President John F. Kennedy<\/b><\/p>\n
In his autobiography, Just as I Am, Billy Graham tells about a conversation he had with John F. Kennedy shortly after his election:<\/p>\n
On the way back to the Kennedy house, the president-elect stopped the car and turned to me.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you believe in the Second Coming of Jesus Christ?\u2019 he asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cI most certainly do.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, does my church believe it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have it in their creeds.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey don\u2019t preach it,\u201d he said. \u201cThey don\u2019t tell us much about it. I\u2019d like to know what you think.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI explained what the Bible said about Christ coming the first time, dying on the Cross, rising from the dead, and then promising that he would come back again. \u2018Only then,\u2019 I said, \u2018are we going to have permanent world peace.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cVery interesting,\u201d he said, looking away. \u201cWe\u2019ll have to talk more about that someday.\u201d And he drove on.\u201d<\/p>\n
Several years later, the two met again, at the 1963 National Prayer Breakfast. \u201cI had the flu,\u201d Graham remembers. \u201cAfter I gave my short talk, and he gave his, we walked out of the hotel to his car together, as was always our custom. At the curb, he turned to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBilly, could you ride back to the White House with me? I\u2019d like to see you for a minute.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMr. President, I\u2019ve got a fever,\u201d I protested. \u201cNot only am I weak, but I don\u2019t want to give you this thing. Couldn\u2019t we wait and talk some other time?\u201d<\/p>\n
It was a cold, snowy day, and I was freezing as I stood there without my overcoat.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course,\u2019 he said graciously.\u201d<\/p>\n
But the two would never meet again. Later that year, Kennedy was shot dead. Graham comments, \u201cHis hesitation at the car door, and his request, haunt me still. What was on his mind? Should I have gone with him? It was an irrecoverable moment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Billy Graham, Just As I Am<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t Look Back!<\/b><\/p>\n
On May 6, 1954, Roger Bannister became the first man in history to run a mile in less than 4 minutes. Within 2 months, John Landy eclipsed the record by 1.4 seconds. On August 7, 1954, the two met together for a historic race. As they moved into the last lap, Landy held the lead. It looked as if he would win, but as he neared the finish he was haunted by the question, \u201cWhere is Bannister?\u201d As he turned to look, Bannister took the lead. Landy later told a Time magazine reporter, \u201cIf I hadn\u2019t looked back, I would have won!\u201d<\/p>\n
One of the most descriptive pictures of the Christian life in the Bible is of an athlete competing in a race. First Corinthians 9:24\u201327 tells us that discipline is the key to winning. In Hebrews 12:1\u20132, we are encouraged to lay aside anything that might hinder our spiritual advancement and to stay focused on Christ. And in Philippians 3:12\u201313, the apostle Paul said, \u201cI press on,\u2026forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lord, give us endurance as we run this race of life. Help us not to wallow in past failures, but to be disciplined and to shun sinful ways. May we fix our eyes on the eternal goal set before us and keep looking unto Jesus. – HGB<\/p>\n
Our Daily Bread, August, 1995, page for August 7<\/p>\n
Golf Sayings<\/b><\/p>\n
They were looking for famous golf sayings to be inscribed in a specified area in the Golf Hall of Fame when it was under construction in Pinehurst, N.C. The first one selected is one of the most often-used expressions the game has produced. It\u2019s \u201cOh, no!\u201d<\/p>\n
Bits & Pieces, January 5, 1995, p. 2<\/p>\n
Shot By Mistake<\/b><\/p>\n
Matilda Kaye Crabtree, 14, of West Monroe, La., used to try to scare her father as a joke. Last week, she made a tragic miscalculation. She had planned to sleep over at a friend\u2019s; instead she stayed home, hid in a closet and then made scary noises when her parents arrived. Her father grabbed a .357- caliber pistol. \u201cBoo!\u201d she shouted. His shot hit her in the neck. Her final words to him: \u201cI love you, Daddy.\u201d<\/p>\n
U.S. News & World, 11\u201321-94, p. 28<\/p>\n
The Winchester House<\/b><\/p>\n
Sarah was rich. She had inherited twenty million dollars. Plus she had an additional income of one thousand dollars a day. That\u2019s a lot of money any day, but it was immense in the late 1800s.<\/p>\n
Sarah was well known. She was the belle of New Haven, Connecticut. No social event was complete without her presence. No one hosted a party without inviting her.<\/p>\n
Sarah was powerful. Her name and money would open almost any door in America. Colleges wanted her donations. Politicians clamored for her support. Organizations sought her endorsement.<\/p>\n
Sarah was rich. Well known. Powerful. And miserable.<\/p>\n
Her only daughter had died at five weeks of age. Then her husband had passed away. She was left alone with her name, her money, her memories,\u2026and her guilt.<\/p>\n
It was her guilt that caused her to move west. A passion for penance drove her to San Jose, California. Her yesterdays imprisoned her todays, and she yearned for freedom.<\/p>\n
She bought an eight-room farmhouse plus one hundred sixty adjoining acres. She hired sixteen carpenters and put them to work. For the next thirty-eight years, craftsmen labored every day, twenty-four hours a day, to build a mansion.<\/p>\n
Observers were intrigued by the project. Sarah\u2019s instructions were more than eccentric\u2026they were eerie. The design had a macabre touch. Each window was to have thirteen panes, each wall thirteen panels, each closet thirteen hooks, and each chandelier thirteen globes.<\/p>\n
The floor plan was ghoulish. Corridors snaked randomly, some leading nowhere. One door opened to a blank wall, another to a fifty-foot drop. One set of stairs led to a ceiling that had no door. Trap doors. Secret passageways. Tunnels. This was no retirement home for Sarah\u2019s future; it was a castle for her past.<\/p>\n
The making of this mysterious mansion only ended when Sarah died. The completed estate sprawled over six acres and had six kitchens, thirteen bathrooms, forty stairways, forty-seven fireplaces, fifty-two skylights, four hundred sixty-seven doors, ten thousand windows, one hundred sixty rooms, and a bell tower.<\/p>\n
Why did Sarah want such a castle? Didn\u2019t she live alone? \u201cWell, sort of,\u201d those acquainted with her story might answer. \u201cThere were the visitors\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
And the visitors came each night.<\/p>\n
Legend has it that every evening at midnight, a servant would pass through the secret labyrinth that led to the bell tower. He would ring the bell\u2026to summon the spirits. Sarah would then enter the \u201cblue room,\u201d a room reserved for her and her nocturnal guests. Together they would linger until 2:00 a.m., when the bell would be rung again. Sarah would return to her quarters; the ghosts would return to their graves.<\/p>\n
Who comprised this legion of phantoms?<\/p>\n
Indians and soldiers killed on the U.S. frontier. They had all been killed by bullets from the most popular rifle in America\u2014the Winchester. What had brought millions of dollars to Sarah Winchester had brought death to them.<\/p>\n
So she spent her remaining years in a castle of regret, providing a home for the dead.<\/p>\n
You can see this poltergeist place in San Jose, if you wish. You can tour its halls and see its remains.<\/p>\n
But to see what unresolved guilt can do to a human being, you don\u2019t have to go to the Winchester mansion. Lives imprisoned by yesterday\u2019s guilt are in your own city. Hearts haunted by failure are in your own neighborhood. People plagued by pitfalls are just down the street .. or just down the hall.<\/p>\n
There is, wrote Paul, a \u201cworldly sorrow\u201d that \u201cbrings death.\u201d A guilt that kills. A sorrow that\u2019s fatal. A venomous regret that\u2019s deadly.<\/p>\n
How many Sarah Winchesters do you know? How far do you have to go to find a soul haunted by ghosts of the past? Maybe not very far.<\/p>\n
Maybe Sarah\u2019s story is your story.<\/p>\n
In the Eye of the Storm by Max Lucado, Word Publishing, 1991, pp. 193-195<\/p>\n
Ten Things You Will Never <\/p>\n
1. Showing kindness to an aged person.<\/p>\n
2. Destroying a letter written in anger.<\/p>\n
3. Offering an apology that will save a friendship.<\/p>\n
4. Stopping a scandal that was ruining a reputation.<\/p>\n
5. Helping a boy or girl find themselves.<\/p>\n
6. Taking time to show consideration to parents, friends, brothers and sisters.<\/p>\n
7. Refraining from gossip when others around you delight in it.<\/p>\n
8. Refusing to do a thing which is wrong, although others do it.<\/p>\n
9. Living according to your convictions.<\/p>\n
10. Accepting the judgment of God on any question.<\/p>\n
Pulpit Helps, May, 1991<\/p>\n
No Reserves\u2014No Retreats\u2014No Regrets<\/b><\/p>\n
In 1904 William Borden, heir to the Borden Dairy Estate, graduated from a Chicago high school a millionaire. His parents gave him a trip around the world. Traveling through Asia, the Middle East, and Europe gave Borden a burden for the world\u2019s hurting people. Writing home, he said, \u201cI\u2019m going to give my life to prepare for the mission field.\u201d When he made this decision, he wrote in the back of his Bible two words: No Reserves. Turning down high paying job offers after graduation from Yale University, he entered two more words in his Bible: No Retreats. Completing studies at Princeton Seminary, Borden sailed for China to work with Muslims, stopping first at Egypt for some preparation. While there he was stricken with cerebral meningitis and died within a month. A waste, you say! Not in God\u2019s plan. In his Bible underneath the words No Reserves and No Retreats, he had written the words No Regrets.<\/p>\n
Our Daily Bread, December 31, 1988<\/p>\n
Quotes<\/b><\/p>\n
\u2022 It is better to sleep on what you plan to do than to be kept awake by what you\u2019ve done. – Anon<\/p>\n
\u2022 Adults most common regret: I never took enough risks. Next: I wasn\u2019t assertive enough, and I lacked self-discipline. – Rickard T. Kuiner, March, 1989, Homemade.<\/p>\n
Common Regrets<\/b><\/p>\n
We all have regrets, according to Dr. Richard Kinnier of Arizona State Univ. The most common regret was not being a better student, not studying more. Other common regrets include not being more assertive, not having more self-discipline, not taking more risks, not spending quality time with families. One surprise showed up: money appears to be insignificant in the grand scheme of things.<\/p>\n
Dr. Merrill Douglass, in Homemade, April, 1990<\/p>\n
Mold Me Lord<\/b><\/p>\n
When I stand at the judgment seat of Christ And He shows me His plan for me; The plan of my life as it might have been Had He had His way, and I see How I blocked Him here and I checked Him there And I would not yield my will, Shall I see grief in my Savior\u2019s eyes; Grief though He loves me still?<\/p>\n
Oh, He\u2019d have me rich, and I stand there poor, Stripped of all but His grace, While my memory runs like a hunted thing Down the paths I can\u2019t retrace. Then my desolate heart will well-nigh break With tears that I cannot shed. I\u2019ll cover my face with my empty hands And bow my uncrowned head.<\/p>\n
No. Lord of the years that are left to me I yield them to Thy hand. Take me, make me, mold me To the pattern Thou hast planned.<\/p>\n
Source unknown<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
President John F. Kennedy In his autobiography, Just as I Am, Billy Graham tells about a conversation he had with John F. Kennedy shortly after his election: On the way back to the Kennedy house, the president-elect stopped the car and turned to me. \u201cDo you believe in the Second Coming of Jesus Christ?\u2019 he … Continue reading “Regret”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1044"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1044\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}