Read

A parable is told of a farmer who owned an old mule. The mule fell into the farmer’s well. The farmer heard the old mule braying in the well and after careful consideration he decided that neither the mule nor the well were worth saving. So he called his neighbors together and told them what had happened and he enlisted them to haul some dirt over to bury the old mule in the well and put him out of his misery. 

Initially, the old mule was hysterical! But as the farmer and his friends continued shoveling and as the dirt hit the old mule’s back a thought struck him. It suddenly dawned on him that every time a shovel load of dirt hit his back he would shake it off and step up. This is what he did, blow after blow. “Shake it off and step up, shake it off and step up, shake it off and step up. He repeatedly encouraged himself.” 

No matter how painful the blows, or how distressing the situation seemed, the old mule fought panic and just kept on shaking it off and stepping up. It wasn’t long before the old mule, battered and exhausted, stepped triumphantly over the wall of the well. What seemed like it would bury him, actually blessed him. All because of his outlook on life.¹ 

Reflect 

Every day is a terrible day for a miserable person, but a cheerful heart has a continual feast. (Proverbs 15:15 GWT) 

Proverbs 3:5-6—“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.” 

Respond 

Trusting God changes how a person looks at life. Picture looking through a pair of tinted glasses. If they are tinted yellow, everything you see will be tinted yellow. If they are tinted blue, all you see will be tinted blue. If you look through the eyes of faith, everything you face will be touched and interpreted by that trust in Christ. Question: Do you view situations through eyes of faith and trust in Christ? Trusting God results in joy, peace, and confidence—even in the midst of difficulties, not to mention that you become a giver of a positive outlook for the children to whom you minister. It’s okay to ask your kids to pray for you—to be transparent and let them see how a godly person responds in difficult times. Let’s take a lesson from the old mule today. If you are facing difficulties right now, keep your trust in God and wait and watch as God takes the “bad” and shakes it off to make a platform on which you can step up and give Him glory. 

Your thoughts? 

¹Source of the story is unknown. 

Read 

We have all heard that curiosity killed that cat but being curious or creative is not a bad trait to have. Creativity can be a crucial ingredient to opening a door for an exciting new opportunity. For centuries hikers have had burs in their socks. But it wasn’t until 1948 that Swiss mountaineer and Chemist George de Mestral got an idea; while peeling burs from his socks on a hike he realized that nature had provided us with a natural fastener. He turned that observation into a marvelous product with a million uses: Velcro (which means “velvet hooks” in French), the world’s first manmade burrs.¹ 

Reflect 

Mark 2:22—“And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost, and the skins as well; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins.” 

If any of you needs wisdom to know what you should do, you should ask God, and he will give it to you. (James 1:5 GWT) 

Respond 

Have you ever considered that of all the creations of God only man creates? Animals don’t create. Insects don’t create. Only man has the ability to take an idea and resources and make something original, not out of instinct, but out of desire. Why? Because the Lord is creative and we are made in His image. How can God use your creativity this week to serve others and glorify Christ? Are you facing a burdensome task in your life? How can you be creative in this matter to add a new energy and freshness to it? 

Curiosity is also valuable to a person. Curiosity fuels growth. What are you curious about? If you could ask God one question, what would it be? 

Your thoughts?

¹Charles Panati, Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Thing, (Harper and Row 1987), p. 156. 

Read 

One afternoon a man came home from work to find total mayhem in his house. His three children were outside, still in their pajamas playing in the mud, with empty food boxes and wrappers thrown all around the front yard. The door of his wife’s car was open, as was the front door to the house. Proceeding into the entry, he found even a bigger mess. A lamp had been knocked over, and the throw rug was wadded against one wall. In the front room the TV was loudly blaring a cartoon channel, and the family room was littered with toys and various clothing items. In the kitchen the dog food was spilled on the floor, a broken glass lay under the table, and a small pile of sand was spread by the back door. He quickly headed up the stairs, stepping over the toys and more clothes, looking for his wife. He was worried she may be ill, or that something serious had happened. He found her lounging in the bedroom, still curled in the bed in her pajamas, reading a novel. She looked up at him, smiled, and asked how his day went. He looked at her bewildered and asked, “What happened here today?” She again smiled and answered, “You know everday when you come home from work and ask me what in the world I did today?” “Yes,” was his incredulous reply. “Well, today,” she said, “I didn’t do it.”¹ 

Reflect 

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. (Galatians 6:9 NIV) 

1 Thess. 5:11—“Therefore, encourage one another, and build up one another, just as you also are doing.” 

Respond 

We all need affirmation. How has the Lord affirmed and encouraged you in your ministry position this past week? How have you affirmed and encouraged others? Do you feel like anything is lacking right now in your relationship with God? In your ministry to others? How would you like for someone right now to encourage or affirm you? 

Your thoughts?

Remember 

“Definition of an arch: Two weaknesses leaning against each other to make a strength.” —Leonardo Da Vinci² 

¹A Children’s Leader Devotion, (Lake Forest, CA: Saddleback Church), Week 10. 

²Quote taken from Saddleback Community Church’s Children’s Ministry Values. 

Read 

Legend has it that a man was lost in the desert, just dying for a drink of water. He stumbled upon an old shack—a windowless, roofless, weather-beaten old shack. As he glanced around he saw a pump about fifteen feet away, an old rusty water pump. He stumbled over to it, grabbed the handle, and began to pump up and down, up and down. Nothing came out. 

Disappointed, he staggered back. He noticed off to the side an old jug. He looked at it, wiped away the dirt and dust, and read a message that said, “You have to prime the pump with all the water in the jug, my friend. P.S.: Be sure you fill the jug again before you leave.” 

He popped the cork out of the jug and sure enough, there was water. Suddenly, he was faced with a decision. If he drank the water, he could live. Ah, but if he poured all the water in the old rusty pump, maybe it would yield fresh, cool water from the well, all the water he wanted. Risking everything, he poured all the water into the pump. Then he grabbed the handle and began to pump. . . squeak, squeak, squeak. Still nothing came out! Squeak, squeak, squeak. A little bit began to dribble out, then a small stream, and finally it gushed! To his relief fresh, cool water poured out of the rusty pump. Eagerly, he filled the jug and drank from it. He filled it another time and once again drank its refreshing contents. 

Then he filled the jug for the next traveler. He filled it to the top, popped the cork back on, and added this little note: “Believe me, it really works. You have to give it all away before you can get anything back.”¹ 

Reflect 

Joshua 1:9—“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” 

Respond 

What would you have done in the above story? If the man had been stingy with the water, he would have never received the full blessing that the pump could give. How are Christians today stingy with their time? With their money? With other resources? What might you need to risk “giving away” this week that will help you to dive deeper in your service to or relationship with God? 

Your thoughts?

Remember 

“Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much because they live in that gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.” —Theodore Roosevelt² 

¹Source of the story is unknown.

²Cited from Saddleback Community Church’s Children’s Ministry Values. 

Read 

Beatrice, Nebraska. March 1, 1950 

Everyone had a good excuse that Wednesday evening for being late to 7:30 choir practice at the Baptist Church. Ladona Vandegrift, a high school sophomore, always came early. But on this night a thorny geometry problem detained her. Torena Estes and her sister Sadie were ready to leave home on time. But their car wouldn’t start. 

Mrs. Schuster could be counted on to arrive ten minutes early for practice. But she was held up at her mother’s house preparing for a later missionary meeting. Pastor Klempel and his wife, always punctual, didn’t make it at 7:30 either. His wristwatch, usually very accurate, was five minutes slow this evening. 

Joyce Black felt it was so cold that she waited till the last possible minute to leave—a few minutes too long. Harvey Ahl had been invited over to a friend’s home for dinner and in the pleasant conversation lost track of time. 

Even Mrs. Paul, the choir director, failed to arrive on time. She’d always come fifteen minutes early. But on this night her daughter, who played piano for the group, fell asleep. Mrs. Paul hurriedly awakened Marilyn and they rushed to finish getting ready— but drove up to the church a few minutes late. This was the first time either had ever been tardy for choir practice. 

Eighteen people made up the West Side Baptist Church choir. Tonight every one of them arrived late, something that had never happened before. 

No one was there at 7:30 when the basement furnace, situated directly below the choir loft, ignited a gas leak. The loft blew up; the church was demolished. Then the choir members arrived on the scene—too late.¹ 

Reflect 

Matthew 18:6 –“…but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it is better for him that a heavy millstone be hung around his neck, and that he be drowned in the depth of the sea.” 

Respond 

God is the Great Protector and we must also be careful to protect the children He has entrusted to our care. In what ways has God protected you? In what ways can we share God’s protection with the children to whom we minister? The children’s ministry at 

Saddleback Church in California has an interesting saying when it comes to the protection of their children: “In God we trust—all others must be screened.” This is one mode of protection; what others can you think of? How about class rules? A system of discipline? An equal love for all the children? Others? 

Your thoughts?

¹Steven R. Mosley, God a Biography, (Phoenix: Questar Publishers, Inc., 1988), p. 211-2. 

Read 

The Greek word proskuneo (translated “worship”) means “towards to kiss” or to “adore”… “Literally, to kiss toward someone, to throw a kiss in token of respect or homage. The ancient Oriental (especially Persian) mode of salutaion between persons of equal rank was to kiss each other on the lips; when the difference of rank was slight, they kissed each other on the cheek; when one was much inferior, he fell upon his knees and touched his forehead to the ground or prostrated himself, throwing kisses at the same time towards the superior. It is this later mode of salutation that Greek writers express by proskuneo.”¹ This is the heart of worship, an in-love relationship with Jesus Christ where you long to bow before Him, to turn “to kiss” Him. 

Reflect 

I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now life in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me. (Galatians 2:20) 

Respond 

Christianity is not a religion. “Religion” comes from a Latin word meaning “back to bondage” because religion tries to squeeze your life into a rule book. Christianity is a relationship where the “rule book” Himself comes to live His life in and through you. Are you letting Jesus live through you? When was the last time you “turned to kiss” the Lord Jesus? Are you in love with Jesus Christ? How does this “in love” relationship come out in the way you live? 

Your thoughts?

Remember 

Our word “worship” comes from an Old Anglo-Saxon word, “worthship,” because when you worship, you are giving someone their worth. What “worth” do you give Christ daily? Live a life that blows Him a kiss. 

¹Spiros Zodhiates, Th.D., ed.., The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament, (Word Publishers, Iowa Falls, Iowa, 1992), p. 1233-4. 

Read 

Charles T. Studd was a famous sportsman in England, captain of the Cambridge XI cricket team. A century ago he gave away his vast wealth to needy causes and led the “Cambridge Seven” to China. His slogan was, “If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him.” 

During the first decade of this century, Charles Borden left one of America’s greatest family fortunes to be a missionary in China. He only got as far as Egypt where, still in his twenties, he died of typhoid fever. Before his death he said, “No reserves, no retreats, no regrets!” 

A generation ago, Jim Elliot went from Wheaton College to become a missionary to the Aucas in Ecuador. Before he was killed, he wrote, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” 

“…I [Billy Graham] have chosen Christ not because He takes away my pain but because He gives me strength to cope with that pain and in the long range to realize victory over it. Corrie ten Boom said, ‘The worst can happen but the best remains.’” ¹

Reflect 

For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. (Philippians 1:21) 

Respond 

Service is one of God’s purposes for your life and a heart for service begins when a person falls in love with Christ and is willing to say, “Lord, I will do anything you want me to do. Here I am. Send me.” Have you said this lately? Can you say, “Yes” to what God wants you to do even before you know what it is? “Yes, Lord. Now tell me what to do.” Are you absolutely in love with Jesus? For what specific service did God create you? Consider it this way: When you want to drive a nail, you pick up a hammer. When God wants to ____________________________ (fill in the blank), He calls on you. 

Your thoughts?

Remember 

You’ll never be happier and you’ll never be safer than right in the middle of God’s will— even if it costs your life. 

¹Billy Graham, Approaching Hoofbeats: The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, (Waco, Texas: Word Books, 1983) p. 94-95. 

Read 

The story is told that when Berlin was being divided into East Berlin, controlled by the Communists, and West Berlin, part of the free world, a group of East Berliners dumped a whole truckload of garbage on the west side. The people from West Berlin thought they’d pick up all the garbage, put it on a truck, and dump it back on the east side. Then they decided that wasn’t the way to handle it. Instead they filled a dump truck with canned goods and other non-perishable food items, went over to the east side, stacked it neatly, and put a sign beside it. The sign read, “Each gives what each has to give.” ¹ 

The point for us here is clear: We can only give what we have…now, we’re not talking about money or canned goods, but something much greater. You can only lead others to where you have already been. You can’t give your students spiritual depth and understanding if you don’t already have that spiritual understanding. You can only give the discipleship that you already have. 

Reflect

But you, dear friends, must continue to build your lives on the foundation of your holy faith. (Jude 1:20 NLT) 

Respond 

One of God’s purposes for you is discipleship. How well are you growing? Are you continuing to advance forward? Are there things in your life that are stunting your growth? What is your plan for discipleship and a closer walk with Christ? 

Your thoughts?

Remember 

Growing takes time and is a process. God takes seven hours to grow a mushroom but seventy years to grow an oak tree. Which do you want to be? 

¹John Maxwell, Be All You Can Be (publisher, date, and page unknown).

Read 

Nothing destroys like isolation. POW’s during the Vietnam War communicated and sustained one another by tapping through walls. The Hanoi Hilton, says ex-Air Force pilot Ron Bliss, sounded like a den of run-away woodpeckers. The North Vietnamese never mastered the code, which laid out the alphabet on a simple 5 x 5 grid. The code flowed so fluently that the men told one another jokes. Kicks on the wall meant a laugh. Every Sunday at a code signal the men stood and recited the Lord’s Prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance. Even walls and guards could not stop the prisoners of war from having community and fellowship with one another. We face our own walls and barriers to true community within churches today. The essence of community is at the very least a conversation together, a quick connect, a holding of a hand to join forces together to serve this day. Question…“Is true fellowship alive and well in your life today?” ^₁ 

Reflect 

Let us think about each other and help each other to show love and do good deeds. You should not stay away from the church meetings, as some are doing, but you should meet together and encourage each other. Do this even more as you see the day coming. (Hebrews 10:24-25 NCV) 

Respond 

One of God’s purposes for you is fellowship. On a scale of 1 to 10, how connected do you feel with other believers? Do you have a sense of Christian community with your brothers and sisters in Christ or do you feel separate and isolated? Why or why not? How can you have true fellowship with others? 

Your thoughts?

Remember 

There are no Lone Rangers in God’s Army. Together we stand shoulder to shoulder. 

¹Adapted from a story told on Preaching Today Cassette number 218 entitled “Community At Risk.”

Read 

Paul Bell was our missionary to the Mexicans in Bastrop, Texas. One Saturday afternoon he mingled with the men who came to town at that time. He came in contact with a man in his sixties and found him to be a ready listener to the sweet story of Jesus and His love. Later this man was gloriously converted. He said, “I can’t read or write, so I want you to teach me John 3:16. And since my people love to sing, I want you to teach me a gospel song.” With painstaking care, Brother Bell taught him John 3:16 and a stanza of the song, “What a Friend We Have in Jesus.” The man also promised to come to church and be baptized. 

Three weeks went by and the man didn’t show up. On the fourth Sunday he came and brought with him five other Mexicans. He walked down the aisle with them and said, “We are all here to be baptized.” In this brief time, with just a little bit of knowledge, he had led five men to Christ. He lived for two more years. Again and again he would come in and bring someone that he had won to Christ. The total reached about fifty. Then one day somebody came to Brother Bell and said, “An old Mexican woodcutter is dying, and he is calling for you.” Brother Bell went out and found the man. “I am so glad to see you,” said the woodcutter, “Will you quote my verse for me?” Brother Bell did this and then the man said, “Now will you sing my song for me?” Brother Bell lifted up his voice and sang. He saw the old man’s lips moving for a while, then they stopped. At the end of the song, he saw that the soul of the dear old Christian had slipped out to be with his God. But in two year’s time, he had won fifty souls with one verse of Scripture and one stanza of a song.¹ 

Reflect 

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. (Acts 1:8) 

Respond 

Evangelism is one of the purposes God has for your life. He created you to shine His life and light to all you meet.

• How effective do you feel in bringing other people to Christ?
• In what ways can you grow stronger in this area?
• What is your vision for seeing people saved? 
• Do you think we just talk a lot about sharing Jesus at church or do we really do it in our lives?

Your thoughts?

Remember 

You are witness everyday—either for Christ or against Him. 

¹W. Herschel Ford, Sermons You Can Preach on John, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1958) p. 429- 430.