There was a very unusual military funeral in California in
December of 2013. Sgt. First Class Joseph Gantt, who fought in both World War
II and the Korean War, was laid to rest. He had been captured in Korea in 1950
and died the following year. But his body was not returned for many years, and
his death was never confirmed by the North Koreans.
Maria Dyer was born in 1837 on the mission field in China where
her parents were pioneer missionaries. Both her parents died when Maria was a
little girl, and she was sent back to England to be raised by an uncle. The
loss of her parents, however, did not deter her young heart from the importance
of sharing the gospel. At age sixteen she, along with her sister, returned to
China to work in a girl’s school as a missionary herself. Five years later, she
married Hudson Taylor, a man well-known today for his life of ministry, faith,
and sacrifice.
When the California gold fever broke
out, a man went there, leaving his wife in New England with his boy. As soon as
he got on and was successful he was to send for them. It was a long time before
he succeeded, but at last he got money enough to send for them. The wife’s
heart leaped for joy. She took her boy to New York, got on board a Pacific
steamer, and sailed away to San Francisco.
Things are precious, often because of their relationship. The most precious thing a mother has is her dear babe. We all love those who are near to us by the ties of nature. Precious, therefore, in the sight of the Lord are His saints, because they are born in His household, by regeneration made to be His sons and daughters.
When 67-year-old carpenter Russell Herman died in 1994, his will
included a staggering set of bequests. Included in his plan for distribution
was more than two billion dollars for the City of East St. Louis, another
billion and a half for the State of Illinois, two and a half billion for the
national forest system, and to top off the list, Herman left six trillion
dollars to the government to help pay off the national debt. That sounds
amazingly generous, but there was a small problem—Herman’s only asset when he
died was a 1983 Oldsmobile.
There is an old story that illustrates the principle of honor within marriage. A drunkard husband, spending the evening with his jovial companions at a tavern, boasted that if he took a group of his friends home with him at midnight and asked his Christian wife to get up and cook
supper for them, she would do it without complaint. The crowd considered it a vain boast and dared him to try it. So the drunken crowd followed him home, and he made the unreasonable demands of his wife.
A
lady in Spain made the news when she chose a unique way to test her husband’s
love. With the help of a friend, she manipulated her own kidnapping and sent a
ransom notice to her husband. When the police discovered the kidnapping was a
hoax, they asked the lady why she did it. “I wanted to find out what my husband
would do for me,” she replied.
“Compassion can’t be measured in dollars and cents.
It does come with a price tag, but that price tag isn’t the amount of money
spent. The price tag is love.”—J. C. Watts Jr.
One Sunday
a lady was inviting children to come to Sunday school when she met a boy and
asked him why he went so far, past so many Sunday schools to get to his own. “There
are plenty of others,” said she, “just as good.”
He said, “They
may be so good, but they are not so good for me.”
“Why not?”
she asked.
“Because
they love a fellow over there,” he answered.
How easy
it is to reach people through love. Those who are successful in showing men
love will be successful in winning them to Christ.
On May 2, 1962, Gladys Kidd placed a dramatic advertisement in
the San Francisco Examiner,
“I don’t want my husband to die in the gas chamber for a crime he did not
commit. I will therefore offer my services for 10 years as a cook, maid, or housekeeper
to any leading attorney who will defend him and bring about his vindication.”
A teacher asked a boy this question: “Suppose your mother baked a pie and there were seven of you—your parents and five children. What part of the pie would you get?”
“A sixth,” replied the boy.
“I’m afraid you don’t know your fractions,” said the teacher. “Remember, there are seven of you.”
“Yes, teacher,” said the boy, “but you don’t know my mother. Mother would say she didn’t want any pie.”
On August 16, 1987, Northwest Airlines flight 225 crashed just after
taking off from the Detroit airport, killing 155 people. One survived: a
four-year-old from Tempe, Arizona, named Cecelia. When rescuers found Cecelia they did not believe she had been on the
plane. Investigators first assumed Cecelia had been a passenger in one
of the cars on the highway onto which the airliner crashed. But when the
passenger register for the flight was checked, there was Cecelia's
name.
“A wife or husband may remain faithful and may
give evidence of careful attention in matters pertaining to each other, and yet
there may be a decline in first love. Similarly, a church member may be very
regular in his attendance at the services, but no amount of activity, however
intense, can compensate for a lack of love.”—Lehman Strauss
“When
my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn’t bend over and paint her toenails
anymore. So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got
arthritis too. That’s love.”—Rebecca, age 8
“When
someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You just know that
your name is safe in their mouth.”—Billy, age 4
“Love
is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French Fries without
making them give you any of theirs.”—Chrissie, age 6
“Love
is what makes you smile when you’re tired.”—Terri, age 4
A Dutch diamond collector was seeking for a very rare diamond. A dealer
in New York by the name of Mr. Winston heard of this inquiry and contacted him
letting him know that he believed he possessed the diamond he was looking
for.
The diamond collector arrived, and Mr. Winston had his salesman present the diamond. The
salesman described all the technical aspects of the diamond, however within
minutes, the diamond collector rose his hand and said that this was not what he
was looking for.
If I decorate my
house perfectly with plaid bows, strands
of twinkling lights, and shiny balls; but
do not have love, I’m just another decorator.
If I slave away in the
kitchen,
baking dozens of
Christmas cookies, preparing
gourmet meals, and arranging a beautifully adorned table at mealtime; but do not have love, I’m just
another cook.
If I work at a soup
kitchen, carol in the nursing home, and give all that I have to charity;
but do not have love, it profits me nothing.
Suppose someone were to offer you a thousand
dollars for every soul you would earnestly try to lead to Christ, would you
endeavor to lead any more souls to Him than you are endeavoring to do now? Is it
possible that you would attempt to do for money what you hesitate or shrink from doing now in obedience to God’s
command? Is your love of money stronger than your love of God or souls?
Submitted by the homiletics class of West Coast Baptist College
In his book, Moments for Mothers, Robert Strand wrote about
the conflicts of a family in Glasgow, Scotland. After years of rebellion, a
daughter finally rejected her parents, their values, and their faith. She set
out on her own to enjoy a life without restraints, but soon became enslaved to
her liberated choices.
