Thursday, January 24, 2013

FIVE DOGS AND A MAN


I've seen some dumb things in my life, this must fit into the top five. A few days ago I drove slowly past a man taking five dogs for a walk. Five very different dogs. He was actually trying to take all five dogs, each with a leash, on one walk. Not one of the dogs seemed to be a follower.

Watching this canine circus was worth slowing down.

Here was a guy actually trying to walk these dogs of different sizes and agendas in one direction. You could tell the man was being pulled ahead by a large and determined lead dog, the man was stumbling a bit; the larger dog was strong and the leash tight! Now as luck would have it the last dog was a small white poodle with the longest leash. Follower he was but not a willing follower! The poor little thing was being dragged along at the lead dog's speed. The other three dogs were busy with their own agendas excitedly sniffing and peeing in the bushes. As I watched in my rear view mirror, the poor man was being engulfed in a web of intertwining leashes. Each leash teaching a different lesson.

Up until that time I thought herding cats was the impossible task.

Monday, January 14, 2013

DON'T WORRY PAPA, I WON'T DIE


Both father and mother were hugging and kissing little Maribel before she was wheeled into the Operating Room. As she was being prepared to go in, they saw a young man being wheeled out; his face was covered. He died during surgery and he was the doctor's first patient that morning; Maribel was next. When Maribel and her mother and father saw the corpse being wheeled out with his face covered, her father broke down in tears. Maribel the was next surgery, and the little girl was due for a critical six-hour operation.

Even though she was a little scared, Maribel looked at her father and said "Don't cry Papa, I won't die, I promise you I'll wake up. You can look in my eyes when I come out, they'll be open, I'll be awake, I promise you ... don't cry!"

With that she was wheeled into surgery.

Hortensia visited her today in Intensive Care where Maribel told her the whole story. She even asked her father to read her little "Yellow Book," a book of kids devotionals that Hortensia gave her in the Thursday Bible Studies.

Hortensia met the doctors too. They told her how thrilled they were that things went so well. Her heart is still on the wrong side but they hooked up vessels and veins and rearranged things so that she will be able to walk to school and even run. She won't have to ride her mother piggy-back any more!

Praise God, the doctors, and all of you who prayed!

We're happy too. The Doctors told Hortensia that the Hospital cost and the doctors fee would have run the family about $50,000.00 and the intensive care room she is in is costing about $3,000.00 a day! Money this family couldn't possibly pay.

We invested about $1,000.00 in keeping her Government Social Security monthly insurance payments up, as her father was out of work. The gamble paid off big time!

Maribel now has a new life!

Monday, January 07, 2013

PROMISES, PROMISES, ALWAYS PROMISES


In my ministry through the years I've met more than my share of promisors, and believed their promises ... I'm not looking for promises anymore but performance. May I meet more Christian performers!


My word is the foundation stone of my character as your word, as a believer, is the foundation stone of your character.

I learned early in life, a lesson from my non-believing father.

He was from Germany. He was aristocracy. He was a German Baron. He was a man! The word "von" is a title; and in a name, means aristocracy. He was trained as a youth to be a "gentleman."

One day I remember him complaining at having to sign for something in the bank. "Why can't they simply take my word for it?," he asked me. "In Germany we had a gentleman's agreement, we would give our word and shake hands on it. If it was ten dollars or fifty thousand dollars, it was the same. Our word was our word!"

I never forgot that.

He was not a Christian, but he was radical about his word. I appreciated that. He had an integrity about him.

He didn't make excuses, because he didn't have to ... he kept his word. He taught me that reasons were OK ... but excuses were unacceptable!

We would assume that if some in the secular world held such high standards, why those of us calling ourselves Christians wouldn't hold ourselves to the same or higher standards.

As the Scripture says; "Let your yes be yes and your no be no." Simple as that! (But then again, that's only Scripture.)

Solution? Think before putting mouth in gear!

Disappointments come as the result of unrealistic expectations. It's a shame that too often we find ourselves disappointed by believing our brother's promises.

"Let your yes be yes and your no be no!" Matt 5:37