This Week's WOW 6/16

 

 

The Perfect Game (almost)

            I read this story a couple of weeks ago and thought you might enjoy it too.

            On June 2, 2010, Detroit Tiger Armando Galarraga had pitched a perfect game – for eight and two-thirds innings.  Twenty-six batters up, 26 batters out.  His own catcher did not even realize what was happening until the seventh inning, but the head umpire, Jim Joyce, had been aware of the historical implications since inning five.  With two outs in the ninth, and a 3—1 count, the fans held their collective breath as the 27^th batter was thrown out at first. Then the unthinkable happened. Head umpire, Joyce, called him safe, and perfection vanished.

            The outrage reached epic proportions, earning public proclamations from state lawmakers and even a joking reference in the White House Press Room. But in baseball, there is no “undo” button. Joyce, watching the replay after the game, admitted his error. It tore him up.  Angry fans, and even some of Galarraga’s teammates, called for action.  Everyone seemed to have a vested interest in the situation, everyone except for Galarraga.

            The next day he was sitting in front of his locker, completely calm. One of his teammates said, “I don’t think he really understands what a perfect game is.” But Galarraga understood. He had been playing professionally for a decade. He had bounced between teams and from minor to major leagues, and 28 years old or not, immigrant or not, he understood his own sport.

            His response? “Nobody is perfect,” Galarraga said. “Inside of my heart, I don’t have a problem.”

            What a perfect way to describe the condition God desires for all of us.  What if we could all respond that way when people make mistakes that negatively impact us?  That’s one of the benefits of living in forgiveness.  Inside of our own hearts we have calm and peace and release.  Even when something has been lost because of someone else’s mistake or oversight, inside of our hearts we don’t have a problem.

This Week's WOW 6/2

Here’s a story for you.

 A turkey was chatting with a bull. “I would love to be able to get to the top of that tree,” sighed the turkey, “but I haven’t got the energy.”

“Well,” replied the bull, “why don’t you nibble on some of my droppings? They’re packed with nutrients.”

The turkey pecked at a lump of dung and found that it actually gave him enough strength to reach the lowest branch of the tree.  The next day, after eating some more dung, he reached the second     branch. Finally after a fourth night, there he was proudly perched at the top of the tree. But he was promptly spotted by a hunter, who shot him down out of the tree.

The moral of the story: BS might get you to the top, but it won’t keep you there.

This story may not be very inspirational, but it’s funny and all too often true.  Have a great week.

Pastor Rick

This Week's WOW 5/20

Here are some inspirational thoughts on this graduation weekend.

Pastor Rick

Defeat is not the worst of failures. Not to have tried is the true failure.

George Edward Woodberry

A good reputation is more valuable than money.

Publilius Syrus

When you are laboring for others let it be with the same zeal as if it were for yourself.

unknown

This Week's WOW 5/5

 

Today’s WOW is mostly for women, although men will benefit from reading it too.  It is a recent article from Mark Gungor (Laugh Your Way to a Better Marriage).  Below are a couple of paragraphs.  If you want to read more click on the link or paste it into your browser to go to his web site.  Blessings.

 

Pastor Rick

 

Don’t Change The Guy

Way too many women are dating guys thinking they can change or morph them into the man they want him to be. It would be far better to just find a guy that is more of what you want. If he’s a frog, you aren’t going to turn him into prince charming. You need to move on. I don’t know what it is in the female psyche that makes women think that the bum will be different when they are married.

If you don’t like the fact that he isn’t a devoted follower of Jesus, or that he smokes or is a slob, or whatever—you fill in the blank—but think by some “magical cosmic force” he’ll be different once you are married, you are fooling yourself. Women will say they want a solid Christian man, someone with a good job and a wonderful mother but date a guy who stays in bed and watches TV rather than going to church, can’t hold a steady job and whose mother is a banshee. Then they think these things will go away, won’t matter or that they can change him. These ladies are in for a ton of misery.

Follow this link for the rest of the article:

http://www.laughyourway.com/blog/cannot-change-the-guy/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=MarksBlog&utm_campaign=20110224

This Week's WOW 4/20/11

A MODERN PARABLE

By Pastor Carol

The infamous “tax day” has just passed, and with that I am reprinting a “confession” written by an Internal Revenue Service agent. 

“The other day I checked a queer return.  Some guy with an income under $15,000 claimed he gave $1872 to some church.  Sure, he was within the 20% limit, but it looked mighty suspicious to me.  So I dropped in on the guy and asked him about his return.  I thought he’d become nervous like most of them do, but not this guy.

“Have you a receipt from the church?” I asked, figuring that would make him squirm.  “Sure,” he replied, “I always drop them in the drawer.”  And off he went to get his checks and receipts.

Well, he had me.  One look and I knew he was on the level.  I apologized for bothering him, explaining that I have to check on deductions that seem unusually high.  As I was leaving he invited me to attend his church.  “Thanks,” I said, “but I belong to a church myself.”  “Excuse me,” he replied, “that possibility never occurred to me.”

As I drove home I kept wondering what he meant by that last remark.  It wasn’t until Sunday morning when I put my usual dollar in the offering plate that I understood.”

~+~+~+~

Like it or not, when Jesus was asked about paying taxes, he said

 “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”

ODE TO UNCLE SAM

Paying income taxes

I always get annoyed.

But then I think

Things could be worse –

I could be

UNEMPLOYED!

~+~+~

This Week's WOW 4/13/11

Your Character Matters

By Pastor Donnie

In a discussion I had with someone recently about how to really live a life of integrity and actually step up to being a Christian man, we started to discuss the importance of accountability.  We started developing questions based out of a book titled Character Counts by Rod Hanley.  These questions we developed were personalized ones that would help us stay accountable to one another.  Often we believe that we can do this Christian walk alone – “It’s just Jesus and me” we tell ourselves but we were not meant to do this life alone.  We need others to sharpen us and to help us develop because we are not called to be mediocre Christians but rather we are supposed to be people of excellence in all that we do.  Here are a few of the questions that we developed that would help us live lives of excellence in every aspect of our lives, not just the “spiritual” ones.  They are simple questions but if they are followed, they can yield some amazing results in our lives.  I encourage you to talk to someone this week about holding you accountable.   –

            Are you setting aside time for God?  What did you get out of your time?

Have you done 100% at work?

Have you taken care of your body – exercise, eat right, sleep enough?

Has pride stopped you from succeeding this week?

Last week my pain was when _________

My growth from last week was __________

Growth I desire for next week is _____________

This Week's WOW 4/6/11

Friendship Power

by Pastor Rick

Here are a couple of thoughts on the subject of friendship and its power that I have had in my files for a long time.

"Life is to be fortified by many friendships.  To love, and be loved, is the greatest happiness of existence." Sydney Smith

"Friendship is the springboard to every other love.  Friendships spill over onto the other important relationships of life.  People with no friends usually have a diminished capacity for sustaining any kind of love.  They tend to go through a succession of marriages, be estranged from various family members, and have trouble getting along at work.  On the other hand, those who learn how to love their friends tend to make long and fulfilling marriages, get along well with the people at work, and enjoy their children." Alan Loy McGinnis The Friendship Factor