While Jimmy Carter was President of the United States, daughter Amy needed help with some homework. It was a Friday and the homework assignment was due on Monday.
A question about the industrial revolution was in the assignment. Neither Amy nor her mother quite understood the question, so mother Rosalyn asked a White House aide to ask the Labor Department.
Sunday afternoon a truck pulled up at the White House loaded with a computer printout. Somebody had assumed it was information the President urgently needed. So the Labor Department had kept a full computer team working all weekend to prepare the information.
When mother Rosalyn was told that the research had cost hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars she was horrified. But it was too late to do anything about it. So the information was used to help Amy complete her homework.
Ever made an expensive mistake? We all have. The importance of mistakes is the lessons learned. Learn them well.
Oh, by the way, on that homework assignment – Amy got a ‘C’.
Tags: homework, mistakes, Pres. Carter, school
This weekend we talked about the Book of Jude and the battle between light and dark in the early church. I tried to pull out of the Book several truths that we could all use in the church today. Our battles are spiritual, not physical. We need to approach them as such and not turn against the people God has called. And the message to rescue the perishing is more current today than it was then. There are so many deceived souls needing rescued that we cannot get caught up in our own personal wants in the church. Agree or disagree? What is your two cents worth?
A young man was accepted for the African mission field and reported at New York for passage on a ship. On further examination he learned that his wife could not stand the climate. Heartbroken, he prayerfully returned to his home and determined to make all the money he could to be used in spreading the Kingdom of God over the world.
His father, a dentist, had started experimenting, on the side, with an unfermented wine for the communion service in his church. The young man took the business venture over and developed it until it assumed vast proportions – his name was Welch.
Today, the Welch family still manufactures the famous ‘Welch’s Grapejuice’. He has literally given hundreds of thousands of dollars to the work of missions.
Sometimes it is trouble and disappointment that leads us down the path God has chosen for us.
Tags: communion, missions, trouble
It may just be the greatest botched opportunity in all church history. In the 1260s, the Polos, an Italian merchant family, journeyed to China and were well received at the court of the great Kublai Khan. Before they returned to Italy in 1269, Kublai Khan requested them to ask the Pope to send 100 teachers of science and religion to instruct the Chinese in the learning and faith of Europe.
The Pope only managed to send two Dominican friars with the Polos in November, 1271; but a war frightened the two friars, and even they turned back. The Polos, including young Marco, continued their journey to the Chinese emperor without the requested religious teachers. How might the history of Christianity in Asia been different had this incomparable opportunity been seized!
That opportunity may be gone, but today there is an excitement in the air as people all around us in America are crying out for something real. I’ve got it and want to pass it on!
Tags: China, history, missions, mistakes, opportunity
This week our daughter, Jenny, is visiting from Nashville, TN, with our 3- and 6-year old grandkids. They found the toy closet and have trashed our family room. There are wall to wall toys in that room. Being the perfectionist that I am, I tried to get them to play with one set of toys before they went to the next. No way! They want everything out in the open all the time. That way their short attention span never gets bored. Always something to move on to.
Now, I know they’ll only be here for a week, and I know they’re just kids, but I don’t like that disorderliness. But while I was dealing with my frustration, the Lord reminded me how he must feel when he looks at all the clutter in my life. Why don’t I just take care of one thing at a time? I’m sure He sees wall to wall clutter in my life.
So, I decided to chill out and just let the mess be acceptable for these days. In just a few short years they won’t want to visit here anymore at all. So, we’ll make precious memories while we can.
Tags: children, clutter, order
A woman named Nancy put this ad in her local newspaper: “If you are lonely or have a problem, call me. I am in a wheelchair and seldom get out. We can share our problems with each other. Just call. I’d love to talk.” The response to that ad has been tremendous – 30 calls or more every week.
What motivated this woman to reach out from her wheelchair to help others in need? Nancy explained that before her paralysis she had been perfectly healthy but in deep despair. She tried to commit suicide by jumping from her apartment window, but instead she became paralyzed from the waist down.
In the hospital, utterly frustrated, she sensed Jesus saying to her, “Nancy, you’ve had a healthy body but a crippled soul. From now on you will have a crippled body but a healthy soul.” As a result of that experience, she surrendered her life to Christ. When she was finally allowed to go home, she prayed for a way to share God’s grace with others, and the idea of the newspaper ad occurred to her.
Is there a way God could be using bad stuff in your life to lead you down the path He has set for you? Ask Him.
Tags: call, crippled, newspaper, service
The Pryor Report reports: Why Companies Lose Customers:
Companies rise and fall in their customers’ favor for a variety of reasons. The American Society for Quality Control reports the following study showing the relative importance of several reasons companies lose customers:
They Died………………………………………………………………………………………………………………1%
They moved away…………………………………………………………………………………………………..3%
They were influenced by friends………………………………………………………………………………..5%
They were lured away by the competition…………………………………………………………………..9%
They were dissatisfied with the product…………………………………………………………………….14%
They were turned away by an attitude of indifference on the part of a company employee…68%
Clearly, treating customers better is the best way to retain them.
The emphasis on good service has increased so much of late that the ASQC warns: “Unless a customer is completely satisfied – to the point of being positively delighted and willing to brag about the product or service received – there exists great potential for market damage and future trouble for the company.”
What does this article teach us about the church?
Tags: service