plans for you.
Jeremiah 29:11 says it best. "I know the plans I have for you: plans for your welfare and not for calamity, to give you a future and a hope." His plans for us fall into two categories - earthly and heavenly.


Secret #2 - He is not going to tell you what they are.
In His compassion, God makes big plans for us. In His wisdom, He does not tell us what they are. He protects us from knowledge of the future for two reasons.
(1) We could not handle it.
(2) We would mess it up.

Suppose you found out that your brothers were going to fake your death and sell you into slavery, and that you would end up forgotten and forsaken in a foreign prison for years. Who could handle such news? Most of us would grieve over such a future and grow bitter toward our brothers and angry at
God. In the Old Testament book of Genesis, Joseph experiences precisely such a fate.

Suppose the Lord told you that one day you would become the king's second-in-command and live in power and luxury for the rest of your life. Who could handle news like that without becoming distracted? This too is the story of Joseph in Genesis.

Scripture promises the Lord will not put more on us than we can bear. One way He does that is by withholding details about our future. The burdens would rob us of our joy and threaten to destroy us in advance, while the blessings would distract us from our responsibilities of the moment.


Secret #3 - God is working on His plans this very moment.
He is getting you ready for the future and getting the future ready for you. Jesus said, "I go to prepare a place for you. If I go away, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there you may be also." (John 14:1-6). He is getting Heaven ready for us. He is getting us ready for Heaven.

One way God prepares us for future challenges is by giving us difficulties and hardships. He strengthens us the same way a personal trainer builds our muscles: by laying on stress. "It is good for me that I was afflicted," the psalmist said, "that I might learn thy statutes." (Psalm 119:71) That's how
it works.


Secret #4 -- Your job is to be faithful today.
Bloom where you are planted, as the saying goes. The way to be ready for tomorrow's opportunities is to do our job today, no matter how insignificant or routine.

Writing in the Spring 2003 issue of "Columns," the alumni magazine of Louisiana College, Curt Iles pays tribute to science professor Charles Cavanaugh. Early in Curt's sophomore year, he paid Cavanaugh a visit to tell him he planned to drop chemistry.

"Prof," said the 19-year-old, "I thought it was God's will for me to become a science teacher. I enjoyed the biology classes you taught last year. But chemistry is killing me. That little rural high school I attended did not prepare me for this. I failed the test yesterday and I am not going to be able to pass this course. So, I plan to drop chemistry. Maybe God will have something else for me since I can't be a science teacher. I need to find His will."

Suddenly, the professor cut him off. "God's will? God's will? Son, I'll tell you what God's will is for you! Get in there, go to work, and pass chemistry. That's what God's will is for you!" And he stormed out of the office. Curt sat there in shock. Finally, realizing the professor was not returning, he went back to his dormitory. That night, he studied chemistry, and the next day, made a D on the test. At least, it was passing.

"That day," Curt Iles writes, "I decided that nothing was going to stop me from achieving my goal of teaching. I was going to pass this course or die trying." A month later, the chemistry professor said, "Iles, what's happened to you?" He was a student with a purpose.

Before leaving the disciples, Jesus began to prepare them for the future. Peter listened, absorbed all he could, then turned to the apostle John. "Lord," he said, "what about him?" Jesus said, "What is that to you? You follow me." (John 21:22)

God has big plans for you. He is mercifully not going to tell you what they are. At this moment, He is at work getting you ready for them and them ready for you. Your job is to do the work He has put on your plate today.
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Joe McKeever
www.JoeMcKeever.com
and sent by The Daily Encourager

Hearing His Voice

"He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God." - John 8:47

Jesus said that the key to being able to hear God's voice is first to be one of His children. One of the great mysteries of the universe to my logical mind is how God can communicate with six billion people on the earth at the same time. It is one of those mysteries I must let go of because my "hard drive" would crash if I had to explain and understand this before I believed and trusted in Him. It is as though God places a computer chip in each human being, and when we place our faith and trust in Him, it becomes activated. We begin to communicate with Him. Jesus says that if we are children of God, then we can hear God's voice. He further explains this relationship in the following parable:

"I tell you the truth, the man who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. The man who enters by the gate is the shepherd of his sheep. The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger's voice (John 10:1-5)."

The Shepherd is always representative of Christ. Sheep are representative of God's children. This passage tells us that the Shepherd communicates with His children. We are called by name and we can listen to our Shepherd's voice. There is another comforting aspect to this relationship. The Shepherd goes before the sheep to prepare the way. Jesus has already gone before us today to prepare our way.

Knowing the Shepherd and His voice allows us to have the assurance that we will not be fooled by another shepherd's voice. The sheep know His voice. It is only when we are dull of hearing that we mistakenly hear another's voice and follow it. Sin can create a poor frequency in our communication with the Shepherd. Make sure your frequency is free of static (sin) today so that the Shepherd can lead you and go before you.

Finally, distractions can also keep us from hearing our Shepherd's voice. When the sheep get entangled in the fence or wander off, they get too far away to hear the Shepherd's voice. We must stay in close proximity to the Shepherd to hear His voice. Stay close to the Shepherd today. Listen and follow. He wants to lead you.

- Os Hillman, TGIF Today God Is First