A 3 PART SERIES ON ANXIETY BEGAN NOV 1st. I THANK THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE BEEN SHARING IT
WITH FRIENDS AND FAMILY.
These
One A Days are added to daily. There are over 1100 stories and commentaries
on this blog. It is added to
daily.
IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEND THIS BLOG TO A FRIEND COPY and paste THE FOLLOWING URL
AND
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Click on http://wyrickswritings.blogspot.com
to read selected Sermons from
over 50 years of Rev. Wyrick's ministry.
To view Rev. Wyrick in 4 of his highly
acclaimed One Man Dramas click on the below
Below
this blog read a quote from Rev. Wyrick's highly accalimed 9th book THE
SPIRITUAL ARAHAM LINCOLN
+++++++++++
Phillipians
4:6-7
“Do
not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition, with
thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”
There is an old Swedish proverb that reads, “Worry gives small
things a big shadow.” One thing is for
sure, it can make the skin itch, the heart miss a beat and make us feel like we
are carrying an emotional elephant. Fear
is no fun.
It promotes sleepless nights and miserable days. It kills confidence. It takes the words “I can do all things
through Jesus Christ who strengthens me” and says, sounds good but it doesn’t
work for me.
And why
doesn’t it work?
Is there a
thing called proper preparation?
A proper diet promotes good health. A poor diet promotes poor health. That is hardly a conclusion that requires an
intellectual discussion.
Take the Alaska bull moose as an
example. Every fall all the bull moose
have an antler fight that determines who will rule. Yes, it is a matter of courage but it is also
a matter of preparation so that courage is more easily found.
You see, all
summer long the Bull Moose who seeks out the proper diet ends up in the fall
with the biggest strongest antlers.
How big a difference does it make if
we feed ourselves a proper spiritual diet?
It
has been a long long while but I still remember over 40 years ago when they
took out my right kidney. I remember
asking the nurse how my pulse was and she telling me it was registering
perfectly normal.
It
was a very serious operation in those days but I was not afraid and I was not
surprised that I was not afraid.
This lack of fear, when I should have been
afraid, had happened before and it has happened many times since. The peace that passeth understanding is not
just a beautiful phrase. It has been a
living reality in my life and in the lives of many others.
In some anxious moments as a pilot I have
courted death (aerobatics) (engine failure on takeoff, etc.) but remained
calm. And in other events where I have
pushed the envelope. Praise me to the Lord...not so much my courage but His
presence.
Why did this
happen? Why have I in other moments been
relatively calm when anxiety had muscles and was trying to take charge?
Keep the lighthouse always in view. "I am the light of the world" is
the way Jesus put it. Lighthouses shine
their brightest when it is darkest...concentrate on that fact...see Christ in
the light of that perception...know that he who made the stars and the sun and
all light that shatters darkness is awake to and aware of your needs.
You and I are ships sailing sometimes on
stormy seas. Picture it that way and
picture that lighthouse. The visual
image will give great comfort.
If we started the storm usually we can
stop it...did we open our mouth in anger rather than our mouth in
patience...then give forgiveness...find patience...and turn to the lighthouse
for guidance.
To be in a storm is a lonely
experience...so do not be ashamed or a friend to seek out the advice or just
this presence of a friend.
I love the way James 12-13 puts it "Blessed is
a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will
receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love Him."
A crown of life for turning to and giving in to the power of the
Holy Spirit rather than a dunce cap for trying to go it alone.
Christ and
chaos. That's one heading that fits what
I'm talking about. This presence that
can do so much.
Calm, cool and collected as a Child of
God.
And with that in
your heart and head.
Beware of making a
problem bigger than it is. Avoid
describing every moment of frustration with the word "always."
Take charge of your
surroundings. If you tend to start
coming apart easier when it is too noisy or too quiet...then control your
surroundings.
You don't have to go
to that party...you can search out a quiet or a gentle flowing stream or the Holy quiet of a Bible held in hand.
Do something as
sensible as getting enough sleep.
It is amazing how
many people live on the ragged edge because they just have to see that late
night program or turn weekend into marathons of wakefulness.
++++++++++++++
QUOTES ON LIVING COURAGEOUSLY
Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is
the little voice at the end of the day that says I'll try again tomorrow. ~Mary
Anne Radmacher
One man with courage makes a majority.
~Andrew Jackson
Courage is fear that has said its
prayers. ~Dorothy Bernard
==========
A
new quote below from Rev. Wyrick's 9th book
THE SPIRITUAL ABRAHAM LINCOLN (read the rave reviews below the quote)
Was Lincoln,
before he died, overly proud that he had so much to do with the preserving of
the Union?
It
is more likely that he quoted once again words of one of his favorite poets,
William Knox, “Oh, why should the spirit of mortal be proud?”
As he walked the streets of Richmond, Virginia
in an unannounced visit after that city had fallen to the North, it was said
that he was the man of the people among the people.
When
an elderly Negro had run toward him shouting praise, Lincoln lifted his hat and bowed, and wiped
away a tear or two.
++++++++++++++
"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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