Quote from Forum Archives on June 16, 2000, 10:23 am

Posted by: masinick <masinick@...>

Dear friends,

As is my custom, whenever possible, I share Larry Davies' "Sowing
Seeds of Faith" on a weekly basis. Larry has moved the time of
sending his weekly messages from Wednesday to Thursday. In the
past, if I received the message early enough, I would share
"Sowing Seeds of Faith" with you on Wednesday, otherwise on
Thursday. So now we will move that forward a day. For this
week, that means that your "treat" 😉 comes on Friday. (I
certainly consider it a treat - it is a pleasure, because Larry's
messages have a sound, biblical message in them, yet they are
stories taken out of our every day lives).

This week, Larry tells a story about the Middle East, the tension
between the Israelites and the Arabs, and how we can relate our
frustrations (despair, wondering how we can make a difference) to
the topic of dealing with depression.

Not all of us has to deal, personally, with national and
international issues. Some of us wonder how relevant such things
are. A few of us have so many issues of our own to deal with
that we cannot even begin to look beyond ourselves. At one time,
I was so depressed that I was in that place. Perhaps you have
been, too.

Well, God is sensitive to each one of us, and God has a plan for
you and for me. Larry is going to make us wait for the
conclusion to his story. God sometimes makes us wait, too. More
often, it is God who is patiently waiting for US!

If you are depressed, take heart. We have an advocate. Our God
is a God who created us to have an intimate relationship with
Him. If you are down, for whatever reason, I urge you to cling
to the realization that God cares. Even if you cannot see the
answer, if there is just a slim ray of hope in the chance that
there is a future, and the future is beautiful, can you cling to
that?

Larry will continue his story next week. I will continue to seek
God, pray for a peaceful contentment in each of us; "strength for
today, and bright hope for tomorrow" (words from the hymn "Great
is Thy Faithfulness"). May God's blessings fill you with a
sufficient strength for today and a bright, joyful hope for
tomorrow. The purpose of each day is fulfilled in a relationship
with God.

Brother Brian

Subject: "Following God, the Mid-East and Dealing with
Depression" Sowing Seeds Devotion 6/14/2000

A warm welcome to all of our new subscribers. I appreciate your
interest and your enthusiastic comments. The day for receiving
these devotions will be moved to Thursday. I hope this will not
cause an inconvenience.

Sowing Seeds of Faith...

"Following God, the Mid-East and Dealing with Depression"

"Visiting Israel changed my life but not in the way you think," a
retiring professor said at a ceremony honoring his years of
service. "Because of terrorist threats, there were very few
tourists in the area, so I found myself virtually alone on a bus
in Jerusalem with a young Palestinian tour guide."

"Obviously bitter, the guide decided to unload all of his
people's problems on me. At one point the bus turned down a
small side street, he pointed and said, `that home once belonged
to my family. We lived there for many years, until the Jews
came. We were thrown out and put into a refugee camp. Promises
of compensation never materialized. Our family received
nothing.'"

"As the tour continued our guide pointed to other houses and
business once occupied by Palestinians, now owned and operated by
Jews. `They took our land, our homes, our businesses and even
our self-respect. We have been stripped of everything and no one
seems to care.'"

"For the first time," the retiring professor said, "I began to
realize that the Jews were not the only ones being oppressed.
The Palestinian people have legitimate problems of their own that
are crying for recognition. As a university professor, I was in
a position of influence. Maybe God was calling me for such a
time as this."

"So, I have spent the last sixteen years writing letters and
articles explaining the plight of the Palestinian people and
urging the necessity of looking at both sides of this difficult
situation."

After a long pause, the professor continued, "I must confess that
in this task, I have failed completely. I worked hard to deal
with a difficult worldwide problem and accomplished nothing. I
believe we are all called as Christians for a special task and in
that task we will usually be unsuccessful, therefore, we will
become depressed and depression is the darkness that often
accompanies serving God."

The retiring professor was depressed and by the time he finished
speaking, we were depressed. But the amazing part is that he was
right... sort of. We likely will not take part in resolving
problems between the Jews and the Arabs or any other global
events. When we die the world will probably be the same
dangerous place it is right now. If you think about it, a little
depression seems warranted.

Maybe it's best to not think about it. We should simply do our
work, raise our family, watch the news, take our vacations, enjoy
a few pleasures and not take any of this other stuff too
seriously. Who am I to think that I can actually impact society?
After all, how much can one person or one organization do?

"The world is so big and I am so small. What can I possibly
accomplish as a follower of God? Are we called by God for a
mission... only to fail?"

Are you getting depressed yet? You are not alone. For
generations, others have asked the same question. "What can I
do?" 1 John is a beautiful letter in the Bible written for a
church once filled to overflowing with the enthusiasm of serving
Jesus Christ but now becoming discouraged and beginning to ask
serious questions about their ultimate mission and even about the
identity of God.

"The one who existed from the beginning is the one we have heard
and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our
own hands. He is Jesus Christ, the Word of life. This one who is
life from God was shown to us and we have seen him." (1 John
1:1-2)

This is so important! John, the letter writer, proclaims that
God is alive and extraordinarily aware of what is happening in
the world and with His church. How does he know? "We saw him
with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands." In other
words, if God is alive and still in control then our lives have
purpose and meaning. We really are called by God for a
mission... if only we truly knew and understood what that mission
was? There is an answer from 1 John but we must wait until next
week.

Larry E. Davies

www.SowingSeedsofFaith.com

A Christian Devotional website with ATTITUDE, humor, great
stories and a down-to-earth Bible study.

=====
--
Brian Masinick, "The Mas", mailto:masinick@yahoo.com
Home page: www.geocities.com/masinick/
The Rules Have Changed...Get Paid to Surf the Web!
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