81a – Discipline Dominates
Think a minute…During a football game of Augsburg University in the U.S., Augsburg was losing. Then late in the game, defensive tackle David Stevens was put in to play and sparked a comeback in his Augsburg teammates. He made two important tackles and recovered a fumble to get the ball back for his team. The crowd cheered as he held the ball up high to inspire his team.
David Stevens was born to a woman who had taken an anti-nausea drug for pregnant women in the early 1960’s. Tragically the drug later caused terrible birth defects, so David was born with no legs. David’s mother consequently abandoned him, making his horrible young life seem hopeless. But thankfully David was adopted by Bill and Bee Stevens. David’s new father and mother loved him so much that they never wanted to cripple their son’s confidence for success in life. They continually supported and encouraged David, as well as challenged him to reach his full potential in spite of having no legs. They wanted to teach him to do things for himself, so they never put him in a wheelchair. Instead, when David was three-years-old they had prosthetic or artificial legs made for him.
In school David became a student leader, made good grades, and had many friends. In high school he not only played football, but also basketball, baseball, and hockey. He even became a champion wrestler. When he started driving a car the license bureau offered him license plates for a handicapped person, but he politely refused them, saying: “Those are for people who really need them. I’m not disabled.”
From the time he was young, David was taught never to think of himself as disadvantaged or crippled. Instead, he learned to discipline and train himself so he was able to do much more than anyone ever thought possible.
Whatever disadvantage you might be facing, you too can rise above it to achieve your life’s goals and dreams. If you ask Jesus to take charge of your heart and character daily, with His power you can discipline yourself to reach your potential and the great plan He has for you—no matter what challenges you face. Just think a minute…
81b – Managing Marriage
Think a minute…Someone said: “Marriage is like getting a phone call at midnight: first you get a ring, then you wake up!” One man said, “My wife went from hard-to-get—to hard-to-handle—to hard-to-take.” But a woman observed: “A husband expects his wife to be perfect, but to understand why he is not.”
Our problem is that when marriage does not give us total happiness like we expected, many of us blame our spouse, or even marriage itself. But if you’re not a happy person before you get married, you will not be happy afterwards either! In marriage, two people bring together not only their good qualities, but also their problems and weaknesses. So married life can become double trouble if we come into it with wrong, unrealistic expectations. But when we learn how to blend our two personalities and pasts, our love and joy together is more than doubled. Remember: “In the word wedding, the ‘we’ comes before the ‘I’.”
Our big mistake is thinking that if we change our spouse or outward circumstances, it will solve our marriage problem, along with our other problems. So, we get a better job, more money, a nicer house, even move to another city. The problem is this: “Wherever you go, there you are.” Even if we get a different wife or husband, the person we are inside remains the same. Until we stop blaming our wife or husband, or our outward circumstances, and we ourselves start to change, our marriage and life cannot change either.
The wise writer C.S. Lewis put it this way: “No clever arrangement of bad eggs ever made a good omelet.” A good omelet only comes from good eggs. And a good, satisfying marriage can only come from two people who love, accept, and care as much about the other person’s needs as their own. “A marriage can be made in heaven, but the maintenance work is done on earth.”
I cannot change my mate’s personality and character, and neither can you change yours. But if you ask Jesus to start changing you first, then after your wife or husband sees you growing better as a person and partner, they will likely want to start changing and growing with you. Won’t you be the first one in your marriage to pray this life-changing prayer: “Lord, please start changing my marriage into the close, happy one I know you created it to be—and start by changing me.”Just think a minute…
81c – Success is a Way of Living
Think a minute…In 1951 a nuclear disaster nearly happened at a nuclear power plant in Canada. The core reactor melted down, so it had to be taken apart before deadly radiation escaped into the nearby community. The challenge was to quickly find the right person who was both highly trained and also brave enough to do such a dangerous, and potentially deadly, job.
A 26-year-old lieutenant in the United States Navy who was highly trained in nuclear physics and reactor technology rose to the challenge. He had top security clearance at the headquarters of the Atomic Energy Commission in Washington D.C., so he was flown to the nuclear power plant in Canada where the accident had happened.
There he led a team of trained technicians as they quickly practiced each precise step of taking apart the melted reactor. Finally, wearing special radiation-resistant clothing and armed with only the tools in his hands, the lieutenant went where no human being had gone before: a melted-down nuclear reactor core.
He had to take the reactor apart perfectly, with each step taking no longer than one minute and 30 seconds. In that amount of time this young lieutenant’s body was exposed to the maximum allowable radiation for a human being for an entire year! His swift and skillful work was crucial to his own survival. He had no time for even one small mistake of fumbling for a needed part or tool. Both his life and the lives of many others were depending on him.
He not only survived, he succeeded! And not only at that challenging job, but many others throughout his life. For that young Navy lieutenant who saved countless lives by skillfully and bravely going where no human in history had gone before, went on to become President of the United States: Jimmy Carter.
Remember, what we become in the future is determined by the choices we make today…and every day. We must choose to do the right thing and be our very best, no matter what the cost or risk. If we keep “doing the next right thing” it becomes our daily habit and character that continually brings us greater success in life. Won’t you ask Jesus to forgive you for not living the way you know you should, and to help you start living His right, best way every day? Just think a minute…
81d – Fruitful Failures?
Think a minute…Remember Christopher Columbus? The bold explorer from Europe who intended to sail across the Atlantic Ocean to find Asia but failed. Well, he didn’t fail completely. Instead of Asia he found the New World, now called America.
Louis Pasteur was looking for a way to keep wine from turning sour, but instead he found a way to kill the dangerous bacteria in milk. His process of pasteurization has made milk safer to drink for millions around the world.
Willhelm Roentgen was working on a way to improve photography, but instead he found the way to make X-Rays, which has enabled doctors to save millions of limbs and lives.
How many times have you really wanted something and did not get it, but instead you ended up getting something even better! In the end, you were actually happy and thankful you did not get what you first wanted.
Someone once said: “When God wants to curse us, He gives us what we want.”The fact is we often want things that are not good for us. Things that in the end will make us and our family unhappy. Our problem is that we simply do not know and understand it yet. It’s because God loves us so much that He tries to protect us from our own wrong desires—so He does not always give us what we want. There are other times we want things that are actually good and we still do not get them. We may feel disappointed, confused, or angry. But then God surprises us by giving us something even better and more lasting.
This short poem explains God’s wisdom in responding to our desires and prayers:
When our request is not right, God says no.
When the timing is not right, God says slow.
When we are not right, God says grow.
But when all these are right, God says go.
Remember, since our Maker designed and created us, He knows much better than we do what will fully satisfy us and give us His true success. He created us to enjoy happiness that lasts both for this lifetime and the next. This is why asking Him to take charge of your life and living His way every day is not only the right thing to do, it’s the smartest thing you can ever do. Once and for all, won’t you decide to start following Jesus every day, for the rest of your life? Just think a minute…
81e – Real Love Costs
Think a minute…A four-year-old girl was terribly injured in a car accident and going to die unless the doctors quickly found a person with her same rare blood type who was willing to give her their blood. Then they discovered the girl’s seven-year-old brother had the same blood type as her. The doctor led her brother into his office and told him that his baby sister was very sick and unless she received blood she would probably die. Her brother’s eyes filled with tears. After a few moments he bravely said to the doctor: “I’ll give my blood to my sister.”
Later as the young boy watched his blood going through a tube into his sister’s body, his fear reached a point of panic. The doctor saw the terrified look on the little boy’s face and said: “It’s OK, son, it will all be over soon.” The boy started to cry: “So now is when I’m going to die?” When the doctor had first asked this young boy to give his blood to his sister, the boy thought it meant he was giving ALL of his blood, and that he would die so his sister could live. Yet because he loved his sister so much, he still chose to give his life for her.
We often do not know how much people really love us until their relationship with us costs them something. Some friends are only friends to us as long as it is convenient for them, or if they get some advantage from our friendship. But Jesus taught and showed us, “There is no greater love than when someone gives his life for his friend.”
Amazingly, even when we rejected Him as our Creator and Savior, ignoring Him in our life, Jesus still gave His own perfectly innocent life for us. He, our Maker who created us to share and enjoy life with Him, did all of this for us. But He will never force you to love Him in return. Otherwise, it would not be love, since love must be freely chosen. He will always respect your freedom to choose—especially since He is the One Who gave it to you.
Won’t you ask Him to become your Rescuer, Lord, and closest Friend? Sincerely ask Jesus to forgive you for all of your wrongs and sinful living, and to become your Lord as you start living His way each day. He promises He will never leave you, and that you will never regret having Him as your very best friend—now and forever. Just think a minute…