A Father's Love

    Phil Littleford took his son on an Alaskan fishing trip with two other men. In a quest to find some running salmon, they flew their seaplane to a secluded bay. The fishing was every thing they had dreamed. When they finished for the day, their plane was on dry ground. The fluctuating tide left their plane twenty-three feet from the water so they cooked some of their fish for dinner and slept in the plane.
    When they awoke, the tide had come in and their plane was drifting in the water. They cranked the engine and took off. Unknown to them, one of the pontoons had been punctured and was filled with water. The extra weight caused the seaplane to crash within moments. Everyone survived, but they had no safety equipment on board. They used their waders as floating devices but the frigid water was a deadly threat. The current was too strong for Dr. Littleford’s twelve-year-old son to swim against. The other two men fought their way against the tide and barely made it to shore. The two survivors looked back from shore to see Dr. Littleford and his son Mark being swept out to sea, arm-in-arm.
    The Coast Guard reported that they probably lasted no more than an hour in the freezing waters. The hypothermia would chill the body functions and put them to sleep. Mark, with a smaller body mass would fall asleep first and die in his father’s arms. Dr. Littleford could have made it to shore, but that would have meant abandoning his son. He chose to die with his boy.—Patrick Morely, The Man in the Mirror
    “Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him”—Psalm 103:13

Source:
House To House, http://www.housetohouse.com/HTHPubPage.aspx?cid=13321

Bad News

Gay Campbell, director of communications of the Everett School District in Washington state, commenting on an effort to pass school levies at the National School of Public Relations, said, "Parents are some of the worst enemies we have."

Source:
Firm Foundation (date unknown)

Changing As We Grow Older

By Alan Smith

    A young boy was looking through the family album and asked his mother, "Who's this fellow on the beach with you with all the muscles and curly hair?"
    "That's your father."
    "Then who's the old bald-headed man who lives with us now?"
    Let's be honest -- we all change as the years pass, and some of the changes are not for the better!  Physically speaking, few 50- or 60-year-olds have improved physically from what they were like when they were 20 or 30 years old.
    But the more important thing is how we are changing spiritually.  In Ephesians 4, Paul talks about putting off the old man (sinful actions and attitudes) and putting on the new man (Christ-like qualities).  That's not a once-in-a-lifetime activity.  It's an ongoing process.
    If we are going to grow, we must change.  And what is the goal?
    "...so that we can be mirrors that brightly reflect the glory of the Lord. And as the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like him and reflect his glory even more." (2 Corinthians 3:18)
     Have a great day!

- Alan Smith, author of the popular "Thought For Today," and minister for the Fayetteville Church of Christ in Fayetteville, NC, may be contacted at alansmith.servant@gmail.com

Daddy, Do You Want Your Boy to Be Like You?

Author Unknown

There are little eyes upon you

   and they're watching night and day.

There are little ears that quickly

   take in every word you say.

There are little hands all eager

   to do anything you do;

And a little boy who's dreaming

   of the day he'll be like you.

You're the little fellow's idol,

   you're the wisest of the wise.

In his little mind about you

   no suspicions ever rise.

He believes in you devoutly,

   holds all you say and do;

He will say and do, in your way

   when he's grown up just like you.

There's a wide-eyed little fellow

   who believes you're always right;

And his eyes are always opened,

   and he watches day and night.

You are setting an example

   every day in all you do;

For the little boy who's waiting

   to grow up to be just like you.

Source:

Pulpit Helps, date unknown.

Like Daddy

By Glenn Wagoner

I took my little laddie once,

And drew him to my knee,

And whispered to my little lad,

"Do you want to be like me?"

"Like Daddy," said my little lad,

"I'm gonna be like you."

I bowed my head in humbleness,

And suddenly I knew.

If my small boy would be like me,

There's one thing I must do,

The steps I take, the things I say

Had better all ring true.

As in the night I lay awake

While my wee lad slept on,

His words reechoed through my mind

Like some old haunting song.

"Like Daddy," that's the thought we need

To help to keep us straight,

Upon the way we fathers walk

Depends our children's fate.

Source:

Pulpit Helps, date unknown.

My Dad

He couldn't speak before a crowd;
   He couldn't teach a class;
But when he came to Sunday School
   Be brought the folks en masse.

He couldn't sing to save his life,
   In public couldn't pray;
But always his jalopy was just
   Crammed on each Lord's day.

And although he couldn't sing,
   Nor teach, nor lead in prayer,
He listened well, he had a smile,
   And he was always there.
With all the others whom he brought
   Who lived both far and near -
And God's work prospered, for
   I had a consecrated dad.

Source:
The weekly bulletin for the Park Avenue Church of Christ, Memphis, TN, June 21, 1987, p. 1.

When Do Mothers Rest?

A young mother with three extremely active young boys was playing "cops and robbers" one afternoon in the backyard when a neighbor stopped by to borrow a cup of sugar.
One boy aimed his pistol at his mother and yelled "Bank! You're dead."
The mother slumped to the ground in a heap. When she did not get up right away, the neighbor hurried to see if she had been hurt in the fall.
As the neighbor bent over, the over-worked mother opened one eye and whispered, "Shhhh. Do not give me away. I this the only chance I've had to rest all day."
Source:
Unknown

 

If We Were Really Wise

By Helen M. Young

Socrates said over 2,000 years ago: "Could I climb to the highest place in Athens, I would lift my voice and proclaim, “Fellow citizens, why do you turn and scrape every stone to gather wealth and take so little care of your children to who one day you must relinquish it all.”

We are concerned about the little training in the bible which the children of America are receiving.  We do not claim to know exactly how it can be done in every instance, but we are committed to the proposition that America's greatest need is spiritual rather than material. We believe we must restore God to the central place in our training program for our children.

If God is our creator, if He is our Father, if He is the one who sustains us, and gives us every blessing, then we cannot really understand anything in his universe apart from Him. Every thing relates to Him. We came from Him. We live to fulfill His purpose for us. We shall face Him in judgment. He cannot be ignored or relegated to the periphery of our life with impunity.

We pray that God will help our generation to restore Him to His proper place in the training of our children.

"I saw tomorrow look at me
From little children's eyes,
And thought how carefully we would teach
If we were really wise."

Source:
Unknown

Sentenced To Church For a Year

By Bob Plunket

That is right! U.S. District Judge David O. Below, Jr., sentenced Emma Jean Oliver to one year of church attendance with death about the only excuse for missing. A probation officer was assigned to enforce it. Emma Jean has four children. She was guilty of drug trafficking and faced a three year sentence in a federal penitentiary and an $250,000 fine.

It shook the legal world. One side said, "What kind of message does this send to drug traffickers if they know their sentence will be sitting in church for a n hour or two a week." Another side said, "It makes church attendance sound like a punishment when it should be a joy." Surely some will cry, "It is unconstitutional." What this really shows is the total frustration of judges. She has no $250,000 fine money. Who will take care of the children if she goes to prison? After three years will she start all over in drug trafficking?

What judges are noticing is this. Parents who take their children to Sunday school and worship and then live and practice these Christian principles at home have about a ninety percent success rate with their children. Some have said, "Oh, we took our children to church, but just look at them." Nothing could be more frustrating to a child than to hear the beautiful principles ad values of Jesus and then live with parents who never practice them.

The judge was sending a message here to parents, and the message is this. If you love your children and want them to grow up with values and convictions and to lead a productive life, take them to Jesus, the greatest teacher and the greatest life that has ever been lived, and then live this life before them at home. There are a few of these who are overcome by the world and peer pressure but only a few. Jesus said, "Suffer the little children to come unto me and forbid them not ...' (Matthew 19:14). The wise man said, "Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart" (Proverbs 22:6).

And how is Emma doing? Emma has not missed a service and she says she loves it. Emma says being with better people is making her better. What if the judge had sentenced Emma to us? What would she see in our house? The whole country is watching Emma's case.

Source:
The Messenger, the weekly bulletin of the Slicer Street Church of Christ in Kennett, MO, date unknown. 

Out of the Mouths of "Babes"

    One blistering day when they had guests for dinner, a mother asked her four year old son to say the blessing.
    "But, Mother, I don't know what to say," he protested.
    "Just say to the Lord what you've heard me say," she told him.
    Obediently he bowed his head and said, "Oh, Lord, why did I invite those people here on a hot day like this?"

Source:
Unknown