WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND

 

One day a man saw an old lady, stranded on the side of the road but, even in the dim light of day, he could see she needed help.  So he pulled up in front of her Mercedes and got out. His Pontiac was still sputtering when he approached her.  Even with the smile on his face, she looked worried.

No one had stopped to help for the last hour or so. Was he going to hurt her?  He didn't look safe; he looked poor and hungry. He could see that she was frightened, standing out there in the cold. He knew how she felt. It was that chill which only fear can put in you. He said, 'I'm here to help you, ma'am. Why don't you wait in the car where it's warm?

By the way, my name is Bryan Anderson.' Well, all she had was a flat tire but, for an old lady, that was bad enough.

Bryan crawled under the car looking for a place to put the jack, skinning his knuckles a time or two.. Soon he was able to change the tire. But he had to get dirty and his hands hurt. As he was tightening up the lug nuts, she rolled down the window and began to talk to him. She told him that she was from St. Louis and was only just passing through. She couldn't thank him enough for coming to her aid.

Bryan just smiled as he closed her trunk. The lady asked how much she owed him. Any amount would have been all right with her. She already imagined all the awful things that could have happened had he not stopped.  Bryan never thought twice about being paid. This was not a job to him. This was helping someone in need and, God knows, there were plenty, who had given him a hand in the past. He had lived his whole life that way, and it never occurred to him to act any other way.

He told her that if she really wanted to pay him back, the next time she saw someone who needed help, she could give that person the assistance they needed and, Bryan added, 'And think of me.' He waited until she started her car and drove off. It had been a cold and depressing day but he felt good as he headed for home, disappearing into the twilight.

A few miles down the road, the lady saw a small cafe. She went in to get a bite to eat and take the chill off before she made the last leg of her trip home. It was a dingy looking restaurant. Outside were two old gas pumps. The whole \scene was unfamiliar to her.

The waitress came over and brought a clean towel to wipe her wet hair. She had a sweet smile, one that, even being on her feet for the whole day, couldn't erase. The lady noticed the waitress was nearly eight months pregnant, but she never let the strain and aches change her attitude. The old lady wondered how someone who had so little could be so giving to a stranger. Then she remembered Bryan.  After the lady finished her meal, she paid with a hundred dollar bill. The waitress quickly went to get change for her hundred dollar bill but the old lady had slipped right out the door. She was gone by the time the waitress came back.

The waitress wondered where the lady could be. Then she noticed something was written on the napkin. There were tears in her eyes when she read what the lady wrote: 'You don't owe me anything.  I have been there too. Somebody once helped me out, the way I'm helping you. If you really want to pay me back, here is what you do:  Do not let this chain of love end with you.'

Under the napkin were four more $100 bills. Well, there were tables to clear, sugar bowls to fill, and people to serve, but the waitress made it through another day. That night when she got home from work and climbed into bed, she was thinking about the money and what the lady had written.

 

How could the lady have known how much she and her husband needed it? With the baby due next month, it was going to be hard.... She knew how worried her husband was, and as he lay sleeping next to her, she gave him a soft kiss and whispered soft and low, 'Everything's going to be all right. I love you, Bryan Anderson.'

From PR 's Favorite Illustrations Files: Teddy Stoddard

As she stood in front of her 5th grade class on the very first day of school, she told the children an untruth. Like most teachers, she looked at her students and said that she loved them all the same. However, that was impossible, because there in the front row, slumped in his seat, was a little boy named Teddy Stoddard.

Mrs. Thompson had watched Teddy the year before and noticed that he did not play well with the other children, that his clothes were messy and that he constantly needed a bath. In addition, Teddy could be unpleasant.

It got to the point where Mrs. Thompson would actually take delight in marking his papers with a broad red pen, making bold X's and then putting a big "F" at the top of his papers.

At the school where Mrs. Thompson taught, she was required to review each child's past records and she put Teddy's off until last. However, when she reviewed his file, she was in for a surprise.

Teddy's first grade teacher wrote, "Teddy is a bright child with a ready laugh. He does his work neatly and has good manners... he is a joy to be around.."

His second grade teacher wrote, "Teddy is an excellent student, well liked by his classmates, but he is troubled because his mother has a terminal illness and life at home must be a struggle."

His third grade teacher wrote, "His mother's death has been hard on him. He tries to do his best, but his father doesn't show much interest and his home life will soon affect him if some steps aren't taken."

Teddy's fourth grade teacher wrote, "Teddy is withdrawn and doesn't show much interest in school. He doesn't have many friends and he sometimes sleeps in class."

By now, Mrs. Thompson realized the problem and she was ashamed of herself. She felt even worse when her students brought her Christmas presents, wrapped in beautiful ribbons and bright paper, except for Teddy's. His present was clumsily wrapped in the heavy, brown paper That he got from a grocery bag Mrs. Thompson took pains to open it in the middle of the other presents. Some of the children started to laugh when she found a rhinestone bracelet with some of the stones missing, and a bottle that was one-quarter full of perfume.. But she stifled the children's laughter when she exclaimed how pretty the bracelet was, putting it on, and dabbing some of the perfume on her wrist. Teddy Stoddard stayed after school that day just long enough to say, "Mrs. Thompson, today you smelled just like my Mom used to." After the children left, she cried for at least an hour.

On that very day, she quit teaching reading, writing and arithmetic. Instead, she began to teach children. Mrs. Thompson paid particular attention to Teddy. As she worked with him, his mind seemed to come alive. The more she encouraged him, the faster he responded. By the end of the year, Teddy had become one of the smartest children in the class and, despite her lie that she would love all the children the same, Teddy became one of her "teacher's pets.."

A year later, she found a note under her door, from Teddy, telling* her that she was still the best teacher he ever had in his whole life.

Six years went by before she got another note from Teddy. He then wrote that he had finished high school, third in his class, and she was still the best teacher he ever had in life.

Four years after that, she got another letter, saying that while things had been tough at times, he'd stayed in school, had stuck with it, and would soon graduate from college with the highest of honors. He assured Mrs. Thompson that she was still the best and favorite teacher he had ever had in his whole life.

Then four more years passed and yet another letter came. This time he explained that after he got his bachelor's degree, he decided to go a little further. The letter explained that she was still the best and favorite teacher he ever had. But now his name was a little longer.... The letter was signed, Theodore F. Stoddard, MD.

The story does not end there. You see, there was yet another letter that spring. Teddy said he had met this girl and was going to be married. He explained that his father had died a couple of years ago and he was wondering if Mrs. Thompson might agree to sit at the wedding in the place that was usually reserved for the mother of the groom.

Of course, Mrs. Thompson did. And guess what? She wore that bracelet, the one with several rhinestones missing. Moreover, she made sure she was wearing the perfume that Teddy remembered his mother wearing on their last Christmas together.

They hugged each other, and Dr. Stoddard whispered in Mrs. Thompson's ear, "Thank you Mrs. Thompson for* believing in me. Thank you so much for making me feel important and showing me that I could make a difference."

Mrs. Thompson, with tears in her eyes, whispered back. She said, "Teddy, you have it all wrong. You were the one who taught me that I could make a difference. I didn't know how to teach until I met you."

(When I first read this story it was noted that Teddy Stoddard is the Dr. at Iowa Methodist Hospital in Des Moines that has the Stoddard Cancer Wing. However as I researched this I discovered that portion is not true. The cancer center is named for John Stoddard, a real estate developer.)

 

 

I hope you enjoyed and are free to use this simple illustration.

 

From the Illustration Files of PR 

Favorite quotes from John Wesley

 

Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can.

 

God does nothing except in response to believing prayer.

 

Catch on fire and people will come for miles to see you burn.

 

Give me one hundred preachers who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but God, and I care not whether they be clergymen or laymen, they alone will shake the gates of Hell and set up the kingdom of Heaven upon Earth.

 

The best thing of all is God is with us.

 

When a man becomes a Christian, he becomes industrious, trustworthy and prosperous. Now, if that man, when he gets all he can and saves all he can, does not give all he can, I have more hope for Judas Iscariot than for that man!

Prayer is where the action is.

 

Money never stays with me. It would burn me if it did. I throw it out of my hands as soon as possible, lest it should find its way into my heart.

 

I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation, and an assurance was given me that he had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.

 

I build on Christ, the rock of ages; on his sure mercies described in his word, and on his promises, all which I know are yea and amen.

 

John Wesley

Sunday Thoughts The Good Samaritan

 

I’m re-reading the Good Samaritan Encounter. 

The Parable of the Good Samaritan

²⁵ On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

²⁶ “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”

²⁷ He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’^[a]; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’^[b]”

²⁸ “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”

²⁹ But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

³⁰ In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. ³¹ A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. ³² So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. ³³ But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. ³⁴ He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. ³⁵ The next day he took out two denarii^[c] and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’

³⁶ “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”

³⁷ The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”

Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise"          Luke 10:25-37 NIV

        

You know this parable: the one about the villain who became the hero. Remember a lawyer comes to trap Jesus for the umpteenth time. Jesus turns the tables on him, and the hunter becomes the hunted. Jesus takes the lawyer on a winding narrative to expose the hatred in his heart and inability to measure up to God’s standards. Bottom line…the lawyer needs a new heart… like we all do. There is a kind of life and love that can’t be manufactured by religiosity and learning.

The parable showcases how easy it is to have cold hearts, cloudy minds and keep our hands in our pockets rather than love God fervently and express compassion to our neighbors. Jesus wrapped up his story with these words compelled by the Samaritan’s actions, “Go and do likewise”. The lawyer and the listeners must have thought, “This is what I have to do to keep the law? Who could do that? That’s impossible!” Jesus must have been smiling thinking, “I know someone. ME.”

Yes, it’s impossible to love like that. That’s the point. Ultimately the story isn’t first about us, it’s about him. Jesus is the solution. Yes…we should love and have compassion. But to become that person we first we need to see we are the person beside the road…we are hurting and helpless…we need a Savior as bad as the man in the ditch. Religion and Law can’t save.

What if the lawyer didn’t try to justify himself but rather humbled himself and said, “Jesus, I can’t do it. I can’t love God and my neighbor as I should. I can’t merit favor with God. I need a new heart…your kind of heart.” That’s my challenge, too. I’ve got a lot in common with the first two guys in the story. It is so easy to walk past need and find an excuse. Fortunately, the Ultimate Good Samaritan named Jesus offers me and everyone a new heart and saving/transforming/empowering grace.

As we get so full of His heart, that heart naturally spills out to others. Religion can shrivel the mind, but Grace develops the heart to work like His heart, our minds to work like His mind and our hands to work like His hands. That’s the way of Jesus.

Now let me get off my donkey and do something.

What do you think of the Sunday Thought?

  Comment below with your thoughts. 

REMEMBERING 9-11 GODSPEED CHIEF GANCI

 

Chief of Department Peter J. Ganci Jr. Left the safety of the FDNY Command Post in Brooklyn to be at the incident command post on scene located in the basement of 2 World Trade Center.

 

When 2 World Trade Center collapsed he ordered his command staff including Mayor Giuliani to relocate the command post to a safer location.

 

He however would not evacuate stating “I’m not leaving my men.”

 

At 10:28 on 9/11/2001, 1 World Trade Center collapsed, and the Chief would never be heard from again.

 

The next time you wonder what true leadership is, remember that this man could have been safe behind a desk and no one would have thought less of him.

 

He sacrificed himself to leave no one behind.

 

Godspeed Chief.

Rick's Recipes: The BEST Jiffy Cornbread

 

This is the BEST Jiffy Cornbread. So moist and delicious. Slather it with butter and you will think you are tasting a little bite of heaven.

 

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes

 

Ingredients:

·         1 cup sour cream

·         2/3 cup milk

·         2 large eggs

·         1/2 cup butter, melted

·         2 boxes Jiffy corn muffin mix

·         1 tablespoon sugar

 

Instructions:

·         Preheat oven to 400 degrees and grease a 9x13-inch baking dish.

·         In a large bowl, whisk together the sour cream, milk, and eggs.

·         Whisk in the butter.

·         Add the corn muffin mix and sugar and stir in with a wooden spoon. Transfer batter to prepared pan.

·         Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until golden. Serve warm.

Notes

Best served with extra butter.

 

Leftover cornbread can be made into croutons. Cut into cubes, toss with melted butter and bake at 350 degrees until golden and crispy.

 

Nutrition:

Servings 12

Calories: 297

Ahead of September 11th this year....