Today’s society, at least here in America, places tremendous emphasis on physical appearance—for both men and women. If, for example, two men of equal qualifications apply for the same job, the tallest man is most likely to be appointed.

Carlos Romulo, a Foreign Secretary of the Philippines, is only 1.626 meters (approximately 5’4″). He was very self-conscious about his height until he visited Tussaud’s Wax Museum in London and discovered that he was 50 millimeters (2 inches) taller than Napoleon Bonaparte (who became known as “the little corporal”). He promptly discarded his elevated shoes.

William Wilberforce was another small man. He was known for his eloquence and, in 1780 at the age of twenty-one, entered the British Parliament. Six years later he joined Thomas Clarkson and began his fight against slavery even though the bill to end the slave trade didn’t become law until 1807—twenty-one years later. More than any other person, Wilberforce helped end the British slave trade.

Often in life many of the great achievements have been accomplished by those who have had a serious setback, a major limitation or handicap, or a significant failure of one kind or another, but have overcome their defect and risen above their circumstances to achieve the worthwhile goals they had set for themselves.

With God’s help you and I can do the same. It’s not our outward appearances that God looks on. He sees our heart and wants us to use the gifts we have been given—not the gifts that others have.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, I’m available for you to use. Help me to see and believe in myself as you do and set to work to fulfill my God-given life purpose. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. 1 Samuel 16:6-7 (NIV).

Sports Illustrated writer Jeannette Bruce once spent two-and-a-half years taking judo lessons, progressing steadily through the entire spectrum of self-defense “belts.”

“On one rainy night,” she said, “it all seemed worthwhile. The thing every judo student dreams of happened to me. I was walking down Sixth Avenue about 9:00 p.m. when a man stepped out of a dark doorway and tried to snatch my purse. How prepared I should have been, how ready to smash him to the pavement with a flourishing foot sweep!

“Instead . . . I hit him over the head with my umbrella!”²

I suppose most of us can identify with Jeanette in some way. We get a great opportunity to do something worthwhile and blow it by doing or saying something stupid. Or when faced with temptation, we know how to resist the enemy because we know all the right Bible verses to fend for ourselves. However, instead of putting on the “whole armor of God,” we seek to overcome in our own strength—and fail miserably.

However, when we do fail, the important thing is to get up, learn from our mistakes, and go on, having learned to put our trust in God in every situation in which we find ourselves. When I am tempted with bad thoughts, knowing my vulnerability, I simply pray, “Help, Jesus, help! Help, Jesus, help!”

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, thank you that when I stumble and fall, you do not condemn me but reach out to help me get back on my feet again. In every failure please help me to learn from my mistakes, get up, and, trusting in you, go on. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Proverbs 24:16 (NIV).

2. Cited in Bits & Pieces, Vol. F, 4th Quarter.

A blind boy sat on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet. He held up a sign which said: “I am blind, please help.”

There were only a few coins in the hat. A man was walking by. He took a few coins from his pocket and dropped them into the hat. He then took the sign, turned it around, and wrote some words. He put the sign back so that everyone who walked by would see the new words.

Soon the hat began to fill up. A lot more people were giving money to the blind boy.

That afternoon the man who had changed the sign came to see how things were doing. The boy recognized his voice and asked, “Were you the one who changed my sign this morning?” and continued, “What did you write?’

The man said, “I only wrote the truth. I said what you said but in a different way.”

What he had written was: “Today is a beautiful day and I cannot see it.”

Do you think the first sign and the second sign were saying the same thing? Of course both signs told people the boy was blind. But the first sign simply said the boy was blind. The second sign told people they were so lucky that they were not blind. Should we be surprised that the second sign was more effective?

Moral of the Story: Be thankful for what you have. Be creative. Be innovative. Think differently and positively. When life gives you a hundred reasons to cry, show life that you have a thousand reasons to smile.²

Note: Keep in mind that it is one thing to tell people about Jesus, but a totally different thing to show people Jesus. May we always show before we tell.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please help me always to be sensitive to others’ needs, and help me to be ‘as Jesus’ in some way to every life I touch, so that I will ‘show or reflect you’, and may this open the opportunity to then tell people about you. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name. Amen.”

1. 2 Corinthians 3:18 (NIV).

2. Author Unknown. Submitted by Patricia Brown.

For a long time we had a crazy bird that kept smashing into our kitchen window, obviously trying to reach its reflection. I kept trying to outsmart it, but it kept coming back for more of the same kind of treatment. I had the same thing happening at my last home.

I have also read how, “If you put a buzzard in a pen that is 6 feet by 8 feet and is entirely open at the top, the bird, in spite of its ability to fly, will be a prisoner. The reason is that a buzzard always begins a flight from the ground with a run of 10 to 12 feet. Without space to run, as is its habit, it will not even attempt to fly, but will remain a prisoner for life in a small jail with no top.

“A bumblebee, if dropped into an open tumbler, will be there until it dies, unless it is taken out. It never sees the means of escape at the top, but persists in trying to find some way out through the sides near the bottom. It will seek a way where none exists, until it completely destroys itself.”²

Some, perhaps many, people are entrapped in hopeless situations because they are not looking for or seeing the way out of their predicament. I’ve been there myself in days past until I wised up. In my work I see people making the same mistakes over and over, failing to realize that what we don’t resolve, we are destined to repeat . . . repeat . . . repeat. As the saying goes, “If we keep doing what we’ve always done, we’ll keep getting what we always got, and we’ll keep feeling what we’ve always felt.”

The beginning point for finding the way out of any predicament is always to look up—to look to God and pray the right prayer. That is, ask God to show you the truth of what you are contributing to any negative situation you may be in, to show you what you need to do to resolve it, and to help you to find the help/counsel you need to overcome.

Today is the end of the year 2010. Resolve for the New Year to no longer allow your past to control you, but, with God’s help, commit yourself to becoming the person God has envisioned for you to be.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, help me always to see what I am contributing to any adverse situation I happen to find myself in, and please give me the wisdom to seek wise counsel, and the good sense to do what I need to do to resolve my problem. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Proverbs 12:15 (NIV).

2. From PLANETNEWS broadcast. Cited on Sermon_Fodder@yahoogroups.com.

December 1—or any other day of the year—may have been the final day of your divorce, the day you were rejected, the day you lost your job, or the day you failed a major final exam; but remember, as difficult as it was, December 2 was the first day of the rest of your life. It was a day of new beginnings. So, if you have suffered a major loss or setback, and haven’t done your grieving, be sure to do it now. It may not be easy, and it will take time, but it is tremendously important that you face, accept, and resolve your pain; learn to get up even if you have to drag yourself up, and go on. The following suggestions will help you to do this effectively:

Develop the right attitude. Attitude is what makes the difference between a painful experience becoming a failure or a success. You can let the loss leave you timid and afraid to step out again for fear of being hurt, or you can determine that your failure will be your teacher. As William James said, “The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitude.”

Use your failures/losses to enrich your life. True, we all need mountaintop experiences from time to time to encourage us, but we don’t grow through these. It is in the valley of disappointment and through our failures/losses that we are given the opportunity to take stock of our life and move toward a new dimension of life, and toward a greater level of growth and maturity.

Know what your purpose in life is. The more clearly defined that your life purpose is—and the more deeply it is embedded in your unconscious mind—the less likely it will be that disappointments and failures will set you back.

A spacecraft en route to the moon is off course 90 percent of the time. It is constantly pulled back by the earth’s gravity, and is continually drawn to one side or the other by other forces. But it has a built-in computer that has a singleness of purpose that homes in on the moon. The computer is making continual corrections to keep the spacecraft on target with its purpose and goal.

Life’s like that. If your eye is on your goal, if you have a singleness of purpose, nothing will stop you getting to where you plan and choose to go.

Remember that failure or disappointment is an event, not a person. Because you may have failed in your marriage or job, in another relationship, or other situation, doesn’t mean that you are a failure as a person. Not at all. Realize that the only real failure is not to try, or not to keep on trying, or not to get up one more time than you fall or get knocked down. The important thing is to learn from your past, invest it as an opportunity to grow, and to move ahead.

Give God a chance. If you feel as if you have failed or believe you’ve done wrong, ask God to forgive you—and be sure to forgive yourself. Then turn your failure into a stepping-stone toward a better you.

Where a bone is broken and heals, it becomes the strongest part of the bone. The same is true of your broken places—where you have been hurt, have fallen and failed, or are afraid. When you bring these to God for his healing, his strength is made perfect through your weakness.²

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, no matter what setback happens to me, whether it is my fault or that of another, please help me not to become bitter but better by using it as an opportunity to help me to grow and become the person you envision for me to be. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. 2 Corinthians 12:9 (NIV).

2. Adapted from How to Mend a Broken Heart, by Dick Innes. Available at ACTS’ online store at www.actscom.com/store.

Alexandra Kropotkin, in an article titled, “Homemade,” described the death of her friend as follows: “One day a millionaire of my acquaintance, whose pride it was never to offer a tip for any service, faced an unforgettable tragedy. His chief accountant committed suicide. The books were found to be in perfect order; the affairs of the dead man, a modest bachelor, were prosperous and calm. The only letter left by the accountant was a brief note to his millionaire employer. It read: ‘In 30 years I have never had one word of encouragement. I’m fed up.”‘²

It never ceases to amaze me that so many people don’t bother to say thank you to the many people who help them or do something for them. I often hold a door open for someone who is following me into a store, the Post Office, or the bank, some of whom walk through without saying a word. Whenever I see our mailman, I always thank him and let him know how much I appreciate his service. I do this to lots of people.

And do we often say thank you and give a word of encouragement to our spouse, our children, our friends, our employer, and to our employees? If we all do this on a daily basis, we can make an impact on the world in which we live. Whether it is a kind word or a kind deed, in the words of Charles Dudley Warner, “It is one of the beautiful compensations of this life that no one can sincerely try to help another without helping himself.”

In the Bible a man named Joseph was given the name of Barnabas because it means, “Son of Encouragement.” Let’s all be a Barnabas to someone today.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please help me to be a Barnabas in some way today (and every day) to every life I touch. May I also be known as a son or daughter of encouragement. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Proverbs 16:24 (NIV).

2. Stan Toler, God Has Never Failed Me, but He Sure Has Scared Me to Death a Few Times! (Tulsa: Honor Books, 1995). Cited on www.sermons.com.

Today’s Daily Encounter is from the article, “Your Problems Can Become Opportunities,” by Edward Chinn.²

Do you know that the “Woody Woodpecker” cartoon started life as a problem for honeymooners?

Grace and Walter Lantz rented a rustic wooden cabin in the forest for their honeymoon. At the first dawn there, a woodpecker started its pounding on the roof. The newlyweds couldn’t sleep for the noise. With humor, they heard it day after day. By the time they returned from their honeymoon, they were inspired to create a cartoon character, “Woody Woodpecker.” Walter drew the pictures. Gracie became Woody’s voice. Years later, at their 50th wedding anniversary, Grace remembered the problem of the noisy woodpecker and said, “It was the best thing that ever happened to us.”

Your problem can also become an opportunity.

In 1859, a Brooklyn chemist traveled to Titusville, Pennsylvania, to watch the drilling for oil. He was Robert Chesebrough who watched as the oil drillers cursed a colorless oily residue that stuck to their drills. Though it was a problem that gummed up the works, the oil workers smeared this stuff on their cuts and burns. It helped to heal. Chesebrough took this oily residue back to Brooklyn. By 1870, he was manufacturing what he had developed from that oily problem. He called it Vaseline Petroleum Jelly.

A violent storm posed a problem for the captain of a slave ship. He was John Newton, born in London on July 24, 1725. After his mother died when he was seven, he joined his father at sea at age eleven. After his life went downhill, he became the captain of a slave ship. He transported slaves from Africa to America. On March 10, 1748, a storm frightened him so badly that he called out to God for mercy. The problem of the storm started a storm in his heart. He remembered his childhood faith. Finally that inner storm gave him the opportunity to give up the slave trade. At age 39, he became a priest of the Church of England. He wrote a hymn called “Amazing Grace” to tell how God’s love changed his life.

A problem gives your life a jolt and knocks you off your accustomed track. The jolt, however, can send you spinning off in a new and better direction. In this way, a problem can become an opportunity. A brother of Jesus of Nazareth, a man named James³ wrote, “Is your life full of difficulties and temptations? Then be happy, for when the way is rough, your patience has a chance to grow. So let it grow, and don’t try to squirm out of your problems.”⁴

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, help me to see an opportunity in every problem, difficulty, failure and setback I experience, and with your help, turn it into a blessing for others. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus’ name. Amen.”

1. James 1:2 (TLB)(NLT).

2. This article appeared in the Religion in Daily Life newspaper column by the Rev. Edward Chinn, D.Min. EdwardChinn@earthlink.net Rector, All Saints’ Church, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19114 USA as seen on Clergy Mail List, clergy@pastornet.net.au.

3. Mark 6:3.

4. James 1:2 (TLB)(NLT).

Speaking to his father a little boy asked, “Do all fairy tales begin with, ‘Once upon a time?’”

His father replied, “Many of them do but not all. Some start with, ‘If I get elected, I promise….’”

Here in the U.S., especially during this election year, there is no end to political hullabaloo and vainly made promises for the purpose of seeking to get elected. The only way to know how a politician will vote in the future is to note how he or she voted in the past. It’s what we do, not what we say, that says who a person really is, and is the measure of his or her character.

As another has said, what is desperately needed in this day and age are not politicians but statesmen/women—leaders with integrity, character, and moral fortitude—who only make promises they genuinely believe they can keep, and should they be elected, stay true to their word and do their utmost to fulfill their pre-election promises.

The important thing for those of us who claim to be Christian—not just politicians but every one of us—is not to make promises we aren’t sure we can keep, and to always keep our word and the promises that we do make.

Fortunately for those who have accepted Jesus as their Savior and put their trust in God, we can rest assured in God’s unfailing love and eternal promises. God always keeps his promises and his Word. As he said, “So is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”²

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, help me not to be swayed by manipulative silver-tongued orators—be they smooth politicians, business or religious leaders, etc.—but see through phony promise makers and not be swayed by them. Help me to always be true to my word and the promises I make. And thank you for the security I have knowing that you always keep your Word and your promises. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Psalm 119:140 (NIV).
2. Isaiah 55:11, (NIV).

You’ve no doubt heard about the three birds that are sitting on a telephone wire. Two of them decide to fly south. How many are left? One? No. It’s three. This is because deciding to fly south isn’t the same as doing it.

It’s a bit like the difference between a want and a wish. I may want to lose some extra pounds and decide to do it, but don’t do anything about it. This makes my desire and decision to lose weight nothing more than a wish.

In life it’s not what I say, wish, or decide that counts. It’s what I do. Action always needs to follow one’s decision. Otherwise it is meaningless.

Have you been wanting to make amends with a friend whom you hurt or who has hurt you, or with whom you had a difference? Have you been meaning to visit a shut-in elderly person, make a phone call, send a card, or write a letter to a friend in need, buy flowers for your wife or special friend? Then don’t delay. Do it today.

As Michael Josephson said, “Good intentions are simply not enough. Our character is defined and our lives are determined not by what we want, say or think, but by what we do.

And as God’s Word says, “Do not merely listen to the word [God's Word, the Bible], and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.”

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please help me to be a doer of your word and not just a listener. Help me to be a proactive person and make good things happen and not be an uninvolved bystander. And help me to always practice what I preach. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. James 1:22 (NIV).

Or as someone else has said, “Come apart and rest a while before you come apart!”

I remember years ago having the following saying on a card on my desk, “Beware of the barrenness of a busy life!” I think in our day and age so many of us struggle with being too busy. I certainly do. It is a constant battle.

Today’s suggested prayer is in the words of Wilfred Arlan Peterson:

Slow me down, Lord.

Ease the pounding of my heart by the quieting of my mind.

Steady my hurried pace.

Give me, amidst the day’s confusion

the calmness of the everlasting hills.

Break the tension of my nerves and muscles

with the soothing music of singing streams

that live in my memory.

Help me to know the magical, restoring power of sleep.

Teach me the art of taking minute vacations….

slowing down to look at a flower,

to chat with a friend,

to read a few lines from a good book.

Remind me

of the fable of the hare and the tortoise;

that the race is not always to the swift;

that there is more to life than measuring its speed.

Let me look up at the branches of the towering oak

and know that … it grew slowly … and well.

Inspire me

to send my own roots down deep…

into the soil of life’s endearing values…

That I may grow toward the stars of my greater destiny.

Slow me down, Lord.

Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. Mark 6:31 (NIV).