BBD 11.09.04 Target Practice

#1 · November 9, 2004, 12:58 am

Quote from Forum Archives on November 9, 2004, 12:58 am
Posted by: edwrather <edwrather@...>

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The Burning Bush Devotional

(Over 13,000 subscribers in 75 countries)

11.09.04

Target Practice

Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented - of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth. And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us. - Hebrews 11:36-40.

A school custodian in South New Jersey was going about his work one evening as he usually did when the unexpected happened. The Little Egg Harbor Intermediate School became the unintended target of a National Guard F-16 fighter jet, which unleashed 25 rounds of 20mm cannon fire. Thankfully, damage was minimal with only some damage to the schools roof and the asphalt outside the school building. Of course, the school custodian is still shaking! It is now thought that the cannon fire was completely accidental and unintended but still it has to make you pause in thought if you work or have children in that school building.

Hebrews chapter 11 is the roll call of the heroes of the faith. Everyone is miraculously delivered until you reach the end of the chapter where you learn that some were not delivered from unnatural death on this earth. In fact, some suffered a horrible fate being sawn in two. That sounds bad to me and I would not want to experience such a thing.

Even if we do not experience the difficult things mentioned in the last of Hebrews 11 we may still not live easy lives. At times, it may seem like a fighter jet has unloaded cannon fire at random upon us. We may even feel like we have a bulls eye painted on us, which someone is using for target practice.

What am I talking about? Im talking about life. We may wake up one morning and everything seems fine and have a terrible traffic accident on the way to work. Or, we may make it to work and find out that the company is not doing well and it has been decided there must be some cutbacks in employees. We may have our yearly physical and learn that everything is not okay. We come home from work and our wife or husband has decided to leave us. I think you get the picture. Sometimes it feels like we are being used for target practice.

How should we respond when the cannon of life is roaring and the shells are exploding around us? James gives us a hard word in James 1:2-3 where he says, My brethren, COUNT IT ALL JOY when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. God is going to use those shells exploding around you to develop you, to change you, to make you better, to make you more like Him. Out of the bad comes the good just as we are told in Romans 8:28, And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. Part of that good is for us to become more and more like our Lord Jesus, For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son (Romans 8:29a).

Let us rejoice! For our God loves us, is working in every tiny aspect of our lives, and will bring good out of the bad. Just, count it all joy.

Copyright 2004. Ed Wrather. Permission is given for use of the devotionals on a non-profit basis with source credited. On June 8, 1998 the email version of the Burning Bush Devotional was first sent.

Although the devotionals and materials from the Burning Bush are free there are substantial costs involved in reaching people through this ministry (www.theburningbush.org/ministrysupport.html). Visit the ministry support link and you can find out about the benefits available to you as a supporter and prayer warrior for this ministry. You can support the devotional financially through paypal (or directly with information given in the ministry support link above): www.paypal.com/xclick/business=edwrather%40yahoo.com&no_note=1&tax=0&currency_code=USD

The Crossmap Christian Search and Portal is a wonderful resource. I would like to encourage you to visit this great site at www.crossmap.com. Crossmap has recently added the Burning Bush Devotionals to their site. You may visit Crossmaps sister website, the online version of the Christian Post at www.christianpost.com.

If you have a Christian website you are invited to add the link to my free links at the Burning Bush website. The Bravenet free links is near the bottom of the front page www.theburningbush.org.

If you enjoy the devotional please recommend it to your friends. They may subscribe by sending a blank email to burningbushdevo-subscribe@welovegod.org

Streaming Videos of our services including my sermons are posted at: www.theburningbush.org/fbcswvideo.html

There is now a webpage available at associate.com where the devotionals are archived associate.com/groups/burningbushdevo. There is a complete archive at the Burning Bush website and the address for the archive is www.theburningbush.org/33.html.

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Posted by: edwrather <edwrather@...>

Please sign the GuestMap at The Burning Bush website. You can plant your country's flag on the map and leave a message. You can find it on the front page at http://www.theburningbush.org

The Burning Bush Devotional

(Over 13,000 subscribers in 75 countries)

11.09.04

Target Practice

Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented - of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth. And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us. - Hebrews 11:36-40.

A school custodian in South New Jersey was going about his work one evening as he usually did when the unexpected happened. The Little Egg Harbor Intermediate School became the unintended target of a National Guard F-16 fighter jet, which unleashed 25 rounds of 20mm cannon fire. Thankfully, damage was minimal with only some damage to the schools roof and the asphalt outside the school building. Of course, the school custodian is still shaking! It is now thought that the cannon fire was completely accidental and unintended but still it has to make you pause in thought if you work or have children in that school building.

Hebrews chapter 11 is the roll call of the heroes of the faith. Everyone is miraculously delivered until you reach the end of the chapter where you learn that some were not delivered from unnatural death on this earth. In fact, some suffered a horrible fate being sawn in two. That sounds bad to me and I would not want to experience such a thing.

Even if we do not experience the difficult things mentioned in the last of Hebrews 11 we may still not live easy lives. At times, it may seem like a fighter jet has unloaded cannon fire at random upon us. We may even feel like we have a bulls eye painted on us, which someone is using for target practice.

What am I talking about? Im talking about life. We may wake up one morning and everything seems fine and have a terrible traffic accident on the way to work. Or, we may make it to work and find out that the company is not doing well and it has been decided there must be some cutbacks in employees. We may have our yearly physical and learn that everything is not okay. We come home from work and our wife or husband has decided to leave us. I think you get the picture. Sometimes it feels like we are being used for target practice.

How should we respond when the cannon of life is roaring and the shells are exploding around us? James gives us a hard word in James 1:2-3 where he says, My brethren, COUNT IT ALL JOY when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. God is going to use those shells exploding around you to develop you, to change you, to make you better, to make you more like Him. Out of the bad comes the good just as we are told in Romans 8:28, And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. Part of that good is for us to become more and more like our Lord Jesus, For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son (Romans 8:29a).

Let us rejoice! For our God loves us, is working in every tiny aspect of our lives, and will bring good out of the bad. Just, count it all joy.

Although the devotionals and materials from the Burning Bush are free there are substantial costs involved in reaching people through this ministry (http://www.theburningbush.org/ministrysupport.html). Visit the ministry support link and you can find out about the benefits available to you as a supporter and prayer warrior for this ministry. You can support the devotional financially through paypal (or directly with information given in the ministry support link above): http://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=edwrather%40yahoo.com&no_note=1&tax=0&currency_code=USD

The Crossmap Christian Search and Portal is a wonderful resource. I would like to encourage you to visit this great site at http://www.crossmap.com. Crossmap has recently added the Burning Bush Devotionals to their site. You may visit Crossmaps sister website, the online version of the Christian Post at http://www.christianpost.com.

If you have a Christian website you are invited to add the link to my free links at the Burning Bush website. The Bravenet free links is near the bottom of the front page http://www.theburningbush.org.

If you enjoy the devotional please recommend it to your friends. They may subscribe by sending a blank email to burningbushdevo-subscribe@welovegod.org

Streaming Videos of our services including my sermons are posted at: http://www.theburningbush.org/fbcswvideo.html

There is now a webpage available at associate.com where the devotionals are archived associate.com/groups/burningbushdevo. There is a complete archive at the Burning Bush website and the address for the archive is http://www.theburningbush.org/33.html.

You may subscribe to the pure text group by sending a blank email to burningbushdevo-subscribe@welovegod.org and you can unsubscribe by sending a blank email to burningbushdevo-unsubscribe@welovegod.org

You may subscribe to the html text group by sending a blank email to burningbushhtml-subscribe@welovegod.org and you may unsubscribe by sending a blank email to burningbushhtml-unsubscribe@welovegod.org

Subscribe to the Burning Bush Prayer Group. Send and receive prayer requests to over 300 members. Send a blank email to: BBPG-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Subscribe to the Burning Bush Inspirational Group. Send and receive inspirational material to over 100 members. Send a blank email to: bbinspire-subscribe@welovegod.org

Subscribe to the Burning Bush Restoration and Recovery Group for those with addictions or recovering from addictions. Receive devotionals and inspirational material directed toward those with addictions. Send and
receive prayer requests. Over 200 members. Send a blank email to: tbbrr-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Subscribe to the Intercede Life Group and pray for and help in practical ways those who need help. To subscribe send a blank email to interclife-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. A closely related website is Peoplefaces which seeks to help those in need peoplefaces.ohzone.net/index2.htm

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