The Champions Spirit
Volume 68, Issue 46
Nov. 22, 2009
“...busy here and there...and he was gone.”
In 1 Kings 20, a prophet had a “show ‘n tell” mission from the Lord to speak to the King of Israel. The prophet disguised himself with a bandage over his eyes. When Ahab the king came by, the prophet gave the king a very pointed parable. He said he had been ordered to guard a man with his own life. In other words, if the man escaped, the penalty would be his own life. The prophet then said that his prisoner had escaped...that while he was “busy here and there, he was gone.” Ahab, king of Israel, told the prophet that he would have to pay for his negligence with his life. It was at that point that God’s servant, the prophet, turned the story around to show it was really Ahab himself who was guilty as he freed Ben-hadad, the king of Syria.
While there are many applications we could make of this biblical story, the words, “busy here and there, and he was gone” ring out so many truths applicable to us! While we busy ourselves in so many ways, with so many things that our world flashes before our eyes, that we often are guilty of letting the truly important escape unnoticed. Then, we must pay the price!
While we are busy “here and there,” opportunities that had knocked are gone
While we are busy “here and there,” the lost who were interested are gone.
While we are busy “here and there,” the occasion for spiritual growth escapes us.
While we are busy “here and there,” our family grows up is no longer with us.
Let us learn! Let us determine to set out priorities straight! May we resolve not to be “busy here and there” and lose that which is most important to us—either in this life or in the one to come!
—Larry Keele
FAMILY MATTERS...
Once more we are blessed with visitors in our presence. We hope that you will linger a few moments after services so we can meet you! Thank you for coming our way!
Our youth and their sponsors are ending their campout this morning. We are thankful for the great work and service they do and pray that they will all return to us safely.
I want to give a special word of thanks to Jess Long, who spent a great deal of time last week getting an ugly “malware” off of my computer. Computers are great—when they are working right! The trouble is, often they don’t work right! It’s really good to have Jess and others like him for those troublesome days!
Wednesday evening, John Qualls will lead the evening’s devotional. There will be no classes due to the Thanksgiving holiday. For those who will be traveling, we pray they will have a great time with family and come back home to Champions safely!
Today is the last day to turn in the names of those men you believe to be qualified to serve as elders and deacons. Continue to pray for this process!
Parting Thought: Achievers see possibilities, when others see problems.
HAVE A BLESSED WEEK!
Jeremy's Junction
As you will probably notice today, there is a big gap in the youth group section on the front left side of the auditorium. This is because the high school students are away on a special retreat. The theme of the retreat is "Living Epic Lives For Christ." We are going to talk about how a Christian should live in such a way that he stands out as someone who has something wonderful to live for. A part of this, as we will point out, is that an epic Christian is someone who puts others before himself.
Philippians 2 reads: 1 If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from His love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
If you are seeking to be united with Christ, which we all should be, then you must also seek to be united with your Christian brothers and sisters. It will take sacrifice on our parts. We will often have to place others' needs above our own.
Please pray for us this weekend as we try to grow closer together and learn about why we should be so compelled to follow Christ's teaching on unity. Also, I challenge you to be alert for the opportunities that you have this week to sacrifice yourself for Christ and others. Each time you do so, you will come closer and closer to living the epic life that Jesus promised in John 10:10. "...I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."
—Jeremy Geurin
John's Jogs
“COME INTO HIS PRESENCE WITH THANSGIVING”
This coming Thursday our whole country takes off from work and school so families can be together to enjoy good food, to give thanks and to reflect upon our blessings. We appropriately call this day Thanksgiving and celebrate it as a National Holiday. I have been reflecting upon the benefits we receive through the act of thanksgiving:
First, it helps us to center our attention on the giver of our blessings. It helps us to think about God, our Father. In fact, God is in our thoughts most of the time when we give thanks, for He is the giver of most of our gifts and blessings.
Second, it helps us see what we really have. Most of us are better off than we think we are. When you start “counting blessings,” it is hard to find a stopping place. So much of the beauty of life is missed because we do not see what we have. Often we never appreciate a friend until he is gone, or health until we lose it.
Third, it gives value and direction to life. When we list the things for which we are thankful, we are ashamed to list the trinkets of life. They seem so trivial when we focus attention on our blessings. Hobbies that take a lot of our time are often found to be unimportant. I love sports but I have never said, “Thank God for golf!”
Fourth, it helps us put eternity into our thinking. So many things for which we are thankful are passing quickly. But for love, life and Jesus we will have eternity to thank God. So, say thanks – It will help you!!
In this life of affluence, sometimes I think we have forgotten what Thanksgiving is all about. Because of the suffering of the previous winter, when the Pilgrims saw their bountiful crop they gathered for a feast of thanks. Today we are more concerned with calorie counting and cholesterol control than we are with having sufficient food for survival. We have too great a tendency to gripe and complain over some trivia we don’t have than to be thankful for the abundance we do have. It is a good thing to GIVE THANKS UNTO THE LORD, and to sing praises unto thy name, O Most High. (Psalm 92:1)
—John Qualls
Thanksgiving Day 1907 – Austin. The Texas Longhorn football team is winning big. But their home, Clark Field, is crude and overcrowded. For the final game against the Aggies, UT students decide to fix the problem.
They hold rallies, sell bleacher badges, and auction a banner made by the women’s dorm. Two weeks and a thousand dollars later the stands are ready. So visitors can be near the entrance, the students sit on the east side – a tradition that continues even today.
On game day, 5,000 fans pack Clark Field to watch the Longhorns beat the Aggies 11 to 6. UT students built the Longhorn stadium 102 years ago this month in Texas History.