A Step in the Write Direction
October 13,
2014
Update: We attended the memorial
service Saturday of a man from our church, thinking there wouldn’t be very many
there. Although he had attended our church for 16 years and never missed a
service (wearing his motorcycle jacket), and I saw his name every week on the
prayer chain, I had never taken the time to get to know him because he was a
little “odd” as one person put it. (I found out during the eulogy that this was
due to a traumatic brain injury when he was in his early twenties.) Imagine my
surprise to see the sanctuary almost completely filled, including three or four
rows of CMA members (Christian Motorcyclists Association). Several paid tribute
to his life, his dependability—even walking 9 miles one day to work when his
cycle broke down, and especially his knowledge of the Bible. “I wouldn’t argue
the Bible with him; he knew more than I did,” one man said. And even the pastor
remarked that Stephen often corrected him when he made a mistake. I left the
service with regret, sorry that I hadn’t taken the time to get to know him
better. It was truly my
loss!
Thought for the Day: Remember,
we usually can't choose the music life plays for us, but we can choose how we
dance to it. Make yours a beautiful memory (Anonymous; taken from Wes Tracy’s
“Manna Morsels”).
Song
for the Day:
I will not boast in
anything
No gifts, no power, no
wisdom
But I will boast in Jesus
Christ
His death and
resurrection
—Stuart Townend, “How Deep the
Father’s Love for Us”
Laugh
for the Day:
A woman traveling by train was talking with her
seatmate. "I've been to San Jo-say," she
said.
"You pronounce that wrong,"
he told her. "It is San
Ho-say. In California you
pronounce all J's as H's. When were you
there?"
The lady hesitated, then
said, "In Hune and Huly."
Writer’s
Tips:
(from unpublished writer’s devotional book)
The Other Side of the Fence
Let us not be weary in doing good, for at the
proper
time we will reap . . . if we do not give up
(Galatians 6:9).
Sometimes we
wonder if our writing helps anyone. We pour out our hearts in a book, an
article, or a poem, but unless readers respond, we don’t know what effect—if
any—our words have had.
A young woman
who loved flowers set out a rare vine beside her back fence. Day after day she
cultivated it, but it did not bloom. One morning an invalid neighbor, whose back
lot adjoined the young woman’s, called her saying, “You can’t imagine how much I
enjoy the blossoms of the vine you planted.”
Walking around
to the neighbor’s backyard, the mass of luxurious flowers on the other side of
the fence amazed the young woman. They were blooming—but she could not see them
from her own yard!
A friend
received a call from her sister who said, “I had a nice visit with you last
night.” She had taken her husband to the hospital for emergency surgery. “While
I sat in the waiting room,” she said, “I picked up a magazine and read one of
your poems about Christ riding through the storm with us. Those words encouraged
me until my husband came through the surgery with no complications.” My friend
told me, “Little did I know when I wrote that poem while I was going
through a trial years before, that one day it would help my sister 2,000 miles
away.”
We may never
know how many people our writing has touched until we get to
heaven. This
is illustrated by a song titled “Faces” by Rodney Griffin in which he didn’t
think he had done anything that would last eternally. But when he got to heaven,
God told him to turn around and “Then He showed me the faces of the ones who’d
come because of me.”
Can you
remember a time you were tempted to quit because you didn’t see any results?
How can you
encourage a fellow writer experiencing a discouraging season?
Have a good week spreading
the
gospel
through the printed page.
Donna
Clark Goodrich
dgood648@aol.com
www.thewritersfriend.net
http://donna-goodrich.blogspot.com
"A
Step in the Write Direction--the Complete How-to Guide for Christian
Writers"
"The Freedom of Letting Go"
"Preparing Your Heart for Christmas--31 Advent
Devotions"
"The Little Book of Big Laughs"--105 pages of clean
jokes
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