I am giving you the ball son, and naming you the quarterback for your team in the game of life. I am your coach, so I’ll tell you straight.

There is only one schedule to play. It lasts all your life, but consists of only one game. It is long, with no time out and no substitutions. you play the whole game – all your life.

You’ll have a great backfield. .You are calling all the signals, but the other three guys in the backfield with you have great reputations. They are named Faith, Hope and Charity.

You’ll work behind a truly powerful line. End to end it consists of Honesty, Loyalty, Devotion to duty, Self Respect, Sturdy Cleanliness, Good behavior, and Courage.

The goal posts are the Gates of Heaven.

God is the referee and sole official. He makes all the rules and there is no appeal from them.

There are ten rules. You know them as the Ten Commandments and you play them strictly in accordance with your own religion.

There is also an important ground rule. It is “do unto others as you would have done to you”.

Here is the ball. It is your immortal soul! Hold on to it. Now, son, get in there and let’s see what you can do with it!

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I wonder if He grew impatient as He awaited word from His Father that now He might proceed. Surely it was a difficult thing for Jesus of Nazareth to work day by day in the carpentry shop, while daily He could see the suffering, the pain, the torment His people were living through, dying through, while He did nothing more than watch and pray. Watch and pray! How many times did He petition His Father, how many times did He take His request to the great throne and ask, “Now, Father? Do I start now?”

We know He was a carpenter’s son, and that He had taken up His earthly father’s trade. Think of the chair that He would fashion. It would be level beyond that which any tool could measure. It would be smooth, every square inch planed and sanded to perfection. And why not? The wood He used was from the tree He created. And what of a bed made by the hands of the Creator? Would one sleep an especially good night’s sleep in such a bed?

I often wonder about the people, who lived in His village. Did they threaten Him, intimidate Him? Did they demand He stop what He was doing and satisfy their needs immediately. Did they haggle price with Him, demean His work in order to achieve special discounts. Did they treat Him like an inferior person because He worked with His hands, while many of His customers lived a style of life much higher than His?

Or did they know, somehow recognize the peace that was surely His trademark? Did they speak softly in His presence, or did they curse, brag and demand? How often I have spoken to a tradesman and felt that this man could not begin to have the importance I felt I possessed.

How often I have condescended to bribe, to intimidate, to distract a worker from his appointed task, feeling that which I needed would be of greater import than anything else he was engaged with at the time. How often I have been arrogant, how often I have been proud!

And did they treat Him like that? Imagine the Son of God listening with patience while a woman describes how he wants a table made, or a cabinet hung. He listens gently, as He did all things gently, and waits for her to finish. She is concerned that His work last a long time. A guarantee, she asks? She wanted assurances from this craftsman that His work will last as long as she expects it to.

How kind He was to listen, to explain, to be one of us, to interact with us, and to do so from an inferior posture. He would someday judge her, this customer in His shop. But not that day. That day He would listen. That day He would give to her all she demanded. He would not be offended by her bickering, her incessant chatter about the quality of workmanship being less now than when she was a girl.

And when she had finished, He would guide her out of His workshop, and return to begin the task for which she had engaged Him. He would select the right piece of lumber, lumber He Himself had caused to grow, and He would carry it to the bench. His hands were strong, His back was solid.

He worked with skill and confidence, for his father, Joseph, had taught Him, the creator of the universe, how to build. He would look at the coarse lumber, and see a finished cabinet, much as He still looks at the sinner and sees a saint. Working with patience, tenacity and love, He would take ordinary, common wood and turn it into a work of art. He could do no less. For the Son of Man would do nothing cheaply, nothing slipshod.

And to this day, He still takes the common, the ordinary, the unspecial material, and produces works of art. There is nothing in me to catch the eye of a Master, I was cheap and common and of no value to anyone save myself. But His learned eye saw past what the world would see, and He knew I was indeed a special piece of wood. He took me in His hands and molded me, sanded me and polished me.

When He is finished with me, He will present me to His Father and say, “Behold, Father, this one is mine.” And on that day, as I stand before the God that created me, and the One that drew me to His Son, I will be grateful that it is into the hands of a gentle, loving carpenter that I came to be a finished work of art. Not by virtue of what I was, but by virtue of the Master’s hand!

Author: Phillip E. Mahfood
Source: Unknown

200 page e-book that explains everything you need to know when planning your very own object lessons. It contains 90 fully developed object lesson ideas and another 200 object lesson starter ideas based on Biblical idioms and Names / Descriptions of God.

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A turtle family went on a picnic.. The turtles, being naturally slow about things, took seven years to prepare for their outings. Finally the family left home looking for a suitable place. During the second year of their journey they found it. For about six months they cleaned up the area, unpacked the picnic basket, and completed the arrangements. Then they discovered the had forgotten the salt. A picnic without salt would be a disaster, they all agreed.

After a lengthy discussion, the youngest turtle was chosen to retrieve the salt from home. Although he was the fastest of the slow moving turtles, the little turtle whined, cried, and wobbled in his shell. He agreed to go on one condition: that no one would eat until he returned. the family consented and the little turtle left.

Three years passed– and the little turtle had not returned. Five years… six years.. then in the seventh year of his absence, the eldest turtle could no longer contain his hunger. He announced that he was going to eat and began to unwrap a sandwich. At that point the little turtle suddenly popped out from behind a tree shouting, “SEE I knew you wouldn’t wait. Now I am not going to go get the salt.”

Too often in the church, we are too concerned about what others are doing / not doing rather than focusing on the fact that we are responsible for our own actions, not theirs. When Judgment day comes Jesus doesn’t evalauate our lives compared to others, whether we did better than those around us, but compared to total obedience to his commands.

200 page e-book that explains everything you need to know when planning your very own object lessons. It contains 90 fully developed object lesson ideas and another 200 object lesson starter ideas based on Biblical idioms and Names / Descriptions of God.

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Watchman Nee tells about a new convert who came in deep distress to see him. “No matter how much I pray, no matter how hard I try, I simply cannot seem to be faithful to my Lord. I think I’m losing my salvation.” Nee said, “Do you see this dog here? He is my dog. He is house-trained; he never makes a mess; he is obedient; he is a pure delight to me. Out in the kitchen I have a son, a baby son. He makes a mess, he throws his food around, he fouls his clothes, he is a total mess. But who is going to inherit my kingdom? Not my dog; my son is my heir. You are Jesus Christ’s heir because it is for you that He died.” We are Christ’s heirs, not through our perfection but by means of His grace.

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The early American Indians had a unique practice of training young braves. On the night of a boy’s thirteenth birthday, after learning hunting, scouting, and fishing skills, he was put to one final test. He was placed in a dense forest to spend the entire night alone. Until then, he had never been away from the security of the family and the tribe. But on this night, he was blindfolded and taken several miles away. When he took off the blindfold, he was in the middle of a thick woods and he was terrified! Every time a twig snapped, he visualized a wild animal ready to pounce. After what seemed like an eternity, dawn broke and the first rays of sunlight entered the interior of the forest. Looking around, the boy saw flowers, trees, and the outline of the path. Then, to his utter astonishment, he beheld the figure of a man standing just a few feet away, armed with a bow and arrow. It was his father. He had been there all night long.

Sometime it seems our heavenly father has left us alone and defenseless, in a dark world. But in truth, he never leaves our side, and is ever watchful over us, protecting us.

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A man found a cocoon of the emperor moth and took it home to watch it emerge. One day a small opening appeared, and for several hours the moth struggled but couldn’t seem to force its body past a certain point. Deciding something was wrong, the man took scissors and snipped the remaining bit of cocoon. The moth emerged easily, its body large and swollen, the wings small and shriveled. He expected that in a few hours the wings would spread out in their natural beauty, but they did not. Instead of developing into a creature free to fly, the moth spent its life dragging around a swollen body and shriveled wings. The constricting cocoon and the struggle necessary to pass through the tiny opening are God’s way of forcing fluid from the body into the wings. The “merciful” snip was, in reality, cruel. Sometimes the struggle is exactly what we need.

Author: Beth Landers
Source: Unknown

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One day a biologist came to his lab and, as always, he went first to look lovingly at his most prized possession, a lovely geranium in a beautiful clay pot. The biologist had worked years to develop this geranium, and it was the picture of perfection. This morning, to the amazement of the biologist, he saw a line-up of a large number of caterpillars on the rim of the clay pot. The caterpillars were moving in a constant column, and were lined up in such a way that the caterpillar who was in the lead was actually immediately behind the last caterpillar in the line-up. The rim was completely encircled by beautiful, healthy caterpillars. Inside the clay pot, just a few inches from the rim, and from the caterpillars, was the biologist’s pride and joy, the geranium.

Now the biologist knew that this luxuriant geranium was of a species most favored by caterpillars. And he knew too that the caterpillars would see that at the foot of the geranium the biologist had formed a small pool of clear, cool, inviting water.

The biologist watched, entranced as the caterpillar in the lead started moving ahead, and all behind him followed, around and around the rim of the clay pot. A young caterpillar near the middle of the line-up said, “Where are we going?” An older caterpillar just up ahead shot back, “Where do you think we are going? We are walking around the edge of this clay pot!” The older caterpillar bemoaned, “I sometimes wonder about the younger generation. Why must they question every single turn in the road of life? Why can they not be just like everyone else; keep their eyes on where we are going and learn to conform?” And with much tongue clicking and nodding of heads, all of the caterpillars continued following the leader on their trek around the rim of the clay pot.

Soon the young caterpillar began to get somewhat bored by the monotony of the walk around the rim of the clay pot. He had made a mental note of a large bump on the rim of the clay pot, and, (for lack of anything better to do), he had kept track of the number of revolutions which he and the other caterpillars had made around the rim of the clay pot. Also he had been watching as the sun moved across the sky, faded into starry night, only to rise again the following morning. The young caterpillar kept track of the number of days which had gone by since he and the other caterpillars had started on their trek around the rim of the clay pot.

“Did you know that we have now made 686 revolutions around the rim of this clay pot?”, the young caterpillar asked of no one in particular. All of the caterpillars merely rolled their eyes, shook their heads and tried to ignore the young upstart. “Well, it’s true”, he continued. “And more than that, I can tell you that we have now been 4 days on this continuous trek around the rim of the clay pot”.

One of the elder caterpillars could take this no longer. And between deep gasps for breath, (for the elder caterpillar was nearing exhaustion), he shot back, “Will you please just fall into line?”

Days went by and the caterpillars, (particularly the older ones), were becoming very tired and thirsty and hungry. So the biologist had compassion on the caterpillars and, in spite of the fact that it would ruin his favorite geranium, he broke off a beautiful branch and laid it up close to the edge of the rim of the clay pot, right where every caterpillar went by. “Much as it pains me to do this to my favorite geranium, there is no other way to make these caterpillars see that here just alongside of the rim of the clay pot is all of the food and water they so desperately need. The caterpillars can’t help but see that the way is now open for them to come and eat and drink”. To the biologist’s surprise however, not a single caterpillar seemed aware that the tasty branch from the biologist’s favorite geranium was right there along side of the rim of the clay pot. One particularly luscious looking leaf fell right on the path; the caterpillar’s tired feet tramped right over it until soon it was ground into the rim of the clay pot. And the caterpillars continued on their walk to doom, around the rim of the clay pot.

The older, weaker caterpillars began, one by one, to be overcome by hunger and thirst and exhaustion. And they fell to the ground dead. Soon only the young caterpillar remained.

The biologist couldn’t understand! “I have given of my best. I have provided food and water, more than you could ever need. I have shown you the way. All that you have to do is to come. Why do you not come?”

The young caterpillar knew he must make a decision. With tired eyes he looked longingly at the beautiful geranium just right there at his feet. Oh how wonderful to eat of that luscious fiber! And he saw the inviting pool of cool, fresh water. He could just feel the relief that would come from the sweet coolness of water in his parched throat.

Then he thought of the words of the older caterpillars and how they had warned that he must learn to conform. Slowly, wearily, the young caterpillar turned and moved off, now alone on the trek around the rim of the clay pot.

And the biologist cried. . . . . . .

How often do we miss out on the blessings and provision of God because we are too focused on religion rather than what our living God is doing?

200 page e-book that explains everything you need to know when planning your very own object lessons. It contains 90 fully developed object lesson ideas and another 200 object lesson starter ideas based on Biblical idioms and Names / Descriptions of God.

Learn More…