Standing Alone

It was alone I took my stand strengthened by an unseen hand, 
Alone I started in the fight, left the darkness for the light.

Alone I face the foe today, The Lord of hosts is still my stay. 
I know I am so very weak so I must my Father seek.

It is alone that I must pray, the spirit helps me day by day, 
And through its help I get to see something in the word for me.

In times when I alone must be, The Lord stands by and strengthens me. 
When great decisions I must make, He from the throne doth undertake.

Its not what others do or say that really hinders progress in the way; 
But fear that fills my heart each day lest I should ever leave this way.

Many a time like Christ, and Paul, we stand alone, forsook by all; 
But this will help us to depend Upon Him as a faithful friend.

Fragments

Broken fragments, bits of clay strangely scattered in the way. 
Touch them gently, walk with care, Christ remembers spikenard there.

Shattered pitchers dot the field; here the conqueror's trumpet peaked. 
Christ remembers light held high where the broken fragments lie.

Near the fountain crushed and bruised lie the vessels Christ has used. 
Here let tenderness abound; Softly tread on Holy ground.

Though we sat not where “twas given," Though we fought not where “twas striven," God forbid that we despise Fragments of their sacrifice.

(composed for a worn out worker)

(Elma Wiebe)

Ducks Quack, Eagles Soar

I was waiting in line for a ride at the airport. When a cab pulled up, the first thing I noticed was that the taxi was polished to a bright shine. Smartly dressed in a white shirt, black tie, and freshly pressed black slacks, the cab driver jumped out and rounded the car to open the back passenger door for me.

He handed me a laminated card and said: 'I'm Wasu, your driver. While I'm loading your bags in the trunk I'd like you to read my mission statement.'

Taken aback, I read the card. It said: Wasu's Mission Statement:
To get my customers to their destination in the quickest, safest and cheapest way possible in a friendly environment.

This blew me away. Especially when I noticed that the inside of the cab matched the outside. Spotlessly clean!

As he slid behind the wheel, Wasu said, 'Would you like a cup of coffee? I have a thermos of regular and one of decaf.'

I said jokingly, 'No, I'd prefer a soft drink.'

Wasu smiled and said, 'No problem. I have a cooler up front with regular and Diet Coke, lassi, water and orange juice.'

Almost stuttering, I said, 'I'll take a Lassi.'

Handing me my drink, Wasu said, 'If you'd like something to read, I have The Hindu, Times of India, ET and India Today.'

As they were pulling away, Wasu handed me another laminated card, 'These are the stations I get and the music they play, if you'd like to listen to the radio.'

And as if that weren't enough, Wasu told me that he had the air conditioning on and asked if the temperature was comfortable for him.

Then he advised me of the best route to my destination for that time of day. He also let me know that he'd be happy to chat and tell me about some of the sights or, if I preferred, to leave me with my own thoughts.

'Tell me, Wasu,' I was amazed and asked him, 'have you always served customers like this?'

Wasu smiled into the rear view mirror. 'No, not always. In fact, it's only been in the last two years. My first five years driving, I spent most of my time complaining like all the rest of the cabbies do. Then I heard about power of choice one day.'

'Power of choice is that you can be a duck or an eagle.'

'If you get up in the morning expecting to have a bad day, you'll rarely disappoint yourself. Stop complaining!'

'Don't be a duck. Be an eagle. Ducks quack and complain. Eagles soar above the crowd.'

'That hit me right,' said Wasu.

'It is about me. I was always quacking and complaining, so I decided to change my attitude and become an eagle. I looked around at the other cabs and their drivers. The cabs were dirty, the drivers were
unfriendly, and the customers were unhappy. So I decided to make some changes. I put in a few at a time. When my customers responded well, I did more.'

'I take it that has paid off for you,' I said.

'It sure has,' Wasu replied. 'My first year as an eagle, I doubled my income from the previous year. This year I'll probably quadruple it. My customers call me for appointments on my cell phone or leave a message on it.'

Wasu made a different choice. He decided to stop quacking like ducks and start soaring like eagles.

Angel Rain Aragones

Little Things

 

When I was coming through Victoria, Willie Donaldson said, “God takes more notice of the little things,” and it is has remained with me, because we know how we are inclined to be more taken up with the big things. How sad if we just took a general look on things and missed the little things God wants to teach us. God does not work in a hurry and He has much to do in our lives.

 

With Naaman’s little maid, it was only a little message she had and in that message there was much light and hope; she had so much to give. She waited on Naaman’s wife but I believe she had time to wait on God. When help was needed that was one time she did not wait because she knew it was urgent. She saw that that man had a disease even though it may have been a little thing at the beginning. But it did not remain little. It got so big and spread so much. Not only Naaman and his wife knew about it but his whole household knew and in that dark time that man was passing through, that light was clearly seen.

 

The little maid may not have noticed the light from her own life. The candle does not shine much in the daylight, but in the darkness it means much to the one in the darkness. Light overcome darkness. That little girl had a little message for that man. Naaman’s was asked to do the little thing and when he was willing to do the little thing, he knew this change of being made as a little child. The world takes little children and makes great men of them, and God grapes great men and makes little children of them. Naaman was a man who was great in the eyes of his master but he knew the secret of being great in the eyes of God because he was willing to become the servant.

 

Think of the fellowship meeting when that man got back with the little maid. He would speak of the great things God had done for him. Sometimes we do not realize just how much we need God. The girl knew what it was to be alone. It might have been alone from the world and her people but she was not alone from God. Naaman got to know God because of the faith of that girl. They said of the lad with the loaves and the fishes, “... but what is that among so many.” Sometimes that is just how we feel. Is the little we have going to be of use to someone else? As we are willing to put it at the disposal of Jesus, that little is not going to be wasted, but it is going to feed the multitude.

 

When I told my father I was leaving home and going to spend it in the harvest field, one thing he asked me was, “How are you going to do this? You have never been to any theological college.” I felt very humbled myself and prayed, “If my poor life could be of use to Thee, I yield it all.” One of the old Workers in South Africa who was not an eloquent preacher, he just said in one of his first meetings, “Poor Peter ...,” and he could not go on any more. Those who listened knew just how much it cost him. His older companion said he would never become a preacher so he had better go home, but he said, “My heart is in his. I may not be able to preach but I can be faithful in the place of prayer. I can polish your shoes, cook your meals, do things that help you.” That older man, sad to say, went out of the Work because he began to get too big for himself. That man who spoke with trembling lips finished up in charge of the Work in Africa. That man was Alex Pearce.

 

Saul was chosen because he was little in his own eyes, but the time came when he got too big and God had to reject him. That is a great warning to us not to take things into our own hands but that we might keep the place of a little child.

 

Coming over from Western Australia we touched down at Kalgoorlie and one took us to a gold mine. We climbed one dump forty feet high and twenty-six feet across and there were many like that in the area, but the gold they got from there was reckoned in ounces and not many when compared with the sign of the mound. How precious we are to God. There are many who don’t want Him. “Unto those who believe He is precious.” When the ore is brought out from that mine, the gold is taken out of the earth and it is not a difficult process with the machinery they have today. The more important and difficult process is taking the earth out of the gold. That is why God has gathered us together. God is concerned. He knows that there are little things that can spoil our testimony. Keep the standard up and be like Jesus. Do not let in the little things, those little foxes that destroy the tender grapes, that which has so much promise.

 

How do we feel for one who does not feel his need of coming to the meetings? When people go out it is not something that takes them out straight away into the world, but a little thing that had grown. It is good when we are willing to accept the help God is willing to give us. The radio is something that grows and that is why God shows it is something that has to be dealt with. If God cannot cut us back, He will cut us off, but when God cuts us back it is that we might have more fruit but when He cuts us off there is nothing more He can do with us. If you feel God is dealing with your heart, you have enough evidence that God is still interested in you and still loves you.

 

Ecclesiastes 10:1, “Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savour: so doth a little folly him that is in reputation for wisdom and honour.” Sometimes you see people spoil their whole testimony by one foolish thing, a testimony they have built up over the years. It is good when we want the little things dealt with when they are little and not allow them to grow. In Proverbs we read of a little sleep and a little slumber , a little folding of the hands and the result of it, the poverty it brings. We can let these little things rob us. The little lad with the loaves and fishes did not know that which he had was going to feed the multitude but he did not withhold and so many were satisfied.

 

We have heard so much of possibilities. A babe is spoken of as a bundle of possibilities. What can be the outcome of lives entrusted to you as you guide and feed them? It can be profitable to God and His people. There are things that belong to the world so let them remain there. It is good to fill our hearts and homes with all that belongs to the worship of God, where God delights to dwell with us. The value of a bag of diamonds would always be the same but a grain of wheat increases and it is therefore much more valuable. Think of what your life could mean to a perishing world. Little is much if God is in it. Man’s busiest day is not worth God’s minute. It is good when a life speaks louder than words. I hope these little things: meekness and love, will grow and the little things that hinder we will allow God to deal with them and they will be no more.

 

 By: Lucian Garth 1962

 

Dying To Self

When you are forgotten or neglected or purposely set at naught and you don't sting with the insult or oversight but your heart is happy being counted worthy to suffer for Christ ~ that is dying to self.

When your good is evil spoken of or when your wishes are crossed, your advice disregarded, your opinion ridiculed and you refuse to let anger rise in your heart, or even defend yourself, but take it all in patient loving silence ~ that is dying to self.

When you lovingly and patiently bear any disorder, any irregularity, and unpunctuality or any annoyance, when you stand face to face with waste, folly, extravagance, spiritual insensibility and endure it as Jesus endured it ~ that is dying to self.

When you never care to refer to yourself in conversation or record your own good works or itch after condemnation, when you truly love to be unknown ~ that is dying to self.

When you are content with any clothing, with any climate, any society, any solitude, any interruption by the will of God ~ that is dying to self.

When you can see your brother prosper and have his needs met and you  honestly repose with him in spirit and feel no envy, or question God, while your own needs are far greater and in desperate circumstances ~ that is dying to self.

When you can receive correction and reproof from one of less stature than yourself and can humbly submit inwardly as well as outwardly, finding no rebellion or resentment rising up within your heart ~ that is dying to self.

Author Unknown

How Do You Live Your Dash?

I read of a man who stood to speak 
At the funeral of a friend.
He referred to the dates on her tombstone
From the beginning...to the end.
He noted that first came her date of birth,
And spoke the following date with tears,
But he said what mattered most of all
Was the dash between those years. (e.g. 1945 – 1998)

For that dash represents all the time
That she spent alive on earth...
And now only those who loved her
Know what that little line is worth.
For it matters not how much we own,
The cars...the house...the cash,
What matters is how we live and love,
And how we spend our dash.

So think about this long and hard...
Are there things you’d like to change?
For you never know how much time is left
That can still be rearranged.
If we could just slow down enough
To consider what’s true and real,
And always try to understand
The way other people feel,
And be less quick to anger,
And show appreciation more,
And love the people in our lives,
Like we’ve never loved before,
If we treat each other with respect,
And more often wear a smile...
Remembering that this special dash
Might only last a little while.

So, when your eulogy’s being read,
With your life’s actions to rehash...
Would you be proud of the things they say
About how you spent your dash?

The Influence Of Faithful Parents

They have lived it in the home life,
They have followed God's true way,
They have kept a humble spirit,
As they've walked from day to day.

Their small home was consecrated,
They both guarded all within;
Nothing entered to defile it,
God's approval thus to win.

God opened up that little home,
For the gathering of His people.
Not like a worldly church at all.
With stained glass or a steeple.

Just a simple little meeting,
Where the love of God was shared,
By a humble little gathering,
In a home God has prepared.

They upheld the life of Jesus,
Every deed and thought and Word
And it brought into their home life,
All the blessings of the Lord.

God's own servants often come there,
And they spoke of things above,
As the peace of God was ruling,
Filling both their hearts with love.

Both heads bowed at every meal,
Thanks was given from the heart,
For provisions from the Master,
That gave strength to do their part.

Little hearts were learning quickly,
All that comes from God's own hand,
Seeing two lives gladly yielded...
Pilgrims in a stranger's land.

Knowing that their lives were temporal,
Knowing brief life's longest span;
Seeking for a better country,
They had learned of God's great plan.

Faithful in the place of prayer,
Kneeling often by their bed.
Two heads bowed before the Lord;
(Little lives were being led).

Little ears were also listening,
Eyes were watching all they'd do,
Little hearts were being softened,
By the faithfulness of two.

Little wills were being broken,
They were taught how to obey,
By those two lives that were dying,
To themselves along the way.

Oh the privilege in knowing,
Such a godly home as this;
The blessings of that influence,
That so many children miss.

May God bless and keep the parents,
In whose lives God's plan was shown,
And by this into those young hearts,
The seed of Truth was sown.

Now these lives have yielded also,
Have a heritage to gain;
From the influence of two people,
Worshiping in Jesus name.

Author Unknown

A Lesson From Trees

I count it a great privilege since being in the North Land of NZ, to visit some of the Kauri trees that grow here. I was very impressed when I saw them. 

In Psalm 24 we read, "The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof; the world and they that dwell therein." I would like to remember that verse for the rest of my days: THE EARTH IS THE LORD'S. I cannot help but feel that all we possess on the earth man has only done it by what God has given him to work with. All we can lay our hands on, God has given us. We ourselves belong to God. He has created and has given us life and has set us in a very beautiful place, in very beautiful surroundings. We belong to Him. When we look at the trees, we see God's glory. He created them as He has created us perfectly, and that is what He wants to do with us today. 

In Psalm 8:4, we read, "What is man, that thou art mindful of him?" When we think of this beautiful world and realize how God has created man in its midst, we can truly think "What is man?" It is not what we are but it's what we can become. When we come to a place like this, God desires to show us what we are and how we stand before Him, in His sight. What are we naturally, that God is so mindful of us?  What do we have that causes God to visit us with His Gospel? Just what do we have? 

If we trust God - it is He who has created us, in such beautiful surroundings. We can trust Him and know that He is interested in us. I was glad when Les spoke about our hearts being tender and responsive. This is the condition God wants to create in our hearts and minds. 

We can think of the Kauri trees, standing in their places where God has put them. It is good for us to stand in the place that God has put us, in that place He intends we remain, to stand and give Him glory, growing and being a faithful witness of His handiwork. We can all do this and more for others, but there is one thing we must all do, and that is to stand in our place, filling it as He has planned. We can allow God to create in us some of His glory. I feel glad for that one thought that whatever circumstance we are found in, we can be and do so gracefully. God is a gracious God, and He allows us to stand in our place. 

When I looked at some of those trees, I was told they had no merchantable timber value unless their base was four feet in diameter and rightly matured. Until the tree is like that, it is of no value because the timber is too small, the heart timber is just too small, and the tree is left to mature. God desires to create in us a big heart, a heart that goes out to others, a heart that's tender and responsive, and He wants to create in us a tender heart, because our heart has the most value to Him. It is the hearts of His people that have greatest value to Him. It's nice to think that our hearts, our thoughts and our cares have that desire created in them to go out and help others. These little acts of grace can help us help another. 

Perhaps we can all help each other materialistically, but isn't it much better to help each other have a closer walk with God?  This is the greater thing that has the greater value than just thinking of ourselves. It allows the borders of our hearts to increase. It's the heart's timber that is so important to the tree. While the tree is small, mosses and lichen begin growing and they suck out the life of the tree.  If the heart is larger, these things start to drop away.  It pleases God to create that kind of state in our lives, where the little hindrances drop away which spoil our walk with God. 

When we continued to look at some of the larger trees, we noticed some mosses and lichens and other clinging things had dropped off the trees and the trees stood clear and clean and upright and were a glory to God. They stood in majesty. 

There are some other things we might mention about these trees. It saddened me to see some whose branches were broken off by the storms and water had started to decay them.  As far as God is concerned, He has created our lives and wants us to be perfect so we might go on and withstand everything. It is sad, if through weakness our faith becomes weaker; or because of experiences, our faith becomes lessened. On the other hand, God wants to make us into something which gains His very best. Oftentimes, it's experiences, whatever they are, that brings us closer and enables us to reach out to God where He can foster more of the growth marks of His Son's life in us. Then we can reflect more of God's likeness, as His perfect workmanship. He has created us and is still re-creating us and He wants to see us perfect. He wants His Son's reflection seen in our lives. If God can re-create us like this, He creates in us a desire to become closer to Him, and get to know Him better. 

In another place, I stood looking at a place where a tree had once stood, and all that remained was the stump. The stump was nineteen feet in diameter and nearby, a few branches lay. The heart is the most valuable part of that tree and it had been taken away. All that remained was a few branches lying near the stump, the remains of what was once a beautiful tree. 

God wants to take from this earth its most valuable part, so all that remains is the testimony. If we are like the good Kauri tree, God will take what is most valuable to Him and He leaves behind on the earth, our testimony, just the same as the tree. All that was left behind was the tree stump and its branches. 

We can look into the Scriptures and read of the testimonies of many who went on before. For example, we can read of Abraham, and it's nice to look into his life and see his faithfulness. God took the most valuable part of Abraham back to Him, and that's what He wants from us, our good testimony on the earth. I am glad He is able to take the most valuable part back to Himself. I am sure it's the desire of all here to be perfect, to have the qualities of worth, like Christ Jesus. When our time is finished on earth and God calls us, the most valuable part will return to Him. 

We sit here today and see the need of having the hand of God re-create us so all the darkness in our hearts will go out and will help shed those things that sap us. We want those experiences that bring us closer to Him. 

When our time comes to go hence, I hope God takes our most valuable part back to Himself.