Quote from Forum Archives on September 23, 2003, 9:47 pm

Posted by: masinick <masinick@...>

Dear friends,

Larry Davies has written yet another of his original devotional
messages, full of common every day discussions that are easy to
relate to, yet messages that discuss topics of relevant spiritual
content.

Since Larry mentions a song from a popular musical that dates
both of us, I'll add the words to a much more contemporary Gospel
song performed by the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir during the
1990's, often still heard, then I'll leave the rest to Larry:

Take Up Your Cross

Take up your cross, follow Jesus
Take up your cross every day
Don't be ashamed to say that you know Him
Count the cost, take up your cross, follow Him

Well I know some times the road ain't easy
And I know sometimes you just feel like you can't go on
But you can make it if you

Take up the cross, follow Jesus
Take up your cross every day
Don't be ashamed to say that you know Him
Count the cost, take up your cross, follow Him

Between the Godspell song, Day by Day and the Brooklyn Tabernacle
song, Take Up Your Cross, there's some pretty good theology. One
tool that I often use to supplement my reading and meditation of
scripture, along with scripture, meditation, and prayer is good,
scripturally based Gospel music. I think about the words in
various songs and decide for myself just how well they line up
with the words of scripture. If something doesn't match up, I
don't let the song get very far into my head, I find something
that encourages me and reminds me of eternal truths.

Your Brother in Christ,
Brian

____________________________
Sowing Seeds of Faith...

-----Original Message-----
From: Stephen Clarke Zoeller [mailto:racerev@racerev.com]
In 1969, my young secretary died of leukemia. She was not yet 20
years old. She was a beautiful girl, talented with a great life
ahead. She and her mother had been on the front page of life
magazine when they lead the orange bowl parade. I lived about 50
miles from where she ended up in the hospital. One night her
girlfriend called and said: "she wants to see you because she is
not doing well." I told her that it was 10pm and I would come
down tomorrow. There never was a tomorrow, because she died that
night. This year for the 9th time I am taking cancer children or
kids with blood disorders to a sporting event. This year we will
have over 220 children. Your story of the $7.43 really struck
home and touched my heart. Thank God, I have a chance to give
back, because no child should have to face cancer alone. Grace
and Peace be yours in abundance, Shalom, Stephen Zoeller

"If You're Going to Fly... You've Got to Flap Your
Wings!" Larry Davies

There is a parable about a wild goose shot down by a local
hunter. Only wounded in one wing, he landed safely in a
barnyard. Naturally the local turkeys and chickens were quite
startled by this sudden visitor from the sky. As they became
more comfortable with this stranger, however, it was only
natural to ask about what they had seen but never experienced:
"Tell us what it's like to fly?"

"It's wonderful!" said the Goose who told story after story of
his flights. "It's beautiful to soar out in the wild blue
yonder! Why this barn looks only an inch high and all of you
look like tiny specks from such a distance. First you fly high
and then you can glide and enjoy the astonishing scenery."

All the birds were quite impressed by the goose's stories. Later
they asked him to tell more stories about flying. Soon, it
became a weekly event for the goose to entertain all the
barnyard birds with his stories. They even provided a little box
for him to stand so everyone could see him better.

But the strangest thing happened or maybe I should say... never
happened. While the domestic birds very much enjoyed hearing
about the glories of flight, they never tried to fly themselves.
And the wild goose, even though his wing healed, continued to
talk about flying but never actually flew again.

As pastor of a church, I find this parable frightening. Why?
Because it hits too close to home. How easy it is to talk about
being a Christian without acting like one. How easy it is to
stand in church and say, "Jesus is Lord," without actually
turning our lives over to His direction. How easy it is to sit
in our comfortable seats and ignore a world in desperate need of
our witness. How easy it is as a minister to talk about ministry
without actually doing it. It's easy to talk but you must really
flap those wings to fly.

Jesus spoke to his disciples about what it takes to actually fly
and follow Him: "'If any of you wants to be my follower,' he
told them, 'you must put aside your selfish ambition, shoulder
your cross, and follow me. If you try to keep your life for
yourself, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my
sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will find true
life.'" (Mark 8:34-35)

"Shoulder your cross and follow me." Other versions of the Bible
quote: "Take up your cross and follow me." I used to think the
cross stood for the pain of being a Christian. In other words:
"If you really want to follow me, you must be willing to endure
pain and suffering." This is not an exciting thought and also
not completely true. Although pain strikes all of us, it's not
what Jesus had in mind. If this were about pain we would be
keeping 'pain' diaries to see which one suffered most: 'pain'
winners go to heaven.

So, what does it truly mean to 'shoulder your cross and follow
Christ?'

Well, you're not going to believe this but I think Jesus is
talking about flying.

"What? Larry, have you lost your mind? Where is flying mentioned
in the Bible?"

Jesus is talking about being committed to your mission. Jesus
accepted the suffering because that was his mission. The cross
was Jesus Christ's ultimate mission and he was committed to
seeing it through to the end. A bird's mission is to fly but you
must first be committed to the work and effort of flapping your
wings over and over until you learn to fly. Our decision to take
up the cross and follow God regardless of the cost is our cross
and our commitment to flap our wings until we finally fly.

But flying is the best part. It may be safer to stay in the
barnyard but look at what you will miss. What would it be like
to truly soar and ride the air currents? If we live always so
carefully protecting and watching our own self-interests, making
no effort for anyone but ourselves we'll miss the best part of
life: Knowing our mission and having the inner satisfaction of
carrying it out to the best of our ability.

A song in the musical "Godspell" said it best: "Day by day, day
by day: Oh, dear Lord, three things I pray: to see thee more
clearly, love thee more dearly, follow thee more nearly, day by
day. If we learn from God to see more clearly, love more dearly
and follow more nearly we will take our cross and fly.

Read Sowing Seeds of Faith... everyday! Click here:
www.sowingseedsoffaith.com/Devotions.htm

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our prayer team today. Check it out by clicking here:
www.sowingseedsoffaith.com/sign-up.htm

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Ministry partner. Click here:
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Jesus said: "You are the light of the world--like a city on a
mountain, glowing in the night for all to see. Don't hide your
light under a basket! Instead, put it on a stand and let it
shine for all." (Matthew 5:14-15)

"Breaking the Peanut Butter Habit: Following God's Recipe for a
Better Life" now on sale only through our website.
www.sowingseedsoffaith.com/peanbutt.htm

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=====
--
Brian Masinick, mailto:masinick@yahoo.com
Home page: www.geocities.com/masinick/

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