Tuesday, August 28, 2012

THE BEAUTY THAT IS INDEED MORE THAN SKIN DEEP

These One A Days are added to daily.  A thank you to all of you who have gone back and read all of the posts since the beginning.
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       There are over 1100 stories and commentaries on this blog that began Nov 24, 2009. It is added to daily.
Click on http://wyrickswritings.blogspot.com to read selected Sermons from over 50 years of Rev. Wyrick's ministry.

       It is a fact.  You can have the perfectly chiseled nose and beautiful blue eyes and all the other qualities that qualify you as one of the beautiful people and if your features are overlaid with a frown

... and a hard look to those eyes... and a mouth turned down... and...

       He was selfish as a little boy always reaching for the biggest slice of pie.  He was now a grown man and he was always reaching for what pleased him and as for others...well, selfishness must be served...and the look on his face was not a beautiful look...and what the camera caught and what he emanated from his shriveled soul were two different things indeed.

       And...no...he was not one of the beautiful people.
And his name is unknown because the numbers are too great...those who are not beautiful even though the miror may tell them otherwise.

He was a beautiful person because of the thoughts that occupided his days.
 
William Penn lived over 300 years ago.  I have seen his picture and by some stands he was not a very handsome man but when I think of the words he wrote and lived by I see that face in a different light.  "I expect to go through this life only once and therefore if there is any kindness that I can show or any good thing that I can do to any fellow human being, let me do it now because I will not pass this way again."

       The beauty of a beautiful life.

       Are you drawn to people who belittle people?  Do the mean and the crude and the crass and the cruel and the  sarcastic shine with an inner light?

       There used to be a man who walked around our area with plastic bags picking up trash.  I heard about another man who carried an oil can with him and whenever he found a squeaky door by the time he left it didn't squeak anymore.  There are the perpetual complainers and the perpetual complimenters.

       Kind people are the kind of people who are truly beautiful...would you not agree?

       Luke 6:38 pours out such a beautiful message.

Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

       Beautiful people plant flowers in the midst of flowers as if to say "how can one have too much beauty."  Which is to say life is a mirror and you are planter of stinkweeds or a planter of sunflowers.

       And what you plant...does it make you one of the truly beautiful people...the kind of beauty that never fades but with the passage of time gets only more beautiful.

       Do you want to know something?  I like nice people.  There is something about unselfish behavior that puts a glow to my day.  I don't like bullies.  And I would imagine you would agree that these words express your thoughts and emotions.

       Hugh Latimer as a truly great reformer of l6th century England.

       On one occasion when he had been called by Henry VIII to deliver a sermon, he offended the King by some plain speaking.

       The king ordered him to preach again the following Sunday and to make apology for the offense he had given.

       On the next Sunday, after he had given out his text, Latimer began by addressing his own soul:

       “Hugh Latimer, dost thou know before whom thou art this day to speak. 

       To the high and mighty monarch, the King’s most excellent majesty, who can take away thy life if thou offendest.

       Therefore, take heed that thou speakest not a word that may displease.

       But then, consider well, Hugh. Dost thou not know from whence thou comest, upon whose message thou art sent?

       Even by the great and mighty God, who is present, and who beholdest all thy ways, and who is able to cast thy soul into hell?        Therefore take care that thou deliverest thy message faithfully.”

       He then repeated the sermon which he had preached the previous Sunday without alteration, even though he knew that it had already been offensive to the king.

       Amazingly, at the conclusion of this second preaching of the sermon, the king arose, embraced Latimer, and said, “Blessed be God I have so honest a servant.”

       And at that moment Hugh Latimer was a truly beautiful person...of courage...as against the ugliness of cowardiceness.

       When you think or have thought "beautiful person" has your mind gone toward a plastic surgeon or some cosmetic?  Have you thought on the cut of some clothes or the color of a new tie?  Hs it been the outward man or woman or the inward man or woman and again...which beauty can laugh in the face of a calendar and win out every time no matter how much one may argue otherwise.

       I comb my hair.  I shine my shoes.  I do the best I can with the face God gave me...but above all else I pray never to lose that sense of proportion that could make my thinking the thinking of a fool.

       God created you to be beautiful.  To have that immortal beauty of the soul beyond which there is no compare.

       The ugliness of sin can cast a scar across your countenance that is as every bit a scar and one made by a knife or any other sharp edged tool.  I have looked into faces that had evil written across them and so have you.  We both know what I mean.

       “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honorable, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are

pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report: if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things." (Phil. 4:8-) 

       Do you have any doubt that such thoughts do not etch their iimpact upon your face?

       I write in prose. I quote often poetry.  I do so yet again.  The poem is by Henry Van Dyke, “If a man would make his record true, the following things he must do, think without confusion clearly, love your fellowman sincerely, act from honest motives purely, trust in heaven and God securely.”

       Christ was a beautiful person.  We have no photographs but cannot you see that face even though you never have seen it?  The gentleness there.  The love, the courage, the commitment to a cause, a goal...a mission.  The beauty of heavenly wisdom and insight.  All that written on that holy face.

       Is there a sleeping giant within you.  An inner beauty just waiting to burst out and have you stand tall and spiritually beautiful above the crowd...not with pride...but humble thanksgiving that finally you have realized what true beauty really is.

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Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

       I've never seen a smiling face that was not beautiful. ~Author Unknown

                 QUOTE BELOW IS FROM WYRICK'S WRITINGS

          There is no other organization in the world like the church.  It is a breed unto itself.  It is a congregation of sinners, not a country club for saints.  To become a member you have to profess your unworthiness. 

CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING TO TAKE YOU THERE


      (These are selected sermons from over 50 years of ministry and as a worldwide evangelist Rev. Wyrick preached them all the United States and all over the world)

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      A new quote  (posted Aug 20) below from Rev. Wyrick's 9th book THE SPIRITUAL ABRAHAM LINCOLN...available on amazon.com, barnes and noble and many other book sites) (read the rave reviews below)

Everything that happened in the war was not of blood and pain and hate.  The best in man sometimes rises out of the worst.  More than likely the story of what happened one cold day during the terrible battle of Fredericksburg reached Abe’s ears and pleased the heart of this forgiving President.  It was a dreadful battle that cried out for some miraculous act of empathy.

A Sergeant Richard Kirkland of Company E Carolina Regiment made a request of his commanding officer that was almost denied.  He had looked too long at the tortured, twisted dead and dying men and could finally stand it no more.  He sought startling permission to take water and aid to those dressed in both Blue and Gray. 

“You may get a bullet in the back of your head, son,” he was told.  The soldier replied that he wanted to go anyway.

 “May God protect you,” said Major General J. B. Kershaw.  A short time later, men on both sides of this field of agony and despair, watched in awe as the young man vaulted over a bloodstained stonewall and walked unarmed and seemingly unafraid among the dead and dying.  They saw him kneel down and cradle a fallen Union soldier in his arms, offer him a drink of water, rest his head on his knapsack and cover him with his own overcoat.  And then move to another soldier nearby.  This time it was a Confederate soldier.

Again and again throughout that long, pale December afternoon, just eleven days before Christmas, Sergeant Kirkland returned with water until every living soldier, from both the North and the South, had felt his compassion and concern.

General Kershaw later wrote that not one shot was fired during that time.  That never had he heard such silent respect.  “…no doubt,” his pen etched, “all the trumpets of heaven resounded on this monumental day.” 

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            CLICK ON  www.go60.us   IT WILL TAKE YOU A NEW WEBSITE FOR SENIORS....click on "Voice" on the home page and then on the list of authors click on Neil Wyrick

Recent articles Rev. Wyrick has written for this web site are:  REFLECTIONS


·         Here Comes Summer (July 2012)

·         Spring (May 2012)

·         Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow (April 2012)

·         Wayward and Windy (April 2012)

 

Just remember that “the pain of discipline will cost you pennies, whereas the pain of regret will cost you millions.”

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How can we keep our faith from being a weak and fruitless thing?  How can we not be foolish little men and women groveling in the dark shadows of overeager egos. 


          Well, first we must do more than just pray.  We must believe in our own prayers.

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Anxiety out of proportion makes us become like a centipede trying to put his best foot forward.

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        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.”

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        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 do that.”

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        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 anything. None of us are perfect.

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          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

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      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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