Our Daily Bread

I’m not writing this article from my usual office location. Most of the time when I talk to you through the pages of Our Daily Bread, I’m hidden behind the walls of my office, routinely going about another workday.

A farmer and his son were working together out in the field. The father told the boy to throw all the large stones he could find into a nearby ditch so they would not interfere with plowing. After working a long time, the son called out, “Dad, there’s one rock here I can’t move even though I’ve tried my hardest.”

Missionary Doug Nichols was a patient in a tuberculosis ward in India in 1967. Patients and staff saw him as a rich American taking up space in their hospital. Their hostility was evident as they refused the gospel tracts he offered them.

Magazine publisher J. I. Rodale, a zealous advocate of health foods, claimed at the age of 72 that he would live to be 100. The same week that his prediction appeared in The New York Times, he was being interviewed for a television program, again claiming that his bones were as strong as ever. Moments after making his boast, he died of a heart attack.

Some Christians have gotten the idea that if they erect a beautiful building, put up a sign, and place an ad in the newspaper, the unsaved will flock to church. But it just doesn’t work that way. There’s an impelling go in the gospel that makes us responsible for our friends and neighbors. We must reach out to lost sinners and bring them in.

People who have roast preacher for Sunday dinner need a change of diet. And a pastor who verbally chews up his congregation needs to look again at his mission. A caring preacher will build up his church, and a caring church will build up its preacher.

A howling storm roared off Lake Michigan, whipping the much smaller Muskegon Lake into a frenzy. The force of the wind and waves ripped a dozen sailboats from their moorings and tossed them toward shore. Some of the runaway boats were rescued, but three sank and another was badly damaged on the rocks.

Why is it that some of the best things in life can sound so unappealing to us—things like holiness, obedience, Spirit-control, and faith, for instance? Why do they so often trigger a sudden yawn rather than wet eyes of thankful emotions? Could it be that we’ve underrated their value?

As part of a marketing campaign to attract subscribers, National Geographic magazine produced a remarkable brochure called 10 Pictures You’ll Never Forget. Included in the pamphlet were photos such as astronaut Buzz Aldrin on the moon, Mount St. Helens erupting, a Brazilian jaguar sprawled across a tree branch, and a cherubic Russian schoolgirl signaling her age.

One of the happiest memories of my childhood is that of my mother reading Bible stories to me at bedtime. Many of them made a great impression on me, especially the incident in the life of Samuel described in 1 Samuel 3. I can still hear my mother reciting the young boy’s response to the call of God: “Speak, for Your servant hears” (v.10).