Tough Times<\/b><\/p>\n
When times are tough and things just aren\u2019t going your way, there\u2019s nothing like a hug. Someone putting an arm around you and telling you, \u201cHey, everything\u2019s going to be all right. You\u2019re okay.\u201d<\/p>\n
And there\u2019s nobody better at that than your mom. Just ask Nick Anderson. The Orlando Magic guard missed four free throws in the waning seconds of his team\u2019s NBA Finals game against Houston and the team went on to lose a game it otherwise might have won. Later Houston guard Clyde Drexler blew past Anderson for a lay-up late in overtime. Nick Anderson had a very bad game.<\/p>\n
Understandably, when he got home Anderson was down in the dumps. \u201cMy mom put her arm around me,\u201d Anderson later said, \u201cand told me, \u2018You\u2019ve got nothing to put your head down about. You\u2019ve pulled your team through many other times.\u201d<\/p>\n
Today in the Word, December 14, 1995, p. 21.<\/p>\n
They Wept Together<\/b><\/p>\n
Once during Queen Victoria\u2019s reign, she heard that the wife of a common laborer had lost her baby. Having experienced deep sorrow herself, she felt moved to express her sympathy. So she called on the bereaved woman one day and spent some time with her. After she left, the neighbors asked what the queen had said. <\/p>\n
\u201cNothing,\u201d replied the grieving mother. \u201cShe simply put her hands on mine, and we silently wept together.\u201d<\/p>\n
Source unknown<\/p>\n
Christ is Sufficient<\/b><\/p>\n
One night while conducting an evangelistic meeting in the Salvation Army Citadel in Chicago, Booth Tucker preached on the sympathy of Jesus. After his message a man approached him and said, \u201cIf your wife had just died, like mine has, and your babies were crying for their mother, who would never come back, you wouldn\u2019t be saying what you\u2019re saying.\u201d <\/p>\n
Tragically, a few days later, Tucker\u2019s wife was killed in a train wreck. Her body was brought to Chicago and carried to the same Citadel for the funeral. After the service the bereaved preacher looked down into the silent face of his wife and then turned to those attending. \u201cThe other day a man told me I wouldn\u2019t speak of the sympathy of Jesus if my wife had just died. If that man is here, I want to tell him that Christ is sufficient. My heart is broken, but it has a song put there by Jesus. I want that man to know that Jesus Christ speaks comfort to me today.\u201d <\/p>\n
Today in the Word, MBI, October, 1991, p. 10<\/p>\n
He Smiled<\/b><\/p>\n
Robert Louis Stevenson tells of a storm that caught a vessel off a rocky coast and threatened to drive it and its passengers to destruction. In the midst of the terror, one daring man, contrary to orders, went to the deck, made a dangerous passage to the pilot house and saw the steerman, lashed fast at his post of holding the wheel unwaveringly, and inch by inch, turning the ship out, once more, to sea. The pilot saw the watcher and smiled. <\/p>\n
Then, the daring passenger went below and gave out a note of cheer: \u201cI have seen the face of the pilot, and he smiled. All is well.\u201d <\/p>\n
Source unknown<\/p>\n
A Child\u2019s <\/p>\n
A little girl came home from a neighbor\u2019s house where her little friend had died. \u201cWhy did you go?\u201d questioned her father. <\/p>\n
\u201cTo comfort her mother,\u201d said the child. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhat could you do to comfort her?\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cI climbed into her lap and cried with her.\u201d <\/p>\n
Source unknown<\/p>\n
In Case of Accident<\/b><\/p>\n
The bulletin board out in the shop carried this notice: <\/p>\n
IN CASE OF ACCIDENT OR INJURY, NOTIFY YOUR SUPERVISOR IMMEDIATELY. <\/p>\n
At the bottom of the notice someone scribbled, \u201cHe\u2019ll kiss it and make it better.\u201d <\/p>\n
Bits and Pieces, May, 1990, p. 2<\/p>\n
The Will to Carry On<\/b><\/p>\n
Douglas Maurer, 15, of Creve Coeur, Missouri, had been feeling bad for several days. His temperature was ranging between 103 and 105 degrees, and he was suffering from severe flu-like symptoms. Finally, his mother took him to the hospital in St. Louis. Douglas Maurer was diagnosed as having leukemia. The doctors told him in frank terms about his disease. They said that for the next three years, he would have to undergo chemotherapy. They didn\u2019t sugarcoat the side effects. They told Douglas he would go bald and that his body would most likely bloat. Upon learning this, he went into a deep depression. His aunt called a floral shop to send Douglas an arrangement of flowers. She told the clerk that it was for her teenage nephew who has leukemia. <\/p>\n
When the flowers arrived at the hospital, they were beautiful. Douglas read the card from his aunt. Then he saw a second card. It said: \u201cDouglas\u2014I took your order. I work at Brix florist. I had leukemia when I was 7 years old. I\u2019m 22 years old now. Good luck. My heart goes out to you. Sincerely, Laura Bradley.\u201d <\/p>\n
His face lit up. He said, \u201cOh!\u201d It\u2019s funny: Douglas Maurer was in a hospital filled with millions of dollars of the most sophisticated medical equipment. He was being treated by expert doctors and nurses with medical training totaling in the hundreds of years. But it was a salesclerk in a flower shop, a woman making $170 a week, who\u2014by taking the time to care, and by being willing to go with what her heart told her to do\u2014gave Douglas hope and the will to carry on. <\/p>\n
Bob Greene, \u201cFrom One Sufferer To Another, Chicago Tribune, Aug, 1987<\/p>\n
Resource<\/b><\/p>\n
\u2022 Loving Across Our Differences, by Gerald L. Sittser, (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1994), pp. 157ff.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Tough Times When times are tough and things just aren\u2019t going your way, there\u2019s nothing like a hug. Someone putting an arm around you and telling you, \u201cHey, everything\u2019s going to be all right. You\u2019re okay.\u201d And there\u2019s nobody better at that than your mom. Just ask Nick Anderson. The Orlando Magic guard missed four … Continue reading “Comfort”<\/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-499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499","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=499"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}