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THIS WEEK’S GRAPHIC
Continues last week’s emphasis on trusting God. The graphics are free for use in your non-profit organization’s publications, and can be downloaded at www.timothyreport.com
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Welcome to THE TIMOTHY REPORT for April 26, 2004
“To assist, encourage, enable and equip”
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LOVE OF GOD
God still loves you. He loves you as much in the darkness as He does in the light. Nothing you are going through or ever can go through can separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus (see Romans 8:35-39). Remember, too, the words of Psalm 34:18, “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”
With that thought, let us keep going for the Lord. Be encouraged, child of God. He loves you even in the midst of your pain. He loves you even when you don’t love Him. He loves you when you feel utterly alone. He loves you with an everlasting love. Your suffering can take many things away from you—your health, your happiness, your prosperity, your popularity, your friends, your career, even your family. But there’s one thing suffering can’t take away: it can’t take away the love of God.
--Ray Pritchard
(The Timothy Report, Swan Lake Communications, www.timothyreport.com
April 26, 2004)
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THE GOD WHO KNOWS
I do not know the future,
But I know the God Who knows,
And in His perfect wisdom,
Unknowing, I repose.
What good could come of knowing?
How little I could do
To meet the joys or sorrows
That I am coming to!
I do not know the future,
But I know the God Who knows,
I make His love my study,
And follow where He goes.
The path, its joy and sorrows,
I do not care to trace;
Content to know His goodness,
His mercy, and His grace.
--William Luff
(The Timothy Report, Swan Lake Communications, www.timothyreport.com
April 26, 2004)
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GO FOR THE DOG
In his book “Dangerous Wonder,” Mike Yaconelli relates a story which was told by Bill Harley, singer, songwriter and storyteller. Harley shared the story on National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered.” As Yaconelli put it, “It is the story of a young girl who ended up breaking the rules, rejecting the expectations of all around her, because she loved with abandon.” As Harley told it:
Last year, my son played T-ball….Needless to say, I was delighted when Dylan wanted to play….Now on the other team there was a girl I will call Tracy. Tracy came each week. I know, since my son’s team always played her team. She was not very good. She had coke-bottle glasses and hearing aids on each ear. She ran in a loping, carefree way, with one leg pulling after the other, one arm windmilling wildly in the air.
Everyone in the bleachers cheered for her, regardless of what team their progeny played for. In all the games I saw, she never hit the ball, not even close. It sat there on the tee waiting to be hit and it never was. Sometimes, after ten or eleven swings, Tracy hit the tee (in T-ball, the ball sits on a plastic tee, waiting for the batter to hit the ball, which happens once every three batters). The ball would fall off the tee and sit on the ground six inches in front of home plate. “Run! Run!” yelled Tracy’s coach, and Tracy would lope off to first, clutching the bat in both arms, smiling. Someone usually woke up and ran her down with the ball before she reached first.
Everyone applauded.
The last game of the season, Tracy came up, and through some fluke, or simply in a nod toward the law of averages, she creamed the ball. She smoked it right up the middle, through the legs of 17 players. Kids dodged as it went by or looked absentmindedly at it as it rolled unstopped, seemingly gaining in speed, hopping over second base, heading into center field. And once it reached there, there was no one to stop it. Have I told you that there are outfielders in T-ball? There are for three minutes in the beginning of every inning, but then they move into the infield to be closer to the action, or, at least, to their friends.
Tracy hit the ball and stood at home, delighted. “Run!” yelled her coach. “Run!” All the parents, all of us, we stood and screamed, “Run, Tracy, run, run!” Tracy turned and smiled at us, and then, happy to please, galumphed off to first. The first base coach waved his arms ‘round and ‘round when Tracy stopped at first. “Keep going, Tracy, keep going! Go!” Happy to please, she headed to second. By the time she was halfway to second, seven members of the opposition had reached the ball and were passing it among themselves. It’s a rule in T-ball—everyone on the defending team has to touch every ball.
The ball began to make its long and circuitous route toward home plate, passing from one side of the field to the other. Tracy headed to third. Adults fell out of the bleachers. “Go, Tracy, go!” Tracy reached third and stopped, but the parents were very close to her now and she got the message. Her coach stood at home plate calling her as the ball passed over the first baseman’s head and landed in the fielding team’s empty dugout. “Come on, Tracy! Come on, baby! Get a home run!”
Tracy started for home, and then it happened. During the pandemonium, no one had noticed the twelve-year-old geriatric mutt that had lazily settled itself down in front of the bleachers five feet from the third-base line. As Tracy rounded third, the dog, awakened by the screaming, sat up and wagged its tail at Tracy as she headed down the line. The tongue hung out, mouth pulled back in an unmistakable canine smile, and Tracy stopped, right there. Halfway home, thirty feet from a legitimate home run.
She looked at the dog. Her coach called, “Come on, Tracy! Come on home!” He went to his knees behind the plate, pleading. The crowd cheered, “Go, Tracy, go! Go, Tracy, go!” She looked at all the adults, at her own parents shrieking and catching it all on video. She looked at the dog. The dog wagged its tail. She looked at her coach. She looked at home. She looked at the dog. Everything went to slow motion. She went for the dog! It was a moment of complete, stunned silence. And then, perhaps, not as loud, but deeper, longer, more heartfelt, we all applauded as Tracy fell to her knees to hug the dog. Two roads diverged on a third-base line. Tracy went for the dog.
Yaconelli then commented, “Two roads diverged in this little girl’s life. One is the road of rules and expectations, the other is the road of love. The roads of our lives are much the same. Will we go for the safe, predictable road of rules and expectations? Or will we go for the One we love, Jesus, who bids us come with wild abandon?”
(“Dangerous Wonder” is copyrighted 1998, 2003 by Michael Yaconelli, and is published by NavPress, Colorado Springs, CO. The above is found on pages 63-66.)
(The Timothy Report, Swan Lake Communications, www.timothyreport.com
April 26, 2004)
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AND FOR YOU CAT LOVERS….
(This is humor, folks—please don’t write)
A cat died and went to heaven. God met her at the Golden Gate and said, "You have been a good cat all of these years. Anything you want is yours for the asking."
The cat thought a minute and then said, "All my life I lived on a farm and slept on hard wooden floors. I would like a real fluffy pillow to sleep on."
God said, "Say no more." Instantly, the cat had a huge fluffy pillow.
A few days later, six mice were killed in an accident and they all went to heaven together. God met the mice at the gates of heaven with the same offer that He made to the cat.
The mice said, "Well, we have had to run all of our lives: from cats, dogs and even people with brooms! If we could just have some little roller-skates, we would never have to run again."
God answered, "It is done." All the mice had beautiful little roller-skates.
About a week later, God decided to check on the cat. He found her sound asleep on her fluffy pillow. God gently awakened the cat and asked, "Is everything ok? How have you been doing? Are you happy?"
The cat replied, "Oh, it is WONDERFUL. I have never been so happy in my life! My pillow is fluffy, and those little Meals-on-Wheels you have been sending are absolutely delicious."
(The Timothy Report, Swan Lake Communications, www.timothyreport.com
April 26, 2004)
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BEING QUIET DURING THE SERMON
Dave Charlton is pastor of the First Baptist Church in Newcastle, Kentucky. He tells that one young mother in his church had dealt with a fidgety seven-year old boy for most of the service, when she finally figured out a way to get him to sit still. About halfway through the sermon, she leaned over and whispered, “If you don't be quiet, Pastor Charlton is going to lose his place and will have to start his sermon all over again!' It worked.
(The Timothy Report, Swan Lake Communications, www.timothyreport.com
April 26, 2004)
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PASTOR, DOES THIS DESCRIBE YOUR PREACHING?
"There are two kinds of people who don't say much: those who are quiet and those who talk a lot."
--Unknown
(The Timothy Report, Swan Lake Communications, www.timothyreport.com
April 26, 2004)
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ADVERSITY
I was still in college when we discovered my late wife’s HIV infection [from a blood transfusion]. Needless to say, my faith was deeply shaken. During that semester I was taking a homiletics (preaching) class with Dr. Jimmie Brewer. He had no idea of our situation.
Entering his office one afternoon, I slumped down in a chair across from Dr. Brewer’s desk. “What’s wrong, Doug?” he asked. I slid my Bible across his desk to him. “Prove to me that God is real,” I said numbly. He paused for quite some time and never looked at the book. Instead, he studied my face. Then he gently leaned forward and slid the Bible back to me. “Prove it yourself,” he replied. Although it felt harsh at the moment, it was one of the best pieces of advice I’ve ever received.
--Doug Herman, in “What Good is God?”
(The Timothy Report, Swan Lake Communications, www.timothyreport.com
April 26, 2004)
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PURPOSE
We may not always be able to see that events in our lives work together for a wise purpose, but we know that God chooses from among all the possible alternatives the best ends and means for achieving them.
--Gordon R. Lewis and Bruce A. Demarest
(The Timothy Report, Swan Lake Communications, www.timothyreport.com
April 19, 2004)
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GOOD ADVICE FOR THE HURTING
Perhaps you are currently going through a time of healing in your life and need to become open to receiving the help of others. But maybe you haven’t asked for help because you are the kind of person who wants to avoid being a burden to someone. Or perhaps you’re embarrassed about your problems because you did something to cause them. Don’t let those concerns prevent you from receiving help because there are times when we all need the help of other people. Surely it is more blessed to give than to receive (Acts 20:35), but sometimes it is important to receive so that others might receive the blessing of giving! You may not want to broadcast your problems to the world, but, on the other hand, God doesn’t want you to hide them either. Don’t forget that God has given us the body of Christ to help and encourage us. Give others the opportunity to come alongside and minister to you.
--Dan Hayden, in “When Life’s A Wreck”
(The Timothy Report, Swan Lake Communications, www.timothyreport.com
April 26, 2004)
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PRIORITIES
It’s sobering to contemplate how much time, effort, sacrifice, compromise, and attention we give to acquiring and increasing our supply of something that is totally insignificant in eternity.
--Anne Graham Lotz
(The Timothy Report, Swan Lake Communications, www.timothyreport.com
April 26, 2004)
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SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT
Nearly everytime Jesus is mentioned in the Scriptures as being at the right hand of God, He is sitting. Nearly everytime. But there is one instance, and only one that I can find, where Jesus is seen standing on the right hand of God. What significance is that, and how can it encourage and comfort us when a loved one has died?
Always on the search for another story or illustration? Ever hesitate to use any particular story because you've used it too many times already?
Here's a solution! "Funeral Ideas and Illustrations" contains more than 100 stories, poems, and quotations for use in funerals or in Bible studies or sermons on death.
The items found in this collection come from a wide variety of sources. There may be some stories and/or poems you've used for years, and there are some you've never seen before. Some of the sermon outlines and messages are original material. And it's only $5.
In this collection, you will find:
--A sermon specifically designed for the Thanksgiving Season
--A poem written by a wife and son of a relatively young man who passed away.
--What a man wrote after losing three children to death
--Which hymn encouraged Daniel Webster in his final hours
--What Golda Meir said when asked if Israel would allow Nikita Kruschev's body to be buried in Israel
--An encouraging poem which is great to use in a funeral when a grieving spouse is left behind.
--A portion of a letter a Godly woman left behind for her family to read after she had gone on to be with the Lord.
--Mary Pickford's wonderful analogy of death
--Cardinal Joseph Bernardin's viewpoint of his own approaching death
--The word early Christians used to describe the place where they placed the bodies of loved ones when they died--a comforting, encouraging thought!
Visit http://www.timothyreport.com/funeral.html to view sample illustrations and to learn how to get your copy.
(The Timothy Report, Swan Lake Communications, www.timothyreport.com
April 26, 2004)
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