“Ifonly Ida”

“Ifonly Ida” was a wonderful lady that died recently. She was a sad lady, but it wasn’t necessary. The poor lady just never really learned to enjoy life! O, she had a good life by all standards – but she never learned to appreciate it.

She and her husband earned a good living… but as a teen she had dated another fellow and he became a wealthy lawyer. She often said, “If only I would have married him…”

They had 3 great children are successful in life, but they lived so far away. Ifonly could have enjoyed the travel to see the children, but she ruined her joy by saying, “if only I would have taught them to live close to home.”

And so it went. She never learned to enjoy life – one can only hope she enjoys heaven!

GOD TEACHES US TO WATCH OUR SELF TALK

Proverbs 4:23. “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.”

GOD TEACHES US TO KEEP LOOKING AHEAD, NOT TO THE PAST

Ecclesiastes 7:8-10. “The end of a matter is better than its beginning, and patience is better than pride. Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger resides in the lap of fools. Do not say, "Why were the old days better than these?" For it is not wise to ask such questions.”

God created us a living soul with our own will and freedom of choice. God established the consequences, but we have the choice! In other words, we have free will!

Henrietta Mears wrote, “Will is the whole man active. I cannot give up my will; I must exercise it. I must will to obey. When God gives a command or a vision of truth, it is never a question of what He will do, but what we will do. To be successful in God's work is to fall in line with His will and to do it His way. All that is pleasing to Him is a success.” Henrietta Mears, Dream Big: The Henrietta Mears Story, quoted in Christianity Today, June 21, 1993, Page 41.

Four Balls

Softball – Roberta and I have 4 perfect children. However, sports were not one of their interests. I’m holding a ball that belonged to one of our sons – it has his name on it. While it can’t be proven, I believe that he shared his dad’s weakness of being more worried about being hit by the ball than hitting the ball. So, he was not successful in sports.

Initially I thought he needed a better coach, but now I realize his heart was not in the game. Today that son is a very successful Sergeant First Class in the United States Army.

We need to ask ourselves if our heart is in this church! How successful do we want it to be? What sacrifices are we willing to make?

Basketball – Lomega excels in basketball. No, they don’t win every game, but they sure work at it! The Rev. John Palmer pastored First Assembly of God in Des Moines 21 years. Several members of the women’s basketball team from Drake University were members of his church. One year they lost a very important game by one point in the final few seconds. He wrote the following to encourage them.

WINNERS

Winners realize that all of us miss the mark occasionally.

Winners love to win and hate to lose, but know how to do both graciously.

Winners know that the difference between winning and losing is determined by attitude, not the scoreboard.

Winners focus on the present and the future rather than dwelling on past victories or losses.

Winners don’t criticize even if they feel justified in doing so.

Winners congratulate the opponent in loss or in victory.

Winners realize life consists of much more than outscoring someone else.

Winners are not whiners.

Winners never give up and they encourage others to do the same.

Winners always do their best even when the score shows them to be behind.

Football – I enjoy football, although who wins isn’t important – unless it is OSU. I believe that OSU should win every game they play – unless they are playing the Sooners!

Bob Stoops has a great approach to coaching. He teaches and practices a “No Excuse” policy; he supports his team, and is willing to take risks. In a recent game it was 4^th down and inches to go. OU had a 1-point lead, with 1½ minutes left in the game. If they kicked the ball perhaps they could keep the other team from scoring. If they went the few inches the game was safely in their hands. However, if the team could not make it, then Texas A&M could kick a field goal and win the game.

Stoops wanted to kick, but when he saw the disappointment in his team he opted to go for it. It was successful, so he looked like a genius. Had he failed, he would have looked like Bozo the clown according to the sports writers.

They took the risk, made their objective and won the game

The Christian life is a lot like sports… preparation precedes the action, risks are taken, some battles are won, others are lost, but you keep working. However, fans can be fickle. When you win they love you, when you fail they want to toss you out. Sometimes Christians are that way as well! May God help us!

Beach Ball – There is a new activities director at the First Shamrock Care Center. She loves her job and loves the patients. Recently I was there visiting patients and she was holding a beach ball and had a big smile on her face.

I asked Linda what her objective for the day was with her patients. She said, “I want them to respond to me. Yesterday Mrs. Jones hit this ball when I tossed it to her. Today I hope she will say at least one word to me.

Every ball I have displayed has a reason for being… some people earn fortunes with balls like this… most of us use them a few times and then they get dusty and go flat on a shelf some place.

Linda uses her Beach Ball to bring healing in the lives of her patients.

One day a very discouraged man was sitting in a restaurant waiting on a friend to join him for coffee. We’ll call him Bill. Bill was sitting there having a pity party. Bill had messed up on business deal and lost a lot of money. He was feeling dumb and stupid and was enjoying kicking himself for being so dumb.

His primary thought was, “If only…”

When his friend joined him and saw the glum look on his face he asked what caused the grief and Bill spent about 15 minutes telling the friend “If only I had done it differently!”

The friend – an 80 year-old psychiatrist – took Bill back to his office and began sharing the stories of patients he had treated that did not get well. In each case they were stuck on “If only.”

He helped Bill understand that he had to move to “Next time.” We never learn from our mistakes until we say, “Next time I will do it better.”

I have meditated on that at length and I believe there is one more step. That step is, “From this point forward I will.” Like any resolution, it is easy to make, but hard to follow through. When you start on a new adventure like self-improvement, you will probably fail many times. That’s okay. Just keep plugging away at it! Probably the reason we are saying, “If only” is simply because we quit too soon!

Roberta and I have asked God for a new vision for the church. As a result of His guidance, since November 1^st I have considered myself a full time pastor. I will work 2 days a week as a hospice nurse, but otherwise this church gets my attention and even on those two days the church is still Priority One.

One of the issues I had to settle in my mind is that the “good old days” as I know them are gone. When I was a kid there were no school activities on Sundays or Wednesday evenings. Church was Sunday morning, Sunday evening and Wednesday evening.

That isn’t the way we do things in Loyal. I longed for the good old days, but I’ve been corrected!

Ecclesiastes 7:10. “Do not say, ‘Why were the old days better than these?’ For it is not wise to ask such questions.”

AS CHRISTIANS WE ARE ON ASSIGNMENT TO CHANGE THE WORLD!

John 16:33. Jesus said "I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."

Romans 12:21. “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

1 John 5:5. “Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God!” (That would be us!)

The “world” here means the world system… the part under Satan’s control. Through the power of God’s Holy Spirit you and I can conquer sin in our lives and make a huge difference in this world. But there is a price to pay!

Read Romans 8:28-39; especially verse 37. As Christians we are “More than conquerors!” Nothing can separate us from the love of God! So if Jesus has overcome the world, then we can too!

The question is simply this. Do we want to be over-comers? Do we want to fulfill God’s dream and plans for this church? The choice is ours, and I believe that we are ready to do whatever God is asking this morning!

Pastor Leon