We live in a world of limitations. Limits protect us from very real dangers. But when those limitations are based on a lie, they become chains that prevent us from becoming all that we could be.

The little elephant was so curious, so full of life. He stretched his nimble little trunk, straining to catch butterflies. He bent down to take a closer look at the vibrant flowers that were just out of reach, their sweet scent drawing him nearer. He longed to play in the fresh cool waters of the river. Life was an adventure to be experienced. His future was full of dreams and of hope, but of a hope that was quickly dying.

In desperation, the baby elephant pulls and fights with all his strength against his bonds. Yet the heavy steel bracelet and chain still bind him to a tree. He learns he cannot break free, so he stops trying. The spark of life dims in his eyes. The joy of life is replaced with a lingering sadness. Hope is lost. Unable to free himself, he surrenders in defeat.

“Elephants never forget.” He will stay within the boundaries learned by his experience for the rest of his life. This remains true, even if the mahout replaces the strong steel bracelet with a weak leather strap and the heavy chain is replaced with a feeble little rope tied to a stake. When he becomes full-grown he will possess great strength, but he will not pull free. As soon as he feels the slightest tug on his rear leg, he remembers and surrenders in defeat. “Elephants never forget.”

It’s neither the rope nor the stake that binds him. It is the elephant’s belief. He is bound by something that really has no power to control him, except the power he chooses to give it.

Elephants aren’t the only ones bound by imaginary chains. We may have a dream in our heart, but our thoughts and beliefs, lock us into old limitations. Many of us have given up, believing that there’s no hope for change in our lives. But unless we grasp the striking fact that we are tied with a thread, that the chain is an illusion, that we are believing a lie, that others were wrong about us, that we were wrong about ourselves — we will continue to live within the confines of our fears and limitations. Our own chains of insecurity and self-doubt will forever bind us and blind us to the possibilities of success. We will allow our lives to be controlled by things that no longer have the power to control us, except the power we choose to give them.

It’s time that we, like Toomai of the Elephants, in Rudyard Kipling’s “Jungle Book”, take a stand and refuse to live according to our learned limitations.

I will remember what I was, I am sick of rope and chain–
I will not sell my back to man for a bundle of sugar-cane
I will go out until the day, until the morning break–
I will forget my ankle-ring and snap my picket stake.

“He replied, “Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
– Matthew 17:20

Copyright 2004 by Ken Sapp

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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Contemplating life, a wise teacher gazed at a beautiful garden.

As he breathed in the wonderful fragrances and beheld the beauty of the garden, he saw a butterfly flitting from flower to flower. It spent a few seconds on the edge of a rose, then a daisy, and then a sunflower. The garden was a rainbow of fragrance and color, but the butterfly gained no particular benefit from any of the flowers there.

Next the teacher saw a botanist with a large notebook and an equally large magnifying glass in his hand. As the botanist carefully observed each flower, he filled a great number of pages with his notes. But after hours of meticulous study, most of what he learned was shut up in his notebook and forgotten.

Then the wise teacher observed a small bee. The bee enthusiastically entered a flower, was gone from view for a brief moment, and then emerged laden with pollen. It had left the hive that morning empty, but would return full, and in doing so would share his abundance. With that pollen, sweet honey would be made to sustain, not only himself, but the entire hive for the future.

The wise teacher pondered.

Some people are like butterflies, going from teacher to teacher, seminar to seminar, book to book. They are so very busy, and expend so much energy, but have little to show for their efforts. They remain unchanged in any significant way because they never really delve into things wholeheartedly. They’re content to simply flutter around the edges.

Others, like the botanist, may study in great depth but never apply what is learnt to their lives. Content to study, they know much, but receive little benefit. Striving for knowledge alone, they are unaffected by the knowledge they gain.

Our lives would be very different if we could only learn from the bee — visiting each flower with purpose and passion. To whole-heartedly dive in — to lose ourselves, to go into every opportunity with an open mind, determined to emerge fuller than when we began, to do more than simply flutter, to do more than simply take notes, but to take action. To joyfully give of our abundance so that others can make something sweeter, something that will sustain not only ourselves, but bless others as well.

How would the wise teacher see your life?
As butterfly, a botanist, or a bee?

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.
– James 1:22-25

Copyright 2003 by Ken Sapp
Based on a story by H.P. Barker (Original 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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Jean François Gravelet, “The Great Charles Blondin”, was a famous French tightrope walker and acrobat.
Blondin’s greatest fame came in 1859 when he attempted to become the first person to cross the rushing and roaring waters of Niagara Falls on a tightrope.

With a balancing pole, Charles Blondin walked across the 335m long tightrope in only five minutes. He went on to walk across the falls several times, each time with a different theatrical flair. Later crossings were made in a sack; on stilts; on a bicycle, in the dark with sparks flaring from his pole tips; with his hands and feet manacled; and sitting down halfway to cook an omelet!

On one such occasion a large crowd gathered as word went out that Blondin was going to attempt yet another incredible feat. A buzz of excitement ran along both sides of the river bank. The crowd “Oooohed!” and “Aaaaahed!” as Blondin carefully walked across one dangerous step after another — blindfolded and pushing a wheelbarrow.

Upon reaching the other side, the crowd’s applause was louder than the roar of the falls! Blondin suddenly stopped and addressed his audience: “Do you believe I can carry a person across in this wheelbarrow?”
The crowd enthusiastically shouted, “Yes, yes, yes. You are the greatest tightrope walker in the world. You can do anything!”

“Okay,” said Blondin, “Get in the wheelbarrow…..”
No one did!

It’s one thing to believe, it’s another thing to take a step of faith based on that belief. Belief must be followed by action if it is to take you where you want to go!

Later, on Sept 15, 1860, the world was amazed as Blondin made a crossing carrying his manager, Harry Colcord on his back.

• What will YOU do? Will you be merely another person in the crowd who ultimately goes nowhere?” Or will you, like the brave manager, put belief into action?

He replied, “Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
– Matthew 17:20

Copyright 2005 by Ken Sapp

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…

Washed up on the beach, stranded, with no means of getting back to the sea, except by tide or accident.

A wise man walked along a beach, and saw a gracefully dancing human figure. As he approached the figure, he discovered a child, who was not dancing at all, but bending and reaching down to sift through the debris and gently toss something back into the sea.

“What are you doing?” asked the wise man. The child smiled brightly, pointed upward and, with exquisite simplicity, replied, “The sun is up, the tide is going out. If I don’t do something, they will die.”

The wise man surveyed the vast expanse of beach. Starfish littered the shore in numbers beyond calculation. The hopelessness of the child’s plan became clear. “But there are more starfish on this beach than you can ever save before the sun is up. Surely you cannot hope to make a difference.”

The child listened politely, then bent down, picked up another starfish, and tossed it gently into the sea, just beyond the breaking waves, and exuberantly declared, “I made a difference to that one.”

We have all been gifted with the ability to make a positive difference. If we accept and acknowledge that gift, we gain the power to shape the future. Like the starfish, you have been given an opportunity to surf upon the shores of life, touched by a child’s simple wisdom: “The sun is up, the tide is going out. If we don’t do something, they will die.”

One starfish at a time, one day at a time, we make a difference, a life is turned around and that starfish becomes a star.

“The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’”
– Matthew 25:40

Copyright 2005 by Ken Sapp
Based upon a story by Jack Canfield and Mark V. Hansen popular for their “Chicken Soup for the Soul,” series of books.

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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“If God had intended that man should fly,
he would have given him wings.”
– George W. Melville, Chief engineer of the U.S. Navy (c. 1900)
For thousands of years human flight was but a dream — the very definition of the impossible. But two young men set the impossible as their goal and forever changed the world.

A flying toy, a gift from their father, sparked a lifelong interest. They worked in a bicycle shop but pursued flight as a hobby. Along the way, the hobby became a passion that relentlessly drove them to try new things, to test established wisdom, to continually strive harder and reach further.

It was not smooth sailing. They built seven flying machines and crashed each more than once. Frustration and disappointment were as much a part of the process as the excitement of discovery.

After each failure, they rebuilt and modified their efforts, continually applying what they had learned. Like every great success, manned flight was the result of false starts, dead ends, disappointments and doubts, but most importantly determined perseverance and unwavering belief.

On December 17, 1903, in spite of dangerous gusts of wind and below freezing temperatures, they took a desperate gamble. If they wanted to be home by Christmas, they must put their belief in the impossible into action.

At 10:35 a.m., in a flight lasting only 12 seconds and covering just 120 feet, they did what men and women had only dreamed of doing for centuries… they flew. On the fourth attempt the plane landed 852 feet and 59 seconds from its starting point, snapping a support but otherwise undamaged. They achieved the impossible.

A monument in honor of “first flight,” erected on November 19, 1932, reads “In commemoration of the conquest of the air by the brothers Wilbur and Orville Wright. Conceived by genius, achieved by dauntless resolution and unconquerable faith.”

Like the Wright Brothers, it’s time to dream the impossible, to set your goals with dauntless resolution, to put into action an unconquerable faith in an all powerful God to achieve the impossible. When you do, you’ll discover that maybe God does intend that men should fly!

” ‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for him who believes.” Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”
– Mark 9:23-24

Copyright 2005 by Ken Sapp

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…

In Valladolid, Spain stands a monument to the great explorer Christopher Columbus. Its most interesting feature is the statue of a lion destroying one of three Latin words – three words that had been part of Spain’s motto for centuries.

1492
On his first voyage, Christopher Columbus sailed through unknown waters to an unknown destination. Before his voyage, Spain’s standards carried three words in Latin. The same words were written on the left edge of the maps of that day. Even the Straits of Gibraltar carried the same three words, chiselled into stone.
What were the words?

“NE PLUS ULTRA – No More Beyond.”
While the world was convinced there was nothing more beyond, Columbus was not. His ships returned and the discovery of a land of wealth and opportunity “beyond” marked the dawn of a new age.

The world was forever changed. So much so, the king of Spain changed the motto of the land to read as it does today. One word is torn away by the lion making it: ” PLUS ULTRA – More Beyond! ”

With new worlds just over the horizon, the belief that there was nothing more was replaced by the confident claim that there was, indeed more beyond. This belief began the “Age of Discovery!”

More Beyond?
Like Spain, people mistakenly assume they have seen all there is to see, know all there is to know, and have conquered all there is to conquer. Their life motto is: “NE PLUS ULTRA – No More Beyond.” But yours can be different!

Make your motto: “PLUS ULTRA – More Beyond.”
Be the Christopher Columbus in the lives of those around you. With your example, show them there is more to know and achieve.

• Prepare your heart for discovery.
• Set your eyes on the horizon.
• Launch out into the blue.

You will discover not only new worlds, but a new you.

Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!
– Romans 11:33

Copyright 2005 by Ken Sapp

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…

Her goal was the California coastline –a 34 km swim from Catalina Island. It was no more distant than the width of the English Channel, a goal she had already conquered as the first woman to swim it from both directions. Although she was a seasoned long-distance swimmer with incredible stamina, she trained arduously to prepare herself to achieve her goal.

July 4th, 1952
Millions watched on national television, as 34 year old Florence Chadwick began her swim. The water was icy cold; the fog — so thick she could hardly see the support boats alongside her. As the hours passed, she was repeatedly stung by jellyfish. Sharks had to be driven away with rifles. Yet she pressed on, determined to achieve her goal.

15 hours later
Numbed with the cold, she was ready to give up. Her mother and her trainer were in a boat at her side. “Florence. You are almost there. Don’t give up now.” Encouraged by her mother’s admonition, she continued to swim.

Failure
Fifteen hours and fifty minutes after she began her swim, the support team reluctantly agreed to pull Florence from the water. Several hours later, after she warmed up, she realized she had given up only a few hundred meters from her goal! If she had continued just a little while longer, the waves would have carried her to the beach. “If I could have just seen the land for myself, I would have made it!”. She told reporters it was not the sharks, the fatigue, or even the cold water that defeated her. She had been defeated by the fog alone. It had obscured her goal and blinded her reason, her eyes and her heart.

Never give in to defeat.
1952 was the only time Florence Chadwick ever quit. Two months later she swam that same channel. The water was still ice cold and still inhabited with sharks. Once again fog obscured her view. But this time she pressed on, BELIEVING that somewhere beyond that fog, her goal would be reached. Not only was she the first woman to swim the Catalina Channel, but she beat the men’s record by two hours!

• What are YOUR goals?
• Have you lost sight of your goal?
• Don’t quit just before your goal is achieved!
• Stay Focused!

“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith”
– Hebrews 12:2

Copyright 2005 by Ken Sapp

Go for the Gold

What is salvation all about? What does it mean to be saved? This sports themed Bible Study / Camp Curriculum uses the Olympic Flag to introduce the concepts of sin (black circle), forgiveness (red circle), purity (white background), spiritual growth (green circle), heaven (Yellow Circle) and (Baptism) blue circle.
-> Tell me about “Go for the Gold”

The race as a metaphor for the Christian life is used in several places in the Bible. This series is a great follow up for new Christians or to re-emphasize the basics of our spiritual Journey in the Faith. This Bible Study / Camp Curriculum has a sports theme and is great for athletes as well as a tie in to the youth Olympic Games.
->Tell me about “Destined to Win”