This illustration is from Chapter 8 of the book, The Man in the Mirror,  “Children: How to Avoid Regrets.”

The salmon nearly leaped onto their hooks!  That was a far cry from the day before when the four anglers couldn’t even seem to catch an old boot. Disappointed but not discouraged, they had climbed aboard their small seaplane and skimmed over the Alaskan mountains to a pristine, secluded bay where the fish were sure to bite.

They parked their aircraft and waded upstream, where the water teemed with ready-to-catch salmon.  Later that afternoon, when they returned to their camp, they were surprised to find the seaplane high and dry.  The tides fluctuated twenty-three feet in that particular bay, and the pontoons rested on a bed of gravel.  Since they couldn’t fly out till morning, they settled in for the night and enjoyed some of their catch for dinner, then slept in the plane.

In the morning the seaplane was adrift, so they promptly cranked the engine and started to take off.  Too late, they discovered one of the pontoons had been punctured and was filled with water.  The extra weight threw the plane into a circular pattern.  Within moments from liftoff the seaplane careened into the sea and capsized. 

Dr. Phil Littleford determined that everyone was alive, including his twelve-year-old son, Mark.  He suggested they pray, which the other two men quickly endorsed.  No safety equipment could be found on board—no life vests, no flares, nothing.  The plane gurgled and submerged into the blackness of the icy morning sea.  Fortunately, they all had waders which they inflated.  The frigid Alaskan water chilled their breath.

They all began to swim for shore, but the riptide countered every stroke.  The two men alongside Phil and Mark were strong swimmers and they both made shore, one just catching the tip of land as the tides pulled them out toward sea. Their two companions last saw Phil and Mark as a disappearing dot on the horizon, swept arm-in-arm out to sea.

The Coast Guard reported they probably lasted no more than an hour in the freezing waters—hypothermia would chill the body functions and they would go to sleep.  Mark with a smaller body mass, would fall asleep first in his father’s arms.  Phil could have made the shoreline, too, but that would have meant abandoning his son.  Their bodies were never found.

What father wouldn’t be willing to die for his son?  My question is different. If we are willing to go so far as to die for our children, why is it that we often don’t seem willing to live for them?

This Father's Day may we all make the choice to live for our children! Follow the Lord and lead a godly life in front of them. Let them see you living for the Lord! 

            A church attendee wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper and complained that it made no sense to go to church every Sunday. 'I've gone for 30 years now,' he wrote, 'and in that time I have heard something like 3,000 sermons. But for the life of me, I can't remember a single one of them. So, I think I'm wasting my time and the preachers are wasting theirs by giving sermons at all.'
            This started a real controversy in the 'Letters to the Editor' column, much to the delight of the editor. It went on for weeks until someone wrote this clincher:
            'I've been married for 30 years now. In that time my wife has cooked some 32,000 meals. But, for the life of me, I cannot recall the entire menu for a single one of those meals. But I do know this...They all nourished me and gave me the strength I needed to do my work. If my wife had not given me these meals, I would be physically dead today. Likewise, if I had not gone to church for nourishment, I would be spiritually dead today!'
            Let us be thankful to God for our physical and our spiritual nourishment! May we not become complacent in our desire to grow in the Lord and hang out with other believers. May God find us faithful in all areas of our life, one of those being our church attendance (Hebrews 10:25).

        His name was Fleming, and he was a poor Scottish farmer. One day, while trying to make a living for his family, he heard a cry for help coming from a nearby bog(wet spongy ground). He dropped his tools and ran to the bog. There, mired to his waist in black muck, was a terrified boy, screaming and struggling to free himself. Farmer Fleming saved the lad from what could have been a slow and terrifying death.
        The next day, a fancy carriage pulled up to the Scotsman's sparse surroundings. An elegantly dressed nobleman stepped out and introduced himself as the father of the boy Farmer Fleming had saved. "I want to repay you," said the nobleman. "You saved my son's life." "No, I can't accept payment for what I did," the Scottish farmer replied, waving off the offer.
        At that moment, the farmer's own son came to the door of the family hovel(hut). "Is that your son?" the nobleman asked. "Yes," the farmer replied proudly. "I'll make you a deal. Let me take him and give him a good education. If the lad is anything like his father, he'll grow to a man you can be proud of." And that he did.
        In time, Farmer Fleming's son graduated from St. Mary's Hospital Medical School in London, and went on to become known throughout the world as the noted Sir Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of Penicillin. Years afterward, the nobleman's son was stricken with pneumonia. What saved him? Penicillin. The name of the nobleman? Lord Randolph Churchill. His son's name, Winston Churchill.
        Someone once said: What goes around comes around. Long before that saying came around God said this in Proverbs 11:25, “A generous man will prosper; He who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.”  Would you look around and see whom you can refresh? Be alert to the opportunities God gives you to invest in others, only He knows the long-term results!

            With Breanna finishing up her second year of college at TCC and making plans to actually go off to college in Ada in the Fall and with Katlyn graduating from high school there has been a lot of reflection taking place in my life. It seems like just yesterday that they were born and adding so much joy to our lives. It seems like just the other day Vickie and I started dating. Anyway you get the picture...time passes quickly.

            Do you have a good memory? It seems for me that parts of my past are crystal clear and other parts are not so much so. With all sorts of memories flooding my mind these days and to keep from getting too emotional while writing this article I am going to jump back in my past to when Vickie and I were dating. She and I dated for just over 5 years before we were married and during that time (and since) we have shared a whole bunch of notes. One of the things that sticks out in my mind is how she signed her letters. She would always write, "Rember, I love you!" Now, You may think that I misspelled ‘remember,’ well I did, but I did it on purpose because that is the way she wrote it. And the funny thing is, I still remember it after 23 + years of marriage. I know to this day that she loves me, I still ‘rember.’

            Do you remember that this weekend is Memorial Day Weekend. The last Monday of May has been set aside as a day for us to remember those who have given their life in service to our country. For most, that means a day off of work and a long weekend. It seems today, many forget why they have the long weekend. Oh, I think they know it is because of Memorial Day, but they don’t even pause or slow down to remember the real reason behind the day off. As this Monday rolls around, let’s make sure we pause and thank God for the men and women who have given the ultimate sacrifice, their life, so we can enjoy the freedoms we have. It is also a good time to remember those men and women who are putting their life on the line for us today in an effort to keep those freedoms.

            Just like I will always 'rember' that Vickie loves me let’s all make sure we ‘rember’ the reason for Memorial Day this year! 

                I think we would all agree, Mothers are special. Many have said that a mother's love is probably the closest example we have to God's love. Sacrifice is one of the characteristics of His love that we often see in that of a mom. Sacrificing her time and energy. Maybe even sacrifice to the point of daring to lay down her life for her children. To illustrate let me share with you a story about Solomon Rosenburg and his family that was recorded from accounts of WW 2 and the holocaust that took the lives of millions of people.
                Solomon Rosenberg, his wife, their 2 sons, his mother and his father were arrested and placed in a Nazi concentration camp. It was a labor camp and the rules were simple. "As long as you can do your work, you are permitted to live. When you become too weak to do your work, then you are exterminated."
                Rosenberg watched his mother and father marched off to their deaths and he just knew his youngest son, David, would be next because he had always been a frail child. Every evening Rosenberg came back into the barracks after his hours of labor & searched for the faces of his family. When he found them they would huddle together, embrace one another and thank God for another day of life.
                One day Rosenberg came back and didn’t see those familiar faces. He finally discovered his oldest son, Joshua, in a corner, huddled, weeping and praying. He said, "Josh, tell me it’s not true." Joshua turned and said, "It is true, poppa. Today David was not strong enough to do his work. So they came for him."
                "But where is your mother?" asked Mr. Rosenberg. "Oh poppa," he said, "When they came for David, he was afraid and he cried. Momma said, `There is nothing to be afraid of David,’ and she took his hand and went with him."
                What a picture of motherhood- doing whatever could be done to help, comfort and console her child even if it meant the ultimate sacrifice of her life. Thank you to all the moms who have shown us and/or continue to show us God's love in action! Thank you for walking with us through all of life's events- the good and the difficult! Thank you for being a living expression of God's love for all to see! Happy Mother's Day!

                For the last several weeks we have been promoting our "Serving Glenpool" day set for this coming Saturday, May 3rd. This day came about as a result of our 40 Days of Community study. During that study we were challenged to participate in a project that would allow us to work together as a group and at the same time benefit our community. It was a challenge to reach outside of ourselves and show God's love to the community in which we live by serving.

                Here is are a couple of acrostics for SERVE that might challenge you to get involved:

S- Surrender - your will to His

E- Endure - stay with it-- put forth continual effort

R- Radiate - Let Jesus shine through your life!

V- Vision - See that God is working

E- Encourage - Build others up

and

S- Seek- His Presence and Power- PRAY

E- Enlist- Sign-up to serve

R- Resources- Give/use what you have

V- Vacate- Leave the church/ get out of your comfort zone

E- Evaluate- How am I doing/ How are we doing?

                Serving is all about showing our Love for God by putting the needs of others above our own. We serve God by serving others and that is what "Serving Glenpool" is all about. We will gather at 9am at the Youth Annex for Breakfast fixed by our Men's Ministry. Then we will have a Kick-off Rally at 9:30am where we will hear again why we are doing this special day and giving folks an opportunity to decide exactly what project(s) they want to be a part of. Following the Rally we will then go 'Serve Glenpool' from 10am -3pm.

                Invite your friends and make plans to be a part of this exciting and service filled day! Make plans to be serve all day or maybe for an hour or two- whatever works-- just be a part of this 'Serving Glenpool Day!"  Let's put this verse into practice! Ephesians 6:7- "Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men."

                Here is a good Easter story for you that fits with the theme of our Easter Sunday Service.

                Alfred Henry Ackley was born in Pennsylvania in 1887. He showed great promise as a child, and his musician-father personally tutored him before sending him to New York City to study music. From there, it was on to the Royal Academy of Music in London. Alfred then returned to the States to attend Westminster Seminary in Maryland, and in 1914 was ordained as a Presbyterian minister. In 1932, while pastoring in California, Alfred met a Jewish man to whom he began witnessing. But the man resisted the Christian faith, saying, "Why should I worship a dead Jew?"

                That statement played on Alfred's mind as he prepared his Easter Sunday message. Rising early to prepare for the day, Alfred flipped on the radio as he shaved and was astonished to hear a famous liberal preacher in New York say: "Good Morning--it's Easter! You know folks, it really doesn't make any difference to me if Christ be risen or not. As far as I am concerned, His body could be dust in some Palestinian tomb. The main thing is, His truth goes marching on!"

                Alfred wanted to throw the radio across the room. "It's a lie!" he exclaimed. His wife rushed into the bathroom asking, "Why are you shouting so early in the morning?" "Didn't you hear what that good-for-nothing preacher said?" Alfred replied.

                That morning Alfred Ackley preached with great vigor on the reality of Christ's resurrection, and he did the same at the evening service. But later that night he was still exercised over his friend's question (Why should I worship a dead Jew?) and the morning's radio sermon. "Listen here Alfred Ackley," his wife said at last. "It's time you did that which you can do best. Why don't you write a song about it and then maybe you'll feel better?"

                Alfred went to his study, opened his Bible and re-read the Resurrection account from Mark's Gospel. A thrill went through him, and he began writing the words to "He Lives." A few minutes later he was at the piano putting it to music, not dreaming it would become one of the church's most triumphant Easter hymns.

                I serve a risen Savior. He's in the world today. I know that He is living; whatever men may say. I see His hand of mercy. I hear His voice of cheer, and just the time I need Him. He's always near.

                In all the world around me I see His loving care; And though my heart grows weary I never will despair. I know that He is leading through all the stormy blast. The day of His appearing will come at last.

                Rejoice, rejoice, O Christian, lift up your voice and sing. Eternal hallelujahs to Jesus Christ the King. The hope of all who seek Him, the help of all who find. None other is so loving, so good and kind.

                He Lives! He Lives! Christ Jesus lives today! He walks with me and talks with me along life's narrow way! He Lives! He Lives! Salvation to impart. You ask me how I know He lives. He lives within my heart!

                Contrary to that New York Preacher it does make a difference that Jesus is risen! In fact it makes all the difference in the world! What a Difference a Day makes! Happy Resurrection Sunday!