The Letter

While on vacation as a child one year, I happened upon a gold watch that was lying face down in the parking lot of our motel. It was covered with dirt and gravel. At first glance, it did not seem worth the effort to bend down and pick it up, but for some reason I found myself reaching for it anyway.

The crystal was broken, the watchband was gone, and there was moisture on the dial. From all appearances, there was no logical reason to believe this watch would still work. Every indication was that its next stop would be the trashcan.

Those in my family who were with me at the time laughed at me for picking it up. My mother even scolded me for holding such a dirty object that was so obviously destroyed. As I reached for the winding stem, my brother made a comment about my lack of intelligence.

"It's been run over by cars," he chided. "Nothing can endure that kind of treatment!"

As I turned the stem, the second hand of the watch began to move. My family was wrong. Truly, odds were against the watch working, but there was one thing no one thought of. No matter how broken the outside was, if the inside was not damaged, it would still run, and indeed it did keep perfect time. This watch was made to keep time. Its outside appearance had nothing to do with the purpose for which it was designed. Although the appearance was damaged, the inside was untouched and in perfect condition.

Twenty-five years later, I still have that watch, I take it out every once in a while and wind it up, and it still works. I think as long as the inside remains untouched, it always will. However, unless I had bothered to pick it up and try to wind it years ago, I never would have known the part that really mattered was still in perfect condition. Although it looks like a piece of junk, it will always be a treasure to me, because I looked beyond the outside appearance and believed in what really mattered, it's ability to function in the manner for which it was created.

Thank you, Neil and Joanne, for making the effort to "pick up the watch," and "turn the stem." You are helping me to see that my emotions may be damaged but my inner self is still in perfect condition, and that is what was created to be with Christ. The only permanent part. The part that really mattered. I know that deep within my heart, no matter what my feelings are telling me, this is true. I also believe that with the help of God's servants, even the "casing" can be repaired, and maybe even that will become functional again.

There are people all over the world who have been "run over by cars." Damaged people. Desperate people who are crying out for mercy and grace. We have the privilege to "pick up the watch" and "turn the stem." We have to look beyond the casing and extend God's mercy and grace and connect these dear people to God. Perhaps you are one of those people. God has made a wonderful provision for your true recovery: Every hour of every day and for all eternity, we can go to our Great High Priest and receive mercy and grace in our time of need." (Neil T. Anderson, pp. 170-172. The chapter from the book it comes out of is titled, I can find Grace and Mercy.)

Three Kinds of People

Blaise Pascal once wrote, "There are three kinds of people: those who have sought God and found him, and these are reasonable and happy; those who seek God and have not yet found him, and these are reasonable and unhappy; and those who neither seek God nor find him, and these are unreasonable and unhappy."

A Not so "Simple Cell"

...the phylogenetic tree is built on the premise that life evolved from a simple cell, but that "simple cell" has yet to be found. Would Darwin have ever even formulated his theory if he had possessed an electron microscope and been aware of the complexity and design of cells too small to be seen by the naked eye?

E. coli is placed on the lowest branch of the tree, assumed to be early in terms of evolution. Invisible to the naked eye, measuring 2 micrometers long and 0.8 micrometers in diameter, it is a marvelous example of design and complexity.

The cell is enclosed within a double wall, or membrane. Within this membrane are about 2,400,000 proteins, 1,800 kinds of molecules, 14,000 messenger RNAs. Add to that 22,000,000 lipid molecules and 280,000,000 small metabolites. All these jostle together in the cytoplasm which is 75 percent water, but they all have a purpose and work harmoniously...

A similar coordination is present in the tiny bacterium. All the proteins and molecules share in its internal metabolism. Their work is encoded in its genes. It is estimated that those instructions equal about ten pages in the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Metabolism requires energy, and energy in E. coli is provided by electrical power generated by the cell. An alternative energy source is also available, if required. Electricity drives its external flagella, which rotate like propellers. The "propeller shaft" penetrates through the membrane and into the cytosol by means of a bushing and can propel the little bug at a speed of about ten to twenty cell lengths per second.

Besides this, the direction in which the cell is driven is "computerized." The flagella all rotate together in a counterclockwise direction when the cell is in forward gear, but when its "computerized" sensing mechanism informs it that the gradient to which it is heading has changed, a "switch" is thrown, and the flagella change gears and begin a clockwise rotation. This results in what is called a "tumbling motion," and the cell changes direction.

Of course, I am writing metaphorically. The pictures elicited may be unreal, but the facts are correct. Such is just a brief introduction to this simple cell! (Lyndon K. McDowell, The Choice: Assumption or Assurance? Ministry, 2/2005, p. 17).

God Made All Things Good

A human body... is a masterpiece of exquisite design. Beautifully 'engineered,' it is governed by several hundred control systems—each interacting with the others to maintain perfect overall balance. Man’s brain has 10 billion nerve cells to record what he sees and hears. His skin has more than 2 million tiny sweat glands—about 3,000 per square inch—all part of an intricate network that regulates body temperature. A 'pump' in his chest makes his blood cells travel 168 million miles a day, or 6,720 times around the world! The lining of his stomach contains 35 million glands secreting juices to aid the chemical processes which sustain his life. The marvels of the human body are beyond comprehension!

…Most new products don’t operate efficiently until all the 'bugs' are ironed out... Just think, the first time God put a human body together, it worked! (Excerpts taken from Our Daily Bread, Tuesday, Sept. 2nd, Herbert G. Bosch).

Fellowship with God must never become selfish

"Fellowship with God must never become selfish. We must also fellowship with other Christians in the local assembly. Apparently, some of the wavering believers had been absenting themselves from the church fellowship. It is interesting to note that the emphasis here is not on what a believer gets from the assembly, but rather on what he can contribute to the assembly. Faithfulness in church attendance encourages others and provokes them to love and good works. One of the strong motives for faithfulness is the soon coming of Jesus Christ." -- Warren Wiersbe (The Bible Exposition Commentary, 1989, Chariot Victor Publishing.)

Good & Evil Both Have Their Harvest

"It must be remembered that evil has its harvest as well as good. there is a harvest of misery and woe, a harvest for the gathering , binding and burning of the tares- as well as for the gathering of the wheat into the garner of heaven." -- Joseph Seiss

Midnight-Fire

Blaise Pascal, the famed 17th-century French scientist and philosopher, experienced in his lifetime a personal, overwhelming encounter with God that changed his life. Those who attended him at his death found a worn, creased paper in his clothing, close to his heart; apparently a reminder of what he had felt and sensed in God's very presence. In Pascal's own hand it read:

"From about half-past ten at night, to about half after midnight-fire! 0 God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob - not the God of philosophers or the wise. The God of Jesus Christ who can be known only in the ways of the Gospel. Security. Feeling. Peace. Joy. Tears of joy-Amen!"

Problem of Forgivness

". . . you must make every effort to kill every taste of resentment in your own heart—every wish to humiliate or hurt him or to pay him out. The difference between this situation and the one in such you are asking God’s forgiveness is this. In our own case we accept excuses too easily; in other people’s we do not accept them easily enough.

As regards my own sin it is a safe bet (though not a certainty) that the excuses are not really so good as I think; as regards other men’s sins against me it is a safe bet (though not a certainty) that the excuses are better than I think. One must therefore begin by attending to everything which may show that the other man was not so much to blame as we thought.

But even if he is absolutely fully to blame we still have to forgive him; and even if ninety-nine percent of his apparent guilt can be explained away by really good excuses, the problem of forgiveness begins with the one percent guilt which is left over. To excuse what can really produce good excuses is not Christian character; it is only fairness. To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable, because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.

This is hard. It is perhaps not so hard to forgive a single great injury. But to forgive the incessant provocations of daily life—to keep on forgiving the bossy mother-in-law, the bullying husband, the nagging wife, the selfish daughter, the deceitful son—how can we do it? Only, I think, by remembering where we stand, by meaning our words when we say in our prayers each night ‘forgive our trespasses as we forgive those that trespass against us.’ We are offered forgiveness on no other terms. To refuse it is to refuse God’s mercy for ourselves. There is no hint of exceptions and God means what He says" -- C. S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory (New York: Harper Collins, 2001; Originally published 1949), 181-183

How to respond in times of trouble

In times of trouble say first, "He brought me here. It is by His will I am in this strait place, in that I will rest."

Next, "He will keep me here in His love, and give me grace in this trial to behave as His child."

Then say, "He will make the trial a blessing, teaching me lessons He intends me to learn, and working in the grace He means to bestow."

And last say, "In His good time He can bring me out again. How and when, He knows."

Therefore say, "I am here: by God's appointment, in His keeping, under His training, and for His time."

Success a breeding ground for ethical failure

"Not every man can carry a full cup. Sudden elevation frequently leads to pride and a fall. The most exacting test of all to survive is prosperity." -- Oswald Chambers

Fear or Faith?

"Fear imprisons, faith liberates; fear paralyzes, faith empowers; fear disheartens, faith encourages; fear sickens, faith heals; fear makes useless, faith makes serviceable—and, most of all, fear puts hopelessness at the heart of life, while faith rejoices in its God." - Harry Emerson Fosdick

The Effect of Worship

Richard J. Foster said, "If worship does not change us, it has not been worship. To stand before the Holy One of eternity is to change. Worship begins in holy expectancy; it ends in holy obedience."