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Happy and Safe (Distanced) 4th of July! See you all again on ConCafe on Tuesday 7/7/2020
There is No God? Several years ago Jim Bishop wrote in the Miami Herald an article entitled, "There Is No God?" There is no God. All of the wonders around us are accidental. No almighty hand made a thousand-billion stars. They made themselves. No power keeps them on their steady course. The earth spins itself to keep the oceans from falling off toward the sun. Infants teach themselves to cry when they are hungry or hurt. A small flower invented itself so that we could extract digitalis for sick hearts. The earth gave itself day and night, tilted itself so that we get seasons. Without the magnetic poles, man would be unable to navigate the trackless oceans of water and air, but they just grew there. How about the sugar thermostat in the pancreas? It maintains a level of sugar in the blood sufficient for energy. Without it, all of us would fall into a coma and die. Why does snow sit on mountain tops waiting for the warm spring sun to melt it at just the right time for the young crops in farms below to drink? A very lovely accident? The human heart will beat for 70 or 80 years without faltering. How does it get sufficient rest between beats? A kidney will filter poison from the blood, and leave good things alone. How does it know one from another? Who gave the human tongue flexibility to form words and a brain to understand them, but denied it to all other animals? Who showed a womb how to take the love of two persons and keep splitting a tiny ovum until, in time, a baby would have the proper number of fingers, eyes, ears and hair in the right places, and come into the world when it is strong enough to sustain life? There is no God -- or is there?
By Jim Bishop, Cited in the "Pastor's Story File." Source: Weekend Encounter, by Dick Innes, Copyright 2000, www.actsweb.org/subscribe.htm
How to Tell When You're Rich
When I was a kid in Minnesota, watermelon was a delicacy. One of my father's buddies, Bernie, was a prosperous fruit-and-vegetable wholesaler, who operated a warehouse in St. Paul. Every summer, when the first watermelons rolled in, Bernie would call. Dad and I would go to Bernie's warehouse and take up our positions. We'd sit on the edge of the dock, feet dangling, and lean over, minimizing the volume of juice we were about to spill on ourselves. Bernie would take his machete, crack our first watermelon, hand us both a big piece and sit down next to us. Then we'd bury our faces in watermelon, eating only the heart - the reddest, juiciest, firmest, most seed-free, most perfect part - and throw away the rest. Bernie was my father's idea of a rich man. I always thought it was because he was such a successful businessman. Years later, I realized that what my father admired about Bernie's wealth was less its substance than its application. Bernie knew how to stop working, get together with friends and eat only the heart of the watermelon. What I learned from Bernie is that being rich is a state of mind. Some of us, no matter how much money we have, will never be free enough to eat only the heart of the watermelon. Others are rich without ever being more than a paycheck ahead. If you don't take the time to dangle your feet over the dock and chomp into life's small pleasures, your career is probably overwhelming your life. For many years, I forgot that lesson I'd learned as a kid on the loading dock. I was too busy making all the money I could. Well, I've relearned it. I hope I have time left to enjoy the accomplishments of others and to take pleasure in the day. That's the heart of the watermelon. I have learned again to throw the rest away. Finally, I am rich.
By Harvey Mackay
~~~~~~~ Give Me A Direction
One Sunday my wife and I noticed an announcement in the church bulletin about a men's missions trip to Honduras. Through God's providence, I went on the trip. Upon my return home, I told my wife that we should pray about going to Bible college and entering Christian ministry. She began to cry and said that while I was gone, she had prayed for God to give me direction. When I went back to work, I received word that my department was being dissolved. That evening I asked my wife, "How strong is your faith?" She simply smiled, "You were laid off, weren't you?" Needless to say, we are serving God as missionaries to Honduras today.
Tyson Chastain, San Pedro Sula, Honduras
