AND THEN PASTE IN AN EMAIL.
There are over 900
stories and commentaries on this blog that began Nov 24, 2009. It is added to
daily.
To Visit neil's other blog
Wyrick's Writings click on the following (Here you will find selected sermons that he has preached during
the last 58 years.) Just click on the URL below
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Mamie Adams always went to a
branch post office in her town because the postal employees there were
friendly. She went there to buy stamps just before Christmas one year and the
lines were particularly long. Someone pointed out that there was no need to
wait in line because there was a stamp machine in the lobby. "I
know," said Mamie, 'but the machine won't ask me about my arthritis."
How many times do you ask someone how
they feel in such a way they feel like they can really tell you?
There is empathy...there is
sympathy...and there is...well....
The little girl was
crying as if heart was broken. The
mother asked her what was wrong. Seated
by the little girls side was her friend Suzie.
"Suzie's lost her
favorite doll."
"Did you lose your
doll too?"
"No," answered
the little girl, "I'm just helping Suzie cry.
It is such a gift we can give to each
other. To make it obvious we really do
care and to train and pray our way toward being the type of person who really
does care.
Empathy...it is seeing the world from
the other persons point of view...and even more...wanting to.
And then caring ...even when their view
is no where near your own.
Empathy might well help someone to rebuild a sandcastle that had
been destroyed...but empathy would never be someone who destroyed it.
Did
you know that American kids are 10 times more likely to commit murder than the
same- age kids across the border in Canada?
Does this say that by example they are learning from we
adults ongoing lessons in empathy?
Have too many parents lost their
moral bearings or are too afraid of disciplining their children in the process
of teaching right and wrong? Is empathy part
of a backbone for concerned and compassionate living? If we do not teach our children in all the
ways we can and should what will their peers teach them?
In
a nationwide survey of parents, George Barna found the following (1) Parents
were equally divided on whether to tell their children that the Bible teaches
moral absolutes that must always be obeyed or that there are no moral absolutes
and children just need to make good choices.
It happened in Pennsylvania several
years ago.
On a snowy day 9-year-old Cameron was playing Nintendo with Jessica (7). Cameron’s parents stopped the game because the kids had made a mess and the two had argued. Cameron went home angry. He took a rifle from his family gun cabinet, went back and shot Jessica, and hid the cartridge. As Jessica’s mother tried to save her daughter, Cameron went back to paying Nintendo. Later he told the other kids who were crying over Jessica’s death, “If you don’t think about it you won’t be sad.”
On a snowy day 9-year-old Cameron was playing Nintendo with Jessica (7). Cameron’s parents stopped the game because the kids had made a mess and the two had argued. Cameron went home angry. He took a rifle from his family gun cabinet, went back and shot Jessica, and hid the cartridge. As Jessica’s mother tried to save her daughter, Cameron went back to paying Nintendo. Later he told the other kids who were crying over Jessica’s death, “If you don’t think about it you won’t be sad.”
Without empathy
civilizations become jungles.
It isn't that we have not heard better but then for some they
have not heard better...or heard it very often...so it does not influence so very
greatly... In Luke 6:31, Jesus said “Do
to others as you would have them do to you.” That is hard to do if you can’t
imagine what it must be like in another person’s shoes.
Paul wrote that we should rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep.
Paul wrote that we should rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep.
The call to parenthood is obvious...and
studies show that the more involvement a parent has with a child and during
that involvement does speak of empathetic needs the more likely the child is to
grow up to be a caring individual.
Those same studies show that today's mothers spend an average
of 11-13 minutes a day in quality interaction with their children...and 30
minutes on weekends...and fathers even less, 8 to 14 minutes.
Has your
child ever visited a relative in a hospital setting or nursing home? Do you say "No" because you want to
protect them? Protect them from
what...learning how to care...getting at least little of that feeling of being
in someone else's shoes.
Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a
smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act
of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.”
― Leo Buscaglia
― Leo Buscaglia
Resolve to be tender with the
young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant
with the weak and wrong. Sometime in your life, you will have been all of
these.”
― Siddhārtha Gautama
― Siddhārtha Gautama
There is no small act of
kindness.
Every compassionate act makes large the world.”
― Mary Anne Radmacher
Every compassionate act makes large the world.”
― Mary Anne Radmacher
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We welcome you to put some
of these thoughts in your personal newsletter or on your churches newsletter or
your blog...and we thank those of you who have put it
on your Facebook page
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"Wyrick's
Writings" are selected sermons from those Neil has preached during the
last 55 years
Click
on the URL below to take you to them
Below is a quote from Neil's other blog
Wyrick's Writings...posted Thursday May 10
SERMON TITLE...HOW TO
LESSEN ANXIETY
Anxiety out of proportion makes us become like a centipede trying to
put his best foot forward.
Below is a quote from Neil's other blog
Wyrick's Writings...posted Thursday May 3
SERMON TITLE...HOW TO
LESSEN ANXIETY
It's an old joke, I went to the doctor and I
said, “Doc, when I do this, it hurts.” And the doctor said, “Then don't do
that.”
How many things have you been anxious
about that were things which you knew before you got into them were probably
going to create some problems for you?
And if you asked your doctor, or your minister, or common sense and your
God, all of them would have said, “Don’t to that.”
Below
is a quote from Neil's other blog Wyrick's Writings...posted TUESDAY MAY 1
To buy into the community of accountability we have to realize that
like bikers we are divided into two categories. Those who have fallen and those who will
fall for None of us are perfect.
Think on it this way, some philosopher of
old wrote it and it endures because there is so much truth in it… every right implies a responsibility; every
opportunity, an obligation; every possession, a duty
Below
is a quote from Neil's other blog Wyrick's Writings...posted Sunday April 29th....
One writer put it this way: “If we could see
ourselves as God sees us, we would rise up and never be the same again.”
TO GO
TO "WYRICK'S WRITINGS" TO
READ SELECTED SERMONS FROM OVER 50 YEARS OF HIS MINISTRY
CLICK ON THE URL
BELOW
Some
of the sermon titles posted recently
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Before you decide
to purchase or not purchase his book THE SPIRITUAL ABRAHAM LINCOLN.... view his Award Winning One Man
Dramatization of Lincoln (since he wrote the script
for this drama it will give you an insight into what you will find in the book
itself)
Available on
Amazon.com in printed form and on Amazon Kindle Books. and at
many other sites
TO VIEW THE LINCOLN
One Man DRAMA and 3 other dramas; Ben Franklin, Martin Luther & Charles
Wesley
click on the
following URL
http://www.speakerneil.com/
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BELOW
ARE MORE QUOTES FROM NEIL'S RECENTLY POSTED SERMONS
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A QUOTE FROM THOUGHTS POSTED ON MY
OTHER BLOG WYRICK'S WRITINGS ON SUNDAY APRIL 15. ENTITILED
Two stores faced each other across a very
busy street. Their owners were in constant competition
with each other. One day, the owner of
one store put out a sign that read – If
you want it, we have it!
Almost immediately the other owner put out a
sign –If we don’t have it, you don’t
need it!
A QUOTE FROM THOUGHTS POSTED ON MY
OTHER BLOG WYRICK'S WRITINGS ON THURSDAY APRIL 13TH. ENTITILED
WHO ARE
YOU?
NO…WHOSE ARE YOU?
Who are you? Whose are
you?
You influence and are influenced
according to the answer you give.
Are you are the flavor of the month because
you are determined to be like everyone else no matter what? If so, consider being more independent in our
thinking and actions...because God wants you to grow up.
It may be easier being someone's shadow but
wouldn't you really rather be a sun.
QUOTE FROM THOUGHTS POSTED ON WYRICK'S WRITINGS THURSDAY APRIL 5 FROM THOUGHT ENTITLED "Who
Are You? Whose Are You?"
This is an old quote, and a romantic one
as well but, nevertheless, can anyone say of you, “I love you not because of who you are,
but because of who I am when I am with you.”
QUOTE FROM THOUGHT PIECE POSTED
ON WYRICK'S WRITINGS TUESDAY APRIL 3 FROM THOUGHT ENTITLED
" WHEN A NATION STRAYS TOO FAR FROM BEING MORAL IT IS WELL ON IT'S WAY
TO BECOMING A MESS
James 4:17
To him therefore who knows to do good, and doesn’t do it,
to him it is sin.
Someone once said: “A
belief is what you hold, a conviction is what holds you!”
So what holds you,
constructs you, leads you with a push when needed?
Quotes
POSTED ON WYRICK'S WRITING THURSDAY MARCH 29th THOUGHTS ENTITLED WHO
ARE YOU?
NO…WHOSE ARE YOU?
In a Peanuts
cartoon strip Peppermint Patty is shown talking to Charlie Brown.
“Guess what, Chuck? It’s the first day
of school and I got sent to the principal’s office.
And it’s your fault!”
Charlie Brown responds, “My fault? How
could it be my fault? Why do you say everything is my fault?”
To which she declares, “You’re my
friend, aren’t you, Chuck? You should have been a better influence on me.”
In the comics, it’s funny… but in real life it’s much more
complicated.
Would you like to read the entire thought
piece? Then... TO TAKE YOU TO THE WYRICK'S WRITING'S
SITE
click on
the following
Yes, God loves you the way you
are but he loves you too much to let you stay that way.
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Click on the URL below to WATCH NEIL IN
HIS WORLD FAMOUS ONE MAN DRAMATIZATIONS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, BEN FRANKLIN,
CHARLES WESLEY AND MARTIN LUTHER
To
Order and Read
Neil's 9th book THE
SPIRITUAL ABRAHAM LINCOLN
GO TO amazon.com
QUOTES ABOUT THIS WONDERFUL INSPIRING INFORMATIVE book
STILL RECEIVING RAVE REVIEWS 8 YEARS AFTER IT'S PUBLICATION.
"Positive,
powerful utterances...skillfully enhancing our understanding and appreciation
of Lincoln while revealing the Divine source of his strength."
Lt.
Colonel C.A. Olsen (Ret.) Asbury College (Professor Ret.)
"The Spiritual Abraham Lincoln is
an extremely well written book that investigates what might be
termed the spiritual side of President Lincoln. It's both scholarly and very
readable. I came away impressed at Mr. Wyrick's portrayal of the President and
with an altered and enlarged vision of the man:'
William Hoffman, Award winning fiction writer; author of Blood and Guile, and
Wild Thorn
"Wyrick has authored a wonderful
examination of the spirituality of one of American history's most devoutly
religious leaders...a pleasant and readable book that has a rich depth of
information."
Maynard Pittendreigh Presbyterian
minister
"When it comes to invoking religion in
support of any of their decisions, politicians need to sit at the feet of
Abraham Lincoln. Reinhold Niebuhr once called him 'America's greatest
theologian.' Why so great? Because he invariably distinguished between human
works and the works of the Almighty. As Wyrick says, 'He wore
the mantle of humility easily: because he was more impressed with what God was
doing in the world than with what he, president of the United States in the
midst of an awful crisis, was doing. That is why in his last major speech he
distinguished between both human causes in the Civil War and the Almighty's
'own purposes.' Lincoln would have agreed that it is better to leave God-talk
out of politics than to decorate human proposals with divinity. This is a book
for our American time. Through his careful study of Lincoln's career, Wyrick
compels us to remember that piety belongs in politics only when piety
transcends politics."
Dr.
Donald W. Shriver
Emeritus professor at Union Theological Seminary in New York.
Author of An Ethic for Enemies: Forgiveness in Politics
"V. Neil Wyrick's fine work allows the reader to appreciate Abraham
Lincoln's Christian commitment and his prophetic role in American history.
Should have a wide readership."
James
H. Smylie Professor
of Church History (Ret.) Union Theological Seminary, Richmond, Virginia
"Neil
Wyrick's The Spiritual Abraham Lincoln should be read by anyone attempting to understand the man who was probably
the most complex person to ever hold the office of president of the United
States. Dr. Wyrick is intent on demonstrating that the spirituality so often
expressed in Lincoln's writings and speeches was not merely lip service to a
Deity, but rather expressions of a profound faith in a real God. It was this
faith that provided the wisdom, compassion, insight and sometimes steel that
Lincoln would need in full measure as he led the United States through
the Civil War. Dr. Wyrick's clear and unpretentious style of presentation is
very much in keeping with the character ofhis subject, and in so doing, Wyrick
makes his point very well that Lincoln, his beliefs, and the faith that formed
them, are as relevant to a troubled America in 2004 as they were in 1863."
Daniel Allen Butler, author
of "Unsinkable"; The Full Story of the RMS Titanic, The
Lusitania and The Age o f Cunard
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