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Chippie the parakeet should never have gotten up on the particular morning I am about to share with you
Oh, it started out fine and fair enough. It’s just that in a very short time everything went down hill. At peace with himself, the parakeet was singing away while observing another bird just outside the window.
And then it happened. His owner began to clean out Chippie’s cage as she always did: removed the attachment from the vacuum cleaner and stuck the hose in the cage. She had done it many times before without a problem. Except…
That this time the phone rang and as she turned to pick it up, there was suddenly a loud “sucking sound” and Chippie disappeared.
The owner gasped, dropped the phone, rapidly turned off the vacuum cleaner and prepared herself for the worst.
Actually, the parakeet had come out of the experience amazingly well. Removed from the bag, he only looked slightly dazed and a little bedraggled. But his owner, thinking to restore him to his normal, beautiful self, for he had lost some feathers and his beak was covered with bits and pieces of debris, made a quick decision and rushed him to the kitchen sink where she
turned on the tap and thrust poor Chippie under the gushing water. Then reaching for a hairdryer, blasted the poor bird with a whirlwind of hot air.
Now Chippie really did look the worst for wear: soaked and shivering, he seemed to be on the edge of collapse.
A few days after the trauma, a friend who had heard about Chippie’s adventure asked the owner how he was doing.
“He just sits and stares,” came back the reply.
Who can blame him? Sucked in, washed up, and blown over . . . Poor Chippie was in shock.
There are a lot of people like Chippie in America these days. They’ve been sucked into bad financial deals. Or, feel washed up with no job or under-employed. Or, blown over by worries that won’t go away.
Any of us can get sick; worry about terrorists with their unknown plots; make our plans and have an accident that is not part of those plans. It happens. Calm sometimes just doesn’t seem an option.
And so…what can be done? What should we do?
The following story may give you the beginning of an answer
There once was a little boy who had a dilemma. Playing with his toy sail boat, he had let it drift and now it was floating away from him. The water was too deep to wade after it, and he could not swim. And then the thought came to him, “I will create a storm” and it will come back to me.
So he began to pick up large stones that were laying all about, and throw them on the other side of the boat. The waves they created slowly began to move the boat back to where he stood on the shore.
Storms do that for us sometimes. Drive us back to God. Drive us back to Him who said to the wind and the waves and the storm “Peace. Be still.”
So what lesson must we begin to carry with us to get our priorities straight?
That sometimes He calms the storm and
sometimes He calms us. And either way we are called to stand in awe of such a power that can calm the sea or an immortal soul.
THE SPIRITUAL ABRAHAM LINCOLN
“A book superior in style and content)
A Quote FROM Rev. Wyrick’s 9TH BOOK “THE SPIRITUAL ABRAHAM LINCOLN”
How spiritual was Lincoln? Well, look at how often he worked God into both his conversations and speeches. He was not the only President to mention prayers to the Almighty on a regular basis, but what is important is how comfortable he seemed in doing it. A single reminder of an isolated spiritual moment would make it impossible to build a case for spirituality. With Lincoln this is never a problem, for this giant of a man had a giant on-going sense of soul equal to his physical presence.
“I invite the people of the United States… to invoke the influence of His Holy Spirit…”3 It is well to remember that the man behind this national proclamation also wrote that he had a solemn oath registered in heaven to finish his work.
But why not? This, after all, was a man who at Gettysburg, with
Generals and other men of good counsel all around, still fell to his
knees in prayer, and thereby, found “sweet comfort” 4 creeping into his soul.
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QUOTES FROM
SIXTY PLUS AND NOT HOLDING
(Serialization of One of Neil’s book that can be found on his other blog Wyrick’s Writings)
I almost drowned once. It is
a terrifying experience. One gets very used to breathing. I had taught
swimming in summer camp. Passed the Red Cross Life Saving course.
Water-skied 50 miles an hour. Now I found I could not even stand to have the water flow over my face when I took a shower.
So I had two choices. Give in to my fear or fight it.
I
fought it. Stuck my head in a few inches of water in a basin for five
seconds, then ten and finally a minute. I kept working on my private
demon until one day, six month later, I was behind a ski boat with ski
rope in hand. I was filled with panic, not just fear. I skied anyway. I
fell and did not drown. I began to overcome the anxiety.
I
refused to have a love affair with fear that could have become a
permanent downer. Did I completely conquer my fear? No. Was I better off
than if I had given in? Definitely.
----- ------ ---------- A
number of years ago two scientists conducted an experiment with a
sheep. They tied a piece of wire around the leg of a normal sheep in the
midst of other sheep. Then at regular intervals they would send an
electric shock through the wire making the leg twitch. The sheep’s
behavior remained normal. He ate well, slept well, acted quite nicely,
twitching appendage and all. Then the scientists added another factor.
They
began to ring a bell ten seconds before they administered the shock.
Within a very short period of time the sheep began to demonstrate all
the symptoms of severe anxiety neurosis. His eating habits went from bad
to worse. He couldn't sleep. He took to avoiding the other sheep. He
became highly nervous and agitated.
It is
the same with all the people who every day promise themselves it is
going to be a bad day, and then work very hard at making their prophecy
come true.
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Wyrick’S Writings..and will continue each week until finished.
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Some recent topic titles on his other blog, Wyrick’s Writings are:ONE LOG ON A FIRE, TWO JOLLY GREEN GIANTS; LOVE AND FORGIVENESS, WISDOM IS.WHAT IS HAPPY,60 PLUS AND NOT HOLDING
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