Football was never my gift - Jesus was

"From the Ash"

David Ash has loved to play football since he was a child.

Mike Finger reports: "Outside the 15th Street Church of Christ in Temple,
there's a bush where he used to begin his Sunday mornings by hiding a
football. As soon as the service ended, Ash would tear off his church
clothes - he usually had planned ahead and wore his play clothes underneath
- and headed straight for the ball."

"It was a lot faster to get it out of the bush than to ask my dad for the
keys to the car," Ash said. "So I had the maximum amount of time to play
with it."

That love for football - and a lot of talent to go with it - helped David
Ash achieve what many young football players could only dream about: he
became the quarterback for the University of Texas Longhorns.

But last September, he suffered his first concussion in a game against BYU.
Then, two weeks later, he suffered more concussion symptoms in a game
against Kansas State. He sought to work through these issues, but after the
first game of this season against North Texas, he suffered dizziness and
headaches for seven days.

His doctors suggested that he may have to consider giving up football. And
as painful as it was, David Ash made the decision to end his football
career. He announced his decision in a news conference this past Monday. He
said that although it was not an easy decision, he was "at peace" with it.
He had no regrets in his career at UT in which he started 22 games and
passed for 4,728 yards. "I wouldn't change any of it," Ash said.

Now listen to this young man who has had to give up one of his dreams,
something that he has loved since he was a child. "I'm not a victim, I'm a
victor," he said on Monday. "Football was never my gift - Jesus was!" *

He's right. Of all the talents, blessings, and "gifts" that come from God
(James 1:17), the greatest Gift of all is the gift of His Son Jesus, who
died on the cross for our sins (John 3:16; Ephesians 1:7).

Without Jesus, we would ALL be lost in our sins and headed to eternal
destruction (Matthew 7:13-14). Yet, because God loves us so much that He
gave His Son to die on the cross for our sins, we can have forgiveness and
receive the gift of eternal life (Romans 6:23).

We must accept God's Gift on His terms by placing our faith and trust in
Jesus (Acts 16:30-31), turning from sin in repentance (Acts 17:30-31),
confessing Him before men (Romans 10:9-10), and being baptized into Christ
for the forgiveness of our sins (Acts 2:38). Then, as we continue to walk in
the light of His Word, the blood of Jesus continues to cleanse us from all
our sins (1 John 1:7).

From the "ashes" of his outstanding football career, David Ash understands
that the greatest Gift is Jesus.

"Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!" - 2 Corinthians 9:15

Won't YOU acknowledge that great truth by submitting your life in trusting
obedience to the One who died for you so that you might live?

David A. Sargent

6 Woes from Isaiah 5

1. Value property more than God (vs. 8,9)
2. Live for partying and drinking (vs. 11,12)
3. Scoff at the sin and judgment (vs. 18,19)
4. Call evil good, good evil (vs. 20)
5. Are wise in their own eyes (vs. 21)
6. Think they are so strong that wickedness is no threat (vs. 22)

 

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Ebola virus disease

"Life-giving Blood"

The World Health Organization reports that Ebola virus disease (EVD) is a
severe, often fatal illness in humans. The WHO states that the virus is
transmitted to people from wild animals and spreads in the human population
through human-to-human transmission. Although great precautionary measures
are used, we've witnessed recently how some doctors and caregivers working
in West Africa have contracted the virus. The most recent case of an
American aid worker catching the virus is Dr. Rick Sacra.

Sacra, 51, has been treating patients on and off in Liberia for 15 years.
In August, he went back to Monrovia, the national capital of Liberia, to
help deliver babies. While there, somehow he contracted the Ebola virus.

On Friday, September 5, Sacra was flown to Omaha, Nebraska in a special
medevac plane. He has been given two experimental treatments, one of which
consisted of blood plasma from another American aid worker, Dr. Kent
Brantly, who caught Ebola in Liberia but has recently recovered.

Michaeleen Doucleff reports, "Brantly was treated for Ebola at a hospital in
Atlanta back in August. Doctors gave him and his co-worker, Nancy Writebol,
the experimental drug ZMapp. Both of them recovered from Ebola. But it
still isn't known [for certain] whether ZMapp helped them... The idea is
that Brantly's blood contains Ebola antibodies, which could help Sacra's
immune system fight off the virus."

Isn't it wonderful? A physician gave some of his blood to help save the
life of another physician.

Now consider... SIN is deadly (Romans 6:23), and we "all have sinned and
fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). Unless a remedy is supplied,
it will lead to eternal destruction (Matthew 7:13-14).

A Remedy has been offered and is available to all who will accept it. There
is another physician - the Great Physician, Jesus - who gave His life and
His blood to save US from sin. "In Him we have redemption through His
blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace"
(Ephesians 1:7).

The blood of Jesus will cleanse and give eternal life to those who place
their faith and trust in Jesus (Acts 16:30-31), turn from sin in repentance
(Acts 17:30-31), confess Him before men (Romans 10:9-10), and are baptized
(immersed) into Christ (Acts 2:38). The blood of Jesus will continue to
cleanse those who continue to walk in the light of His Word (1 John 1:7).

The Great Physician gave up His life-giving blood to save us from the fatal
"disease" of sin. Through His blood, we are cleansed. Through His blood,
we have eternal life.

Won't YOU be washed in the cleansing blood of Jesus by trusting and obeying
Him?

David A. Sargent

What modern American life is really like

What A Wonderful World
by Tom Wacaster

Since the mid 1920's our nation has been fed a steady diet of humanism, evolution, and atheism. Every attempt has been made to get Jehovah God "out" of the picture, and put man at the center, and science as the all-knowing, all-seeing, all-powerful "god" that instructs, enlightens, and informs. The particular point of focus in the battle for the minds of men has been our educational system. For the past sixty years the liberal, humanistic, anti-God haters have dominated the class rooms of our public education system. Consequently we are witnessing the collapse of moral integrity and Biblical ethics that were the mainstay of our society for the previous 200 years. The battle has been waged in the class room as both sides of our present cultural war have sought to get the upper hand and capture the minds of our youth. There are signs, however, that the pendulum is beginning to swing back toward center. From one end of our nation to the other, states are taking a closer look at "intelligent design" as a plausible explanation of the origin of our universe and man. Some States now require that evolution be taught as a "theory" and not scientific fact. Others, such as Kansas, have introduced "intelligent design" into the classrooms of their public schools. Of course the media, along with liberal organizations such as the PTA and NEA, are refusing to go down without a fight. When one watches the main stream media it is rather astonishing that those being interviewed are extremely biased toward anything that has any religious overtones to it, in spite of the fact that evidence abounds for intelligent design and against evolution. I am fully aware that the politically correct notion is that "anybody who has any intelligence at all" knows that evolution is a fact, and Genesis 1 is nothing more than "myth." But for just a moment, let's forget about being "politically correct," and lets put on our thinking caps and consider the evidence that points to design as the only logical explanation for this world, the universe, and mankind. Physicist Paul Davies, in his book God And The New Physics, observed: "It is hard to resist the impression that the present structure of the universe, apparently so sensitive to minor alterations in numbers, has been rather carefully thought out.The seemingly miraculous concurrence of these numerical values must remain the most compelling evidence for cosmic design." Even the most hardened of atheists (such as the late Carl Sagan) have admitted that the conditions on our planet are "just right" to sustain life. It is an undeniable fact that the balance of the fundamental laws of physics are such that our universe appears to have been "fine tuned" in order to provide a place for life to exist as we know it. So much so, in fact, that one noted scientist observed that "it appears as if this world was actually created in order to prepare a place for man to dwell." Lee Strobel likens it to the following:

"I like to use the analogy of astronauts landing on Mars and finding an enclosed biosphere, sort of like the domed structure that was built in Arizona a few years ago. At the control panel they find that all the dials for its environment are set just right for life. The oxygen ratio is perfect; the temperature is seventy degrees; the humidity is fifty percent; there's a system for replenishing the air; there are systems for producing food, generating energy, and disposing of wastes. Each dial has a huge range of possible settings, and you can see if you were to adjust one or more of them just a little bit, the environment would go out of whack and life would be impossible. What conclusion would you draw from that?"

While science has, to a large degree, been dominated by non-believers, we are seeing a new generation of scientists who are taking a closer look at the evidence. Over the past three decades scientists have discovered that just about everything about the basic structure of our universe is balanced on what one has called, "a razor's edge for life to exist." Noted atheist turned believer, Fred Hoyle admitted, "Someone has been monkeying with the physics." The gravity or our world, the location of the earth in relation to the sun, the moon and other planets, and even the eco-system of this world in which we live all "scream" that some intelligent mind was behind it all. Let's borrow one example from Lee Strobel's book, The Case For A Creator:

The [cosmological] constant, which is a part of Einstein's equation for General Relativity, could have any value, positive or negative.[A]stronomical observations show that the cosmological constant is quite small, very much smaller than would have been guessed from first principles.The fine tuning has been estimated to be at least one part in a hundred million billion billion billion billion. That would be a ten followed by fifty-three zeroes. That's inconceivably precise. Put it this way. Let's say you were way out in space and were going to throw a dart at random toward Earth. It would be like successfully hitting a bull's eye that's one trillionth of a trillionth of an inch in diameter. That's less than the size of one solitary atom.

When we consider the conditions that go into making our world a suitable place for human habitat, we stand amazed at the intelligence that it demonstrates. We are awed at the God Who could so "fine-tune" our world so as it make it a suitable place for human life. Indeed, ours is a Wonderful World! Only the "fool" would say, "There is no God." He is a fool for the simple reason that he has the same evidence staring him in the face, and still refuses to see God.

Consider the beauty of our world from another standpoint. Most of us think in the concrete rather than the abstract. Consequently something is beautiful, amazing, astonishing or astounding only if we can see it with the eyes. I read about a group of Geography students who studied the Seven Wonders of the World. At the end of that section, the students were asked to list what they each considered to be the Seven Wonders of the World. Though there was some disagreement, the following got the most votes: Egypt's Great Pyramid, the Taj Mahal, the Grand Canyon, the Panama Canal, the Empire State Building, St. Peter's Basilica and China's Great Wall. While gathering the votes, the teacher noted that one student, a quiet girl, hadn't turned in her paper yet. So she asked the girl if she was having trouble with her list. The quiet girl replied, "Yes, a little. I couldn't quite make up my mind because there were so many." The teacher said, "Well, tell us what you have, and maybe we can help." The girl hesitated, then read, "I think the Seven Wonders of the World are...to touch and to taste, to see and to hear . . ." She hesitated a little, "and then to run and to laugh and to love." The more I thought on her answers the more I came to appreciate the value of those things that we can never touch with our hands. Perhaps it would do us good, from time to time, to stop and seriously consider the truly great "wonders" of the world.

When winning isn't really winning

I have known some people in my lifetime for which winning an argument is one
of the most important things they can do. They are not secure unless they
get the "last" word in or make the last jab. The problem is that even though
they may win the argument or at least silence the one they are arguing with,
they may be the looser in the long run.

Have you every asked yourself; just what winning that argument cost you?
What about the respect of others, friendships, your ethics, your sense of
well being or your ability to sleep nights?

I received the following story from some unknown author that kind of fits
right about here. "Last year I replaced several windows in my house and they
were the expensive, double-pane, energy efficient kind. But this week I got
a call from the contractor complaining that his work has been completed for
a whole year and I had yet to pay for them.

Boy or boy did we go a round. Just because I'm old doesn't mean that I am
automatically stupid. So, I proceeded to tell him just what his fast talking
sales guy had told me last year, "that in one year the windows would pay for
themselves." Well, there was silence on the other end of the line, so I just
hung up and I haven't heard from them again. I guess I must have won "that"
argument."

Now I know that the story is probably just that, "a story," but after I read
it I chuckled and felt good for the fellow for being so witty. At least I
did until I started to think more about it. Maybe you did too, but think
about it for a moment. The fellow in the story may have won the argument and
even saved a bunch of money and you may be saying, "That's right! He was
able to win one!" But what was the cost to his integrity? What about the
contractor who had to pay for the windows and the labor? What does our
reaction to the story say about our value system, our honest our sense of
right and wrong?

There is a simple scripture that fits here, yet one which we don't use
nearly enough. Jesus said in Matthew 5:16 that we are suppose to live in
such a way that people can see our good works and glorify the Father. He
also said that we are to treat others, as we would like to be treated
ourselves.

How about it, is it time to re-think your value system, your sense of right
and wrong, your ethics? My prayer is that God will open the eyes of our
hearts and help us to daily take on more of His values.

Russ Lawson