 Will You Place Your Trust In Jesus
A story is told about a mountain climber who liked to climb tall mountains for fun and to impress his friends. After years of preparation and training he felt he could handle any mountain terrain in the world, regardless of the degree of difficulty.
During a climbing trip, with five other men, he decided he would make the final climb to the summit, solo, so he could get there first and claim the glory, while the others slept. After the rest of the climbing party turned-in for the night, he put on his climbing gear and headed toward the summit. As he started his climb, he was very glad there was a full moon to help him see where he was going.
Although it was foolish to climb at night, alone, he did use a rope and put in good piton protection as he climbed. With the benefit of the full moon, he made rapid progress up the mountain, in spite of the fact he was climbing at night. His confidence soared as he neared the summit, but unfortunately, thick clouds were starting to build around the mountain, and visibility was deteriorating rapidly, as a winter storm developed. In just a few minutes visibility dropped to almost zero, as heavy clouds and fog surrounded him. It was now too late to turn back, so he continued to climb up the mountain, hoping the storm would blow by quickly.
While moving along a narrow traverse, now in total darkness, he got into some “rotten rock,” and slid down the side of the ridge and over the edge of a cliff. The good news is the protection he put in held, and he was still alive after the fall; although he now found himself dangling in the air, suspended from his rope, unable to see anything around him. The bad news is, he had loosely tied his outer heavy parka across the top of his backpack while he was climbing, and he now discovered he had lost it during the fall.
Slowly the cold night air from the storm began to chill him to the bone through his lightweight inner jacket. After struggling to turn himself around in a circle, and not finding anything to grab onto, in desperation he cried out, “Oh dear God in Heaven, please help me!”
Suddenly, from above he heard a strong deep voice boom out, “Cut the rope!”
“What?!” As the climber listened over the wind, once again he heard a deep voice say, “Cut the rope!”
Except for the wind, silence followed, as the climber continued to hang onto the rope, while hoping to be able to grab onto something that would enable him to climb to safety. Unable to see his true situation, the climber concluded, as most people would, that hanging onto the rope was his only hope.
The following day, the rest of his climbing party discovered him frozen to death, still dangling from his rope – only eight feet above a large out-cropping of rock. Had the climber cut the rope, he would have dropped down to a relatively safe area, where he could have built a fire, using some of the surrounding scrub brush, and probably survived the night.
From this tragic, hopefully fictional story, we can learn about trusting God. Do you look for security in a “rope” of some form? Or, are you willing to trust God with the many things in life beyond your knowledge or control?
Try to always remember: “For I am the Lord, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.” Isaiah 41:13.
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 Where Do I Fit???
Have you ever done a jigsaw puzzle, and had a piece of the puzzle that should fit in a particular place, but it just won’t quite fit the spot? You can wiggle the piece, push the pieces, twist the piece – but no matter how hard you try, it just isn’t the right piece for the spot. Sure, the piece belongs in the puzzle. The colors match the picture. But, it’s just not quite in the right spot. You want it to fit there – and you try hard by pressing it in. But, as you do, all that happens is you get frustrated, the puzzle piece gets bent up, and the completion of the puzzle is delayed.
The church is much like that jigsaw puzzle. And you, my friend, are a piece of the puzzle! You will never be fulfilled until you find your place in the church. Avoid it, and you will miss your calling. Get pressed into the wrong spot, and you can get damaged and frustrated. But, when you discover where you fit in the puzzle picture, you will be happy and blessed in the Lord!
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 You Need The Church
“Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together.” – Hebrews 10:25
The Church is God’s life-support system for individual Christians. Nobody expects a baby to grow on its own, and God never meant for us to grow and develop spiritually in isolation. Spiritual growth is a group project, which should be good news to you because that means you don’t have to do it all by yourself. You need to be surrounded by Spiritual fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters who can help you. Adam’s aloneness was the only part of creation that God said was “not good” (Genesis 2:18). The universal church is made up of believers everywhere, the local church is made up of believers somewhere. The writer in Hebrews states, “Let’s see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out, not avoiding worshiping together as some do” (Hebrews 10:25 TM). You say, “But I don’t need encouragement and I don’t need help.” Perhaps not today, but what about next week or next month? And what about the people who need your help and encouragement?
There are two kinds of growth:
1. Symbiotic growth, which occurs when two organisms both benefit by the relationship.
2. Parasitic growth, which occurs when one organism feeds off another without giving anything back.
Paul describes the church as “God’s household” (Ephesians 2:19 NIV) in which the members grow by being “fitted together” and by being “built together for a dwelling place of God” (Ephesians 2:21-22 NKJV).
We are all to be part of something bigger than any one of us. There is no mention in Paul’s words of individual growth apart from the church. We only grow as we connect, relate, contribute, and receive one from another.
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 Eagles
“But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” (Isaiah 40:31)
As an eagle goes through the good months of feeding in full measure, he also begins to gain weight. This weight begins to hinder his ability to fly and find food. His speed diminishes and he grows tired quickly. God created in eagles a special inbred answer to this.
The eagle will fly high and find a cleft in the rocks of the mountains. He will look for one that has cover from the elements, and an area that water gathers from morning dew and rain. Once he has found this cleft, he sets himself in it and begins to pluck out all his wing flight feathers! One by one he removes them till he is no longer able to fly, even if he wanted to.
There he remains, waiting... waiting... waiting... until his weight begins to come off him for lack of food other than a few bugs who may find the cleft also. At the same time, slowly his feathers begin to grow back. When the entire ordeal is over, he is back to a slim weight, and ready to once again take flight.
Now with his lighter weight, he can fly higher and faster and he is able once again to swoop down on his meal with great speed – All because he waited for the transformation to take place. Also, because he placed himself in an area where he had no choice but to trust in the Creator that his feathers will grow back. What a wonderful God we serve! How great are His thoughts to have designed the eagle in such a way as He did.
It is the same with us, Beloved. He wants us to place ourselves in a position of no choice but to trust in Him to supply all we need to carry on. In this time of waiting upon the Lord, He renews us mentally, spiritually, physically and emotionally. This time of waiting can be a challenge to us. We may want to fly away from it, but we can not. We are left with the only thing to do.
“Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” (Proverbs 3:5-6)
When this time is finished, we shall have new strength, hope, endurance and Faith to finish the race set before us!
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 The River
Walking through the forest, a seasoned hiker came upon a broad, slowly moving river. He stopped to gaze over the waters, appreciating the beauty, when suddenly he heard a faint cry coming from upstream. Looking in the direction of the noise, he saw an obviously drowning man floundering in the river and drifting slowly toward him.
The hiker was stunned momentarily, but he sprang into action when he saw the man disappear beneath the waters. Throwing off all of his cumbersome gear, he dove into the river and swam like a madman toward the spot where the man went under.
Upon reaching the spot he plunged below the surface and frantically hauled up the helpless man. Then he laboriously towed the victim to shore. Heaving the lifeless body up on the riverbank, the hiker attempted to revive the man, who eventually spit up water and began to breathe.
Relieved, the hiker paused to catch his breath. But no sooner had he done so than he heard another voice out on the water. Another drowning person! Once again he swam out and pulled the person to shore, a little more slowly this time. As the hiker-turned-lifeguard revived the second victim, he heard yet another cry for help.
All day long the hiker worked, rescuing one person after another as they came drifting down the river. There seemed to be no end of drowning victims, and the hiker didn’t think he could keep it up.
Just when he was about to collapse from exhaustion, he spotted another man walking rapidly beside the river, headed upstream. “Hey mister!” he cried out. “Please help me! These poor people are drowning!”
Amazingly, the man kept walking upstream. The astonished hiker called out again. Without even acknowledging the cry, the man kept going. Indignant and angry, the hiker leapt to his feet, ran toward the uncompassionate man, stood directly in his path, and in a loud voice demanded, “Sir! How can you possibly walk past all these drowning people? Have you no conscience? Must I force you to help me save these people?”
The stranger stopped, looked at him for the first time and said with a calm, focused voice, “Sir, please get out of my way. I am headed upstream to stop the guy who is pushing all these people in.”
Each of us has a role to play in rescuing those who are drowning in sin. Some of us pull people from the water and resuscitate them with counseling, food and shelter, a rehabilitation program, a support group, or financial aid. Affirm those doing these important ministries.
Others of us find our place of ministry upstream, opposing the one pushing people into the river. We do this by introducing those people to Jesus Christ. Knowing Christ sets a person free from sin and releases them from satan’s power over them.
By itself, pulling people from the water isn’t enough. We need to help people deal with the problem of sin at its source.
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 Explanation of Life
On the first day, God created the dog and said: “Sit all day by the door of your house and bark at anyone who comes in or walks past. For this, I will give you a life span of twenty years.”
The dog said: “That’s a long time to be barking. How about only ten years and I’ll give you back the other ten?”
So God agreed.
On the second day, God created the monkey and said: “Entertain people, do tricks, and make them laugh. For this, I’ll give you a twenty-year life span.”
The monkey said: “Monkey tricks for twenty years? That’s a pretty long time to perform. How about I give you back ten like the Dog did?”
And God agreed.
On the third day, God created the cow and said: “You must go into the field with the farmer all day long and suffer under the sun, have calves and give milk to support the farmer’s family. For this, I will give you a life span of sixty years.”
The cow said: “That’s kind of a tough life you want me to live for sixty years. How about twenty and I’ll give back the other forty?”
And God agreed again.
On the fourth day, God created man and said: “Eat, sleep, play, marry and enjoy your life. For this, I’ll give you twenty years.”
But man said: “Only twenty years? Could you possibly give me my twenty, the forty the cow gave back, the ten the monkey gave back, and the ten the dog gave back; that makes eighty, okay?”
“Okay,” said God, “You asked for it.”
So that is why the first twenty years we eat, sleep, play and enjoy ourselves. For the next forty years we slave in the sun to support our family. For the next ten years we do monkey tricks to entertain the grandchildren. And for the last ten years we sit on the front porch and bark at everyone.
Life has now been explained to you.
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