Sunday, May 30, 2010

May 30, 2010

An eighty-year old couple were having problems remembering things, so they decided to go to their doctor to make sure nothing was wrong with them. When they arrived at the doctor's office, they explained to the doctor about the problems they were having with their memory.

After checking the couple out, the doctor told them that they were physically okay but might want to start writing things down, making notes to help them remember things. The couple thanked the doctor and left.

Later that night while watching TV, the old man got up from his chair and his wife asked, "Where are you going?"

He replied, "To the kitchen."

She asked, "Will you get me a bowl of ice cream?"

"Sure."

Then his wife asked him, "Don't you think you should write it down so you can remember it?"

"No, I can remember that."

"Well, I also would like some strawberries on top. You had better write that down cause I know you'll forget that," his wife said.

"I can remember that, you want a bowl of ice cream with strawberries."

She replied, "Well, I also would like whipped cream on top. I know you will forget that. You had better write it down."

With irritation in his voice, he said, "I don't need to write that down, I can remember that." He went into the kitchen.

After about 20 minutes, he returned from the kitchen and handed her a plate of bacon and eggs.

She stared at the plate for a moment and said, "You forgot my toast."




Does anyone here have trouble remembering things?


How many of you have to write yourselves notes and memos to jog your memory?




You owe a debt of thanks to Dr. Spencer Silver and Mr. Art Fry! Dr. Spencer and Mr. Fry are the inventors of the post-it notes. Dr. Silver accidentally invented the adhesive that makes it stick but also allows it to removed and reused. That happened way back in 1968. But it was Art Frey who figured out the possibilities for what was to become post-it notes. He first used it as a bookmark for his church hymnal.



Let’s pause for a moment to thank Dr. Silver and Mr. Frey and remember those who help us remember things.




“When the time came, Jesus and the apostles sat down together at the table. Jesus said, “I have been very eager to eat this Passover meal with you before my suffering begins. For I tell you now that I won’t eat this meal again until it’s meaning is fulfilled in the Kingdom of God.” Then he took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. Then he said, “Take this and share it among you. For I will not drink wine again until the Kingdom of God has come.” He took some bread and gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this to remember me.” After supper he took another cup of wine and said, “This cup is the new covenant between God and his people—an agreement confirmed with my blood, which is poured out as a sacrifice for you.” Luke 22:14-20


REMEMBER HIS LIFE

There was once a man who didn't believe in God, and he didn't hesitate to let others know how he felt about religion and religious holidays. His wife, however, did believe, and she raised their children to also have faith in God and Jesus, despite his disparaging comments. One snowy eve, his wife was taking their children to a service in the farm community in which they lived. They were to talk about Jesus' birth. She asked him to come, but he refused. "That story is nonsense!" he said. "Why would God lower Himself to come to Earth as a man? That's ridiculous!"So she and the children left, and he stayed home. A while later, the winds grew stronger and the snow turned into a blizzard. As the man looked out the window, all he saw was a blinding snowstorm. He sat down to relax before the fire for the evening. Then he heard a loud thump. Something had hit the window. He looked out, but couldn't see more than a few feet.When the snow let up a little, he ventured outside to see what could have been beating on his window. In the field near his house he saw a flock of wild geese. Apparently they had been flying south for the winter when they got caught in the snowstorm and couldn't go on. They were lost and stranded on his farm, with no food or shelter. They just flapped their wings and flew around the field in low circles, blindly and aimlessly. A couple of them had flown into his window, it seemed. The man felt sorry for the geese and wanted to help them. The barn would be a great place for them to stay, he thought. It's warm and safe; surely they could spend the night and wait out the storm.So he walked over to the barn and opened the doors wide, then watched and waited, hoping they would notice the open barn and go inside. But the geese just fluttered around aimlessly and didn't seem to notice the barn or realize what it could mean for them. The man tried to get their attention, but that just seemed to scare them, and they moved further away. He went into the house and came with some bread, broke it up, and made a bread crumb trail leading to the barn. They still didn't catch on.Now he was getting frustrated. He got behind them and tried to shoo them toward the barn, but they only got more scared and scattered in every direction except toward the barn. Nothing he did could get them to go into the barn where they would be warm and safe. "Why don't they follow me?!" he exclaimed. "Can't they see this is the only place where they can survive the storm?"He thought for a moment and realized that they just wouldn't follow a human. "If only I were a goose, then I could save them," he said out loud. Then he had an idea. He went into barn, got one of his own geese, and carried it in his arms as he circled around behind the flock of wild geese. He then released it. His goose flew through the flock and straight into the barn--and one-by-one, the other geese followed it to safety.He stood silently for a moment as the words he had spoken a few minutes earlier replayed in his mind: "If only I were a goose, then I could save them!" Then he thought about what he had said to his wife earlier. "Why would God want to be like us? That's ridiculous!" Suddenly it all made sense. That is what God had done. We were like the geese--blind, lost, perishing. God had His Son become like us so He could show us the way and save us.As the winds and blinding snow died down, his soul became quiet and pondered this wonderful thought. Suddenly he understood why Christ had come. Years of doubt and disbelief vanished with the passing storm. He fell to his knees in the snow, and prayed his first prayer: "Thank You, God, for coming in human form to get me out of the storm.
God became like man in the Person of Jesus in order to show how to live and how to love. As John said, "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us."
Remember God's love for you. Post that truth on your heart and you mind so you will alway remember His life.

REMEMBER HIS LOVE

One day the bridge tender takes his son to work with him. It's a nice day... the son is fishing on the bank of the river... and the father is checking on the machinery that runs the bridge. Everything is as it should be. But then the son notices the train is coming. It's early! The train has run through a red light and is heading toward the draw bridge and the bridge is open!





The son notices this and tries to pull the emergency switch. But he's too small and too weak and he loses his balance and he falls into the gears... just as the father looks out the window, seeing his son fall into the gears. The father must make a decision. Lower the bridge, saving the train but killing his son. Or run out to pull his son from gears allowing the train to plunge to the river below. In a matter of seconds he must act – save his son and allow a train filled with passengers to plunge to their deaths or close the bridge knowing he will crush the life out of his only son.

One life or many lives? What a dilemma! What should he do? He pulled the switch crushing his son and saving the train. Shaken in his grief he watched the train speed by looking in the window at passengers who were carrying on with life completely oblivious to the sacrifice that had just been made to save their lives.



This bridge tender showed an incredible love for those strangers on the train that day. He sactificed his son's life to save their lives.



That is precisely what God did in Jesus. He demonstrated His love for us by offering His only Son to provide for our salvation!


Remember that! Post it on your heart and your mind.


REMEMBER YOUR LOSTNESS


I hate to be lost. The feeling of being lost is one of the worst feelings in the world - but I dislike asking for directions even more!


There are few things worst than getting lost when you are trying to get to a certain place. With the rise of GPS availability you would think that getting lost would be a thing of the past. Not so.

In a lot of cases GPS has caused people to end up at the wrong address, or in some extreme cases even to drive off the road. Only a few days ago too much trust in GPS led to an even more extreme error: a company sent their workers to demolish a house not providing them with the address but only with GPS coordinates, and the workers ended up demolishing the wrong house.

CLOSING:

There once was a baby elephant and a baby turtle drinking from a river deep in the jungle. For no reason, the turtle reaches over and bites the elephant's tail, really hard. Years and years later, the same elephant, now grown up, is by the same river, having a drink with his giraffe buddy, when the same turtle that bit him on the tail all those years ago wanders up to the river. The elephant rears back a leg and kicks the turtle as hard as he can, sending him flying way off into the jungle. "Why did you do that? " the giraffe asks. "When we both were babies, that turtle bit my tail for no reason," the elephant replied. "Wow! You must have a good memory!" exclaimed the giraffe. "Yep!" said the elephant. "I've got Turtle-Recall. "When it comes to the great salvation that God has provided for us through the sacrifice of Jesus – we need to have “total-recall”.
When it comes to God's love for us, and when it comes to the life that He gave for us we must always remember!