COOPERATION: Synergy for Jesus!

"Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary. So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith."

Galatians 6:7-10

One of our sons works evenings for United Parcel Service (UPS), one of the world’s largest, express package handlers. UPS has a unique assistance program called the Athlete Training Assistance Program (ATAP). ATAP helps American athletes, in training for national and international competitions, by providing them a job balanced against their demanding training and competition schedules.

Eugene Swift (110m high hurdles), a Human Resources supervisor in Oakland, California, and Tongula Givens (triple jump), a part-time, smalls sorter in UPS’s East Carolina District, are both examples of employees who benefit from ATAP; both have their sights set on the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.

UPS recognizes the tremendous public relations benefit that accumulates from ATAP’s goodwill and novelty.

[Adapted from “Newsmakers,” InsideUPS, Sarah Zimmerman Ed., December 1999, 12,13.]

Large churches and parachurch ministries ought to take a look at UPS’s ATAP. Many God-gifted athletes [as well as those from other fields] go begging in order to find the right combination of employment, training, and competition. Many are also raising families, or would like to. Why does it appear that only secular institutions take advantage of such unique and wonderful outreach (public relations) tools?

Why couldn’t one of the many full-time, paid employees of a large mission organization (say the Southern Baptist’s International Missions Board) or a large church (say Willow Creek or the Crystal Cathedral) be a committed Christian athlete? Why shouldn’t God be glorified in such a novel way? Why shouldn’t athletes from other nations be struck with the multifaceted outreach of the Christian community in this affluent United States of America?

Seems to me the hero of the movie Chariots of Fire was an athlete; and, if I remember correctly, The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association used to distribute a movie about a well-known Christian runner. What great testimonies these and others have provided to us. But I must ask, where was the church when they were testifying?

Maybe I’m just dreaming.

Christianity, Cooperation,
Illustrations, Religion

COMPROMISE: A fruit of wisdom in difficult circumstances!

THE WAY AROUND! [Hebrews 13:17a]

During a recent and tightly contested mayoral election in Long Beach, California, the incumbent, Beverly O'Neill, was prevented from running for reelection due to "term limits." In the end, however, the June 4, 2002, election results revealed she had retained her office. In the words of a spokesperson for her honor, "The mayor found a way around the law."

What, pray tell, is the mayor of California's 5th largest and the nation's 33rd largest city telling our young people? As a leader, she should be sending a message which encourages observance of the law, not how to circumvent it!

Isn't this just another sign for our time? Hasn't the word of God warned us there would be days like this? Isn't the pedophilia problem devastating the Roman Catholic body just a symptom of this day? Haven't the pervert-priests and the bypass-bishops just been finding a way around the Law?

SINKING THE SHIP! [Galatians 2:5]

In 1974 the Lutheran Church International agreed it could allow for papal supremacy in the interest of reconciling with the Roman Catholic Church. Their leadership reasoned that the Pope was in a better place "politically" to represent their faith to the world for the remainder of the 20th Century, as well as in whole of the 21st Century.

This is quite typical of many well-meaning, ecumenical efforts on behalf of reconciliation, world peace, and unity. While the ideals pursued are commendable (as far as man is concerned) a conservative and biblical worldview should reject them out of hand as a desertion of the true Gospel.

Kingdom progress may not be achieved by temporal compromise or political expediency.

As someone said years ago, "The boat may very well be in the water, but the water may not very well be in the boat. So too, the church may very well be in the world, but the world may not very well be in the church."

GRACE (GOD'S): Divine Surrogate for What We Deserve!

AT THE TIME APPOINTED [1 Peter 3:15; other topics - Timing]

During the June 4th 1944, WWII Normandy invasion 25-year-old Pvt. Ray Aebischer’s parachute opened with such a jolt his heavy jump-pack was torn from his shoulders, plummeting to earth. Everything he needed to survive (machine gun, carbine, ammo, canteen, rations, personal items, etc.) was lost. Ray was so sure he’d never see his gear again he dismissed it from his mind. Pvt. Aebischer didn’t count on Emmanuel Allain.

One dar in October 1997, a letter arrived from Mr. Allain, a WWII aficionado and collector. He wrote, “I found in a farm in Normandy all the stuff (belt pistol, carbine ... suspenders belt, canteen, pocket first aid, etc.) of a soldier.” The name on several of these items was Ray R. Aebischer. Now 81, Aebischer said he was “dumbfounded.”

Last month he and his wife flew to England, where Allain met them with the wayward jump-pack in hand. “I could think of so many instances where I could have been killed,” he said. “I thought to myself, except for the grace of God, I could be there. The real heroes are still over there.”

[“Soldier’s D-Day invasion gear found 53 years later,” The Washington Times, June 14, 1999, National Weekly Edition, p.18; from a Newport News, Va. (AP) report]

LOVE CHANGES THINGS [Galatians 3:1-3; other topics - Law, Love]

Consider the widow woman who remarried: her first husband was a totalitarian man, very controlling, dictatorial, and unforgiving; her second husband was loving, gentle, patient, and forgiving.

While cleaning a trunk, she came across her first husband’s list of rules: first, arise at five AM, every morning; second, breakfast at six AM, sharp, three basted eggs, toast lightly buttered; third, all washing to be ironed, including sheets, cases, and sox, with starch in collars; and fourth, fresh coffee, three times each day. Other rules concerned exact amounts of salt to use in his meals, how she was to appear in public, and what things she was could say in the company of others.

The list confronted her with a horrible truth: she was still keeping her first husband’s rules. But she smiled when she realized she had been forced to keep the rules under her first husband, yet now she was glad to keep them because of her second husband’s love for her.

Love changes things. What seems to be burdensome under the authority of a loveless tyrant becomes a labor of love under the authority of gracious master.

There is no longer a need to keep the Law for we are "saved by grace through faith" [Ephesians 2:8]. Yet Jesus said, “Therefore, however you want people to treat you, so treat them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” [Matthew 7:12] And Jesus’ half-brother said, “One who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man shall be blessed in what he does. … So speak and so act, as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty.” [James 1:25; 2:12]

Anytime we need to be reminded of the difference between Law and Grace, all we must do is revisit the first five books of the Old Testament; there we’ll see the old taskmaster at work. We may then smile and know that we are keeping His law gladly due to His great love for us, and that while we are yet sinners [Romans 5:8].

Responsibility

Responsibility (as in accepting it) [Galatians 6:3-5]

In the 1998 AFC playoffs, the Buffalo Bills were playing the Miami Dolphins; at a critical point in the game Doug Flutie, the Bills’ quarterback, fumbled the ball when he was blind-sided by a Dolphin defender. In the next huddle, Flutie pounded his chest and yelled, “It was me, it was me!” reassuring his teammates they had not failed, he had.

Here is a multimillion dollar athlete accepting responsibility rather than playing the blame game.

COHABITATION - Unintended consequences of doing so!

"Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary."

Galatians 6:7-9

According to a column by Leslie Carbone, a policy analyst with the Family Research Council, a 1992 study found that couples who lived together before marriage are 46% more likely than others to divorce. In addition, women in such relationships are more likely to suffer physical and sexual abuse than their married sisters.

Carbone also writes cohabitation is even worse for the children involved. She cited a British study which found that children living with the unmarried biological parents are 20 times more likely to be abused than children living with their married parents.

Also, three-quarters of children born to cohabiting parents will suffer parental breakup by the age of 16 as compared with only one-third of children born to married parents.

Amazing ... I wonder if anyone noticed those with a Judeo-Christian worldview have known this for years. [American Family Radio News Network, © 1999]

Christianity, Cohabitation,
Illustrations, Religion

SOWING: We're the field hands in the Harvest field of eternity.

FIRST SOW, THEN REAP [Galatians 6:6, 7]

A Wycliffe Bible Translators radio program in Peru is now supported by the tribe it sought to reach, the Huntington Beach, California-based ministry said.

A few years ago a U.S. visitor gave co-translators Pushpi and Yepo, members of the Huaylas Quechua tribe, money to use however they saw fit. They used it to air a weekly radio program in their native language, Quechua. The program, “Alli wallaqu i,” means “good news” and features Scripture reading. After airing the show for two months, Pushpi and Yepo began to say their good-byes to their audience because funding had nearly run out.

Letters, many containing contributions, began to pour in. One girl sold a sheep she had raised and donated the money. Other offerings and letters of appreciation continued to arrive. “This isn’t a program just for Catholics or just evangelicals,” one Quechua man wrote. “It teaches us God’s Word. It’s for everyone.”

A 10-year-old boy said his whole neighborhood listens because it helps them reflect on their lives and “re-teaches us according to God’s Word.” The program is fully supported by the Quechua people.

NOT BEFORE THEIR TIME: [Luke 8:4-8]

You ever garden? I love growing tomatoes - store tomatoes are just awful things, barely suitable for human consumption. I usually grow tomatoes from sprouts I buy at the nursery. Growing tomatoes from seed is a lot of hard work, particularly heirloom varieties, and unless you nurse them like your firstborn, most of your sprouts just won't survive. Often by the time you get good sprouts its too late in the season to get a good crop.

I think that is instructive about how we do church these days. We work so very hard to sprout 'em - but we lose so many of them. And those that try so desparately to grow never seem to find the soil to do it in, good sprouts often die for lack of being transplanted at the proper time. (added 30 March 2006)

HT: Blogotional