Deciding who you are 4-27-2003
Iraqi information minister
They are trapped In umm Qasr, they are trapped near basra, they are trapped near nasiriyah. They are trapped everywhere……They are nowhere near the airport, they are lost in the desert, they cannot read a compass……..I speak better english than the american president…..
Disciples blew it
Hid in fear, went back to their old ways
We fear decisions because of what others will think
During World War II, Winston Churchill was forced to make a painful choice. The British secret service had broken the Nazi code and informed Churchill that the Germans were going to bomb Coventry. He had two alternatives: (1) evacuate the citizens and save hundreds of lives at the expense of indicating to the Germans that the code was broken; or (2) take no action, which would kill hundreds but keep the information flowing and possibly save many more lives. Churchill had to choose and followed the second course.
We fear dec. because sometimes we just don’t know what to do
To not make a decision is to make a decision
Will you have the crown or the curse? -- John Wesley
Former president Ronald Reagan once had an aunt who took him to a cobbler for a pair of new shoes. The cobbler asked young Reagan, "Do you want square toes or round toes?" Unable to decide, Reagan didn't answer, so the cobbler gave him a few days. Several days later the cobbler saw Reagan on the street and asked him again what kind of toes he wanted on his shoes. Reagan still couldn't decide, so the shoemaker replied, "Well, come by in a couple of days. Your shoes will be ready." When the future president did so, he found one square-toed and one round-toed shoe! "This will teach you to never let people make decisions for you," the cobbler said to his indecisive customer. "I learned right then and there," Reagan said later, "if you don't make your own decisions, someone else will."
We can be paralyzed by selfishness
Saul Bellow story..woman who couldn’t leave house to anyone
We can be paralyzed by sadness
I remember one winter my dad needed firewood, and he found a dead tree and sawed it down. In the spring, to his dismay, new shoots sprouted around the trunk. He said, "I thought sure it was dead. The leaves had all dropped in the wintertime. It was so cold that twigs snapped as if there were no life left in the old tree. But now I see that there was still life at the taproot." He looked at me and said, "Bob, don't forget this important lesson. Never cut a tree down in the wintertime. Never make a negative decision in the low time. Never make your most important decisions when you are in your worst mood. Wait. Be patient. The storm will pass. The spring will come."
Your decisions matter
It may be true that there are two sides to every question, but it is also true that there are two sides to a sheet of flypaper, and it makes a big difference to the fly which side he chooses.
Decide who you are, who you will be
Only one person in that room knew who they were
Jesus identifies himself
Everything I said was true
You did not waste your time
What we did matters
What you are going to do is also going to matter
For disciples, for us, in a gut check time
Jesus offers the holy spirit
It doesn’t matter if anyone ever sings your praise….you did the right thing
Disciples finally got it….went out into the world
Touched others for Christ
They did the right thing
Go thou and do likewise
Self oriented Decisions
Saul Bellow … "Leaving the Yellow House." An old woman, who had nothing, interited a house.
As she grew older and more frail, she knew that she had to leave it to someone in her will. She knew this, but for years did nothing about it. One night, thinking that she'd finally come to a decision, she sat down and began to write a will:"I, Harriet Simmons Waggoner, being of sound mind and not knowing what may be in store for me at the age of 72 (born 1885), living alone at Sego Desert Lake, instruct my lawyer, Harold Claiborne, Paiute County Court Building, to draw my last will and testament upon the following terms."She lifted her pencil from the page, thought a bit, took a drink, realized that she spent all her life waiting. She thought to herself, I was waiting, thinking, "Youth is terrible, frightening. I will wait it out. I could never make anyone else happy.Then she turned again to write the will:"Upon the following terms .... Because I have suffered much. Because I only lately received what I have to give away .... It is too soon! Too soon! ... Even though by my own fault I have put myself into this position. And I am not ready to give up on this. No, not yet. And so I'll tell you what, I leave this property, land, house, garden, water rights, to Hattie Simmons Waggoner. Me! I realize this is bad and wrong. Not possible. Yet it is the only thing I really wish to do, so may God have mercy on my soul."In her hour of extremity and need, all she could think to do was to try insanely to leave the house to herself, to perpetuate a tragic situation. She could not accept and would not choose the decision that was forcing itself upon her. She could not leave the house.Perhaps, like Hattie Waggoner, we have avoided the decision in front of us for too long. Perhaps we have reached the point now where the decision can be avoided further only at our peril and at the expense of hurting others. That's the first temptation we face when decisions enter our lives -- we will try to wait them out; we will wait too long.
Iraqi information minister
They are trapped In umm Qasr, they are trapped near basra, they are trapped near nasiriyah. They are trapped everywhere……They are nowhere near the airport, they are lost in the desert, they cannot read a compass……..I speak better english than the american president…..
Disciples blew it
Hid in fear, went back to their old ways
We fear decisions because of what others will think
During World War II, Winston Churchill was forced to make a painful choice. The British secret service had broken the Nazi code and informed Churchill that the Germans were going to bomb Coventry. He had two alternatives: (1) evacuate the citizens and save hundreds of lives at the expense of indicating to the Germans that the code was broken; or (2) take no action, which would kill hundreds but keep the information flowing and possibly save many more lives. Churchill had to choose and followed the second course.
We fear dec. because sometimes we just don’t know what to do
To not make a decision is to make a decision
Will you have the crown or the curse? -- John Wesley
Former president Ronald Reagan once had an aunt who took him to a cobbler for a pair of new shoes. The cobbler asked young Reagan, "Do you want square toes or round toes?" Unable to decide, Reagan didn't answer, so the cobbler gave him a few days. Several days later the cobbler saw Reagan on the street and asked him again what kind of toes he wanted on his shoes. Reagan still couldn't decide, so the shoemaker replied, "Well, come by in a couple of days. Your shoes will be ready." When the future president did so, he found one square-toed and one round-toed shoe! "This will teach you to never let people make decisions for you," the cobbler said to his indecisive customer. "I learned right then and there," Reagan said later, "if you don't make your own decisions, someone else will."
We can be paralyzed by selfishness
Saul Bellow story..woman who couldn’t leave house to anyone
We can be paralyzed by sadness
I remember one winter my dad needed firewood, and he found a dead tree and sawed it down. In the spring, to his dismay, new shoots sprouted around the trunk. He said, "I thought sure it was dead. The leaves had all dropped in the wintertime. It was so cold that twigs snapped as if there were no life left in the old tree. But now I see that there was still life at the taproot." He looked at me and said, "Bob, don't forget this important lesson. Never cut a tree down in the wintertime. Never make a negative decision in the low time. Never make your most important decisions when you are in your worst mood. Wait. Be patient. The storm will pass. The spring will come."
Your decisions matter
It may be true that there are two sides to every question, but it is also true that there are two sides to a sheet of flypaper, and it makes a big difference to the fly which side he chooses.
Decide who you are, who you will be
Only one person in that room knew who they were
Jesus identifies himself
Everything I said was true
You did not waste your time
What we did matters
What you are going to do is also going to matter
For disciples, for us, in a gut check time
Jesus offers the holy spirit
It doesn’t matter if anyone ever sings your praise….you did the right thing
Disciples finally got it….went out into the world
Touched others for Christ
They did the right thing
Go thou and do likewise
Self oriented Decisions
Saul Bellow … "Leaving the Yellow House." An old woman, who had nothing, interited a house.
As she grew older and more frail, she knew that she had to leave it to someone in her will. She knew this, but for years did nothing about it. One night, thinking that she'd finally come to a decision, she sat down and began to write a will:"I, Harriet Simmons Waggoner, being of sound mind and not knowing what may be in store for me at the age of 72 (born 1885), living alone at Sego Desert Lake, instruct my lawyer, Harold Claiborne, Paiute County Court Building, to draw my last will and testament upon the following terms."She lifted her pencil from the page, thought a bit, took a drink, realized that she spent all her life waiting. She thought to herself, I was waiting, thinking, "Youth is terrible, frightening. I will wait it out. I could never make anyone else happy.Then she turned again to write the will:"Upon the following terms .... Because I have suffered much. Because I only lately received what I have to give away .... It is too soon! Too soon! ... Even though by my own fault I have put myself into this position. And I am not ready to give up on this. No, not yet. And so I'll tell you what, I leave this property, land, house, garden, water rights, to Hattie Simmons Waggoner. Me! I realize this is bad and wrong. Not possible. Yet it is the only thing I really wish to do, so may God have mercy on my soul."In her hour of extremity and need, all she could think to do was to try insanely to leave the house to herself, to perpetuate a tragic situation. She could not accept and would not choose the decision that was forcing itself upon her. She could not leave the house.Perhaps, like Hattie Waggoner, we have avoided the decision in front of us for too long. Perhaps we have reached the point now where the decision can be avoided further only at our peril and at the expense of hurting others. That's the first temptation we face when decisions enter our lives -- we will try to wait them out; we will wait too long.
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