Abundant Life: September 2008

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A Piece of Paper for Sara

As Sara, Dena and I drove home from ourg recent trip taking Becca to FC, we did some Bible reading as we went along. In the Five Day Bible Reading Plan we needed to read Ephesians 4, 5 and 6 so I opened the Bible and began reading. When I reached Ephesians 5:22 I read “wives submit to your husbands” and I could feel Sara’s interest and even uncertainty in those verses. A lot of women tighten up a little when they read Ephesians 5:22. What is God saying there? Are women doormats, doomed to be little more than servants to their husband who has been appointed by no less than God to be the grand king of the home? It seemed like a word or two of explanation might be in order and might help my daughter. There was a memo pad from the hotel handy so I grabbed it and began to draw and talk …

110 Percent!

“110 Percent!”

During the post-game interview, the athlete says, “Yes, we gave it our all. We gave 110 percent. We’ve been preparing a long time, and we left it all on the field.” Such sports cliches ring in the ears of sports enthusiasts. We want to know “our team” is committed to success. We want to know they are well-prepared. We want to know they gave it their all.

Vessels of Clay

“But now, O Lord, Thou art our Father, we are the clay, and Thou our potter; and all of us are the work of Thy hand*” (Isaiah 64:8).

There was a man and his wife who were exploring a cave by the seashore. In one of the caves, they found a canvas bag with clay balls inside. They were very hardened like they had been formed, then left in the sun to bake. The couple took the bag with them as they strolled along the shore. Along the way each of them threw away the clay balls one at a time as far as they could out into the ocean. Suddenly the wife dropped one of the clay balls on a rock which caused it to crack open. To their surprise, inside the clay ball was a beautiful, precious stone.