Topic(s): Nature of Man

In the movie The Poseidon Adventure, the ocean liner S.S. Poseidon is on the open sea when it hits a huge storm. Lights go out, smoke pours into rooms and, amid all the confusion, the ship flips over.

Because of the air trapped inside the ocean liner, it floats upside down. But in the confusion, the passengers can’t figure out what’s going on. They scramble to get out, mostly by following the steps to the top deck. The problem is, the top deck is now 100 feet under water. In trying to get to the top of the ship, they drown.

The only survivors are the few who do what doesn’t make sense. They do the opposite of what everyone else is doing and climb up into the dark belly of the ship until they reach the hull. Rescuers hear them banging and cut them free.

In life, it’s as if God has turned the ship over and the only way for us to find freedom is to choose what doesn’t make sense: lay down our lives by serving, supporting, and sacrificing for others. - Men of Integrity, Vol. 1, no. 2.

“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men” - Philippians 2:5-7; cf. John 13:1-17

“Raisin’ Boys”

Topic(s): Father, Wisdom

One father made his sons work in the cornfields while their peers spent the afternoon at the swimming hole. Someone scolded the father saying, “Why do you make those boys work so hard? You don’t need all that corn.” The wise father replied, “Sir, I’m not raisin’ corn. I’m raisin’ boys.” - Quoted by Marvin Hein, The Christian Leader (Nov. 21, 1989).

“He that gathereth in summer is a wise son: but he that sleepeth in harvest is a son that causeth shame” - Proverbs 10:5

An Ordinary Hero

Topic(s): Priorities

“I’d estimate Alvin Cavin weighs 90 pounds, but 89 of those pounds make up his big heart. He keeps busy by giving to others,” says Connie Moore, activity director at Cedar Crest Manor nursing home in Medicine Lodge, Kansas. Cavin, 89 [in 1994], is a volunteer with a big heart and a big Stetson hat. Alvin began coming to the nursing facility when his wife, May, an Alzheimer’s patient, was admitted in 1985. He rarely missed a meal with May. Though “retired” from operating a dairy farm, Alvin milked almost a dozen cows before arriving for breakfast with his wife. Between lunch and supper, Alvin came to replenish May’s ice pitcher. Before long, he volunteered to fill every other resident’s, too. Even after May passed away in November 1986, Alvin continued to help out at Cedar Crest Manor. At supper, he set out napkins and coffee cups. If residents needed assistance with their wheelchairs, they got “Mr. Cavin’s escort service.” “Life’s so much better when you get your priorities straight,” Alvin explains. “It begins when you make the Lord your first priority.”

“That the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience" - Titus 2:2 cf. Galatians 6:9; 2 Timothy 4:7

Confession is Good for the Soul

Topic(s): Humor

While helping clean the church building, I met a 12-year-old working out a court sentence for theft by community service. He asked me what bad thing I had done. “Why, I didn’t do anything wrong. I’m just helping the church. What did you do?” I ventured. “I didn’t do nuttin’ either,” he assured me. Alarmed, I asked why he hadn’t told the officer. “What was the use?” he muttered. “He went to my house and found all the stuff” - Laura Panaro (cf. Exodus 20:15; Ephesians 4:28; 1 Peter 4:15).