Giving a Chance to Others.

Matthew 7:12 (New International Version)

So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.

Jason was a senior at Greece Athena High School in Rochester, New York. He has had some tough breaks in life. But most of the other kids at his high school treaedt him with respect. He tried hard. People liked him. He has been pretty visible the year as manager of the varsity basketball team. He is autistic.

His autism has been a major “bad break” for J-Mac, as his friends call him. Autism is a brain disorder that typically shows itself in problems with socialization and communication. Some people find it hard to be around persons with autism.

J-Mac has the good fortune of attending a school that does everything possible to integrate students with developmental issues into the mainstream of life. Coach Jim Johnson even added him to the team roster for the final basketball game of the season. He hoped to get him in the game for a few minutes. He wanted J-Mac to have the experience. To get a team jersey. To cherish a memory. But he had no idea things would turn out as they did.

With Greece Athena well in the lead and four minutes left on the clock, Johnson put J-Mac in the game. And the kid did the unthinkable! After missing his first two shots, he scored 20 points in three minutes – 18 by draining three-point shots from the perimeter. The team carried him on their shoulders in celebration.

“This is the first moment Jason has ever succeeded and been proud of himself,” said his mother. “I look at autism as the Berlin Wall, and he cracked it.” Her greater dream for her son is that he can get a high school diploma.

Hooray for Jason. Hooray for the attention this story has gotten not only in local news but in national media. And hooray for the encouragement and hope this heartwarming episode will bring to families dealing with similar challenges.

But I’ve not heard many folks applauding the coach for his decision to give J-Mac a chance. So my kudos go to Jim Johnson. He paid attention to a kid who needed a break. Made him team manager. Took the chance of putting a uniform on him and putting him into a game. What a gutsy call by the coach!

“I’ve had a lot of thrills in coaching and I’ve coached a lot of wonderful kids, but I’ve never experienced something like this ever in my life – you know, other than my own family things,” Johnson said. “My emotions, I couldn’t stop crying.”

Thank God for people who give other people a chance.

Dear Lord we thanks You for giving each of us a chance. We pray that we would always look for those around us who need a chance. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

A Clear Conscience

2 Timothy 1:3 (New International Version)

I thank God, whom I serve, as my ancestors did, with a clear conscience, as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers.

In April 2001, Tim Shutt was the crew chief for NASCAR driver Mike McLaughlin. Tim was a new Christian who came to Christ at a Christian retreat for participants in the racing industry. Preparing for the major race in Talladega, Alabama, he was tempted to add an illegal part to the car. "Joe [Gibbs, team owner] is adamant that we don't cheat," said Shutt. Joe Gibbs is also a Christian and a former National Football League coach. Tim said to McLaughlin that morning in practice: "If we're no good in practice, I'll put this piece-the illegal piece-on. Probably 30 other teams are doing it." Tim knew he was justifying it. Tim said: "I got up under the car, I got halfway through putting it on, and that verse, 'Seek ye first the kingdom of God,' came flashing in red in front of me, and whoa, that was it. I said, 'I'm leaving this up to you, God.'" Shutt didn't put the piece on the car. McLaughlin won the race at Talladega, and later reflected: "When we won, the first thing that came to my mind was that verse. God wanted to show himself to me."

You will be regularly tempted to cheat, but resist the temptation and serve the Lord with a clear conscience. Today in prayer, thank Christ for His infinite love for you and seek to live this day for His glory.

Dear Lord we pray that when we are faced with temptation that we would make the decision that You would have for us to make. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Its Your Point of View, Choose it.

John 16:23-24 (New International Version)

23 In that day you will no longer ask me anything. Very truly I tell you, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. 24 Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.

Two men fell on hard times. Try as they might, they couldn't find work. They heard that a museum was willing to pay $50 apiece for live rattlesnakes so, in desperation, they decided to catch snakes.

Outfitted with a net and basket, they hiked to a remote area renowned for its large snake population. But as they scaled a steep ledge, the rock gave way and they tumbled down the slippery bank -- into a deep pit crawling with rattlesnakes!

One of the men quickly sized up the situation and shouted excitedly to his friend, "Look! We're rich! We're rich!"

Some people see good in anything! And I suppose there's usually a brighter side. Take aging, for instance. As we grow older, our skin turns from satin to cotton to seersucker to corduroy. But, on a brighter side, I'm just glad wrinkles don't hurt! It has to do with how we look at our situation. Like a sign spotted outside a New England shop: "We buy junk. Antiques for sale." Is your attic full of junk or antiques? It's a matter of perspective.

Your greatest power may well be your power to choose. As Abraham Lincoln wisely said, "Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be." The truth is, we can choose to view many of our problems as opportunities, we can choose to age in body without aging in spirit, and we can choose to be encouraged by the good of life, rather than discouraged by the bad.

It's your point of view! Choose it!

Dear Lord we pray that we would be positive in our outlook. Help us look positively at the things that come our way. In Jesus’ name Amen.

Making the Right Choice Concerning Your Mate.

2 Corinthians 6:14 (New International Version)

Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?

Melody walked through the mall, quickly, yet deliberately. She had no idea that as she walked, she seemed to move to invisible music. Her tall, boy-like figure swayed to an unheard beat. Short brown hair framed her pixie face, and her chocolate brown eyes danced with merriment.

She was on a mission to get the perfect gift for her best friend. She had heard that a new Christian CD was just out and it was what she wanted. Spotting the Christian Book Store, she turned toward it, and ran smack into someone--or some thing. She stopped and looked up into the most beautiful blue eyes she had ever seen. Melody started to apologize, but words seemed to fail her as she just stood and stared at the man. He was about 6’2”, tall, and slim. He was beautiful if one could call a man beautiful. A woodsy fragrance filled the air around him. The man seemed amused at her and said,

“You must really be in a big hurry. Where is the fire?” Melody backed away from the man and said,

“I am so sorry. I really did not look where I was going. Just in a hurry, I guess.” The man smilingly answered,

“Well, if I had to be run over, I am glad it was by a beautiful young lady. Maybe we should start over. My name is Josh and yours is?”

In a low, soft voice Melody said,

“My name is Melody, and I am truly sorry for running into you like that.”

Josh just stood there looking at her for some time before he said,

“No problem, Melody, in fact you have brightened up a dreary day. I don’t have a habit of picking up ladies at the mall, but how about me buying you a cup of coffee?”

Looking back into those beautiful blue eyes, she could only nod. How could she say no? She wanted to so badly. Her quest for the CD was forgotten. She had just agreed to have coffee with a complete stranger. The very thought thrilled her.

The taste of the coffee was strong and delicious. As they sat at one of the tiny tables sprinkled across the floor near the coffee spot, Melody told him a lot about herself, which was a most unusual thing for her to do. She told him that she was a secretary for the Harvest Church and its Youth Minister. She told him of her family and where she lived and where the church was and everything else she could think of.

Josh told her he was the lead singer in a band that played at the clubs downtown. They called themselves “Dusk to Dawn” and he loved his job.

They talked as if they had known each other for years. She felt comfortable talking with Josh, and she really enjoyed the chance to get know him better.

When the coffee cups were empty, Josh asked her for her phone number, which she gave to him. She really had no idea why.

That was the beginning of a wonderful friendship. Melody and Josh spent much time together, sometimes going on long walks by the riverbank. Even the dirty water looked good to Melody as long as she was with Josh. Sometimes they rode bikes on the bike trail, where the smell of fresh flowers filled the air. Many evenings they would sit on her porch swing and talk. With her job being during the day, and his job being at night, they were able to spend evenings together.

As the months passed, they grew closer and closer. Melody knew she was in love with Josh and she believed that he loved her. Josh never said the words to her, but she felt his deep, quite love each time they were together. They never seemed to disagree on anything--except her church. He did not want to hear about it. He would get quiet and just look at her when she tried to share things from the church. When Melody would get excited about something in church, she would try to tell it to Josh, but he didn’t want to hear about it.

“It's like this, Melody," Josh told her at the end of one particularly beautiful summer evening. "I don’t want to hear about your church; I don’t want to go to your church. Not now. Not ever. You have a choice to make here. Do you want to be with me always and forever, or do you want to be with this God of yours?”

His words burned to the depths of Melody’s very soul. She closed her eyes tightly in agony. Was he asking her to choose between him and the Lord? There was no choice! She would never turn away from God. She loved Josh so much it hurt, but Jesus was--and always would be--first in her life. Melody opened her eyes to see Josh still standing in front of her. He stood waiting for her to say something. What could she say? She cleared her throat and spoke,

“Josh, I love you with all my heart, but the Lord is first in my life and always will be. I will not deny Him ever. I just can’t.”

Josh shook his head and said, “Well, I guess you made your choice. I will not try to compete with this Jesus of yours. My only hope is that He can make you happy.” He bent over and kissed her then turned and walked away leaving left her standing there.

As the next few months slowly passed, Melody was numb. She cried and cried. She had loved Josh so much. The main thought in her mind was,

Why? Why did he do this? Her heart was broken and she felt betrayed. Melody knew she could not, nor did she want to, change her decision. But would the pain ever go away? Could she ever begin to live again? She thought not. The hurt cut too deeply.

...Two Years Later...

Melody was busy getting ready for a concert the teens were having that night.

Some new Christian band had become very popular and they agreed to come to the church for a concert. The excitement in the air was contagious. The band was already at the hall. At least 20 teens had told her so and how every thing was.

Melody sank into the middle chair in the back row of seats at the Fellowship Hall and closed her eyes. Soft brown hair fell over her face as she bowed her head to rest a bit before the program began. She was so tired.

Suddenly the sound of a beautiful praise song flowed over the room. It was almost surreal. Then she heard the voice. The beloved voice she could never forget. She opened her eyes, immediately spotting him as he stood behind the microphone at the front of the stage. He looked good. His hair was shorter and he was slimmer now, but he still had those beautiful crystal blue eyes. She could see the blue from all the way back where she sat.

Then Josh looked directly at her as he spoke.

“A couple of years ago I walked away from the woman I loved with all my heart. I made her choose between her God and me. She had the wisdom to choose her God. I had a hard time accepting that she would choose someone who was not real over me, and I convinced myself she did not love me. But as I finally came to see, she made the right choice. He is real, this man Jesus Christ. I now see and my blinded eyes are open to the Truth. It took a barmaid in a small town to sit me down and share the Good News with me. I played music in bars. I now sing in churches and at church events to lift up the name of the man Jesus Christ.” He walked toward the back of the church where Melody sat.

Warm tears flowed down Melody’s cheeks as he came nearer and nearer. She thrilled to the news that Josh had found the greatest love of all, Jesus. She whispered, “Thank you Jesus, for saving his soul.”

Josh stood at the end of the row and held out his arms. She stumbled numbly over the feet and legs of the kids sitting between her and Josh. Melody slid into his arms and looked into his face. He kissed her and held her close. Then the whole hall filled with clapping and hoots. Melody and Josh never noticed. They simply turned and walked out of the hall with their arms around each other, on their way to start a beautiful life together. In the service of their Lord…

Dear Lord we thank You that You have a plan for each of us. We pray that we would never deny You, but always put You first in our life knowing that You have the perfect person for each of us. In Jesus’ name, Amen. 

Lesson Learned from a Duck in the Barnyard.

James 4:7 (New International Version)

Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

A flock of wild ducks were flying in formation, heading south for the winter. They formed a beautiful V in the sky, and were admired by everyone who saw them from below.

One day, Wally, one of the wild ducks in the formation, spotted something on the ground that caught his eye. It was a barn yard with a flock of tame ducks that lived on the farm. They were waddling around on the ground, quacking merrily and eating corn that was thrown on the ground for them every day. Wally liked what he saw.

"It sure would be nice to have some of that corn," he thought to himself. "And all this flying is very tiring. I'd like to just waddle around for a while."

So after thinking it over a while, Walley left the formation of wild ducks, made a sharp dive to the left, and headed for the barn yard. He landed among the tame ducks, and began to waddle around and quack merrily. He also started eating corn. The formation of wild ducks continued their journey south, but Walley didn't care. I'll rejoin them when they come back north in a few months, he said to himself.

Several months went by and sure enough, Walley looked up and spotted the flock of wild ducks in formation, heading north. They looked beautiful up there. And Wally was tired of the barn yard. It was muddy everywhere he waddled, nothing but duck doo.

"It's time to leave," said Wally.

So Wally flapped his wings furiously and tried to get airborne. But he had gained some weight from all his corn eating, and he hadn't exercised his wings much either. He finally got off the ground, but he was flying too low and slammed into the side of the barn. He fell to the ground with a thud and said to himself,

"Oh well, I'll just wait until they fly south in a few months. Then I'll rejoin them and become a wild duck again."

But when the flock flew overhead once more, Walley again tried to lift him self out of the barn yard. He simply didn't have the strength.

Every winter and every spring, he saw his wild duck friends flying over head, and they would call out to him. But his attempts to leave were all in vain.

Eventually Wally no longer paid any attention to the wild ducks flying overhead. He hardly even noticed them. He had after all, become a barn yard duck.

Sometimes we get tired of being wild ducks-followers of Jesus Christ. It's not always easy to be obedient to God and to discipline ourselves to hang in there for the long haul. When we are feeling that way, that's when Satan tempts us to "fall out of formation" and to join the barn yard ducks... the world... But look what happened to Wally.

He thought he would just "check it out" for a while and then leave when he wanted to. But he couldn't do it. Sin is like that. Sin is a trap, and it has a way of changing us into people we don't even want to become. Eventually we lose touch with who we really are ... the sons and daughters of the Most High. We become barn yard ducks.

Dear Lord we pray that we wouldn’t get tired of living our life for You.  We pray that we would be strong and be able to stand against the things Satan throws at us. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Be Strong and Courageous.

Joshua 1:7 (New International Version)

“Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go.

In March 1939, Japanese Consul-General Chiune Sugihara was sent to Kaunas to open a consulate service. Kaunas was the temporary capital of Lithuania at the time and was strategically situated between Germany and the Soviet Union. After Hitler's invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939, Britain and France declared war on Germany.

Chiune had barely settled down in his new post when Nazi armies invaded Poland and a wave of Jewish refugees streamed into Lithuania. They brought with them chilling tales of German atrocities against the Jewish population. In June 1940, the Soviets invaded Lithuania and soon after ordered all foreign embassies to leave. Three times Sugihara wired Tokyo for permission to provide Japanese visas to Jews; three times he was rejected.

Sugihara, a committed Christian, had to choose between his job and those whose lives hung in the balance. For 29 days, from July 31 to August 28, 1940, Mr. and Mrs. Sugihara sat for endless hours writing and signing visas by hand. Hour after hour, day after day, for these three weeks, they wrote and signed visas. They wrote over 300 visas a day, ultimately his work saved 6,000 Jews.

Back in Japan, Sugihara's remaining days were spent selling light bulbs. When his story was finally told, his son was asked, "How did your father feel about his choice?" "My father's life was fulfilled. When God needed him to do the right thing, he was available to do it."

The Lord encourages us to be strong and to obediently follow Him.

Dear Lord we thank You that You have not left us alone. We pray that we would always seek to follow You in everything that we do. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Being Wrong.

John 3:16 (King James Version)

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Adam Thompson of Cincinnati, Ohio, was the first American to fill a bathtub.   Doctors who heard of it predicted rheumatism and inflammation of the lungs.   Some cities banned the new 'bathtub exercise'. Today a home is not complete without a bathtub or shower. The crowd was wrong. England once had a law forbidding anyone to drive a vehicle faster than four miles an hour without a person going before them with a red flag. Today we have vehicles capable of more than one hundred times that speed. The crowd was wrong.

Musicians and critics groaned and laughed at the music of Richard Wagner. But his compositions transformed the music world. The crowd was wrong. Westinghouse was called a fool for daring to think that he could stop a train with wind. Now Westinghouse air brakes are being used the world over.   Again the crowd was wrong.

"What is radium?" the crowd jeered at Madame Curie. Today it is a valuable asset in fighting disease. The crowd was wrong.  For eleven years Goodyear and his wife worked on vulcanizing rubber.  Everyone laughed at them, but today millions ride on Goodyear tires. The crowd was mistaken.                                                      

There have been advances in medical science hailed at the time, but were later proved to be disastrous. The drug Thalidomide comes to mind.  In the early 1950's the world hailed the first jet airliner, the 'Comet', which cut traveling time by half. Several crashed and many were killed.  The designers were wrong about the effect that speed and altitude had on aircraft construction.   They learned from that mistake and today air travel is even safer than driving the car. Publishers told Zane Grey that he had no writing ability.   But his books are still being read.  The crowd was wrong.

Being wrong can be a serious matter, and that applies particularly to our relationship with God.   Too much is at stake.  We can be wrong about many things. The world can be wrong about things - it has been through the ages.   However, we dare not be wrong about Jesus.  God offers us eternal life through Jesus Christ.   He so loved the world that He gave His only Son, and whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.

Dear Lord we pray that even when things go wrong we would look to You for the answers. In Jesus’ name, Amen.