STUMBLING BLODKS OR STEPPING STONES

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They had gone hiking in the Allegheny, a young boy and his even smaller sister.  Uneven rocks lay all around and they kept stumbling over them with increasing regularity.  The complaints of his little sister soon became unending.  “This path ain’t no good at all.  It’s all bumpy with rocks.” 

“Ah, sis,” the little boy grinning, said, “The bumps are what you use to climb on.”   

Another way of putting it?   When we are surrounded by stones, we must seek to turn them into positive speaking sermons, because life sure does get bumpy sometimes.  

            Examples abound.  A man’s investments go down hill and they don’t make it all the way back uphill, so he does nothing but fret and stew about his losses.  It never crosses his mind to consider that what he has left may will be more than many others have ever had.  He is frozen with frustration, a captive of his pessimism.  And from that point on he becomes his own worst enemy.

Another man loses a well paying job but is willing to work at another one paying less, being fully aware that there are many who have no job at all.  His salary may, or may not, get back to what it was but meanwhile he will still enjoy life despite rather than because.  He is not frozen with frustration, rather he is blessed with an on-going optimism.

A mother weeps without ceasing by the bed where a young child lies dying; and then later, curses God for a child now taken.  Another, through her tears, thanks God for having had the child at all. 

The Apostle Paul when he was prison-bound wrote, “I have learned to be content, content with whatever I have.  I know what it is to have plenty.  I know what it is to have nothing.”  There was no contentment in his circumstances.  Jails are not very nice places in any era. But Paul had a contentment his jailers could not take way. 

Just who are you?   When you are between the proverbial rock and the hard place, you often find out who you really are.   So in a sense, adversity introduces you to yourself.  You don’t find yourself at a carnival or on a carousel.  You find yourself when you may have fallen off the carousel and broken something and still look for things to be grateful.  Pain and problems do that, invite God into our lives in a way pleasure never can. 

Adversity drives some folk to their knees that otherwise would never consider it.  Should you embrace adversity as a friend? That may be a stretch, but then again maybe not, because like the ole mule, the only way to get our attention sometimes is to be hit on the nose by a two by four.

He, your Jesus and mine, said it and He meant it, “Come unto me, all ye who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you peace… I will refresh you…”  Believe it.  Believe it with all your heart and mind and strength so that when you need His presence it is just like an old friend come to call. 

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http://wyrickswritings.blogspot.com

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            TO WATCH NEIL WYRICK IN HIS ONE MAN DRAMAS (Presented to millions all around the world) (Ben Franklin, Martin Luther, Charles Wesley and Abraham Lincoln (this Lincoln film takes 11 seconds to download but is worth the wait)

        CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING

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            To order a DVD with all four One Man Dramas (Lincoln, Wesley, Luther, Franklin) send a check of $20 (shipping and handling free) to

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          7430 SW 59^th Street
          Miami, Florida 33143

ONE LETTER COMING UP

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            When you get hungry and sit down to eat breakfast, lunch or dinner do you praise your-self for such intelligent behavior?

           Do you expect to get a letter of appreciation from your doctor?

           Do you expect people to stop you on the street and congratulate you for not being physically anorexic?

          Of course not. 

          You eat because you are hungry.  It is natural.  It is giving into a biological craving.  You don’t eat - your body  starves.

          When you bow your head in prayer do you praise yourself for such intelligent behavior? 

          Do you expect to get a letter of congratulations from your pastor?    Do you expect people to stop you on the street and congratulate you for not being a spiritual anorexic? 

          Of course not. 

You pray because your soul is hungry.  It is natural.  It is giving into an ethereal craving.  You don’t pray - your soul starves.

          Yet people starve their bodies and their souls all the time.  Decide that if thin is good, then super thin is better.

           Decide if dieting is helpful, then eating almost nothing makes super sense.

           And whether it is food for the body or food for the spirit one thing is for sure, not eating well guarantees malnutrition.

           It is why there are bodies that are too skinny and souls that are too skinny, and spiritual and physical health that is bad then becomes worse.

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VISIT NEIL'S OTHER BLOG

http://wyrickswritings.blogspot.com

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            TO WATCH NEIL WYRICK IN HIS ONE MAN DRAMAS (Presented to millions all around the world) (Ben Franklin, Martin Luther, Charles Wesley and Abraham Lincoln (this Lincoln film takes 11 seconds to download but is worth the wait)

        CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING

http://www.speakerneil.com/

            To order a DVD with all four One Man Dramas (Lincoln, Wesley, Luther, Franklin) send a check of $20 (shipping and handling free) to

            Pageantry Inc., (The church without Walls) 

          7430 SW 59^th Street
          Miami, Florida 33143

DARE TO BE DIFFERENT

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          There are over 900 stories and commentaries on this blog. It is added to daily.

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I know that rude, crude and forgetful have become far too often occurrences, but we are Christians. 

          We are supposed to be more loving, more considerate, more forgiving with heavenly goals dancing in our heads.

          We are expected to be able to say thank you with more ease.

          Dare to be different. 

          Grab hold of your destiny of little things and run with it. 

          Dare to let angel-thoughts run wild along the avenues of your soul.  Be nice, even if you have built up a reputation for being grumpy. 

          Smile, even when you don’t feel like it.

          Emerson once wrote, “The hero is no braver than an ordinary man.  He is just brave for five minute longer.”

          Saints are often not that much better than the ordinary individual, they are just better a little longer and a little more often.  One minute at a time, until that minute become an hour, and that hour becomes a day, and that day becomes a lifetime.

          Challenge yourself to be braver, better, wiser, more kind and compassionate - for just one extra minute a day.  Not all day.  Not from morn till night.  Just one minute more.  Then two minutes more and perhaps work up to three.  The power, the overwhelming power, of little things.

          Many argue, “If I can’t make big changes, I will make no changes at all.  If I cannot become perfect, I won’t even try to improve.”  And so, denying the destiny of little things, they become captive of the destiny of nothing.  (No thing.)

          One cynical philosopher musing on the matter wrote, “The pursuit of perfection is frustrating, neurotic and a terrible waste of time.” 

But he missed the point.  Because we do not achieve perfection does not mean we should not pursue excellence.

What must you do to have weeds in your yard?  Nothing.

What must you do to have a house go to wreck and ruin?  Nothing.

What must you do to let a life go to wreck and ruin? 

Nothing.

          But, little by little the weeds can be removed.  Little by little a house can be renovated.  Little by little a life can be put back together again.  Little by little by little some people begin to understand the destiny of little things.

It is what being human is all about.

The constant changing and re-arranging of who we are.  A little more listening to the conscience than talking back to the conscience.

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VISIT NEIL'S OTHER BLOG

http://wyrickswritings.blogspot.com

"""""""""""""""""""""

            TO WATCH NEIL WYRICK IN HIS ONE MAN DRAMAS (Presented to millions all around the world) (Ben Franklin, Martin Luther, Charles Wesley and Abraham Lincoln (this Lincoln film takes 11 seconds to download but is worth the wait)

        CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING

http://www.speakerneil.com/

            To order a DVD with all four One Man Dramas (Lincoln, Wesley, Luther, Franklin) send a check of $20 (shipping and handling free) to

            Pageantry Inc., (The church without Walls) 

          7430 SW 59^th Street
          Miami, Florida 33143

INCREASE THE WORLD'S KINDNESS

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          There are over 900 stories and commentaries on this blog. It is added to daily.

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          I read a story the other day of a woman standing at the bottom of an escalator totally terrified.  “I can’t believe this,” she kept repeating over and over again.  “I can’t believe this.  I’m, afraid to get on the escalator.  This has never happened to me before.”  She kept looking around as if asking others to affirm this fear was something new.  You could see it in her eyes.  “I’ve ridden escalators for years.  What’s wrong with me?”

          People grumbled as they passed her.  Some even muttered, “Crazy people shouldn’t be allowed out alone.”

          And then a woman walked up and said, “It’s all right.  Let me help you.”  And together they rode to the top of the escalator, the stranger lightly holding the woman’s elbow. It was not saving a city.  It was not building a dynasty.  It was a simple, small act of kindness that saved, in many ways, a life.

The destiny of little things.

          “God surely did make a mess of this world,” complained one man.  “I could have certainly make a better world than this.”

          “Friend,” his neighbor replied, “that’s why you were given life.  To do just that.”

          Helping a frightened lady up escalators.  Congratulating a $5-an-hour worker on doing a good job.  Writing a short note to a friend that reads, “Thank you for being my friend all these years.  I just wanted you to know how much better my life has been because of it.”

The destiny of little things.

          Will people you complement be left speech-less?  Most likely, because people don’t complement each other very often.  They would rather wait until a person is dead and then stand around at the cemetery saying what a great person they were.

          Dare to be different.  Dare, this very day, to do nothing more than walk up to a friend and say, “Thank you.”

I’m serious.  Look around right now, and pick out someone you’ve known, loved and appreciated for years, and when walk up to them and say, “Thank you, Louis; Thank you, Bruce; Thank you, Jean; Thank you, Jane….”  Think how wonderful it will be to have such words of love and appreciation echoing around the narthex and fellowship hall.  And just don’t think about it – lovingly, considerately, out-goingly DO IT!

When you do it I will say thank you for the richness of these two little words to someone’s life.  Thank you…thank you…thank you…

You think it’s a good idea but you would be too embarrassed.  Too embarrassed to say something nice?  Are you too embarrassed to sometimes say something mean?  To speak out in anger?  Why then, is it so hard to be nice?

Tomorrow say something nice about some-one to that someone.  “Thank you, Joe.”  And Joe may fall of his chair.  “I appreciate that, Mary.”  And Mary may be dumbfounded.  But

I can guarantee, even if you don’t explain why you said something nice, whoever received your praise will feel good all the rest of the day because you made it obvious they have been a good and positive influence in your life.

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VISIT NEIL'S OTHER BLOG

http://wyrickswritings.blogspot.com

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            TO WATCH NEIL WYRICK IN HIS ONE MAN DRAMAS (Presented to millions all around the world) (Ben Franklin, Martin Luther, Charles Wesley and Abraham Lincoln (this Lincoln film takes 11 seconds to download but is worth the wait)

        CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING

http://www.speakerneil.com/

            To order a DVD with all four One Man Dramas (Lincoln, Wesley, Luther, Franklin) send a check of $20 (shipping and handling free) to

            Pageantry Inc., (The church without Walls) 

          7430 SW 59^th Street
          Miami, Florida 33143

WHAT WAS GOD THINKING?

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At the moment you were born, what was God thinking?

             I think He was thinking, as he always has, how important you are.  “A little lower than the angels” is the way the Bible puts it. 

            I love the way 139^th Psalm describes our day of earthly entry.  That God, "knit me together in my mother's womb."  What a moment of wonderment.  Life! 

Birth.  You.  God.  Creation. 

Do you ever consider what you are worth?  And worth to whom, and why, and when?  We get hung up on the word worth and get in all kind of trouble because of it.

A man buys a Cadillac and thinks it gives him more worth.

Another man adds up one college degree after another and thinks they give him more worth.

A job title.  A star in sports.  Popularity.

But as a sub text…many people eventually get around to believing and accepting full blast, “My greatest worth is that I was made by God.” 

I have always been intrigued by a question God put to Adam, “Where are you?”  Why did He ask that?  What is the meaning behind this?  It wasn’t a geographical question, for certainly God knew the answer to that one. 

It was a spiritual question to which God also had the answer.  Then why ask it?  For Adam’s sake, and all the Adams and Eves yet to come.  For you and me in these 21^st century days.

“Where are we?  And where do we want to go?  What do we want to be?  And how much, or how little?”  And we must never stop trying to answer God’s question as we try to get off a treadmill and aim toward a proper direction.

It’s called purpose, and ultimately this is what this life is all about.  How and why we take up space on this planet.  How much a sense of responsibility we covet.

Long before there were cell phones and direct dialing telephones, there were real live operators to

handle our calls.  Therefore, in those times, one day, a traveling salesman called his wife from a distant city. 

After talking with her for a short bit, because long distance calls were quite expensive back he hung up.  But before he could walk away, the phone rang. He picked up the receiver again, expecting the operator to tell him there were extra charges.

 Instead, as he put the telephone back to his ear he heard her say, “I just thought you’d like to know that just after you hung up, your wife said ‘I love you.’ ”

Why are you on this earth.  To be loved by God.  Hang up on God too soon and you may miss His words, but He is still there saying, “I love you.”

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VISIT NEIL'S OTHER BLOG

http://wyrickswritings.blogspot.com

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            TO WATCH NEIL WYRICK IN HIS ONE MAN DRAMAS (Presented to millions all around the world) (Ben Franklin, Martin Luther, Charles Wesley and Abraham Lincoln (this Lincoln film takes 11 seconds to download but is worth the wait)

        CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING

http://www.speakerneil.com/

            To order a DVD with all four One Man Dramas (Lincoln, Wesley, Luther, Franklin) send a check of $20 (shipping and handling free) to

            Pageantry Inc., (The church without Walls) 

          7430 SW 59^th Street
          Miami, Florida 33143

THE BIGNESS OF SMALL or WHAT TRUE BIGNESS IS

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          There are over 900 stories and commentaries on this blog. It is added to daily.

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THE BIGNESS OF SMALL

        The bigness of small happens when you chase after the majestic rather than the mundane.  When you make "your thank you's" so filled with vitality they makes the angels sing.  When you began to understand what true bigness is.

        How big was Bethlehem? 

          How big was the manger where Christ was born? 

          No convention of thousands of shepherds came knocking on the door to that stable.  No great multitude of Wisemen followed a star. 

For thirty years He labored at nothing more than being a carpenter.  He never won a Pulitzer prize nor held an elected or ordained office. 

He was never voted Clerk of a Session or Moderator of a General Assembly. 

Your Jesus and mine never set an itinerary that would carry Him to the major capitals of the world. 

          He actually never traveled more than a few hundred miles from the place He was born. 

Nor did He own a large wardrobe carried by a retinue of camels.  Only a seamless garment.

How big were the nails driven into the hands of Christ at the crucifixion?  Not very.

How long did it take to drive in the nails?  Not long.

How much time was consumed in His drying on that cross?  Not much.

BUT – how great was the affect of all of this on the whole of eternity? A great deal.  The destiny of little things.

When Eve was tempted in the Garden of Eden, the time of her temptation was short, but we are still feeling the affects today. 

The destiny of little things.

          Someone once put it this way:

Little drops of water,
Little grains of sand,
Make a mighty ocean,
And the pleasant land.
Thus the little minutes
Humble though they be,
Make the mighty ages of eternity.

                     

          Fulfilling our destiny to its fullest is not moaning that if only we had more time, oh what we would do. 

          It is rather shouting, “I am not able to do everything, but I can do something.  Therefore, what I can do, by the Grace of God, I will do.”

          You may never speak to thousands, but every day you speak to friends and family and strangers. 

          And what do you say?  Little words said in anger or disgust can do so much damage.

We hear so much filth these days, and I think to myself, what a waste of this God-given-ability to communicate. 

We hear so much complaining and I muse, Ah, God, even Kings and Queens of old did not have luxuries we today take for granted.  

The power of communication can be so easily abused.  My father often said, “A little tongue, only three inches long, can kill a man six feet tall.”

          The destiny of little things.

You may never have millions, most likely you really won’t.  But what do you do with the dollars you do have? 

Do you waste them? Or hold on to them greedily? 

Or, God forbid, worship them? 

Every cent you spend or save is more than just a financial history.  It is a record of what you think important. 

It spells how, in the world of money, you fulfill your destiny of little things.

Your name may never become a household word on the continents of this world, but what does it stand for in this community in which you live?

Jesus Christ was the Son of God. 

He could have rent the earth in two, cured all the ills of mankind, caused miracles of such magnitude that the whole world would have fallen at His feet from fear. 

He could have ruled the world.  But, Jesus was not a blatant exhibitionist. 

He knew that if He rent the earth in two, someone would cry out, “Hey that was a pretty good trick.  Now let’s see you put it back together again.”

Jesus was not about to get into a contest to try to outdo Himself.  Oh, the devil goaded Him, too, at the beginning of His ministry.  “Prove yourself, Jesus.  Do big things.  Turn the stones into bread.”

“Man does not live by bread alone.”

“Fly like a bird from the top of the temple?”

“It is written, thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.”

Would you fulfill your destiny? 

Then offer the gift of the best you to all around. 

Stop thinking about whether what you do is big or small, rather consider whether it is good or bad. 

Be a moral giant, even if you are only five foot two.  Don’t just sit and squirm when a thought for good hits you  - do something about it.

          When you reach out to help, it doesn’t have to be the kindest act that ever was.

          When you are simply honest, your act of honesty doesn’t have to be so great it is then plastered in a headline on the front page of your local newspaper..

          When you pray a little prayer, unashamed, that is greatness.

          When you give a gift without requiring thanks, that is greatness.

          When you can be happy not trying to outdo everyone around you, you finally understand the real greatness of the destiny of little things

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VISIT NEIL'S OTHER BLOG

http://wyrickswritings.blogspot.com

"""""""""""""""""""""

            TO WATCH NEIL WYRICK IN HIS ONE MAN DRAMAS (Presented to millions all around the world) (Ben Franklin, Martin Luther, Charles Wesley and Abraham Lincoln (this Lincoln film takes 11 seconds to download but is worth the wait)

        CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING

http://www.speakerneil.com/

            To order a DVD with all four One Man Dramas (Lincoln, Wesley, Luther, Franklin) send a check of $20 (shipping and handling free) to

            Pageantry Inc., (The church without Walls) 

          7430 SW 59^th Street
          Miami, Florida 33143

AN INDEPENDENT CHRISTMAS?

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          There are over 900 stories and commentaries on this blog. It is added to daily.

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His name was Silas Tucker and he used to live over at Columbia Falls. 

Well, he put out a little newspaper and was so much in love with money it made him unhappy when he had to give people change.  

He never was much for thinking about other people.  Kinda took selfishness to a new level and stayed there.

Silas didn’t have much use for Christmas, either. 

He thought of it as a day and a season that got in the way of work, and people running around singing silly carols. 

Well, one year like always he was fussing and fuming over the whole Christmas business.  He didn’t care about it, but since no one would shut up he knew it was going to be Thursday.

Thursday morning he was so disgruntled he couldn’t sleep, so he got up before the rest of the family and went walking down the street. 

Lo and behold here comes Tom Harriman and seeing as how Tom was a heavy advertiser in his paper, Silas did something he had never done before. 

He called out, “Merry Christmas.”  Next thing he knew Tom doubled up so hard with laughter he couldn’t stand straight.

Silas kept on walking, kind of tickled with himself for being so smart, and when he saw Sam Fletcher coming toward him he again yelled out, “Merry Christmas.”  

Well, Sam just stopped in his tracks, looked at him kind of funny, slapped him on the back and broke out in a grin that never stopped till it had extended well beyond both his ears.

By the time he got back home, he had called out, “Merry Christmas,” at least a couple of dozen times and people kept calling back how clever he was. 

Next thing he knew, it was like everyone in the small town had gone Christmas crazy - everyone running up and down the streets yelling out, “Merry Christmas” and laughing and then laughing some more.

It all made him feel so good, better than he had ever felt in his whole life, that he got back home, instead of fussing about Christmas like he always did, he hugged his wife, gave her a big kiss and said, “Merry Christmas.”

“What’s wrong with you, Silas?” she responded.  “It isn’t Christmas.  Christmas isn’t till next Thursday.”

Well, then it was Silas’s turn to laugh. 

He put back his head and laughed so hard tears started running down his cheeks.  He just couldn’t stop laughing.  “Merry Christmas” he exclaimed, over and over again. 

You know what?

 If you go up to Columbia Falls sometime and ask about Silas Tucker they’ll tell you he’s the salt of the earth. 

But they’ll also tell you he’s a mite strange. 

He’s got a funny sense of humor, is the way they’ll explain.  When business is poor or Silas gets to feeling blue, he pulls off what he calls an Independent Christmas. 

He goes out and starts walking up and down the streets shouting out, “Merry Christmas” to everybody he sees, buys folks presents and chuckles about it from morning to night.

And what’s more, the last time I heard, he hadn’t even got the idea patented.

 

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VISIT NEIL'S OTHER BLOG

http://wyrickswritings.blogspot.com

"""""""""""""""""""""

            TO WATCH NEIL WYRICK IN HIS ONE MAN DRAMAS (Presented to millions all around the world) (Ben Franklin, Martin Luther, Charles Wesley and Abraham Lincoln (this Lincoln film takes 11 seconds to download but is worth the wait)

        CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING

http://www.speakerneil.com/

            To order a DVD with all four One Man Dramas (Lincoln, Wesley, Luther, Franklin) send a check of $20 (shipping and handling free) to

            Pageantry Inc., (The church without Walls) 

          7430 SW 59^th Street
          Miami, Florida 33143