{"id":22046,"date":"1996-10-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"1996-10-01T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/1996\/10\/01\/to-illustrate-32\/"},"modified":"1996-10-01T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"1996-10-01T00:00:00","slug":"to-illustrate-32","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/to-illustrate-32\/","title":{"rendered":"To Illustrate"},"content":{"rendered":"

\nOne day, when I was a 14-year-old high school freshman, school was dismissed\nearly for a teachers’ meeting. I conveniently neglected to tell my parents\nabout the change and arranged to bring my girlfriend over to my house. We\nweren’t<\/em> planning to study.<\/p>\n\n

\nAs we were going up the steps, my neighbor, Mrs. Nolan, poked her head out\nof a window and said, “You’re home awfully early, Jerome.”<\/p>\n\n

\n“Yes, Ma’am,” I said, improvising a lame story about how we had planned to\nreview algebra problems.<\/p>\n\n

\n“Does your mother know you’re home this early,” Mrs. Nolan persisted, “and\ndo you want me to call her?”<\/p>\n\n

\nI gave up. “No, Ma’am. I’ll go inside and call her while Kathy sits on the\nporch.”<\/p>\n\n

\nMrs. Nolan saved our careers that day. If Kathy had gotten pregnant, she\nmight not have become the doctor she is today. And my father had warned me\nthat if I made a baby, the mutual fund he set up for me to go to college\nor start a business would have gone to the child. I’m glad Mrs. Nolan was\nat her window, looking out for me.\n<\/p>\n

Jawanza Kunjufu in Restoring the Village<\/p>\n\n\n

Death<\/h2>\n

\nBob Russell, senior minister of Southeast Christian Church in Louisville,\nKentucky, told this story:<\/p>\n\n

\nWhen my father died, there was too much snow at our home in Pennsylvania\nto have a funeral procession. At the end of the service, the funeral director\nsaid, “I’ll take your dad’s body to the grave.” I felt we were leaving something\nundone, so I gathered five of my relatives, and we piled into a four-wheel-drive\nvehicle, plowed through ten inches of snow into the cemetery, and got about\nfifty yards from my dad’s grave.<\/p>\n\n

\nThe wind was blowing about twenty-five miles an hour. The six of us lugged\nthat casket down to the grave site. We watched as his body was lowered into\nthat grave.<\/p>\n\n

\nI wanted to pray before we left. “Lord, this is such a cold, lonely place.”\nI got choked up and battled to keep my composure. Finally I just whispered,\n“But I thank you that to be absent from the body is to be present in your\nwarm arms. Amen.”<\/p>\n\n\n

Preaching Today<\/p>\n\n

Faithfulness<\/h2>\n

\nWhile I was preaching one Sunday, an elderly woman, Mary, fainted and struck\nher head on the end of the pew. Immediately, an emt in the congregation called\nan ambulance.<\/p>\n\n

\nAs they strapped her to a stretcher and got ready to head out the door, Mary\nregained consciousness. She motioned for her daughter to come near. Everyone\nthought she was summoning her strength to convey what could be her final\nwords. The daughter leaned over until her ear was at her mother’s mouth.<\/p>\n\n

\n“My offering is in my purse,” she whispered.<\/p>\n\n

Eric Hulstrand\nBinford, North Dakota<\/p>\n\n\n

Indifference<\/h2>\n

\nAn estimated 500,000 tons of water rush over Niagara Falls every minute.\nOn March 29, 1948, the falls suddenly stopped. People living within the sound\nof the falls were awakened by the overwhelming silence. They believed it\nwas a sign that the world was coming to an end. It was thirty hours before\nthe rush of water resumed.<\/p>\n\n

\nWhat happened? Heavy winds had set the ice fields of Lake Erie in motion.\nTons of ice jammed the Niagara River entrance near Buffalo and stopped the\nflow of the river until the ice shifted again.<\/p>\n\n

\nThe flow of God’s grace in our lives can be blocked by cold indifference.\n<\/p>\n

Merle Mees\nTopeka, Kansas<\/p>\n\n

Legalism<\/h2>\n

\nThe following hand-lettered signs were prominently displayed around a drive-in\nrestaurant in Pine Grove, California:<\/p>\n\n

\nDo not back in.<\/p>\n\n

\nRestrooms are for customer use only.<\/p>\n\n

\n(On trash can) Not for diaper disposal or auto trash.<\/p>\n\n

\nLocal<\/em> checks for amount of purchase only.<\/em>\n<\/p>\n

\nVanilla frosties only dipped one size only.<\/p>\n\n

\nPlease order by number.<\/em><\/p>\n

\nObserve all signs.<\/p>\n\n

\n“Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone\nwho believes” (Rom. 10:4).<\/p>\n\n

Phillip W. Gunter\nLos Alamos, New Mexico<\/p>\n\n

Perseverance<\/h2>\n

\nIn 1968, the country of Tanzania selected John Stephen Akhwari to represent\nit in the Mexico City Olympics.<\/p>\n\n

\nAlong the racecourse for the marathon, Akhwari stumbled and fell, severely\ninjuring both his knee and ankle. By 7 p.m., a runner from Ethiopia had won\nthe race, and all the other competitors had finished and been cared for.\nJust a few thousand spectators were left in the huge stadium when a police\nsiren at the gate caught their attention.<\/p>\n\n

\nLimping through the gate came number 36, Akhwari, leg wrapped in a bloody\nbandage. Those present began to cheer as the courageous man completed the\nfinal lap of the race.<\/p>\n\n

\nLater, a reporter asked Akhwari the question on everyone’s mind: “Why did\nyou continue the race after you were so badly injured?”<\/p>\n\n

\nHe replied: “My country did not send me 7,000 miles to begin a race; they\nsent me to finish the race.”<\/p>\n\n

\n“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us” (Heb. 12:1).<\/p>\n\n

Tommy Winstead\nStafford, Virginia<\/p>\n\n\n

Teamwork<\/h2>\n

\nHerman Ostry’s barn floor was under twenty-nine inches of water because of\na rising creek. The Bruno, Nebraska, farmer invited a few friends to a barn\nraising. He needed to move his entire 17,000-pound barn to a new foundation\nmore than 143 feet away. His son Mike devised a lattice work of steel tubing,\nand nailed, bolted, and welded it on the inside and the outside of the barn.\nHundreds of handles were attached.<\/p>\n\n

\nAfter one practice lift, 344 volunteers slowly walked the barn up a slight\nincline, each supporting less than fifty pounds. In just three minutes, the\nbarn was on its new foundation.<\/p>\n\n

\nThe body of Christ can accomplish great things when we work together.<\/p>\n

Joseph F. Mlaker\nStanton, Michigan<\/p>\n\n\n

Thanksgiving<\/h2>\n

\nwhile on a short-term missions trip, Pastor Jack Hinton\nfrom New Bern, North Carolina, was leading worship at a leper colony on the\nisland of Tobago. There was time for one more song, so he asked if anyone\nhad a request. A woman who had been facing away from the pulpit turned around.<\/p>\n\n

\n“It was the most hideous face I had ever seen,” Hinton said. “The woman’s\nnose and ears were entirely gone. The disease had destroyed her lips as well.\nShe lifted a fingerless hand in the air and asked, ‘Can we sing Count\nYour Many Blessings?’<\/em>“<\/p>\n\n

\nOvercome with emotion, Hinton left the service. He was followed by a team\nmember who said, “Jack, I guess you’ll never be able to sing that song again.”<\/p>\n\n

\n“Yes I will,” he replied, “but I’ll never sing it the same way.”<\/p>\n\n

The Pastor’s Update (5\/96)\nForeign Mission Board, SBC<\/p>\n\n\n

Wealth<\/h2>\n

\nJeff Ferrera of Waukegan, Illinois, was reconciling his checkbook and called\nFirst National Bank of Chicago to get his current balance.<\/p>\n\n

\n“Your primary checking account currently has a balance of $924,844,204.32,”\ndroned the electronic voice. Ferrera was one of 826 customers who were almost\nbillionaires for a day because of the biggest error in the history of U. S.\nbanking. The goof amounted to almost $764 billion, more than six times the\ntotal assets of First Chicago NBD Corporation.<\/p>\n\n

\n“I had a lot of people saying in jest to transfer it to the Cayman Islands\nand run for it,” Ferrera said. But, like most of the others, he simply reported\nthe error to bank officials, who could say only that it was a “computer\nprogramming error.”<\/p>\n\n

\nIt pays to remember that all earthly wealth is just as temporal.\n<\/p>\n\n

Chicago Tribune (5\/18\/96)<\/p>\n\n

\nWhat are the most effective illustrations you’ve come across? For items\nused, Leadership will pay $25. If the material has been published previously,\nplease indicate the source. Send contributions to: To\nIllustrate. . ., Leadership, 465 Gundersen Drive, Carol Stream, IL 60188.\nContact Us<\/a>.\nPhotoDisc<\/em>\n<\/p>\n \n

1996 by Christianity Today\/LEADERSHIP, journal.<\/p>\n

Last Updated: October 8, 1996<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One day, when I was a 14-year-old high school freshman, school was dismissed early for a teachers’ meeting. I conveniently neglected to tell my parents about the change and arranged to bring my girlfriend over to my house. We weren’t planning to study. As we were going up the steps, my neighbor, Mrs. Nolan, poked Read more…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_books":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[154],"tax_ctp_field_guide_subcategory":[],"tax_ctp_field_guides":[],"tax_ctp_format":[131],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[648,649,156],"tax_ctp_tags":[3372,3737,4688,4948],"tax_ctp_topics":[],"class_list":["post-22046","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tax_publications-1996-leadership-journal","tax_publications-fall_1996-leadership-journal","tax_publications-leadership-journal","tax_ctp_tags-accountability","tax_ctp_tags-death","tax_ctp_tags-preaching","tax_ctp_tags-sermon-preparation"],"acf":{"scripture_references":null},"yoast_head":"\nTo Illustrate - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"One day, when I was a 14-year-old high school freshman, school was dismissed early for a teachers' meeting. 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