Life's Bank Account

Never looked at it this way

 

 

 THE AUTHOR IS NOT KNOWN. IT WAS FOUND IN THE BILLFOLD OF COACH PAUL BEAR
BRYANT, ALABAMA , AFTER HE DIED IN 1982 

 

 

The Magic Bank Account

 

Imagine that you had won the following *PRIZE* in a contest: Each morning your bank would deposit $86,400 in your private account for
your use. However, this prize has rules.  The set of rules:

 

1. Everything that you didn't spend during each day would be taken away  from you.

 

2. You may not simply transfer money into some other account.

 

3. You may only spend it.

 

4. Each morning upon awakening, the bank opens your account with another  $86,400 for that day.

 

5. The bank can end the game without warning; at any time it can say, “Game  Over!". It can close the account and you will not receive
a new      one.

 

What would you personally do?

 

You would buy anything and everything you wanted right? Not only for yourself, but for all the people you love and care for. Even for
people you don't know, because you couldn't possibly spend it all on yourself, right?

 

You would try to spend every penny, and use it all, because you knew it would be replenished in the morning, right?

 

ACTUALLY, This GAME is REAL ...Shocked ??? YES!

 

Each of us is already a winner of this *PRIZE*. We just can't seem to see it. 

 

The PRIZE is *TIME*

 

1. Each morning we awaken to receive 86,400 seconds as a gift of life.

 

2. And when we go to sleep at night, any remaining time is not credited to us.

 

3. What we haven't used up that day is forever lost.

 

4. Yesterday is forever gone.

 

5. Each morning the account is refilled, but the bank can dissolve your account at any time without warning...

 

So, what will you do with your 86,400 seconds?

 

Those seconds are worth so much more than the same amount in dollars. Think about it and remember to enjoy every second of your life,
because time races by so much quicker than you think.

 

So take care of yourself, be happy, love deeply and enjoy life!

Here's wishing you a wonderful and beautiful day. Start  “spending”....

 

 

 

"DON’T COMPLAIN ABOUT GROWING OLD,

SOME PEOPLE DON'T GET THE PRIVILEGE".

Quebec Gospel History 1908 To 1920

In the summer of 1908, Harry Dennison from Ireland and John Baillie from England sailed from Liverpool to Newfoundland, and on to Halifax. Then they arrived in the province of Quebec in August to work among the French people, but with no success.  Both workers had learned French in France.  Then they went to Holland Landing, about 80 km north of Toronto, for a convention. After convention, Harry Dennison and Willie Wilson, who is from Scotland, came to Quebec, but this time they worked among the English people. They went to Cherry River (8 km north of Magog) to a family by the name of Powers (Mr. Powers is Vena Sullivan's mother's brother). Harry and Willie worked in the woods with Mr. Powers. The Sullivans met Harry and Willie at this time in 1908. Harry and Willie had gospel meetings in the area.  Eventually, they had meetings in Maletta (8 km west of Magog). Alice Hasting and her two younger sisters, Mabel and Ruth, attended the meetings, and made their choice. (Alice later married Joe Miles, parents of Jim, Ralph & Ron Miles.) Mabel and Ruth later went into the work in the States.  However, the workers could not stay with the Hastings, because the father was against his daughters going to meetings. So the three young ladies met secretly to read and have fellowship, in the woods in the summer.

In the winter 1908-1909, Harry Dennison and Willie Wilson went to "Dennison's Mill", the same name as Harry's last name. Dennison's Mill is about 10 km northeast of Richmond, but they had no response there. Then they started for "Wilson's Mill", the same name as Willie's last name. Wilson's Mill is about 120 km northeast of Richmond, so they took the train from Richmond to Robertsonville, from which Wilson's Mill is another 30 km. They walked about 15 km in the snow, following the horse's tracks, since the roads were not open in the winter. After 15 km they stopped at a house and asked to stay the night. But the next morning the people sent them away.  The man of the house tells later of having seen them walking. "The one big strong man walked ahead able to place his feet in the horse's tracks and a small frail man trying to follow and falling by times." The big man was Harry and the small man was Willie.  They walked another 15 kilometres to Wilson's Mill and, once there, asked for the one responsible for the hall and were told it was a man named "Tom Hopper" who lived about 5 km away. They walked in the snow and in a storm, stopping at people named John and Margaret Fraser, (Everett Fraser's parents). John and Everett met them in the yard. (Everett was 12 years old then). Everett remembers them asking where Tom Hopper lived, and talking together. Then Everett and his father came in the house and told his mother who they where and what they did.  She said, "Why didn't you invite them in?" She had been praying to God to send help. Harry and Willie went to Mr. Hopper, got permission for the school and stayed the night there. The next day, on the way back, they invited the Frasers to gospel meetings.

Following is the testimony of Margaret Fraser. Sitting by the window, she saw two men walking in a snow storm and said to herself: "They must have a very important message to carry to be travelling in such a storm!" Mr. John Fraser and his son, Everett, were in the yard sawing wood, and these two men came to ask information about using the school in Wilson's Mill, 2 km away. John said that his brother in law Tom Hopper was responsible and that he lived further on that road. Harry and Willie went to Hopper, got permission to use the school, and the next evening they planned to have a meeting. On the way back, they invited the Frasers. Harry and Willie went to the school to have a gospel meeting, but John went alone to the first meeting. Harry and Willie stayed at the Hoppers. John came home and said to his wife. "They speak from the Bible. It comes out of the Bible!" She said she would go the next evening. From that time John, Margaret, and Ella, the daughter, went to the meetings and made their choice. Ella later married Jack Chamney. One son Hedley never married and the other son Everett married Alice Reid in 1949.

 

In 1909, Harry Dennison and Willie Wilson were staying with the Frasers. They had gospel meetings in Glen Lloyd on "Rang 11" in Inverness, 10 km north of Wilson's Mill. The Guys family came and made their choice. They are the parents of Lewis, Emma and Agnes.  Then Harry and Willie went 5 km further north on "Rang 11" to Glen Murray, at the Gosford Road corner. They had gospel meetings in a school. Joe Miles and his cousin Willie Miles attended those meetings.  Between 1909 and 1913 there were gospel meetings again in Glen Murray. Herb Harper was one of the two workers, and it was then that Joe Miles and Willie Miles made their choice. Also in those years there were gospel meetings in Lemesurier located 6 or 8 km south of Frasers. Alex Hutchison came and made his choice. He later married Agnes Touchette, a French lady from Lachute, who had already made her choice before 1913. In the years 1910-1914 the workers invited the three Hasting girls, who had made their choice in 1908 but had not been to fellowship meetings as yet, to come to the meeting at Frasers with the Guys family and with Joe Miles and Willie Miles. Workers suggested Joe Miles marry Alice Hasting and they later married in 1922. They are the parents of Jim Miles, Ralph Miles and Ron Miles. Willie Miles later married Emma Guy, the parents of Russell Miles. There was a Sunday morning meeting at Frasers with Alex and Agnes Hutchison, the Guy family and Willie Miles family. Agnes Guy later went into the work.  Joe Miles' family met by themselves.  Baptisms were done behind Joe Miles' farm in the Becancour River. This area was called "Megantic".  In the summer of 1914, there was a little convention at Alex Hutchison's farm in Lemesurier in Magantic.

 

In 1910 Harry Dennison and Crawford Crooke came to Quebec and went to North Hill, 30 km. east of Sherbrooke, 5 km northwest of Gould. They had gospel meetings. Mrs. Morrison, Mrs. McDonald, Mrs. McKaskle, and Mr. O'Field came to those meetings and made their choice. George Howe came to one meeting as a boy.  He came back later in life and made his choice in Bishopton. He remembered something Harry said, "Jesus made no chicken dinner to draw people" as the churches did at that time. Sunday morning meetings were in Mrs. Morrisons' home and also a small convention was there from 1910 to 1913. In 1911 Harry came back with Robert Reoch.

In 1914 Jack Chamney and Willie Turner went to East Hill, 3 or 4 km south of Knowlton and had gospel meetings on the Stage Coach Road, east of Mount Echo Road. A total of seven people made their choice in those meetings, a French Canadian couple, Franc and Celina Martin, Levi and Florence Page (pronounced Pagee), Mrs. Flanagan, Mrs. Sanborn and Hattie Paige. Frank and Celina Martin were the parents of Marjorie and Ruth.  Marjorie married Ron Miles and Ruth married Bob Bergeron.  Mrs. Flanagan, Mrs. Sanborn and Florence Page were all Dean Dudley's sisters.  Hattie Paige was Walter Paige's sister. Walter Paige came to these meetings but made his choice later. A Sunday morning meeting started at Page's home first but was later transferred to Martin's home because Mrs. Page stopped going to meeting. They came back to meetings later in life.  In a Brome history book, "the two preachers were threatened to be tied, tarred and feathered" (these preachers being Jack and Willie) so they left the area. This area was also called Pleasant Valley and Lost Nation.

 

In 1915 Annie Corcoran, a half-sister of Harry Dennison, and Annie Cook from Ontario, came to Quebec.       They went to the Hasting family in Maletta and stayed with them.  It was here where the three girls had made their choice in 1908. Annie hid the fact that she was related to Harry, because the father, Elwin Hastings, hated him for influencing his three daughters, Alice, Mabel and Ruth, in making their choice. Elwin made them work, sometimes in the barn, to earn their stay. They wanted to look for a place for gospel meetings in Eastman. It was winter time and Elwin sent them a long way around while he went ahead of them to warn the people not to let them have any place for gospel meetings. Annie Cook came back home with one of her feet frozen. Elwin felt bad for the rest of his life for having done this. They finally got a place for gospel meetings in Eastman and Elwin came to the meetings because he felt bad for Annie. He continued to come to the meetings and brought other people with his team of horses and wagon. Elwin wrote a letter to his daughter Alice at this time, telling her that he regretted what he had done to her, that he was attending all the meetings now and "tonight, I took 17 people on my wagon with me to the meeting."

 

In the winter of 1915-1916, Annie Corcoran and Annie Cook had gospel meetings in Eastman. The Hasting and Tibbits families came. Elwin Hasting and his wife, Guy Tibbits and his wife (Lyle Tibbits' parents) and all four made their choice.  Later that year, Annie Corcoran and Annie Cook had gospel meetings in Cherry River, 8 km north of Magog. The Sullivan family, who had met Harry Dennison and Willie Wilson in 1908, came to the meetings and three made their choice, John Sullivan and his wife Eva, and their son Eric, who was 11 years old then.  They are the parents of Vena Sullivan. She was 6 years old then. Vena made her choice in 1921 at the convention at Tibbit's in Magog. Vena is the only one still living of that generation (died 2006 or 07).  Sunday morning meetings were at the Tibbits’ home first, then when the Sullivans moved to Magog later in 1916, meetings were moved to the Sullivans' home. Not long after, the Hastings moved to Georgeville not far south of Magog.  The Hastings, Tibbits and Mrs. Hopp (a neighbour of Hastings in Maletta, who made her choice soon after those meetings in Eastman) all met at Sullivans’. Also, in that meeting, there was Mrs. Cullins, who came from somewhere else and had moved to Magog, and Mrs. Bruce, who had made her choice in Windsor and moved to Magog.  The Tibbits went to the Garden Hill convention in Ontario the following summer and then wanted to move near Garden Hill to be near the convention place. George Walker told them it would be better to stay where they were and there could be a convention at their farm. So there was a convention at Tibbits the following year until 1925. They lived on the main road to Montreal, 5 km west of Magog. Today the farm is on the southeast corner of highway 112 and Autoroute 10. There were 32 people there and many were baptized.

 

In 1915, Jack Chamney and Willie Turner went to South Durham, 15 km west of Richmond. They had gospel meetings and three families came and made their choice, the Youngs, Davidsons and the Burrs. Sunday morning meetings were at Johnny Young's home. Annie Corcoran and Kathie McCart were together in this area the following year.

 

In 1917 Jack Chamney and Willie Turner went to East Angus. They had gospel meetings and the Beane family attended, and the parents made their choice (Stella Beane's parents).  East Angus is 20 km east of Sherbrooke.

 

In 1917 Jack Chamney and Willie Turner went to Abbott's Corner (20 km south of Cowansville) where Dean Dudley made his choice. He is a brother to the three sisters who made their choice in East Hill in 1914.  Many remember Dean Dudley with his truck, because he brought many to meetings and conventions.

 

In 1917 Jack Chamney and Willie Turner went to Vale Perkins (20 km south of Magog). They had gospel meetings. The Magoon family came and the parents made their choice. They are the parents of Burton Magoon and Mabel who later married Eric Sullivan. Later that year, Jack got sick and stayed a long time at Magoon's. He later married Ella Fraser.

 

In 1918 Willie Turner and John Verge from Newfoundland went to East Dunham (15 km south of Cowansville) and they had gospel meetings. The Perkin family, Jim, Nancy and their daughter, Maud, came and made their choice. These are Earle Perkin's parents and sister. Dale Spicer came to these gospel meetings and made her choice a few years later.

 

In the spring of 1918, Willie Turner and John Verge went to West Sutton (between East Dunham and Sutton) and  they had gospel meetings in the school that used to be just east of the four corners.  The Bergerons came to those gospel meetings. They were Dot, Bob and Eugene's parents. Dot later married Elmer Johnson. Elmer Johnson made his choice around that time. Willie and John stayed at the Bergeron home and one night, near the end of the mission, the light in the bedroom where they were staying, stayed on most of the night.  Mrs. Bergeron and her daughter, Dot, thought something was wrong. They peeked in to check, and saw them both on their knees praying in the middle of the night and this really touched them. They thought, rightly so, that they were praying for them about their souls, as they were about to test the meetings. Mrs. Bergeron made her choice, also her daughter, Dot and her son, Bob Bergeron and his wife, Arlene. Arlene was Lorimer and Ken Willy's sister.

 

In 1912-13 in New Brunswick, a man named Burchill Stewart made his choice. He was married to a French lady, whose maiden name was Charette, and she was from Massawappi, Quebec (20 km south west of Sherbrooke, between North Hatley and Ayers Cliff). They moved to Massawappi in 1917 where she came from. That same year John Cook and Hugh Roberts came to stay with the Stewarts in Massawappi. They had gospel meetings nearby on what is now #143 Highway, and met the Greer family. Early in the winter of 1918, John Cook and Herbert Harper had meetings in the same area.  Ernest and Mabel Greer came to those gospel meetings and also Mrs. Young, Mabel's mother.  All these made their choice. A Sunday morning meeting started first at Stewart's, but Mrs. Stewart quit going to the meetings so the Sunday morning meeting was moved to Greer's.   For many years, Burchill Stewart, brought a crippled man by the name of Ernie Dean to meetings. Many of these people, afore mentioned, were connected, either relatives, neighbours or friends. The Dudley's (Dean, Minnie, Florence and Annie) grew up on the "Old Stage Coach Road”. Dean left home and went to "Abbott's Corner". This is where he lived when he made his choice in 1917. Minnie married a "Sanborn". The family home is the brick house on the northeast corner of "Stage Coach Road" and "Mont-Echo Road". Minnie and her husband lived in the little house just south of it. Florence married Levi Page (Pagee). They lived in Rosenburg. The family house is on the southwest corner of "Mont-Echo Road" and "Rosenburg Road". They moved many times and after they stopped going to meetings, they left for the United States. Later in life, they made their choice again and came back to Quebec, and lived in the little school near the Martins on Stage Coach Road. Annie married a Flanagan and moved to Warden near Waterloo. This is what probably led the workers towards the "Melbourne Ridge". Sunday morning meetings were at Page's but were very soon transferred to Martins. Franc St-Martin came from St-Mathias and Celina Royea was from the area. They later changed their name to "Martin", and they lived on Stage Coach Road, 3 km east of "Mont-Echo Road". The little school across from the house was built later; the first one being further west of their house.

A Mrs. Fuller made her choice in these first years, quit and came back in her old age. Hattie Paige, who made her choice at this time also, was a great friend of Celina Martin.  Hattie probably brought the workers to Glen Bolton.  The same two workers, Jack Chamney and Willie Turner traveled throughout East Hill, Melbourne Ridge, South Durham, and Willie Turner continued to East Dunham and to West Sutton.  There was a connection between all these people. Hattie's sister, Minnie, was married to Charlie Smith's brother who lived in Melbourne Ridge. Jean Booth remembered workers preaching in Melbourne Ridge in those early years.  Charlie Smith was married to Eva Beauregard.  Eva's brother, Albert, was married to Gertrude Davidson, who was the niece of Mr. Davidson in South Durham, and Mrs. Davidson is Charlie Smith's sister. Eva Smith and Gertrude Beauregard later made their choice in the 40's.

Chris

Two Choices

 "One of life's greatest choices is an act of love"

We all have thousands of opportunities every single day to help realize the 'natural order of things.'

 

 A wise man once said every society is judged by how it treats it's least fortunate amongst them.

 

Two Choices

What would you do?....you make the choice. Don't look for a punch line, there isn't one. Read it anyway. My question is: Would you have made the same choice?

At a fundraising dinner for a school that serves children with learning disabilities, the father of one of the students delivered a speech that would never be forgotten by all who attended. After extolling the school and its

 

dedicated staff, he offered a question:

 

'When not interfered with by outside influences, everything nature does, is done with perfection.

 

Yet my son, Shay, cannot learn things as other children do. He cannot understand things as other children do.

 

Where is the natural order of things in my son?'

 

The audience was stilled by the query.

 

The father continued. 'I believe that when a child like Shay, who was mentally and physically disabled comes into the world, an opportunity to realize true human nature presents itself, and it comes in the way other people treat that child.'

 

Then he told the following story:

 

Shay and I had walked past a park where some boys Shay knew were playing baseball. Shay asked, 'Do you think they'll let me play?' I knew that most of the boys would not want someone like Shay on their team, but as a father I also understood that if my son were allowed to play, it would give him a much-needed sense of belonging and some confidence to be accepted by others in spite of his handicaps.

 

I approached one of the boys on the field and asked (not expecting much) if Shay could play. The boy looked around for guidance and said, 'We're losing by six runs and the game is in the eighth inning. I guess he can be on our team and we'll try to put him in to bat in the ninth inning.'

 

Shay struggled over to the team's bench and, with a broad smile, put on a team shirt. I watched with a small tear in my eye and warmth in my heart. The boys saw my joy at my son being accepted.

 

In the bottom of the eighth inning, Shay's team scored a few runs but was still behind by three.

 

In the top of the ninth inning, Shay put on a glove and played in the right field. Even though no hits came his way, he was obviously ecstatic just to be in the game and on the field, grinning from ear to ear as I waved to him from the stands.

 

In the bottom of the ninth inning, Shay's team scored again.

 

Now, with two outs and the bases loaded, the potential winning run was on base and Shay was scheduled to be next at bat.

 

At this juncture, do they let Shay bat and give away their chance to win the game?

 

Surprisingly, Shay was given the bat. Everyone knew that a hit was all but impossible because Shay didn't even know how to hold the bat properly, much less connect with the ball.

 

However, as Shay stepped up to the plate, the pitcher, recognizing that the other team was putting winning aside for this moment in Shay's life, moved in a few steps to lob the ball in softly so Shay could at least make contact.

 

The first pitch came and Shay swung clumsily and missed.

 

The pitcher again took a few steps forward to toss the ball softly towards Shay.

 

As the pitch came in, Shay swung at the ball and hit a slow ground ball right back to the pitcher.

 

The game would now be over.

 

The pitcher picked up the soft grounder and could have easily thrown the ball to the first baseman.

 

Shay would have been out and that would have been the end of the game.

 

Instead, the pitcher threw the ball right over the first baseman's head, out of reach of all team mates.

 

Everyone from the stands and both teams started yelling, 'Shay, run to first!

 

Run to first!'

 

Never in his life had Shay ever run that far, but he made it to first base.

 

He scampered down the baseline, wide-eyed and startled.

 

Everyone yelled, 'Run to second, run to second!'

 

Catching his breath, Shay awkwardly ran towards second, gleaming and struggling to make it to the base.

 

By the time Shay rounded towards second base, the right fielder had the ball,the smallest guy on their team who now had his first chance to be the hero for his team.

 

He could have thrown the ball to the second-baseman for the tag, but he understood the pitcher's intentions so he, too, intentionally threw the ball high and far over the third-baseman's head.

 

Shay ran toward third base deliriously as the runners ahead of him circled the bases toward home.

 
All were screaming, 'Shay, Shay, Shay, all the Way Shay'

 

Shay reached third base because the opposing shortstop ran to help him by turning him in the direction of third base, and shouted, 'Run to third!

 

Shay, run to third!'

 

As Shay rounded third, the boys from both teams, and the spectators, were on their feet screaming, 'Shay, run home! Run home!'

 

Shay ran to home, stepped on the plate, and was cheered as the hero who hit the grand slam and won the game for his team.

 

'That day', said the father softly with tears now rolling down his face, 'the boys from both teams helped bring a piece of true love and humanity into this world'.

 

Shay didn't make it to another summer. He died that winter, having never forgotten being the hero and making me so happy, and coming home and seeing his Mother tearfully embrace her little hero of the day!

 

AND NOW A LITTLE FOOT NOTE TO THIS STORY:

 

We all send thousands of jokes through the e-mail without a second thought, but when it comes to sending messages about life choices, people hesitate.

 

The crude, vulgar, and often obscene pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion about decency is too often suppressed in our schools and workplaces.

 

Do we pass along a little spark of love and humanity or do we pass up those opportunities and leave the world a little bit colder in the process?

 

You now have two choices:

 

1. Delete

 

2. Forward

 

May your day, be a Shay Day.

The Train Of Life

Some folks ride the train of life
Looking out the rear,
Watching miles of life roll by,
And marking every year.

They sit in sad remembrance,
Of wasted days gone by,
And curse their life for what it was,
And hang their heads and cry.

But, I don't concern myself with that,
I took a different vent,
I look forward to what life holds,
And not what has been spent.

So strap me to the engine.
As securely as I can be,
I want to be out on the front,
To see what I can see.

I want to feel the winds of change,
Blowing in my face,
I want to see what life unfolds,
As I move from place to place.

I want to see what's coming up,
Not looking at the past,
Life's too short for yesterdays,
It moves along too fast.

So if the ride gets bumpy,
While you are looking back,
Go up front and you may find,
Your life has jumped the track.

It's all right to remember,
'That's part of history,
But up front's where it's happening,
There's so much mystery.

The enjoyment of living,
Is not where we have been,
It's looking ever forward,
To another year and ten.

It's searching all the byways,
Never should you refrain,
For if you want to live your life,
You've gotta drive the train!
Author Unknown

John Sterling Rochedale Convention 1999

Those words we sang were what I am going to read. 308 Lord’s my Shepherd. Back in the year 1975, my companion and I were speaking to the Mexican people that had come out from Mexico, and were working in the States. There was famine and starvation in their country, and many fathers and some brothers were trying to get a little money for their families that were hungry. We were able to have studies with them - there were only four words in the Bible that they knew - God, Jesus, devil, and Mary. They had never heard of the creation, Adam and Eve, David and Goliath, Noah and the ark - they had never heard any of those stories, and we had to start at ground level, so to speak. One night we had the 23rd Psalm, and we asked them if they had heard the 23rd Psalm.

 

The Psalms were the hymns that the people of God sang before Jesus came into the world; this Psalm is 3,000 years old, we don't have the music to it, but we have the words. The one who wrote it started out as a shepherd-boy, and later on he became king, and saw the similarity between the people of God and the sheep; and the similarity was that they both had a very, very poor sense of direction, and that is why sheep need a shepherd, and that is why God's people need a shepherd for their souls, too.

 

And we asked them "What are you going to do when you die? - or, your house falls down, as it were. Where is you soul going to go, because it isn't dead? Do you want to go to heaven? Where is heaven? Don't know. Do you know anyone who knows the way to heaven? Don't know. And we asked them where had Jesus come from, before He was born - He came from heaven - and then He was on the earth, and where did He go after He was crucified and rose again? Back to heaven. And so Jesus came from heaven and went back to heaven, and so He knows the way, and so in our little meetings with them we told them "We are going to tell you all about the One who knows the way from earth back to heaven".

 

Now it starts off by saying "The Lord is my Shepherd". (We are probably more familiar with these verses than any other in the Bible). Every person who doesn't have the Lord as their Shepherd, and they aren't guided by God, they will never find this Way. And so, the Lord is my Shepherd, and we can sure do anything if we know that the Lord is with us. If I knew that God was with me I would do a cartwheel on the top of Mt Everest, but we know that God isn't with us in circumstances like that. "I can overcome any kind of a foe": if the whole world turned against us - any army or people in the world couldn't harm us if the Lord is with us.

 

And then it says "I do not want" - "I shall not want". One of the pathetic things that happen in life is people that have everything, but they don't have the one thing that will take away their hunger. They have a hunger, but nothing will satisfy them. There are many kinds of things that will satisfy us naturally - jobs, cars, houses and so on - but it is nice to know what the Lord brought into our experience is satisfaction. "I'm satisfied in Jesus now". Sometimes people wonder why God's people live such a narrow life - a narrow life is a good life, because it narrows down to Jesus. People look at our lives and say "You are so narrow", but we are satisfied. We heard at one Convention that if we have the right kind of hunger we will be satisfied. "I am satisfied" - "The Lord is my Shepherd, I am satisfied'. We read of Belshazzar in the Old Testament, he wasn't only not satisfied, but he was found wanting.

 

"He leadeth me" - He guides me beside the still waters into green pastures". We think of the barrenness of this world that we live in, over in our country, naturally, there is a lot of barren land, but when the spring rain comes, everything is nice and green, and that is how the Lord guides us, where the cool clear waters are. He always knows the best places to feed our souls, and He always makes us content. And then he says "He makes me to lie down" and this is really the main thing that I want to speak about today, about what God makes us do.

 

My mother used to make me take a nap, but the Lord doesn't make us do anything like that, but He makes me to lie down. How does a shepherd make a sheep to lie down? Well, they have been led to the still waters, they have got the shepherd standing by with a staff and rod, and he guards them there, they have peace and safety, and they lie down because they want to lie down. Why do God's people do what they want to do? Because we want to. It is that simple. Just because the world doesn't want to do what we do, it doesn't mean that we don't want to do what God wants us to do. And then He makes us to do what He wants us to do. That is a beautiful story. Remember when you did what you wanted to do and it didn't bring satisfaction? And then you came to this straight-laced religion, and you find yourself more satisfied than you were in the old life?

 

We met a woman who told us she was looking for religion that enabled her and her husband to drink and smoke and dance all night long. My companion said “we are going to have to get them to the mission. They came to the mission in the coldest winter in Idaho’s history, 3 meetings a week, and in three weeks they had made their choice. The husband had previously measured his week by a TV program called "Gun smoke". Only three days to his "Gun smoke", and then three hours, and so on but after he made his choice, he realised that the TV and the Bible were in conflict with' each other. "I knew that I had to choose between one and the other, and I turned the TV off', and you don't know how much that meant for him to be able to do that. There was an indication in his soul that there was a new life that was never there before. He said "I had a different sense of peace", and the Lord put it in him, He made him to lie down" with peace and rest and satisfaction. Now that man was qualified for baptism, and he later was.

 

Then, in contrast to that, when I was a little boy the circus came into town. There were six huge African lions, and they all jumped up after their trainer got there snapping his whip; and there were tigers and elephants, and other animals, which all responded to the whip of their trainer. All of those animals were changed, every one of those animals was behaving in a way that they had never behaved before, but it was the wrong persuasion, it was the whip that did it. We are glad that we do what we do because we want to do it, we don't have to face the whip, we don't resent what we do, because we are doing what we want to do. We are satisfied sheep, God makes us do what we want to do, and He makes us lie down. The Lord knows all the resting places, all the most useful places.

 

I liked to think about Philip, when he went out into the wilderness and ran into the treasury-keeper, and he was reading his Bible. Philip said "Do you understand what you are reading?", and he said "How can I except someone guide me?" That wasn't just a chance meeting, this all took place because the Spirit of Christ was leading Philip there. When we just happen to turn to the right verse, or get a 'phone call from the right person at the right time - we aren't just guessing. We have great confidence in God's ability to lead us to the right place at the right time.

 

One of our workers in Taiwan finished the lunch dishes and said "I think I will go for a walk". He walks down the street and walks about a mile into the city and sees a Mountain man who is more brown than the Chinese, and gets talking to him, with the result that we were invited up into the mountains to have a mission there. It wasn't just by chance that he decided to take another way, or to go for a walk instead of taking a nap, or whatever. It is just amazing when we see people do the right thing and they didn't know why they did it, and it is more amazing when it happens to us.

 

God's name is on the line when He comes to you with the gospel. If He ever failed one person, He would lose all His credibility. There are just so many wrong ways and so many things that are just so terrible confusion, things that are running out of control, but remember, the Lord is our Shepherd and He is making us, and if He can make heaven and earth He can keep His children. In 1976 I was in California, and I was there for 1 and a half years without being in the work, and during that time I tried to keep up my correspondence. I met a sister-worker at an uncle's funeral, and we wrote once or twice a year. One letter I wrote to her, I had written about God's goodness to us in making us to lie down in the green pastures. She wrote back within a very short time, which was unusual for her, and she said "I want you to know now that you aren't in the green pastures, you are in the valley of the shadow of death, where the clouds hang down and the tears flow, don't lie down now but keep walking". Don't lie down now - not when you are discouraged, not when everything seems against you. The devil was saying "nobody cares whether you are dead or alive, what difference does it make to you". But don't stop walking in the valley of the shadow of death, keep making steps, no matter what others do, or what happens in the world, just keep walking, make no major decisions when you are in major temptation.

 

I like the last verse and the picture there - one of the things that we always wonder about is the worth of something, and the worth of something is really determined by how long it lasts. Suppose you bought a brand new luxury car and you drove a block and it broke down - and you had a 1920 Ford and it still has 200,000 miles in it - which is worth the most?

 

Here is the green pastures, here is the still waters, but how long is it going to last? And here it says "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I shall dwell in the House of the Lord forever", Do you notice that little convoy there - there is the shepherd and the sheep, but something is following us - goodness - and something is following goodness, and that is mercy. How long is it going to last? All the days of my life, I have committed myself to something that is going to last all the days of my life; and then what is going to happen when we have no more days left on the earth? "I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever".

 

It would be a heaven on earth if we could just even realise what it would be like to be living here with all the negatives of this life taken out. All the pains, all the tears, or separation of any kind, no curse no sin, all these negatives taken away, what a wonderful thing it would be to live like that, but God has something that is beyond any description. Someone told me once that human beings only use 3% of their brain, and yet we have civilization like we have - planes that fly to the moon, medicine, etc. There is coming a time when our brain is going to die, but 97% of it has been saved to comprehend the new world.

 

He takes a step, we make a choice, following Him, that is what He wants us to do all the days of our life, we can face any kind of resistance and nothing can stop us. Mercy is following kindness - now mercy is a state of love, mercy is for the wrong doer, not for what they did, but for the wrong-doer. "Mercy is the loving compassion that overrules punishment even though justice demands it". I will repeat that: "Mercy is the loving compassion that overrules punishment even though justice demands it". One time a young boy was sitting in court waiting for his trial and the judge came over to him and said "Don't worry, you will get justice". And he said "I don't want justice, I want mercy". And that is how we all are in God's sight.

 

Sometimes sheep are the dumbest animals on the face of the earth, and sometimes we are like that in a spiritual sense, sometimes even though we are following the Lord we get off to the right or the left; sometimes someone over on the left side says "It doesn't make any difference what I do, if people want to make an issue about what I do, let them do it, I have got my life to live to live". And we get tangled up in that bramble bush; And someone over on the left side says something else, and we get tangled up in that bramble bush; but when we repent - no wonder David could say the Lord is my Shepherd, I don't want, I am content with my life, if I am way out in the bush somewhere, I am content. "It doesn't last for a day or a year, but all the days of my life, and after that, I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever".

 

John Sterling

Jesus made a very, very pronounced statement in the last hours of His life. He was praying to God and He said "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent". [ch 17.3]. What we are dealing with here is eternal life, a life that has no end.

 

In Matthew 16.24:"Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me"; and then in Mark 15.21"And they compel one Simon a Cyrenian, who passed by, coming out of the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to bear his cross. And they bring him unto the place Golgotha, which is, being interpreted, The place of a skull".

 

What we read here is to do with what makes it possible for us to know God. We have to be a disciple of Jesus, and that is what makes it possible that we can learn of Him and become like Him. There are certain qualifications for an entry into university: money, credit points etc., but the standards for the Kingdom of God and knowing God are much more simple - denying ourselves, taking up our cross, and following Jesus. It isn't money or credit points, but taking up our cross.

 

I  read  to you about Simon of Cyrene; Cyrene was a Jewish settlement in what is now Libya, and it was the ambition of every Jew in Cyrene to make one pilgrimage to Jerusalem during their lifetime. Simon had left Cyrene and travelled all those 1500 miles to Jerusalem; the city of Jerusalem was built on the top of the hills and it was situated in an area that looked like a horseshoe, with the opening to the north, and that is where they came into the city. It seems that Simon was going into the city when they were leading Jesus out; perhaps Simon was a big man, and that is why he was noticed. The cross that he was carrying wasn't a cross like we often see, it was just the timber that stood on the top of the pole. It sounds like it was too heavy for Jesus after all the blood that He had lost and the dehydration that He would have suffered, and so they compelled Simon to take it up and carry it.

 

Simon never heard the gracious words that Jesus said, saw the gracious things that He did, His kindness to the children, the selfless life that Jesus had lived, he never heard the things that Jesus said that no-one had ever said before.

 

The crowd was led by the Roman soldiers - the ones that were going to be crucified, the three of them, were following the soldiers, and then the townspeople were following the accused, and what happened now, was that Simon was given the cross-piece, and he took up the cross-piece of Jesus and he laid it down. Simon laid the cross down and Jesus lay down, He wasn't forced, He wasn't kicking and screaming, it was of His own will that He laid Himself down on that cross, and Simon watched the soldiers put the nails in Jesus' wrists, he noticed the crown of thorns, he saw the sign that they put up that "Jesus is the King of the Jews". He saw all that because he denied himself, took up his cross and followed Jesus - wouldn't that be something if one of us was in a situation like that and the cross was put on you, and you could carry the cross of Jesus. But the beautiful part of that story was that when he put that cross down, another man laid down on it; He was the last one that should have been on it, we should have been there - Jesus was lifted up on the beam, up, hanging there, and perhaps one of the most excruciating parts of the pain that He suffered was when He said "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"

 

Jesus said - we are all familiar with it - but maybe we aren't - "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do". Do you notice? "Father I forgive these people" - and do you know what that means? Jesus took no offence at what those people were doing. Matthew 18.15, I asked one of my fellow servants in this ministry once, what is the most common sin committed by God's people. And he said without hesitation, "Failing to forgive others when they have caused them offence". Jesus could say at that particular time "Father you forgive them, I haven't taken offence at what they have done". Like I said, my companion said that this is the No. 1 sin of God's people, and you know why it is so serious? Because you won't be forgiven if you do that. We won't go into heaven if we haven't been forgiving to others.

 

Simon knew that this was a different King to any that he had known. In a natural kingdom, the citizens are called up to help defend the kingdom, but Jesus didn't send any of His people to the cross to die for Him, He sent Himself to the cross to die for His people. This is the kind of King that He is, and Simon saw it.

 

Jesus said “I thirst” because of the physical torment that He had had, He was desperately thirsty. The front part of our tongue tastes the sweetness, the middle part tastes the sourness, and the back part of our tongue tastes the bitterness, and the best the world could give Him was something that was sour and something that was bitter. And the world gives illusion of sweetness and cotton candy when we are young, but the further we go down life, time passes and the years roll by, it isn't sweet any more, and life goes sour for many people that don't know God the world can offer the world when we are young, and it did to Jesus, but it doesn't have anything sweet to offer when we are old. Simon would never have known that if he had not taken up his cross and followed Jesus.

 

One of the ironies of humanity is often that even the most dishonest persons can tell the greatest truths, and they walked in front of Jesus, and they wagged their head back and forth, and then they spat on Him and then they said this: "He saved others, Himself He cannot save". Of course, that is how it has to be. Those that would save themselves are never any help to others. That was true, He couldn't save Himself from the leper, from the time that He was out in the wilderness, from the stormy sea, He couldn't save Himself from a woman that the world wanted to destroy, and because He couldn't save Himself, that qualified Him to be the Saviour of others.

 

A long time ago, in the state of Minnesota during one cold winter when the temperature was about 10 degrees below zero, two men were passing out invitations to the gospel meetings that they were going to have in the school house that night. They had visited a number of driveways in different places, and then they were walking back, and it was a long walk and then they were going to have a cold supper and then have the meeting. They came to a house that was set a long way back from the road, with a light on, no tracks to it, so they had missed it during the day. That older worker said, "I will go down and give them an invitation", but the younger one said "No, I am younger than you are, I will go down, and who knows, they might be the only ones in the district who will come to the meeting". To their pleasant surprise that family all came to the meeting, and the meetings went on and that family were the only ones that professed from that mission.

 

"He saved others, Himself He could not save". That is the only way that it will work. He could have called 12 legions of angels, but He didn't, He didn't save Himself so that He could save us. We in our work are tempted all the time to save ourselves, but there is no gain in saving yourself. I am so thankful that Jesus was that kind of a Saviour, He never thought about His own safety, He thought about you and me: and Simon saw it, and it was so.

 

Coming to the end of His ordeal, He looked upon His mother [John 19.27], and said 'Woman behold thy son'. Simon would have seen that those people weren't related by blood - people oftentimes say that blood is thicker that water, but the Spirit of God is thicker that blood. Jesus did all these things because of the spirit that He had in Him, and He saved people for His house of faith that were qualified, and the Spirit is thicker than blood. Right back at the turn of last century, there were 80 workers in Ireland and England that left mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, potential for family life, because the Spirit is thicker than blood.

 

That greater love had united Jesus with the mother of the apostle John, and it was even closer than that which would come from blood. Think of the sacrifices that you oftentimes make that your relatives and friends don't understand all of you have had experiences like that. What makes it like that? - that God's people are more comfortable with God's people than those of a natural relationship. We can all think of times when our friends and relatives wanted us to do this or that, but we couldn't because the Spirit is thicker than blood.

 

One of my companions, none of his brothers or sisters professed, and he was grieved, but then he got to think "I am sorry that is so, but the fellowship that I have with my brothers and sisters in Christ is wonderful, so why am I grieving?" People were doing things for him that his relatives never did, caring for his soul, and so on.

 

There is a very important verse in 1 John 1.7: "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son clean seth us from all sin". If we choose to do the will of God as Jesus did the will of God, then we have fellowship with one another and then the blood of Jesus Christ saves us from all sin. We are in fellowship with other people who are born of His spirit, and then we have fellowship one with another and then the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin. When we have fellowship with those that have the Spirit, that is when we are cleansed from our sin. The fellowship that we have in the Spirit is something that we will never have to worry about losing when we go into eternity.

 

The picture doesn't get very pretty at this time. When Simon was there as the hours and minutes go by, it gets dark at noon, he sees that and Jesus is hanging there quite a while and He asked for something to drink again. And it was no better than the first time, but then it says in the darkness Jesus cried out "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?". You notice He didn't say "My Father"; that is what most of the world are going to be saying when they stand before Him, but He was never their Father; and Simon heard it and Simon was there.

      .

It was hard. Suppose you were a child and you come in to your mum and say "Mum I have been bitten by a brown snake". And your mum is busy in the kitchen, and she says "go away I am busy", and turns her back on you. Gradually you get worse, and one slips into the shadow of death with their mother's back to them. Jesus did that, when His Father forsook Him at this time, and Simon was there to see it - that no-one need ever know what it is to be forsaken by God. The Father's approach to death is a lot different to what we were hearing here - for a child of God, death is not a lonely thing because His angels are waiting for a person to take their last breath, and then we see them carry them back, as they took Lazarus to the bosom of Abraham. And it isn't a long way in that journey, I think, because here Jesus said "This day you will be with me in paradise". We can be sure that God's back isn't turned on us if we are serving Him, and His angels are waiting to carry us to a place where there is no more sorrow, no more tears.

 

Jesus also said "It is finished" [John 19.30]. Jesus said in John 17 "I have finished the work that thou gavest me to do". And what He did was live a perfect life, so He could be the perfect sacrifice, and then He could say that He had finished the work that God had given Him to do. One of our friends died, and from his work there was a folder which said "unfinished business". The worker that took the funeral just shrunk back when he saw the title of the folder, but when it was opened, it was empty.

 

As good as the example life was, bitter was the taunting death, and it was finished. Jesus' last words were "Into thy hands I commit my spirit'. Jesus, everywhere He turned, was considered to be the wrong- doer, everywhere the truth went with Christ, He met that response as if He was the guilty one. We read in Hebrews [ch 12.3] 'Consider Jesus lest ye be weary and faint in your minds'. Jesus was saying "I am sending back to you the Spirit that you gave me, and it goes back highly recommended". A wonderful thing. But suppose this was our last hour on the earth - what would we say to the Lord? No wonder the Bible tells us "Take heed to your spirit" [Malachi 2.15 & 16], because the kind of spirit we have in time, we will have in eternity.

 

What is the final verdict on Simon? Was he a saved man? Perhaps that is something that only God knows. But he was known to the apostles, and those who wrote the Bible knew his name, and at the day of Pentecost there were some there from Cyrene. I would like to think that although Simon never heard the words of Jesus, that he got to know Jesus for himself.

 

The only thing that God wants any of us to abstain from is anything that is going to harm us, it is only the bad that He has asked us to abstain from. You know, what would you people think if I told you that if you did everything that I told you to do, you wouldn't have to die at all. But the cross - the way is by the way of the Cross; and finally, so many things that we don't know much along the way to heaven, but Jesus said "You just follow me" - the Good Shepherd, and when your days are over, you will stand, you will be standing with the faithful, and we just hope that when the devil puts to you it is hard to deny your-self, and it is hard to bear the cross, it is hard to follow Jesus, we just remember Simon and what did he do? These three things that qualified him to be with Jesus in eternity. 

 

                                    " It's not Length of Life but Depth of Life."