This thought came in the mail today and it is worth passing on to all those who are going through deep waters emotionally…..
When you feel you are on the very edge of things,
trust God, because only one of two things can happen to you…
Either He will catch you as you fall,
Or He will teach you how to fly.
Hang onto this thought because none of us knows what tomorrow is going to hold!
Sitting Down They Watched Him There
We read these words in the peace and quiet, Forgetting the crowds, the noise, the riot, That surrounded our Lord so long ago, When rulers had wickedly taken Him so. The noise, the cries, and the prisoner’s grunts, The shouts of the soldiers, the awful thumps, Of the nails going into the human flesh, As they lay on the scars and bruises so fresh; The beat and the dust that rose in the air, The scorning of those who were standing there. The laughing and jeering of the soldiers who, Were casting lots for His garments too.
The thieves were cursing Him to His face, Get us down and out of this place! Then we’ll believe that you truly are King, And one day Your kingdom You really will bring” Suddenly one turned and said to his mate, We really deserve all that’s on our plate, But this Man here has done nothing amiss, Lord, remember me now in spite of all this ” The Saviour looked and in tones soft and light, Said “Today you’ll be with Me, in Paradise bright”.
Joy filled the heart of this one so depressed, The noise and the dirt were now repressed, In spite of those who were watching them there, The rulers uncaring, or friends in despair, The soldier declaring ‘This IS God’s Son, He only is the righteous One! ” His Spirit given up, the night now was near, The people had gone, the silence was clear. Still there were those who were watching Him there, When His body was put in the tomb with care. The guards would wait the next nights out, No one could move while they were about. But in spite of it all, God’s purposes won, And Jesus became, the Resurrected One.
And that my Friend, is the reason so clear, That Easter for us presents no fear, Tis only for each of us to humble our minds, Accept what’s written and then we will find, Satisfaction within and without any grief, With peace in our hearts beyond all belief.
As Bob came to in the darkness, he wondered where he was. There were unfamiliar sounds going on around him, and a distinct disinfectant smell. He realised he was in a bed, but he was sure it wasn’t his own one. He tried to turn over and nothing seemed to be working. Whatever had happened to him?
Ah, he remembered now. He had left the local pub at closing time and found his way to his car. He remembered driving towards home and over the bridge that spanned quite a sizeable river on the way, but nothing more after that.
Bob had indeed driven over the bridge, but he had failed to see the corner immediately after it, and continued straight ahead up the bank where the car had flipped over. Bob had not been wearing his seat belt and he was thrown out. As a result his spinal cord was badly damaged leaving him a paraplegic. He was in hospital for a long time, and it took him several months before he admitted that his situation was actually his own fault.
First of all he railed against the fact that his seat belt wasn’t on, but he was the one who had not buckled up. It never occurred to him that if he hadn’t been drinking until closing time, he would have been capable of driving safely, so that was another nail in his coffin of blame, as it were.
No-one knew when it finally dawned on him that perhaps God was speaking to him through this accident. It wasn‘t that he was a stranger to the things of God. There had been a time when he had made his decision to follow the Lord, and was enthusiastic in his attendance at his small local church. But the older men tended to curb his youthful enthusiasm and he became discouraged. There came a day when he heard some more criticism, and that was it as far as he was concerned. He had had enough, he said. If that was how they felt, then he was finished.
Bob never attended a church service on a regular basis again, and in time, no-one would have recognized him as being a Christian. Years passed by, and his family arrived and grew up. In his time of reflection now in his hospital bed, he remembered different times when he felt that God was perhaps speaking to him.
There was that time that he had been feeding hay out to his cattle and carelessly thrown the loose bailing twine into the cab of his utility truck. As he drove onto the road, he got out to shut the gate behind him, and as his feet became tangled in the twine he fell onto the road. A car came around the corner and nearly caught him before he got up. Bob wondered at the time if the Lord was speaking to him, but he mentally shrugged it off as coincidence, and let the opportunity go by.
Then there was another time not long before this, when a visiting evangelist had come to the district. Bob attended one of the meetings, and was strongly moved to respond to the appeal when it was given at the end, but he thought of his drinking mates and what they would say to him. Just the same, he had to hold tightly to his seat with both hands to keep from making the move along the aisle when others were going down to the front.
“There’s still plenty of time”, he told himself.
Now he wondered if things would have been different if he had made that move back then. It began to dawn on him that perhaps all this was his own fault, and all because he kept shutting the thought of God out of his mind.
“Perhaps God IS speaking me” he said to himself, “If I had taken the step when that preacher was asking people to come forward, perhaps none of this would have happened!”
How right he was! He wouldn’t have been at the pub this particular night if he had done that!
By the time Bob was discharged from the hospital and able to go home, he had confessed his willfulness and disobedience to the Lord and received full forgiveness for it all. Bob was full of joy in his mind and heart now….not for the position he found himself in, but in the fact that now he had made his peace with God once more. He was able to pray again, picking up where he had left off when a young man. But in spite of that, nothing could give back the years he had wasted, and this was a constant regret to him.
He enjoyed the visits he had from other Christians who knew him, and to talk about the things of God was one of his greatest joys.
He now spent his days in his wheelchair looking out of the large windows of his living room across the town to the harbour in the distance. He had once served on the local harbour board, and was particularly interested in watching the container ships and tankers moving in and out of the harbour.
He lived for a few more years, and told one of his visitors not long before he passed into the Lord’s presence, “You know, I would sooner be like I am now, and able to enjoy these times with the Lord, than to be what I was once, able to walk but still running away from God. It doesn’t pay!”
The Apostle Paul wrote….. In case I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness” . Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong. (2 Corinthians 12:7-10)
We often hear people say that the Bible contradicts itself and why bother to take notice of what it says anyway! This argument reminds me of a large rock in our home area that 
stands up in full view of the main road north. As one approaches the area, the rock is high with a large flat top with another lower flat topped rock beside it. This view lasts for several miles, and then the road turns and goes towards this rock. The view changes dramatically. It appears to be just as tall but narrower. The side rock 
disappears from view as it is now in front and merges into the main mass of rock. Still further along, a side road branches off the main road and heads towards the back of this large rock. Now we can see the back of it and the two large humps 
standing up behind it. Each view is of the same rock, but each view is different.
If we saw the pictures separately, we would think they were four different rocks. So it is with the Bible. God used different people to write His Word and they all have different aspects to present. It is still God’s Word, but there are different sides of it seen. Parts were written to the Jewish people who knew about God; other parts were written to people who had never known about Him. Still other parts were written to those who had come to know God and told them how to live to please Him. The final section tells of things that are still to happen in the future.
It is all still God’s Word for us today, and has something to tell each of us which we need to know. So never say that it contradicts itself…each part complements the others.
There is a story in the Bible about a paralysed man sitting by a pool waiting for an angel to come and disturb the water. The people surrounding the pool thought that if they could only get in to the water after that, that they would be healed of their diseases. But this particular day, no angel came. Instead Jesus Christ came by and asked the man if he wanted to be healed. Instantly the man responded, “I’ve been waiting for thirty-eight years to be healed and it hasn’t happened yet.”
“Well, get up and walk”, Jesus said, and the man found to his astonishment that he was able to walk normally. If he hadn’t got up, he would never have walked. Perhaps he was going to miss his fellow sufferers who he had been with for so many years but he had to leave them behind. If he had never got up and walked, he would never have been set totally free.
There is a saying….You will never fly with the eagles if you stay with the turkeys! In the same way when a person has been set free by trusting in Jesus Christ, the old things must be left behind to be able to soar to new heights. In fact as new heights are reached for, so the old things will drop off.