Don't Give Up

A woman told the story on herself of the rainy day when she was stopped in the Yield lane trying to get onto I-4 in busy downtown Orlando. She heard a tap on her window and rolled it down. An angry man yelled, “For crying out loud lady, the sign says ‘Yield” not give up.”

We all have had experiences where we seem to lose hope of making it through the rainy days in our lives. While we may well have to Yield to the unavoidable circumstances of life, we never have to give up.

The Apostle Paul told his friends that he had learned he could do all things through the power of Jesus that strengthen him from within. And, Jesus said we would be amazed at the things we can do through faith, even faith as tiny as a mustard seed.

Maybe today is a good day to thank God for the faith that is helping you through life when things are going well and also to ask God to strengthen your faith when the difficult days of life come.

Faith Working in Love

Dr. Charles Allen, a preacher from Houston, Texas, shared, tongue in cheek, this survey about his church:

10% of the members cannot be found;

20% -- never attend;

25% -- never pray;

35% -- never read the Bible;

40% -- never give financially to the church;

70% -- never attend Sunday Evening Service;

75% -- never assume any church task;

85% -- never invite anyone to church;

95% -- never win a soul to Jesus;
100% -- expect to go to Heaven!

Dr. Allen’s survey reminds me of the story of the man who took a walk to eat his lunch. He strolled through a park and purchased a hot dog and a soft drink. As he walked, enjoying the view, two different street people approached him one by one. Each asked, "Can you help me, I am hungry?" Each time the man looked straight ahead and kept walking. After finishing his lunch he stopped and bought a chocolate éclair for dessert. As he was about to take the first bite, he was forced to jump out of the way as a young boy raced down the sidewalk on his skateboard. The éclair went flying and landed on the ground. The man picked it up and tried to clean it off, but it was no use. It was now a dirty éclair. Before discarding it, however, he had an idea. He strolled over to one of the beggars who had approached him and handing the man the éclair said, "Here you are my good man. This is something for your hunger." The man walked away smiling and returned to his office.

That night the man had a dream. He was sitting in a large and crowded cafe. Waitresses were scurrying about bringing customers delicious cakes and tortes. All the waitresses ignored the businessman, even though he was waving his hands at them continually. Finally he caught the eye of a young woman and asked for something to eat. She returned a few minutes later with a dirty piece of pastry. The man was outraged. "You can't treat me this way. I have a right to be served like all the others. I expect good service and food for my money." "You don't seem to understand," the waitress responded kindly. "You can't buy anything here. We don't accept money. You have just arrived in heaven and all you can order here is what you sent ahead while on earth. I just checked the records and the only thing we have for you is this dirty éclair."

Selah,
Alex