Challenger<\/b><\/p>\n
In the fateful winter morning of January 28, 1986, the space shuttle Challenger stood poised for launch. Overnight, the temperature had plummeted into the twenties. At liftoff it was a crisp 36 degrees F. Four-foot icicles still clung ominously to the launch tower.<\/p>\n
Allan McDonald, an engineer employed by the manufacturer of the solid rocket boosters that straddled the shuttle, shuddered, but not because of the cold. Research had shown that the O rings sealing the sections of each booster might be more likely to leak as the temperature dropped. In fact, the rings had never been tested during an actual launch below 51 degrees F.<\/p>\n
McDonald stood virtually alone as he steadfastly opposed the launch that icy morning, but he was overruled. The launch went ahead as scheduled, and 73 seconds later six brave astronauts and one enthusiastic school teacher lost their lives when the O rings failed.<\/p>\n
Was Allan McDonald arrogant when he challenged the decision to launch? Was he intolerant? Any thinking person would say no. He just was unwilling to see innocent people die because others had ignored or distorted the facts. We would say Allan McDonald knew the truth, and he stood up for it.<\/p>\n
Mike Bellah, \u201cTruth and Tragedy,\u201d (Garland, TX: American Tract Society), 1992<\/p>\n
The Red Baron<\/b><\/p>\n
\u201cToo long, too far, and too low.\u201d Those words have stuck with me ever since I read them in a story about Manfred von Richthofen (\u201cThe Red Baron\u201d).<\/p>\n
The day was April 21, 1918. Richthofen led his flight of triplanes to search for British observation aircraft. An engagement ensued between a flight of Sopwith Camels led by Canadian Royal Air Force pilot Capt. Arthur Roy Brown. Brown\u2019s friend Lt. Wilfred May was a rookie on his first offensive patrol. May had been ordered to keep out of combat, but couldn\u2019t resist. He jammed his guns and, defenseless, headed away from the battle. Richthofen spotted the lone plane and chose it for kill number 81. Brown observed the scene below him and dove to help his fellow airman, knowing that May was no match for Richthofen. Read what happens next, \u201cIt was then, with Brown closing from behind, that Richthofen, usually a meticulous and disciplined fighter pilot, made a mistake and broke one of his own rules by following May too long, too far, and too low into enemy territory. Two miles behind the Allied lines, as Brown caught up with Richthofen and fired, the chase passed over the machine-gun nests of the Australian Field Artillery.\u201d The debate continues over who fired the fatal shot that passed through Richthofen\u2019s torso. Ultimately it doesn\u2019t matter–whether hit from the air or the ground, The Red Baron was mortally wounded.<\/p>\n
Richthofen was good. Probably over-confident. But he \u201cbroke one of his own rules.\u201d Maybe in his mind was just stretching the rule a bit. Or he was distracted by something that appeared too good to be true. Whatever the case, he compromised his own standards, which led to his demise. For the Red Baron, the temptation of number 81 was too much. <\/p>\n
The temptation always exists in ministry to focus on wrong things, forget where you are, and stretch, or compromise, our own rules. It is easy to be distracted by \u201cthe numbers\u201d or something else. There are always new gimmicks that will try to lure us away from our first love. You are a target of the enemy. Don\u2019t lose your primary focus. Keep the main thing the main thing. \u201cFix your thoughts on Jesus\u201d (Heb. 3:1, NIV).<\/p>\n
Dallas Connection, Spring 1196 Volume 3, #4, Director\u2019s Corner<\/p>\n
Basketball Player<\/b><\/p>\n
When all his teammates fouled out of the game, high school basketball player Pat McGee finished the game for his school alone–and won! This happened in 1937 at St. Peter\u2019s High School. <\/p>\n
Bore No More, M. & A. Nappa, Group Publications<\/p>\n
Courage<\/b><\/p>\n
Who was United States Senator Edmund G. Ross of Kansas? I suppose you could call him a \u201cMr. Nobody.\u201d No law bears his name. Not a single list of Senate \u201cgreats\u201d mentions his service. Yet when Ross entered the Senate in 1866, he was considered the man to watch. He seemed destined to surpass his colleagues, but he tossed it all away by one courageous act of conscience. Let\u2019s set the stage.<\/p>\n
Conflict was dividing our government in the wake of the Civil War. President Andrew Johnson was determined to follow Lincoln\u2019s policy of reconciliation toward the defeated South. Congress, however, wanted to rule the downtrodden Confederate states with an iron hand. <\/p>\n
Congress decided to strike first. Shortly after Senator Ross was seated, the Senate introduced impeachment proceedings against the hated President. The radicals calculated that they needed thirty-six votes, and smiled as they concluded that the thirty-sixth was none other than Ross.\u2019 The new senator listened to the vigilante talk. But to the surprise of many, he declared that the president \u201cdeserved as fair a trial as any accused man has ever had on earth.\u201d The word immediately went out that his vote was \u201cshaky.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ross received an avalanche of anti-Johnson telegrams from every section of the country. Radical senators badgered him to \u201ccome to his senses.\u201d<\/p>\n
The fateful day of the vote arrived. The courtroom galleries were packed. Tickets for admission were at an enormous premium.<\/p>\n
As a deathlike stillness fell over the Senate chamber, the vote began. By the time they reached Ross, twenty-four \u201cguilties\u201d had been announced. Eleven more were certain. Only Ross\u2019 vote was needed to impeach the President. Unable to conceal his emotion, the Chief Justice asked in a trembling voice, \u201cMr. Senator Ross, how vote you? Is the respondent Andrew Johnson guilty as charged?\u201d <\/p>\n
Ross later explained, at that moment, \u201cI looked into my open grave. Friendships, position, fortune, and everything that makes life desirable to an ambitions man were about to be swept away by the breath of my mouth, perhaps forever.\u201d <\/p>\n
Then, the answer came — unhesitating, unmistakable: \u201cNot guilty!\u201d With that, the trial was over. And the response was as predicted. A high public official from Kansas wired Ross to say: \u201cKansas repudiates you as she does all perjurers and skunks.\u201d <\/p>\n
The \u201copen grave\u201d vision had become a reality. Ross\u2019 political career was in ruins. Extreme ostracism, and even physical attack awaited his family upon their return home.<\/p>\n
One gloomy day Ross turned to his faithful wife and said, \u201cMillions cursing me today will bless me tomorrow\u2026though not but God can know the struggle it has cost me.\u201d It was a prophetic declaration.<\/p>\n
Twenty years later Congress and the Supreme Court verified the wisdom of his position, by changing the laws related to impeachment. Ross was appointed Territorial Governor of New Mexico. Then, just prior to his death, he was awarded a special pension by Congress. The press and country took this opportunity to honor his courage which, they finally concluded, had saved our country from crisis and division. <\/p>\n
Courage – You Can Stand Strong in the Face of Fear, Jon Johnston, 1990, SP Publications, pp.56\u201358<\/p>\n
Sponges<\/b><\/p>\n
In the operating room of a large hospital, a young nurse was completing her first full day of responsibilities. \u201cYou\u2019ve only removed 11 sponges, doctor,\u201d she said to the surgeon. \u201cWe used 12.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI removed them all,\u201d the doctor declared. \u201cWe\u2019ll close the incision now.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo,\u201d the nurse objected. \u201cWe used 12 sponges.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll take full responsibility,\u201d the surgeon said grimly. \u201cSuture!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can\u2019t do that!\u201d blazed the nurse. \u201cThink of the patient.\u201d<\/p>\n
The surgeon smiled, lifted his foot, and showed the nurse the 12th sponge. \u201cYou\u2019ll do,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Today in the Word, April 7, 1992<\/p>\n
Faith In Action<\/b><\/p>\n
When I was a small boy, I attended church every Sunday at a big Gothic Presbyterian bastion in Chicago. The preaching was powerful and the music was great. But for me, the most awesome moment in the morning service was the offertory, when twelve solemn, frock-coated ushers marched in lock-step down the main aisle to receive the brass plates for collecting the offering. These men, so serious about their business of serving the Lord in this magnificent house of worship, were the business and professional leaders of Chicago. <\/p>\n
One of the twelve ushers was a man named Frank Loesch. He was not a very imposing looking man, but in Chicago he was a living legend, for he was the man who had stood up to Al Capone. In the prohibition years, Capone\u2019s rule was absolute. The local and state police and even the Federal Bureau of Investigation were afraid to oppose him. But single-handedly, Frank Loesch, as a Christina layman and without any government support, organized the Chicago Crime Commission, a group of citizens who were determined to take Mr. Capone to court and put him away. During the months that the Crime Commission met, Frank Loesch\u2019s life was in constant danger. There were threats on the lives of his family and friends. But he never wavered. Ultimately he won the case against Capone and was the instrument for removing this blight from the city of Chicago. <\/p>\n
Frank Loesch had risked his life to live out his faith. Each Sunday at this point of the service, my father, a Chicago businessman himself, never failed to poke me and silently point to Frank Loesch with pride. Sometime I\u2019d catch a tear in my father\u2019s eye. For my dad and for all of us this was and is what authentic living is all about. <\/p>\n
Bruce Larson, in Charles Swindoll, Living Above the Level of Mediocrity, p.124\u20135 <\/p>\n
Resource <\/b><\/p>\n
\u2022 God Came Near, Max Lucado, Multnomah Press, 1987, p. 57<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Challenger In the fateful winter morning of January 28, 1986, the space shuttle Challenger stood poised for launch. Overnight, the temperature had plummeted into the twenties. At liftoff it was a crisp 36 degrees F. Four-foot icicles still clung ominously to the launch tower. Allan McDonald, an engineer employed by the manufacturer of the solid … Continue reading “Alone”<\/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-267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267","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=267"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}