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Click on http://wyrickswritings.blogspot.com
to read selected Sermons from
over 50 years of Rev. Wyrick's ministry. Below...other recent Sermon Titles
To view Rev. Wyrick in 4 of his highly
acclaimed One Man Dramas ABRAHAM
LINCOLN, BEN FRANKLIN CHARLES WESLEY, MARTIN LUTHER (NBC Special) click on the link
below
Below
the thoughts below read a quote from Rev. Wyrick's applauded 9th book THE
SPIRITUAL ARAHAM LINCOLN
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People
always begin comments on "New Year's Resolutions" by writing about
all the people who leave their resolutions shattered at their feet.
I'm not going to
do that. I'm going to call attention to
those who make resolutions and keep them and
are the happier for it...who break off a piece of a resolution but then
re-attach it and keep on keeping on.
Who
have learned to make small resolutions on the way to completing a big
goal. Who take baby steps that put
together add up to giant steps (the game many of us used to play).
By
way of example...let's look at a beaver...a true story...
The
tree was over 60 feet tall and approximately five in diameter at its base and
it wasn't going to be 60 feet tall when the winter was over.
It
was amazing... the persistence of this little fellow...he had already built his
dam and that a series of small successes that ended up being a big enough dam
to create quite a pond.
But
back to his persistence...
it
wasn't just the business but the consistency of it.
All
winter long despite deep freezes when the temperature dropped below there he
was chewing away and blizzard when the wind was so strong it would sometimes
blow him off his feet.
Spring
came and the maple tree was merely tottering and not for long.
His
goal was large...his follow through was thousands of little tooth marks...the results.
a
new food source and new branches for his new dam.
And
the point is obvious...survival...sticking to our guns...going to work every
day and doinig our best...and out of that can come accomplishments...going to
school one day at a time and with effort earning that diploma...little drops of
water making a mighty ocean...little specks of sand making a mighty
desert...little deeds that add up to a big accomplishment...surving and even
more the challenges of life.
I
have set goals and I will consider to set goals...make resolutions...whatever
you wish to call them.
for when I fail
I consider it momentary...not the complete destruction of a goal for the rest
of the year.
When I was on the road traveling all over the world I ran
45 minutes every single day and never missed a day.
Not true...
I would sometimes (after many false starts in the early
days) go weeks without failing to run (I was tired...I was too busy...I ran out
of time) but I didn't then say,
"Well, I might as well quit.
I don't have the proper fortitude for this."
"No," I said..."this breaking my
resolution was just a bump in road not a full fledged ditch"...and I would
then start again...so that at the end of the year I always ended up running
well past 300 days of the year even if it didn't add up to 365.
In short it's
easier to make a momentary failure and excuse rather than a motivator.
So here are a few more ideas on how to make your resolutions
stay alive and mostly well?
Be realistic. Say
to yourself that you will never have another brownie or banana split or whatever
is a most likely a mission impossible.
Rather make to yourself the promise that you won't give into your sweet
tooth for two or three days and then slowly lengthen the period. Then each victory is a strength waiting to be
applied to the next victory.
Write down the pros and cons concerning your
resolution.
You want to lose weight.
Don't count calories. Count
mouthfuls. Also eat slower. Give yourself by applying these ideas that
have worked with other people just like you.
Put
up a calendar and count off 21 days. It
takes that long for your resolution to become a habit and six months for it to
become a part of your personality.
Have dual
resolutions...I'm not talking about having more than one...I'm talking about a
friend...the two of you each others motivators...a talking reminder list...that
keeps saying, I did" or "I didn't" "What about you?"
Be as precise as you can.
Describe in detail what it is you want to do and why? Tape your voice telling you what it is you
are doing and how and why and play back the recording of yourself reminding
yourself as often as you can and will.
Remember...we all listen to ourselves better than others.
Set some short
term small goals such as "I'm always late and keeping everyone
waiting. The next time I will set a goal
to be on time."
Set long time
goals...a career.
Write down goals
in between...improved health... (you're not getting enough sleep and you know
it...pledge to go to sleep 15 minutes earlier...10 minutes...5 minutes...a plus
is a plus.
...you want to
have a baby (start reading some books on how to be a good parent, it's
infinitely more than being in love with cute)
...what upsets
you that you know is way out of line...work on an early cut off switch so that
if you start to get all wound up you can slow it down as you work to turn your
anger off...if nothing else "be quiet" and seethe inside. That's a gift in itself.
And
remember...be choosy...a big list may look but it is also overwhelming...and
overwhelming is where defeat starts to kick in.
Giving goals a
name and checking the list twice and infinitely more than that is certainly a
positive beginning with at least some results.
Does the Bible say anything about making
resolutions. Yes...in" (Lamentations 3:40). ""Let us examine our ways and test
them."
QUOTES ABOUT NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS
New Year's Day is every man's birthday.
~Charles Lamb
++++++++++++++
TO GO TO
COLUMNS WRITTEN ON go60.us BY NEIL...CLICK ON THE URL BELOW
http://go60.us/
THEN CLICK ON "VOICE" AT THE
TOP OF THE PAGE...THEN CLICK ON "MEET OUR WRITERS."
++++++++++++++
Below is a quote from Rev. Wyrick's 9th book
THE SPIRITUAL ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
It is little wonder that once the war was over,
wretched memories fed anger loud and long.
Neither side could be proud of some things that happened during the war
or at their many prison camps. The
meanness in some men had multiplied.
They felt their uniforms allowed it.
Andersonville, or Camp
Sumter as it was officially known, in
southwest Georgia
is remembered as one of the worst.
By the end of the war, it had held 50,000
prisoners on a piece of land no larger than twenty-six acres.
Some men had called pits in the ground
their home. During its short
fourteen-month existence, 13,000 soldiers who had survived in battle died in
captivity under the most terrible conditions.
When the war was over the superintendent
was hanged.
++++++++++++++++++++
WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT THE BOOK
"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
++++++++++++++++++++++
Neil also writes for go60.us to check out his writings...
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)
++++++++++++++++++++++
Some of the sermon titles
posted recently on Wyrick's Writings
+++++++++++++++++++++
BELOW ARE MORE QUOTES FROM NEIL'S RECENTLY POSTED SERMONS
on Wyrick's Writings
++++++++++++++++++
A QUOTE FROM THOUGHTS POSTED ON MY
OTHER BLOG WYRICK'S WRITINGS ENTITLED
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!
+++++++++++++++++++++++
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.
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