Which Way to
Go?
"Show me your ways, O LORD,
teach me your paths;
guide me in your truth and teach me,
for you are God my Savior,and my
hope is in you all day long."
Psalm 25:24-25
There are two ways a man can go. He can
go God's way or he can go his way.
God gives us a choice.
We can go our own way.
"There is a way
that seems right to a man, but in the
end it leads to death."
Proverbs 14:12
Do you want to go this way?
It is a glorious thing to be able to
call out to God and ask Him to show you
the way.
Obviously this is the better choice.
God's way is through His Son, the Lord
Jesus Christ.
Why not
admit
you are a sinner,
ask
Jesus to save you, and
accept
His work
on the Cross.
Do that and you can become a child of
God and spend eternity with Him.
I pray for the salvation of the lost today.
In Jesus name, Amen.
Gerald
English
“Who
Are You Living For?”
It's a great question. Everybody is living
for something. There are numerous possible
answers to that question. But for the
Christian, there's only one suitable one.
II Corinthians 5:15 gives us God's intent
for our lives and who we should live for.
“and He died for
all, that they who live
should no longer live for themselves,
but for Him who died and rose again on
their behalf.”
How many people are living for themselves?
Even Christians. But the only proper response
is to live for the One who died for you. Jesus
gave His all. His whole life … His perfect life
for sinners such as us. We don't deserve it. But
He did it on our behalf.
The greatest gift is a life. That's what He
gave
for you, for me. What can you do in return?
Give your life. Probably not to the point of
death, but you can give your life to the point
of living everyday for Him.
That's really the ultimate question:
who are you living for? Is every day a tribute,
a gift back to Him?
For the Christian, its the only reasonable
response. It's a voluntary one. He doesn't
force you.
One verse earlier in II Corinthians 5 says,
“For the love of Christ
controls us,” (v14).
Does it control you? His love for you. But
also your love for Him.
If you truly love Him because He first loved
you and gave His life for you, then living
for Him instead of self, will just make sense!
Do you love Him? Do you live for Him to the
point of letting Him control your life?
What a difference it would make if every
Christian lived for Him who died for you!
God grant it in your life and mine.
Pastor Steve Weaver
Parkwood Baptist Church
http://www.parkwoodbaptistchurch.com/
Daniel's Gloves
I sat, with two friends, in the picture
window
of a quaint restaurant just off the corner of the
town-square. The food and the company were both especially good that
day.
As we talked, my attention was drawn
outside,
across the street. There, walking into town, was
a man who appeared to be carrying all his worldly goods on his back.
He was carrying, a well-worn sign that read, 'I will work for
food.'
My heart sank.
I brought him to the attention of my
friends and noticed that others around
us had stopped eating to focus on him.
Heads moved in a mixture of sadness and
disbelief.
We continued with our meal, but his
image lingered in my mind. We finished
our meal and went our separate ways. I
had errands to do and quickly set out to
accomplish them. I glanced toward the town
square, looking somewhat half-heartedly for
the strange visitor. I was fearful, knowing
that seeing him again would call some
response.. I drove through town and saw
nothing of him. I made some purchases at a
store and got back in my car.
Deep within me, the Spirit of God kept
speaking to me: 'Don't go back to the office
until you've at least driven once more around
the square..'
Then with some hesitancy, I headed back
into town. As I turned the square's third corner,
I saw him. He was standing on the steps of the
store front church, going through his sack.
I stopped and
looked; feeling both
compelled to speak to him, yet wanting to drive
on. The empty parking space on the corner
seemed to be a sign from God: an invitation
to park. I pulled in, got out and approached
the town's newest visitor.
'Looking for the pastor?' I asked.
'Not really,' he replied, 'just resting.'
'Have you eaten today?'
'Oh, I ate something early this morning.'
'Would you like to have lunch with me?'
'Do you have some work I could do for
you?'
'No work,' I replied 'I commute here to
work
from the city, but I would like to take you to lunch.'
'Sure,' he replied with a smile.
As he began to gather his things, I asked
some surface questions.
Where you headed?'
' St. Louis '
'Where you from?'
'Oh, all over; mostly Florida ..'
'How long you been walking?'
'Fourteen years,' came the reply.
I knew I had met someone unusual.
We sat across from each other in the same restaurant I had left
earlier. His face was weathered slightly beyond his 38 years.
His eyes were dark yet clear, and he spoke with an eloquence and
articulation that was startling He removed his jacket to reveal a
bright red T-shirt that said,
'Jesus is The Never Ending Story.'
Then Daniel's story began to unfold. He
had seen rough times early in life. He'd made
some wrong choices and reaped the consequences. Fourteen years earlier,
while backpacking across the country, he had stopped on the beach in
Daytona.. He tried to hire on with some men who were putting up a large
tent and some equipment. A concert, he thought.
He was hired, but the tent would not house
a concert but revival services, and in those
services he saw life more clearly. He gave
his life over to God.
'Nothing's been the same since,' he said,
'I felt the Lord telling me to keep walking,
and so I did, some 14 years now.'
'Ever think of stopping?' I asked.
'Oh, once in a while, when it seems to
get the best of me But God has given
me this calling. I give out Bibles That's
what's in my sack. I work to buy food
and Bibles, and I give them out when His
Spirit leads.'
I sat amazed. My homeless friend was not
homeless. He was on a mission and lived this
way by choice. The question burned inside for
a moment and then I asked:
'What's it like?'
'What?'
;
'To walk into a town carrying all your
things
on your back and to show your sign?'
'Oh, it was humiliating at first. People
would stare and make comments. Once
someone tossed a piece of half-eaten bread
and made a gesture that certainly didn't
make me feel welcome. But then it became humbling to realize that God
was using me
to touch lives and change people's concepts
of other folks like me..'
My concept was changing, too. We finished
our dessert and gathered his things. Just
outside the door, he paused He turned to me
and said, 'Come Ye blessed of my Father and
inherit the kingdom I've prepared for you.
For when I was hungry you gave me food, when
I was thirsty you gave me drink, a stranger
and you took me in.'
I felt as if we were on holy ground.
'Could you use another Bible?' I asked..
He said he preferred a certain
translation.
It travelled well and was not too heavy. It
was also his personal favorite.. 'I've read
through it 14 times,' he said.
'I'm not sure we've got one of those,
but let's stop by our church and see'
I was able to find my new friend a Bible
that would do well, and he seemed very
grateful.
'Where are you headed from here?' I
asked.
'Well, I found this little map on the
back
of this amusement park coupon.'
'Are you hoping to
hire on there for a while?'
'No, I just figure I should go there. I
figure
someone under that star right there needs a Bible, so that's where I'm
going next.'
He smiled, and the warmth of his spirit
radiated the sincerity of his mission. I drove
him back to the town-square where we'd met two hours earlier, and as we
drove, it started raining. We parked and unloaded his
things.
'Would you sign my autograph book?' he asked. 'I like to
keep messages from folks I meet.'
I wrote in his little book that his
commitment
to his calling had touched my life. I encouraged him to stay strong.
And I left him with a verse
of scripture from Jeremiah, 'I know the plans I have for you, declared
the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you; Plans to give you
a future and a hope.'
'Thanks, man,' he said. 'I know we just met and
we're really just strangers, but I love you.'
'I know,' I said, 'I love you, too.'
'The Lord is good!'
'Yes, He is. How long has it been since someone
hugged you?' I asked.
A long time,' he replied
And so on the busy street corner in the drizzling rain, my
new
friend and I embraced, and I felt deep inside that I had been changed..
He put his things on his back, smiled his winning smile and said,
'See you in the New Jerusalem.'
'I'll be there!' was my reply.
He began his journey again. He headed
away with his
sign dangling from his bedroll and pack of Bibles. He stopped, turned
and said, 'When you see something that makes you think of me, will you
pray for me?'
'You bet,' I shouted back, 'God bless.'
'God bless.' And that was the last I saw
of him.
Late that evening as I left my office,
the wind
blew strong. The cold front had settled hard upon the town. I bundled
up and hurried to
my car. As I sat back and reached for the emergency brake, I saw them,
a pair of well-worn brown work gloves neatly laid
over the length of the handle. I picked them up and thought of my
friend and wondered if
his hands would stay warm that night
without them.
Then I remembered his words: 'If you see
something that makes you think of me, will you pray for me?'
Today his gloves lie on my desk in my
office..
They help me to see the world and its people
in a new way, and they help me remember those two hours with my unique
friend and to pray for his ministry. 'See you in the New Jerusalem,'
he said. Yes, Daniel, I know I will...
'I shall pass this way but once.
Therefore,
any good that I can do or any kindness that I
can show, let me do it now, for I shall not pass
this way again.'
Author
Unknown
Submitted by Doug Tidwell
