Gems for the Weekend
May 14
"And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full . . . and (Jesus) arose and rebuked the wind, and said Peace, be still." (Mark 4:37-39)
"Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily besets (ensnares) us." (Hebrews 12:1)
In her remarkable book Teaching a Stone To Talk, Annie Dillard tells about the ill-fated Franklin Expedition of 1845. The explorers sailed from England to find the Northwest Passage across the Arctic Ocean.
They put aboard their two sailing ships a lot of things they didn't need: a 1,200-volume library, fine china, crystal goblets, and sterling silverware for each officer with his initials engraved on the handles. Amazingly, each ship took only a 12-day supply of coal for their auxiliary steam engines.
The ships became trapped in vast frozen plains of Arctic ice. After several months, Lord Franklin died. The men decided to trek to safety in small groups but none survived.
One story is especially heartbreaking. Two officers pulled a large sled more than 65 miles across the treacherous ice. When rescuers found their bodies, they discovered that the sled was filled with "a great deal of table silver."
By carrying what they didn't need, these men contributed to their own failure. But don't we do the same? Don't we drag baggage through life that we don't need? Evil thoughts that hinder us? Habits that drag us down? Grudges that we won't let go? Let's determine to "lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us" (Hebrews 12:1). (HGB)
The world has lost its transient lure -
Its evil spell I shun;
I've set my course for higher things
Till earth's brief race is run (HGB)
If your Christian life is a drag, worldly weights may be to blame.
OUR DAILY BREAD, RBC MINISTRIES, COPYRIGHT (1993), GRAND RAPIDS, MI. REPRINTED PERMISSION
N.J. Hiebert # 2247
"And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full . . . and (Jesus) arose and rebuked the wind, and said Peace, be still." (Mark 4:37-39)
It is not in gliding along the surface of a tranquil lake, that the reality of the Master's presence is felt; but actually when the tempest roars, and the waves roll over the ship.(Food for the Desert)
N.J. Hiebert # 2248
