Memory of an Incredible Father

I love sports so this event is something I really look forward to.

 

And every Olympics there's always BIG moments that will inspire you as human being and will make you believe in yourself and the God who created you.

The Barcelona Olympics of 1992 provided one of track and field's most incredible moments.

 

Britain's Derek Redmond had dreamed all his life of winning a gold medal in the 400-meter race, and his dream was in sight as the gun sounded in the semi-finals at Barcelona.

 

He was running the race of his life and could see the finish line as he rounded the turn into the backstretch.

Suddenly he felt a sharp pain go up the back of his leg. He fell face first onto the track with a torn right hamstring.

 

Sports Illustrated recorded the dramatic events: As the medical attendants were approaching, Redmond fought to his feet. "It was animal instinct," he would say later. He set out hopping, in a crazed attempt to finish the race.

 

When he reached the stretch, a large man in a T-shirt came out of the stands, hurled aside a security guard and ran to Redmond, embracing him.

It was Jim Redmond, Derek's father. "You don't have to do this," he told his weeping son. "Yes, I do," said Derek. "Well, then," said Jim, "we're going to finish this together."

And they did. Fighting off security men, the son's head sometimes buried in his father's shoulder, they stayed in Derek's lane all the way to the end, as the crowd gaped, then rose and howled and wept.

Derek didn't walk away with the gold medal, but he walked away with an incredible memory of a father who, when he saw his son in pain, left his seat in the stands to help him finish the race.

Astonishing, isn't it?

That's what God does for us when we place our trust in Him.

When we are experiencing pain and we're struggling to finish the race, we can be confident that we have a loving Father who won't let us do it alone.

You see, He left His place in heaven to come alongside us in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ. "I am with you always," says Jesus to His followers, "to the very end of the age."

We just have to keep our eyes, heart, and mind in God's Word.

Frog Story

A boy told his father, "Dad, if three frogs were sitting on a limb that hung over a pool, and one frog decided to jump off into the pool, how many frogs would be left on the limb?"

The dad replied, "Two."

"No," the son replied. "There's three frogs and one decides to jump, how many are left?"

The dad said, "Oh, I get it, if one decides to jump, the others would too. So there are none left."

The boy said, "No dad, the answer is three. The frog only DECIDED to jump."

Does that sound like last year's resolution?

Great inspiration and great resolutions, but often times we only decide, and months later...

...we are still on the same limb of do-nothing.

The Natural Order

A very wealthy man asked a Zen master for a text which would always remind him how happy he was with his family.

The Zen master took some parchment and, in beautiful calligraphy, wrote:

– The father dies. The son dies. The grandson dies.

– What? – said the furious rich man. – I asked you for something to inspire me, some teaching which might be respectfully contemplated by future generations, and you give me something as depressing and gloomy as these words?

– You asked me for something which would remind you of the happiness of living together with your family. If your son dies first, everyone will be devastated by the pain. If your grandson dies, it would be an unbearable experience.

“However, if your family disappears in the order which I placed on the paper, this is the natural course of life. Thus, although we all endure moments of pain, the generations will continue, and your legacy will be long-lasting.”

The Cry of the Desert

As soon as he arrived in Marrakesh, Morocco, a missionary decided he would stroll through the desert at the city’s boundary every morning. On his first stroll he noticed a man lying on the sand, caressing the ground with his hands and leaning his ears towards the earth.

“He is mad,” the missionary said to himself. But he saw the man every morning during his walks and after a month, intrigued by that strange behavior, he decided to approach the stranger.

He knelt beside him and asked, in broken Arabic, “What are you doing?”

“I keep the desert company and offer solace for its loneliness and its tears.”

“I didn’t know the desert was capable of crying.”

“It cries every day, because it dreams of being useful to mankind and turning into a huge garden where people could cultivate, flowers and sheep.”

“Well, then, tell the desert it accomplishes its mission very well,” said the missionary. “Every time I walk here, I am able to understand the true dimension of the human being, as its open space allows me to see how small we are before God. When I look at its sands, I imagine the millions of people in the world who were raised alike although the world isn’t always fair towards everyone. Its mountains help me meditate. As I see the sun rising on the horizon, my soul fills with joy and I get closer to the Creator.”

The missionary left the man and went back to his daily chores. To his surprise, he found him the next morning at the same place, in the same position.

“Did you tell the desert everything I told you?” he asked.

The man nodded.
“And even so it keeps crying?”

“I can hear each of its sobs,” answered the man, his head tilted towards the ground.

“Now it is crying because it spent thousands of years thinking it was completely useless and wasted all this time blaspheming God and its own destiny.”

“Well, then tell the desert that despite having a short lifespan, we human beings spend much of our days thinking we are useless. We rarely find the reason for our destiny and think God has been unfair to us. When a moment finally arrives in which we are shown the reason why we were born, we think it is too late to change and keep on suffering. And as the desert, we blame ourselves for the time we have wasted.”

“I am not sure the desert will bother to hear it,” said the man. “It is used to suffering and it can’t see things differently.”

“So then let us do what I always do when I feel people have lost faith. Let us pray.”

Both of them went down on their knees and prayed; one turned to Mecca as he was a Muslim and the other joined his hands in prayer, as he was Catholic. They prayed, each one to his own God.

The next day when the missionary resumed his daily walk, the man was no longer there. The ground where he used to embrace the sand seemed to be wet as if a small spring had formed. During the following months that spring grew and the city’s residents built a well around it.

The place is now called “The Well of the Desert’s Tears”. It is said that those who drink its water will be able to transform the reason of their suffering into the reason of their joy and will end up finding their true destiny.

Biggest lie of the enemy

He could be locked in any jail cell in the country, he claimed, and set himself free quickly and easily.

Always he kept his promise, but one time something went wrong.
Houdini entered the jail in his street clothes; the heavy, metal doors clanged shut behind him.

He took from his belt a concealed piece of metal, strong and flexible.

He set to work immediately, but something seemed to be unusual about this lock.

For 30 minutes he worked and got nowhere.

An hour passed, and still he had not opened the door.

By now he was bathed in sweat and panting in exasperation, but he still could not pick the lock.

Finally, after laboring for 2 hours, Harry Houdini collapsed in frustration and failure against the door he could not unlock.

But when he fell against the door, it swung open! It had never been locked at all!

But in his mind it was locked and that was all it took to keep him from opening the door and walking out of the jail cell.

That's how powerful your God-given mind is.

So if you think you're too old to memorize Bible verses...then you're right.

If you think you have a bad memory and can't memorize scriptures...then again you're right.

And if you think you're too busy to memorize God's Word...you're right too.

Simply stated, you'll believe what you want to believe is true.

I'm sorry but all these are just lies that the enemy are whispering to your ears.

Because the enemy would rather have you meditate on fears, doubts, and impurity than the true and living power of the Word of God.

But I trust you that you'll make a right decision and start your journey to a healthier relationship with God through scripture memorization.

Deep meditation

It's a story of the Italian poet Dante Alighieri, who was deeply immersed in meditation during a church service, and he failed to kneel at the appropriate moment.

His enemies hurried to the bishop and demanded that Dante be punished for his sacrilege.

Dante defended himself by saying...

"If those who accuse me had had their eyes and minds on God, as I had, they too would have failed to notice events around them, and they most certainly would not have noticed what I was doing."

End of story.

How about you?

Are your eyes and mind on God?

You see, we're in the age of distraction.

There more things now that gets our attention and it's harder to stay focused.

With technology, we now have email, Internet, chat, mobile phones, facebook, etc.

All these compete for your attention and eats up some of your time.

The time that you should be spending on activities that will help you grow spiritually.

Memorizing scriptures can take only 5 to 10 minutes of your time.

But what you'll gain spiritually is immeasurable.

Marinating your mind with God's Word and His promises is the fastest way to be closer to God.

God is ALWAYS looking forward to talk to you with all your attention is on Him.

So don't let the busyness of this world control your life.

Instead, let your life be controlled by the scriptures you've memorized.

Bible Reading

It was 1983. I and my two cousins were about to get baptized. As the custom, we were fasting for 3 days. We were challenged by the pastor to read the entire Bible before the baptism. Even though I read small chapters every day, I never ventured to read the entire Bible.

So we started to read the Bible. Frequently we discuss the chapters we are reading and we take stock of the books to be red to complete the task at hand. Some books were very interesting. Some parts were very boring. Still, we continued reading the Bible. It was a summer vacation time. So we were able to read the Bible during the day and night.

A few weeks later, I abandoned the task. But, my cousins completed it. During those days we look at the total page number and the number of pages I left. Very often I reviewed how many pages I read and how many pages left to complete the reading. Later I divided my reading plan into two. New Testament and Old Testament. First I completed New Testament and then I pursed the Old Testament.

My satisfaction came when I closed the book on the last page.

Throughout my teens, whatever I read, I always checked the page number/chapter I read and compared it to the total number of pages.  Anxious to be done with the task - whether reading for pleasure or for homework. I gauged my progress by how close I was to the end. My satisfaction came when I closed the book on the last page.

Thirty years later, enthralled with a good story, I never look at the page number. I enjoy the story. The end is no longer a sigh of relieve. It's a sad moment when I have to leave the world in the pages and return to the real one. I savor every moment of the life I am taken to between the pages.

It was those same teenage years when I longed for the time to fly so I could be on my own - to live the life I wanted. I didn't savor the pages as they turned.

Today, my final page is hopefully not too close. I want to savor the story of my life pages have to offer. I've learned to enjoy the story. Carefully reading each pages and loved the new information and twist it brings.

What I did yesterday teaching me. I turn the page of tomorrow. What new mysteries it reveal? What excitement will unfold?

I no longer rush through life; I enjoy the read.