THE PASTOR'S CAT

This particular story just made me laugh. Every time I think about it, the vision of that poor cat just amuses me to no end. Hope the story leaves a bright spot in your day. Whoever said the Creator doesn't have a sense of humor?

Dwight Nelson recently told a true story about the pastor of his church. He had a kitten that climbed up a tree in his backyard and then was afraid to come down. The pastor coaxed, offered warm milk, etc.

The kitty would not come down. The tree was not sturdy enough to climb, so the pastor decided that if he tied a rope to his car and pulled it until the tree bent down, he could then reach up and get the kitten.

That's what he did, all the while checking his progress in the car. He then figured if he went just a little bit further, the tree would be bent sufficiently for him to reach the kitten. But as he moved the car a little further forward, the rope broke.

The tree went 'boing!' and the kitten instantly sailed through the air - out of sight.

The pastor felt terrible. He walked all over the neighborhood asking people if they'd seen a little kitten. No. Nobody had seen a stray kitten.  So he prayed, 'Lord, I just commit this kitten to your keeping,' and went on about his business.

A few days later he was at the grocery store, and met one of his church members. He happened to look into her shopping cart and was amazed to see cat food. This woman was a cat hater and everyone knew it, so he asked her, 'Why are you buying cat food when you hate cats so much?'


She replied, 'You won't believe this,' and then told him how her little girl had been begging her for a cat, but she kept refusing. Then a few days before, the child had begged again, so the Mom finally told her little girl, 'Well, if God gives you a cat, I'll let you keep it.' She told the pastor, 'I watched my child go out in the yard, get on her knees, and ask God for a cat. And really, Pastor, you won't believe this, but I saw it with my own eyes. A kitten suddenly came flying out of the blue sky, with its paws outspread, and landed right in front of her.'

Never underestimate the Power of God and His unique sense of humor. Anyone can count the seeds in an apple; but only God can count the apples in a seed.
 

GIVE ME A SENSE OF HUMOR, LORD
GIVE ME THE GRACE TO SEE A JOKE
TO GET SOME HUMOR OUT OF LIFE
 AND HOPE OTHER FOLKS DO TOO
AMEN!  

Playwright Janet Irene Thomas

Founder/CEO

Bible Stories Theatre of

Fine & Performing Arts

www.biblestoriestheatre.org

info@biblestoriestheatre.org

THE RIVER

Walking through the forest, a seasoned hiker came upon a broad, slowly moving river. He stopped to gaze over the waters, appreciating the beauty, when suddenly he heard a faint cry coming from upstream.

Looking in the direction of the noise, he saw an obviously drowning man floundering in the river and drifting slowly toward him.

The hiker was stunned momentarily, but he sprang into action when he saw the man disappear beneath the waters. Throwing off all of his cumbersome gear, he dove into the river and swam like a madman toward the spot where the man went under.

Upon reaching the spot he plunged below the surface and frantically hauled up the helpless man. He then laboriously towed the victim to shore. Heaving the lifeless body up on the riverbank, the hiker attempted to revive the man, who eventually spit up water and began to breathe.

Relieved, the hiker paused to catch his breath. But no sooner had he done so than he heard another voice out on the water. Another drowning person!

Once again he swam out and pulled the person to shore, a little more slowly this time. As the hiker-turned-lifeguard revived the second victim, he heard yet another cry for help.

All day long the hiker worked, rescuing one person after another as they came drifting down the river. There seemed to be no end of drowning victims, and the hiker didn't think he could keep it up.

Just when he was about to collapse from exhaustion, he spotted another man walking rapidly beside the river, headed upstream. "Hey mister!"  He cried out. "Please help me! These poor people are drowning!"

Amazingly, the man kept walking upstream. The astonished hiker called out again. Without even acknowledging the cry, the man kept going.

Indignant and angry, the hiker leapt to his feet, ran toward the uncompassionate man, stood directly in his path, and in a loud voice demanded, "Sir! How can you possibly walk past all these drowning people? Have you no conscience? Must I force you to help me save these people?"

The stranger stopped, looked at him for the first time and said with a calm, focused voice, "Sir, please get out of my way. I am headed upstream to stop the guy who is pushing all these people in."

Each of us has a role to play in rescuing those who are drowning in sin. Some of us pull people from the water and resuscitate them with counseling, food and shelter, a rehabilitation program, a support group, or financial aid. Affirm those doing these important ministries.

Others of us find our place of ministry upstream, opposing the one pushing people into the river. We do this by introducing those people to Jesus Christ. Knowing Christ sets a person free from sin and releases them from Satan's power over them.

By itself, pulling people from the water isn't enough.

We need to help people deal with the problem of sin at its source.

-- Author Unknown 

Submitted by:

Playwright Janet Irene Thomas

Founder/CEO

Bible Stories Theatre of 

Fine & Performing Arts

www.biblestoriestheatre.org

info@biblestoriestheatre.org

HE WAS ONE OF US

HEBREWS 2: 5-18

 2:17  FOR THIS REASON HE HAD TO BE MADE LIKE HIS BROTHERS IN EVERY WAY.

O

ne way to approach this marvelous text is by opening a book on baby and child care and reading the index. Try reading the list of childhood diseases and behavior issues…prefacing each reference with something like, "Jesus was susceptible to…" and read whooping cough, colic, measles, mumps, colds; or, "Jesus may very well have…" sucked his thumb, been anxious when separated from his mother at eighteen months, or contrary when two years old. The purpose of this suggestion is not to be irreverent but to open up the rich meaning in the phrase. "He had to be made like his brothers in every way" (2:17). True, the writer is speaking of much more than childhood issues. He has in mind the whole range of things that make up what it means to be human being. Jesus was one of us.

The point is, if we find it difficult to pray because of shame or fear of judgment, this passage is good news for us. Jesus is our brother. He knows what it means to be a human being (see verse 14). He knows what it’s like to be afraid and tempted and weak. Because he was made like us in every way, he is inclined toward mercy, not censure.

Jesus is also our high priest. In Old Testament times, the high priest was the one who went into the Most Holy Place, stood before God on behalf of the people, and interceded for them. As a priest, Jesus was divinely sanctioned for the purpose: as a human he was emotionally suited for the purpose, for he was one of the people he represented. Jesus was, quite literally a "bridge" between the people and God, one who could pray for humanity with great sympathy. 

This is Jesus, but there’s more! As God’s Son, he is divinely sanctioned to speak to God on our behalf as no earthly high priest could ever be. As a human, he understands our humanity as one who was human, from the inside out.

We can put away shame and fear when we come to Jesus. He knows all there is to know about us, from the inside; and he will be merciful.

Playwright Janet Irene Thomas

Bible Stories Theatre of

Fine & Performing Arts

www.biblestoriestheatre.org

info@biblestoriestheatre.org

OF SPARROWS and STUFFED ANIMALS

I

 REGRETTED praying the prayer the moment I prayed it; but it seemed to jump out of my mouth. After tucking in my eight-year-old son Andy, I said a goodnight prayer at his bedside. He had been disconsolate for a week over the loss of his little stuffed animal a gray wolf he named "Wolfie." His grief would escalate at bedtime since Wolfie was his sleeping companion. Seeing his furrowed little brow and moist eyes every night broke my heart.

I had prayed for God to comfort him, and I had prayed that we would find Wolfie; but tonight my spontaneous, non-premeditated bedside prayer was, "Father, please show us where Wolfie is so that Andy will know ow much you love him," My first thought after the "Amen" was What if I just wrote a check God won’t sign? I resisted the urge to throw in a caveat and add to the prayer, "But if we don’t find Wolfie, help Andy to know you still love him anyway."

I got up from my knees and walked out Andy’s bedroom door. At that moment a pictured popped into my mind: It was Wolfie in a sleeping bag in a box in our attic.  Andy had been invited to a sleepover at a friend’s house last week; it was possible that Andy left Wolfie in his sleeping bag. I climbed up into the attic and crawled through the dust to the box with the sleeping bags. I pulled one out, opened it, and there was Wolfie! I scrambled out of the attic and ran to Andy’s room with the proof of God’s love in my hand. Though he didn’t appear to be in the mood for theological reflection on the event, Andy was very grateful and held Wolfie to his chest as we thanked God for his goodness.

Actually, had I engaged in a little theological reflection before my prayer, I probably wouldn’t have dismissed it as trivial and narcissistic. I would have wanted to hedge my bets and not put God on trial, lest the Almighty come up short in Andy’s eyes. But having prayed the prayer, quite by accident – no, not by accident – I have engaged in theological reflection of this sort: If the Father notices sparrows and counts hairs, he knows where the "Wolfies" of our lives can be found. If God became a human to show us his face, he certainly must care about a child’s face creased with sadness. Nothing is too hard, too big, or too small for his love. 

~Ben Patterson~

Submitted by:

Playwright Janet Irene Thomas

Founder/CEO

Bible Stories Theatre of

Fine & Performing Arts

www.biblestoriestheatre.org

info@biblestoriestheatre.org

 

Please Take It Away, Papa

Mark 14:32-42

14:36, “ABBA FATHER” HE SAID, “EVERYTHING IS POSSIBLE FOR YOU. TAKE THIS CUP FROM ME. YET NOT WHAT I WILL, BUT WHAT YOU WILL.”

Jesus had his Father’s full attention because nothing so seizes a father’s attention like hearing his child cry out, “Papa!” That’s a rough equivalent of the extraordinary intimacy and urgency implied by the words, “Abba, Father.” His son was in distress, and the Father could fix it. Everything is possible for him. Everything. He could have canceled the mission to the cross; he could have done it, he really could. Jesus was prostrate, pleading, “Please take it away, Papa.”

Gethsemane was the place. Gethsemane means, “olive oil press,” after the device by which olives are crushed under the weight of a big stone, their oil flowing into a receptacle, the way Jesus’ sweat fell like drops of blood to the ground (see Luke 22:44). Jesus was being crushed by the weight of his Father’s will for him. Jesus was to carry the load of our sins and sorrows.

Three times Jesus asked if he might be excused from his assignment. But three times he added, “Yet not what I will, but what you will.” As hard as it was, his Father’s will became Jesus’ will too. Sometimes the only way for a cup to pass is to drink it to the dregs. Fully confident of God’s power (“everything is possible for you”) and love (“Abba, Father”). Jesus willingly submitted to his wisdom.

Thus, in his submission Jesus was never more powerful. His death on the cross looked like weakness, but it was in reality God’s mighty strength to save. By the world’s standards, a premature and ignominious death looked silly, but it was in reality God’s profound wisdom (see 1 Corinthians 1:18-25). Because of this, every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord (see Philippians 2:10-11). What about you? The most powerful words you can ever say to God are the same as Jesus. “Yet not what I will, but what you will.”

Playwright Janet Irene Thomas

Founder/CEO

Bible Stories Theatre of

Fine & Performing Arts

www.biblestoriestheatre.org

info@biblestoriestheatre.org

FAMILY ORDER

SPARING THE ROD

Jeremiah 31:16-17

New International Version (NIV)

¹⁶ This is what the Lord says:

“Restrain your voice from weeping
    and your eyes from tears,
for your work will be rewarded,”
declares the Lord.
    “They will return from the land of the enemy.
¹⁷ So there is hope for your descendants,”
declares the Lord.
    “Your children will return to their own land.

Corrective Discipline for the Rebellious – Discipline is the other side of teaching. A child with a teachable spirit will still need thorough explanation, much patience, opportunity to try and experiment, including the right to fail and to learn by failure. A child, however, who is caught up in willful disobedience (Prov.29:15), rebellion (1 Sam. 15:23), or stubborn foolishness foolishness (Prov. 22:15), closes off effective teaching and disrupts the harmony of the family. God’s answer to this is firm and loving discipline.

The Bible makes a clear distinction between discipline and physical abuse. Discipline may be painful but not injurious. We are never to inflict harm on a child (Prov. 23:13), but at times pain may be a part of effective correction. God describes Himself as a strict disciplinarian. Although He always disciplines us out of love and for our own benefit, His correction may cause us pain (Heb. 12:5-11). Likewise, God requires that parents properly correct their children. Even a child’s eternal destiny can hinge upon the godly discipline provided by parents (Prov. 23:14).

Playwright Janet Irene Thomas

Founder/CEO

Bible Stories Theatre of

Fine & Performing Arts

www.biblestoriestheatre.org

info@biblestoriestheatre.org

A GREAT MIND and a GREATER GOD

For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.....For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man strength.

WHEN A MAN who had been very unhappy in marriage immediately remarried after the death of his wife, Samuel Johnson, the great lexicographer and man of letters, described his act as "the triumph of hope over experience."

Johnson was easily amused or inflamed by his own and others’ foibles, and he could express either sentiment with elegance, biting wit and devastating sarcasm.  He was greatly to be feared as an opponent in an argument.  Once when insulted, he replied, "A fly, Sir, may sting a stately horse, and make him wince; but one is but an insect, and the other a horse still."  After an evening of conversation marked by spirited debate and repartee, Johnson remarked to Boswell, his biographer, that the conversation had been good. Boswell agreed, and said, "Yes, Sir; you tossed and gored several persons."

But Johnson’s sharpest jabs were directed at those skeptics who ridiculed the Christian faith he so cherished. The 18^th century, like the 20^th was a time when intellectuals and aesthetes treated the faith with contempt.  Joseph Butler said it was "an agreed point among people of discernment," that the faith was worthy only "as a principle subject of mirth and ridicule, as it were by way of reprisals, for so long having interrupted the pleasures of the world." Of these skeptics, Johnson wrote, "Truth…is a cow, which will yield such people no more milk, and so they are gone to milk the bull."

But the man with the proud and formidable intellect before people was a child before God. His great mind was humble before a greater God.

Johnson’s prayers reveal a man with a deep, even tortured sense of his own sinfulness. Trust in God’s mercy did not come easily to Johnson, but it came, and he seemed never to be less than grateful and humbled that it did.  

                                    SAMUEL JOHNSON (1709-1784)

Submitted by:

Playwright Janet Irene Thomas

Founder/CEO

Bible Stories Theatre of

Fine & Performing Arts

www.biblestoriestheatre.org

info@biblestoriestheatre.org.