Archive for September, 2008
“I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” -Psalm 139:14
Nearly 3,000 years ago the psalmist, David, wrote, “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well” (Psalm 139:14). But just how wonderfully made man really is has come to light only in the past century as science has begun to unlock the secrets of the human body. The human body, according to medical science, contains 30 trillion cells that reproduce themselves every seven years. Each one of the 30 trillion cells performs 10,000 different chemical functions, according to Dr. Ralph Byron, renowned for his work at the City of Hope Cancer Clinic, yet all of them just work together to produce a healthy body.
When you get tired, you cannot say, “All right, cell number 26,433,293,000, get to work. You are not pulling your share of the load.” All of these cells are linked together by 2 billion nerve cells tied into a brain containing 14 billion cells (give or take a few). I hesitate to say that these 2 billion nerve cells are tied into a computer like device called the human brain, since the human brain is far superior to any computer ever created.
A few years ago I stated that for scientists to create a computer that would duplicate the function of the human brain, you would have to have a mechanism the size of a football field, five stories high, and to cool it would require the amount of water that flows over Niagara Falls; but today miniaturization has enabled scientists to shrink the size of their computer to a mechanism weighing about 3 pounds 2.2 kilograms–yet the computer that the scientist produces is still the product of his own brain and is only as good as the information fed into it.
The marvelous human body is powered by a digestive system that contains acids strong enough to eat the varnish off a table, yet function adequately in the stomach and intestine. Apply those same acids to the backside of your hand and they would immediately burn it. But within the human body the acids break down the foods you eat into fuel that is carried to your body through the bloodstream.
The blood is impelled by a powerful muscle, about the size of a man’s fist, known as a heart a complex device that beats more than 2.5 million times in an average life span. One of our Guidelines’ board members, an attorney by profession, broke his arm, the result of taking a fall while walking the dog. Wes was still adjusting to the new handicap of trying to eat with his arm in a cast. As we had breakfast together, I noticed with amusement he reached for his mouth with his napkin only to discover that he was closer to his ear. What a way to learn to appreciate the dexterity of your hand, which performs some 58 different movements. And all of this we take for granted.
One more thing: Don’t forget the marvel of the human eye, that remarkable little lens that lets you see the flowers, trees, and sunshine as it filters through the clouds. In spite of the fact that some of us find it necessary to wear glasses to correct a stigmatism, our eyes continue to let us perceive the world with a third dimension that lets us walk through the forest without hitting the trees.
“Just happened,” some say, speaking of the marvelous human body. It just happened about the way an explosion in a print shop would produce an unabridged dictionary of the English language. Why don’t you, like David of old, pause, fill your lungs with clean air, and lift your head toward heaven, saying, “Thank you, Lord, for my health and for my body. Thank you, Father, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14).
** “The preceding material was written by Dr. Harold J. Sala, and is copyrighted. Reproduction for sale or financial profit is prohibited. Permission to reproduce this article was granted by Guidelines, Inc.”**
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I’ve always loved restaurants.
Simple, little, cozy restaurants.
Perhaps because when I was a small boy, I remember Dad bringing me for pizza or ice cream or hotdog every week. In restaurants, I felt loved. And happy.
And when I hit my twenties, one of the favorite things I loved to do was sitting in a coffee shop all by myself, reading a thick fat book.
But I had a big problem. For years, I was poor, single missionary.
How poor? Every time I entered a simple eatery like Jollibee, I always had to first count my money—including my coins—to see if I had enough money. And many times, I had to walk away because I didn’t have enough money to eat there.
Let me tell you about one of my unforgettable experiences. And yes, it has something to do with Crispy Pata.
Emotional Pain Can Make You Change
One day, I wanted to impress my girlfriend.
Thankfully, I felt rich that day because I had P500 in my wallet.
So I invited her to eat in a fancy restaurant. (Any restaurant that used tablecloths was fancy for me.)
But a part of me still wondered if I really had enough money for the meal.
I knew the restaurant’s specialty was Crispy Pata or deep-fried pig’s knuckles (Yep, I was still eating meat at that time). Quickly, I read the Menu. It cost P150 only. Yes! I could afford it.
I called the waiter and ordered Crispy Pata. With two cups of
rice.
To save money, I didn’t order drinks. Thankfully, my girlfriend didn’t order too. I smiled. Things were going my way.
At the end of our yummy meal, the waiter brought in two little green bowls of Macapuno (sweetened coconut). So this was how it was in restaurants with tablecloths: They give free desserts!
The waiter then gave me the bill.
And that was when I felt like my soul jumped out my body for ten seconds.
Because my bill was P561!
With my heart racing and armpits sweating, I called the waiter. I asked how my bill could be more than five hundred if I ordered only Crispy Pata worth P150?
He showed me the Menu again. He pointed out that it was P150 per 100 grams. With a beaming smile on his face, he informed me that he served us 300 grams. Like he did me a favor!
So we ate a whopping P450 of Crispy Pata.
And that wasn’t the end of my trials. The waiter also pointed out that the Macapuno was P20 each. It wasn’t free at all. So with the rice and the tax, the entire bill reached more than what I had in my wallet.
So I did one of the most embarrassing things I ever did in my entire life—right up there with preaching with my zipper open. Sheepishly, I asked my girlfriend, “Uh, do you have money? I’m a little short…”
Thankfully, she had some.
But I had nothing left for the waiter’s tip.
With my head bowed down, I walked out of the restaurant as fast as I could.
Friends, this happened a long time ago.
But I can never forget how this embarrassing experience gave me a wild fantasy. It may not be wild for you, but it was absolutely wild for me: I fantasized of a time when I had so much money, I could enter into any restaurant I wanted to, and order anything I wanted to—without even looking at the prices on the Menu!
Call me silly. Call me juvenile. Call me crazy. But experiences like these were painful enough, they fueled my desire to become wealthy.
From The Brain or From The Heart?
You need a fierce emotional reason to become wealthy—or it won’t happen.
Here’s why: We make choices based on emotional reasons, not logical ones. (Oh yes, after the choice, we justify with logical reasons. But the initial reason is always emotional.) The reasons must always come from the heart, not just from the brain.
Funny, but that’s just how we humans operate.
Let me share with you my fierce emotional reasons for changing my financial life—from the sublime to the silly.
My sublime reason: I hated the fact that I wanted to help people but I couldn’t—because I had no money. I was always faced with the needs of the people I ministered to… Some of them had very small financial needs, and I couldn’t even meet those small needs. It was so frustrating. So I nursed a fantasy: That I would have more than enough to share to their needs.
My second reason: I hated the fact that whenever I had ministry projects in mind, I couldn’t just go ahead and do it—because the ministry always lacked money. So I began to nurture another fantasy: That when I had a new ministry project, I’d pull out my wallet or checkbook and say, “I’ll finance this project for the first 6 months.” I had goose bumps just imaging this scene. It felt so good and wonderful, it was my favorite daydream.
My third reason is my silly reason to become rich: Restaurants!
If you want to change anything in your life, find a big enough “Emotional Why” and facts don’t matter.
You will change.
-An excerpt from Bo Sanchez-
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“Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” -Philippians 1:6
Eventually your faith will be challenged, no matter how strong or how weak it is. It may be challenged by an agnostic professor, or, God forbid, by a bayonet; or perhaps more likely it will be challenged by the trials of life. Sooner or later something happens and your heart cries out, “Lord, I just cannot handle this.” It may be a child’s illness, or a marriage that turns sour, or a business deal which has not done well.
It happened to Carolyn when her husband announced that he was more in love with his secretary than with her. It happened to one father I know when his little boy died. At the funeral he caught himself saying, “God, I’ll get even with you if it’s the last thing I ever do….”
It happened to another friend when his wife died on the operating table, and she had undergone the operation at his urging. The husband said, “Lord, I just can’t handle this.” What do you do when there is something which you can’t handle? Turn and run? Shake your fist in the face of God? Or what? It is the what that I want to talk about.
Physics teaches that the ability of a superstructure to withstand stress is directly related to the strength of the foundation. Even nature teaches this. When the wind rages, it is the tree whose roots have sunk deep into the earth that is left standing when the calm finally comes; therefore, one of the ways to prepare for the coming stress, which might cause you to throw up your hands and say “I can’t handle this,” is to strengthen the foundation.
When the foundation of your faith is shaken, go first of all to the Word of God and take refuge in this Book. There are dozens of promises with your name attached to them. In the Word you begin to see life from His perspective. You begin to think God’s thoughts. You begin to understand that “what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (II Corinthians 4:18). When your faith is challenged take a look at the circumstances, and then look at the circumstances of individuals in the Bible. Match up their problem with yours and notice how God met them.
Are you discouraged? Read about Elijah in I Kings 19. Are you feeling the pain of rejection or a broken home? Read the story of Hosea in the Old Testament. Are you struggling with injustice? Read about Habakkuk, who cried out, “How long, O LORD, must I call for help, but you do not listen?” (Habakkuk 1:2). Are you suffering physically? Then turn to the Book of Job and notice that when Job’s faith was tested, he cried out, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.”
When I shared a conference with Dr. Lehman Strauss, one morning Dr. Strauss opened his heart and told of the way his own faith had been challenged when his lovely wife of almost 50 years was felled by a stroke. The day finally came when doctors told him that he should remove her from the hospital to a convalescent hospital.
Dr. Strauss told her and then said, “But Elsie, God is in control.” Then he broke down as he cried, “Elsie, is God really in control?” A man whom I consider to be a giant spiritually struggled, as we all do from time to time, but he did not quit. “All I could do,” said Dr. Strauss, “was to fall back on the Word.”
“My heart is leaning on the Word,” wrote Liddie Edmund years ago, “the written Word of God. Salvation by my Savior’s name; Salvation through His blood.” Remind yourself of the truth of God’s Word and that He is honor bound to keep His Word. “…I know whom I have believed,” wrote the Apostle Paul long ago, “and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day” (2 Timothy 1:12).
***Permission to reprint is hereby granted by Guidelines, Inc.***
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Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” Mark 10:48-49
Luke, the medical doctor from Syria, the man who wrote more of the New Testament than even the Apostle Paul, gives us an interesting insight into how Jesus viewed life’s interruptions. He tells how Jesus started towards Jerusalem where the cross was looming on the horizon. Christ knew the Scriptures. He also knew what lay ahead. He had told the disciples that He was going to lay down His life, freely and voluntarily. That, friend, is heavy stuff. Nothing from the beginning of creation was more important than the next event on Christ’s agenda. After all, that was why He came into the world.
But Luke tells us that as Jesus started for Jerusalem, He noticed a blind beggar whom Mark identifies by name as Bartimaeus (Mark 10:46). Those who were with Jesus were impressed with what happened, so much so that Matthew, Mark, and Luke all tell us about it. Luke, however, being the doctor, gives us the details. He tells that in spite of the fact that bystanders told Bartimaeus to “shut up” or “be quiet,” Jesus stopped and carried on a conversation with this man, then opened his blind eyes.
Just a minute! Put this in perspective. This man had no social status. He was less than a nobody. He had neither education or money. He couldn’t even earn a living. Day after day, he held a begging bowl and existed on the charity of passers-by.
At the same time, thousands of people thronged to hear Jesus teach. He was a celebrity. His name was on the lips of people who exchanged gossip in the market. Businessmen quietly speculated as to whether He was the one who would overthrow the tyranny of Rome.
With the overview of history, we realize that what Christ was about to do was second to nothing from the day of creation even to the present. Yet everything stops for an encounter with somebody who was nobody–a blind beggar.
“What’s the point?” you may be thinking. Obviously either my value system, my point of reference, how I look at life, is either all wrong, or else Christ’s values were wrong. Both of us can’t be right. It becomes immediately obvious that three areas of life were different:
(1) Our perspective,
(2) Our relationships, and
(3) Our responses to the needs of people.
That incident forces me to re-examine my perspective. Would I have said, “Get out of my way, blind man, I’m on my way to Jerusalem to save the world?” Probably. Could it be that my agenda is far from what God’s agenda is? Is it possible that I could save myself a lot of headaches if, at the beginning of the day, I prayed, “Lord, what do You want me to do today?” instead of saying, “God, bless my schedule and help me to get done all of these wonderful things which I’ve planned.”
Could it be that the insignificant interruption which ruined my plans, is really God’s appointment?
Finally, I must realize that my response to interruptions can only be different when I relinquish what I want to do to our heavenly Father and say, “OK, Lord, this is what I planned, but this interruption must be part of Your plan, so help me to respond without irritation.” Then look carefully. You may well see the shadow of the Galilean standing behind the beggar who cries for your time and help.
***Permission to published this article was granted by Guidelines Inc.***
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“But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever!” 2 Peter 3:18
“A disciple is not a clone! Discipling is not cloning!” so wrote Richard Halverson. Jesus’ last words to His disciples were “Go make disciples!” A clone is an exact reproduction. But just what were the disciples to make of those whom they evangelized? Exact duplicates? Reproductions, duplicating their idiosyncrasies, temperaments, political outlook? Are disciples to be carbon copies of the one who brought them to Jesus? Or does a man or woman come to Jesus and maintain his unique individuality and background?
It’s obvious that Jesus did change the lives of those who walked with Him, yet these same men didn’t lose their individuality. As Peter and John walked with Jesus, they noticed the skies and the weather. “It’s going to rain the sky is red,” Peter must have commented. Matthew never had an umbrella with him. He couldn’t pick up on the sky, but he sure read every newspaper and digested every news report he heard. He knew exactly what the Romans were thinking. Barnabas would have noticed the fields. He knew whether or not the crops were going to be good. Why? Well, Peter was a fisherman. Matthew had been a tax collector, a minor politician; and Barnabas, a farmer.
Their personalities weren’t eradicated, either. Becoming followers of Jesus didn’t eliminate their old natures, or temperaments, or political ideas, but following Jesus changed the directions of their lives and certainly changed their hearts and lifestyles.
An encounter with Jesus Christ does more to change a life than about anything that can happen to a person. Take, for example, the young woman who wrote and said, “For the past five years I have suffered from all fears going out alone, escalators, driving, traffic jams, standing in open places, closed places, being with large groups of people, etc. Then last August I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Savior. Well, Jesus makes all the difference! Since then I have had hope and joy, and the despair and depression has been taken…”
Some people face complete transformations; others see changes gradually as the Holy Spirit keeps chipping away on our old man, making us Christlike. But there is one thing for sure. The disciple has become a partaker of Christ’s nature, and it is this force within that gradually changes the life without.
Peter talked about it, saying, “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desire” (2 Pet. 1:3-4).
What Jesus has in mind is that His thinking becomes your thinking. His ideals become yours. His standards become yours. His mind becomes yours. His life becomes yours. And what happens? Instead of losing your individuality and uniqueness, you become more authentic and more real. As a diamond stands out more against a dark background, the person whose life has been touched by the Master stands out more than he did before he encountered the divine.
The clone is a reproduction of his leaders; the disciple is a learner, an authentic follower of Jesus Christ. Carbon copies lose their distinction; disciples become uniquely original. Men produce clones; the Holy Spirit produces disciples. As Peter put it, closing his 2nd letter, “Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.” (2 Peter 3:18).
***“The preceding material was written by Dr. Harold J. Sala, and is copyrighted. Reproduction for sale or financial profit is prohibited. Permission to reproduce this article was granted by Guidelines, Inc.”***
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“Don’t be obsessed with getting more material things. Be relaxed with what you have. since God assured us, “I’ll never let you down, never walk off and leave you.” -Hebrews 13:5
“No affliction would trouble a child of God,” wrote G. Campbell Morgan, “if he knew God’s reason for sending it.” But, of course, that is the difficult part why does God allow some things to happen? “Take it by faith!” people say, but to take by faith the rest of your life in a wheelchair is no easy matter, especially if you are a young man or woman with the rest of your life before you. In July 1967, a young woman, who was then 17 years of age, dived into the water not realizing how shallow it was.
Joni Eareckson Tada has come to be known and loved by thousands of people around the world since that day when she sustained a broken neck, an accident that left her confined to a wheelchair as a quadriplegic for the rest of her life. At the time, Joni was an energetic, athletic teenager with a real zest for living. That she might spend her life fighting physical handicaps never occurred to her until that fateful day that changed the course of her life.
Instead of producing a bitter, angry person full of resentment and hatred towards God, who allowed the ordeal, Joni has matured and grown into a beautiful woman who has depth that would never have been possible had she not faced the confinement of a wheelchair. Says Joni, “Today as I look back, I am convinced that the whole ordeal of my paralysis was inspired by God’s love. I was not the brunt of some cruel divine joke. God has reasons behind my suffering, and learning some of them has made all the difference in the world.”
This woman discovered that being a Christian did not immunize her from facing the problem of suffering. Neither did it insure that she would never face agonizing bouts with depression, discouragement and, at times, even defeat. But it did give her a hope and a confidence that God is still God and His ways are beyond questioning.
The German philosopher Frederick Neitzsche said, “A man can endure any how if he knows any why.” Yet when it came to putting his philosophy to work for himself, Neitzsche was a gross failure. As an atheist, he left God totally out of his framework of understanding, and without God there is no way suffering can fit into the fabric of life. And without hope and trust in God’s wise providence, Frederick Neitzsche so deteriorated mentally that he spent the last years of his life in an insane asylum. Why does God allow suffering? To punish us, or to allow us to sense His power and presence? To purge the dross from our lives leaving the pure silver, or to persecute us because of our mistakes and failures?
Centuries ago David wrote, “Before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now have I kept Thy word…it is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn Thy statutes” (Psalm 119:67, KJV). There are times when God allows us to sense something of His purpose in letting His children suffer, and, of course, that brings great satisfaction to the heart, but there are other times when the problem of pain must be resolved alone through faith in the wise providence of God.
A closing thought. You can trust God to be God. You can hope in His promises as David wrote. You can rest in the positive assurance that when we see Christ we shall know and understand as He does, and the weary questions will find answers. Right now, you may be confronted with a situation such as I have described, or you may be wrestling with a problem that worries you. Trust Him, for Jesus said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5).
**“The preceding material was written by Dr. Harold J. Sala, and is copyrighted. Reproduction for sale or financial profit is prohibited. Permission to reproduce this article was granted by Guidelines, Inc.”**
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