Each week, this page is designed, hopefully, to help someone who has experienced a setback, or who feels lower than a snake's belly from guilt or fear or sorrow. This week's story is from a champion who struck out 1330 times and had 851 homeruns. That's a a failure rate of 479 more failures than 'successes.", yet we remember him as a champion. Why?
One day he had been mercilessly booed as he struck out twice successively on three balls thrown. But, "each time," said Frank Bettger, who was observing him closely, he went over and doffed his cap and smiled at the crowd. Late in the game he came up to bat again. ON second strike he flailed so hard he fell to the ground. But he got up! Dusted off and knocked the third pitch out of the ballpark and over some houses! One of the longest hits ever. Bettger, remembering the drama of that great moment in baseball, said: "He went over and doffed his hat again, smiled that same little smile, and the expression on his face was exactly like the one he wore on the first two occasions." Someone asked this man who struck out more times than anybody else, "What do you do when you get in a batting slump?" "I just keep goin' up there and swinging at 'em. I know the law of averages will hold good for me the same as anybody else."
'Brother Gilbert' who discovered him, said: He looked better striking out than he did hitting home runs!" What a statement to be made about someone! In the homeruns, the talent showed. In the strikeouts, the man showed.
Any of us can look good in success, but it is in adversity that we can show ourselves the be the tower of strength we are. For some, that testing comes in aweful sorrow. For others, its tolerating grevious sickness. Still others find their character showing in financial adversity. Or dreams crushed in the ground.
Christianity is that way. It shows most beautifully when undergoing tribulation, when almost casually giving up rights or privileges for peace and principle.
BL
Saturday, December 10, 2011
WHERE WOULD YOU BE WITHOUT PAUL? (2/26/1972?)
Let's pretend for a moment.
We are members of the Lord's church in Antioch. We are showing some signs of growth in godliness and in numbers. We have some excellent teachers among us, we need them--here at home. But the Holy Spirit says, "Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them." "We can't afford it" some one cries, "We need them at home," comes the cry. "I know those Europeans, they'll sell their soul for Hershey bar. The whole mess of em are not worth one man." But Barnabas and Paul had the blessing of the majority--God--and they went.
Here are two questions: Did that missionary journey help or hurt Antioch? Their name, was it helped or hurt? Outside of Jerusalem (which was also a missionary church) who can you name that was more blessed of God? Is the name "Antioch" a blessing after 2000 years? Antioch had the rare and unparalleled privilege of being the host and backer of three missionary journeys. The other question I want to ask is simply this, don't run away from it--face it, WHERE WOULD I BE TODAY IF PAUL AND BARNABAS AND SILAS AND OTHERS HAD NOT BEEN SENT TO THE GENTILE? The plain fact is this, brother, you would be an idol worshipper! You would be in the shape of the Hindu today. To accept the grace of God, to accept the gospel of God with the attitude "I was worth it all, but the Hindu is worth none of it" is to be sub-Christian. Beware, if you are against missionary enterprizes, you have become as the dead sea, taking in the fresh, life-giving water, and keeping it, turning it to brine, and dying in the process. The missionary has to die before he goes. He has to settle that ahead of time. Do not be surprised, then, at what other prices he is willing to pay...The Bible says that "One soul is worth more than the whole world." The question reduces itself to this: DO WE BELIEVE THE BIBLE? B.L.
We are members of the Lord's church in Antioch. We are showing some signs of growth in godliness and in numbers. We have some excellent teachers among us, we need them--here at home. But the Holy Spirit says, "Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them." "We can't afford it" some one cries, "We need them at home," comes the cry. "I know those Europeans, they'll sell their soul for Hershey bar. The whole mess of em are not worth one man." But Barnabas and Paul had the blessing of the majority--God--and they went.
Here are two questions: Did that missionary journey help or hurt Antioch? Their name, was it helped or hurt? Outside of Jerusalem (which was also a missionary church) who can you name that was more blessed of God? Is the name "Antioch" a blessing after 2000 years? Antioch had the rare and unparalleled privilege of being the host and backer of three missionary journeys. The other question I want to ask is simply this, don't run away from it--face it, WHERE WOULD I BE TODAY IF PAUL AND BARNABAS AND SILAS AND OTHERS HAD NOT BEEN SENT TO THE GENTILE? The plain fact is this, brother, you would be an idol worshipper! You would be in the shape of the Hindu today. To accept the grace of God, to accept the gospel of God with the attitude "I was worth it all, but the Hindu is worth none of it" is to be sub-Christian. Beware, if you are against missionary enterprizes, you have become as the dead sea, taking in the fresh, life-giving water, and keeping it, turning it to brine, and dying in the process. The missionary has to die before he goes. He has to settle that ahead of time. Do not be surprised, then, at what other prices he is willing to pay...The Bible says that "One soul is worth more than the whole world." The question reduces itself to this: DO WE BELIEVE THE BIBLE? B.L.
IF not, what is wrong? (7/20/1980)
ARE YOU HAPPY?
What does your heart of hearts say to that question? What do I say to it? Well, yes, I am happy. I get my share of unpleasant experiences. But, on the whole, life is a wonder to me! It is interesting and exciting and satisfying.
But, people who have a back-slapping, cheer sometimes leaves me cold. There is an excessive 'happiness' that seems to be a facade. Such people are looking for happiness while pretending they have it.
Well, how does one find happiness? What does one do? In my case, I savor the moments. I notice the things that give me the deepest joy and keep company with them. It may be a work, a hobby, a friend, a book. These give me pleasure, but the things that offer me most happiness--pure joy--are those things I do for other people--things that I could have let slide, but didn't, and brought unexpected happiness to someone else. That's when I feel so good inside that my soul sings for joy. Things we do for ourselves may bring justifiable pleasure, but things we do for others are the ones that bring unbridled joy.
If life gets boring, that's time to start working on self--not someone else. The problem of the unhappy is inside--not outside. It is then time to start thinking some interesting thoughts. It is time to think some creative thoughts. One can lie in bed and rehash the problems and disappointments of the day, or he can start over with fresh, creative thinking and praying. On bed is as good a time to think about good things as it is bad things. Meditate on the goodness of god and his world. "Pleasure' your thoughts by "thinking on whatsoever things are lovely...
BL
Thursday, December 8, 2011
THREE MEN AT THE CROSSROADS OF LIFE (2/12/1967)
Betrayal night had dropped a heavy mantle of darkness on the hills of Jerusalem, and Jesus, aware that this was his hour to glorify his Father, had been in prayer agony across brook Kidron in Gethsemane. Judas was in the temple area, fitting price to purpose. Suddenly the night air -- electrified by heavy footsteps and harsh voices; clattering swords and rattling sticks -- was a cacophony of mob sounds. The yellowish glow of the torches revealed black grimy bearded faces bent on violence. It must have been a little incongrous to see them stop silent while one of their number planted a kiss on the cheek of the passive face of omnipotence.
As the mob seized Lord Jesus, Peter's heart, like others, did a turnover...this couldn't happen. This must not happen. "Lord, shall we smite with the sword?" But, before Christ could answer, Peter had already taken affairs in hand. Whack...! Off flew Malchus' right ear! The high priest's servant. Peter missed cleaving Malchus' head right down the middle by about three inches. Peter meant business.
A Christian fighting religous battles with a sword...Peter? "Put up thy sword in thy sheath; for all that take the sword shall perish with the sword" (Matt. 26:52).
Jesus placed the ear back on the head just like a child mends her doll, while and uncomprehending but startled group of people looked on. What a manifestation of Glory!
As the company crossed the Kidron and went back over into Jerusalem that night, three people especially had things to ponder in their hearts...Peter, Malchus and Judas.
Judas just could not stand the remorse and he went out and hanged himself. The man he had death-kissed had put an ear back on...tenderly. Judas flunked the test of repentance and obedience.
Peter, having bumbled so badly, would ponder those words about fighting with swords and profit from having had his carnal nature so greviousy exposed to public eye. I, too, know what it is to have inner-most being stripped naked before public eye. I know a little of how he must have felt. Wonder what Peter did with that sword? Don't you know that sword was as big, heavy and cumbersome as a throbbing thumb? But still, Peter missed the lesson. He was not yet perfected. One more failure loomed large and close before him. He would deny his Lord.
But the man who must have had the most profound revelation was Malchus. In the name of religion, Malchus acting on orders of the high priest, had come out to help take Jesus prisoner. But instead of taking a prisoner, Malchus suffered the indignity of having an ear cut off. One flash of the fisherman's sword and Malchus could understand the full meaning of seeing his ear in the dust...but I wonder if he really understood what it was to have that ear stuck back on again, stitched by kind words and healed with tenderness. He had had an incounter with God and this would awaken to gratitude any but the insensate.
If Malchus became a Christian, did he quibble about a virgin birth? Or theorize about the "God is dead" kick? Or question how many of Jesus' commands demanded obedience? I rather think that he would have said, "Speak Lord, thy servant heareth."
+++Baxter Loe
As the mob seized Lord Jesus, Peter's heart, like others, did a turnover...this couldn't happen. This must not happen. "Lord, shall we smite with the sword?" But, before Christ could answer, Peter had already taken affairs in hand. Whack...! Off flew Malchus' right ear! The high priest's servant. Peter missed cleaving Malchus' head right down the middle by about three inches. Peter meant business.
A Christian fighting religous battles with a sword...Peter? "Put up thy sword in thy sheath; for all that take the sword shall perish with the sword" (Matt. 26:52).
Jesus placed the ear back on the head just like a child mends her doll, while and uncomprehending but startled group of people looked on. What a manifestation of Glory!
As the company crossed the Kidron and went back over into Jerusalem that night, three people especially had things to ponder in their hearts...Peter, Malchus and Judas.
Judas just could not stand the remorse and he went out and hanged himself. The man he had death-kissed had put an ear back on...tenderly. Judas flunked the test of repentance and obedience.
Peter, having bumbled so badly, would ponder those words about fighting with swords and profit from having had his carnal nature so greviousy exposed to public eye. I, too, know what it is to have inner-most being stripped naked before public eye. I know a little of how he must have felt. Wonder what Peter did with that sword? Don't you know that sword was as big, heavy and cumbersome as a throbbing thumb? But still, Peter missed the lesson. He was not yet perfected. One more failure loomed large and close before him. He would deny his Lord.
But the man who must have had the most profound revelation was Malchus. In the name of religion, Malchus acting on orders of the high priest, had come out to help take Jesus prisoner. But instead of taking a prisoner, Malchus suffered the indignity of having an ear cut off. One flash of the fisherman's sword and Malchus could understand the full meaning of seeing his ear in the dust...but I wonder if he really understood what it was to have that ear stuck back on again, stitched by kind words and healed with tenderness. He had had an incounter with God and this would awaken to gratitude any but the insensate.
If Malchus became a Christian, did he quibble about a virgin birth? Or theorize about the "God is dead" kick? Or question how many of Jesus' commands demanded obedience? I rather think that he would have said, "Speak Lord, thy servant heareth."
+++Baxter Loe
Untitled Letter (Wednesday, March 17, 1999)
*on Christian Relief Fund stationary
Ms. Katherine Ketchersid
9010 Briarcroft Ln. Apt. 101
Laurel, MD 20708
The last time I was in your home it was in Houston! What did you mean moving to Laurel, MD?
You sent money to my West Amarillo account which I depend upon for my salary. How about that? I humbly thank you for that gesture.
I get anxious to walk again. But so far God has not seen fit to make it possible. I would just as soon go on if it were possible. I suppose I am stuck in this situation for now.
Ruby Nell is about the same, however she is older than any woman I have lived with--she has turned 70. I am 74 years old.
The old Ketchersid farmhouse is re-habible, so Tony Denn's father's pronounced it. He has been in the homebuilding business longer than I have been alive.
All us heirs are going down there on our vacation's and re-hab it. We will have to start over. There is nothing but the well to start over.
R.N. visulaizes it with a screened-in back porch along the entire east side. And, remove the wall between the living room and the kitchen. And, remove the outside wall on the south end, and take the entire end and encorporate it in the remander of the building.
That is about it.
Your son-in-law,
Baxter Loe
Ms. Katherine Ketchersid
9010 Briarcroft Ln. Apt. 101
Laurel, MD 20708
The last time I was in your home it was in Houston! What did you mean moving to Laurel, MD?
You sent money to my West Amarillo account which I depend upon for my salary. How about that? I humbly thank you for that gesture.
I get anxious to walk again. But so far God has not seen fit to make it possible. I would just as soon go on if it were possible. I suppose I am stuck in this situation for now.
Ruby Nell is about the same, however she is older than any woman I have lived with--she has turned 70. I am 74 years old.
The old Ketchersid farmhouse is re-habible, so Tony Denn's father's pronounced it. He has been in the homebuilding business longer than I have been alive.
All us heirs are going down there on our vacation's and re-hab it. We will have to start over. There is nothing but the well to start over.
R.N. visulaizes it with a screened-in back porch along the entire east side. And, remove the wall between the living room and the kitchen. And, remove the outside wall on the south end, and take the entire end and encorporate it in the remander of the building.
That is about it.
Your son-in-law,
Baxter Loe
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Little Things Count (10/26/1980)
*formerly titled 'I WAS CONTEMPLATING SUICIDE'.
MINISTERING TO HUMAN NEED IS SUCH A REWARDING JOB: Yesterday I visited with a big black man whom I had not seen for several months. Many times I have urged him to worship with us at Forest Hill. Till now he has not but he and I are friends -more than friends we have a genuine affection for each other.
Yesterday, when I met him, he sat down to tell me, "Mr. Loe, I want to thank you again. I am ashamed to tell you, but that day when you asked me if you could help me, I was near suicide. I was so frightened and desperate that I could only think of getting out of it, but since that day, things have been getting better every day. I now have a savings account; my own home with a two-car garage and my family is happy. It would not have been so, if it were not for you. That kind of talk, whether it is true or not, really gets one's attention.
The deed he refers to is a letter--to Congressman Jack Hightower. I had asked the man if he would like for me to attempt to get him government a id for he has one lifeless arm and a crippled leg -for handling TV's . He said, "Yes, I have been trying for ten years, but I cannot get anywhere." He was obviously in need. So, off went a letter. We had a return on it in a week asking for more information. Inside of a month this man had been able to get food stamps, get enrolled in Amarillo College electronics school, and had been provided with a huge tool case full of tools--enough to make the best craftsman jealous. He would report to me, "I am at the head of my class." All he needed was an opportunity. He finished that electronics school to become a good TV technician. And yesterday he told me, "Mr. Loe, Five weeks ago I enrolled in radar electronics school. I will go for 6 years. I already have people asking me to work for them from as far away as San Diego. I can name my price when this is completed, and I owe it all to you."
I would like to take some glory about this, but do you know what my total effort was? Two letters. That's all. It would be so wonderful if more efforts paid dividends like that. BL
MINISTERING TO HUMAN NEED IS SUCH A REWARDING JOB: Yesterday I visited with a big black man whom I had not seen for several months. Many times I have urged him to worship with us at Forest Hill. Till now he has not but he and I are friends -more than friends we have a genuine affection for each other.
Yesterday, when I met him, he sat down to tell me, "Mr. Loe, I want to thank you again. I am ashamed to tell you, but that day when you asked me if you could help me, I was near suicide. I was so frightened and desperate that I could only think of getting out of it, but since that day, things have been getting better every day. I now have a savings account; my own home with a two-car garage and my family is happy. It would not have been so, if it were not for you. That kind of talk, whether it is true or not, really gets one's attention.
The deed he refers to is a letter--to Congressman Jack Hightower. I had asked the man if he would like for me to attempt to get him government a id for he has one lifeless arm and a crippled leg -for handling TV's . He said, "Yes, I have been trying for ten years, but I cannot get anywhere." He was obviously in need. So, off went a letter. We had a return on it in a week asking for more information. Inside of a month this man had been able to get food stamps, get enrolled in Amarillo College electronics school, and had been provided with a huge tool case full of tools--enough to make the best craftsman jealous. He would report to me, "I am at the head of my class." All he needed was an opportunity. He finished that electronics school to become a good TV technician. And yesterday he told me, "Mr. Loe, Five weeks ago I enrolled in radar electronics school. I will go for 6 years. I already have people asking me to work for them from as far away as San Diego. I can name my price when this is completed, and I owe it all to you."
I would like to take some glory about this, but do you know what my total effort was? Two letters. That's all. It would be so wonderful if more efforts paid dividends like that. BL
REMEMBER YOUR TRAINING (3/6/1982)
This gem of instruction came from a nursing supervisor to one of her nurses. The nurse came into the supervisor's office almost unable to unbend. "What's wrong?" "Than man in the room down the hall must weigh 300 lbs. Lifting him almost broke my back." To which the supervisor replied, "Honey, remember your training; it is not the weight of the burden but how you lift it that counts."
My, but how we need to remember this! Likely, most of us have had adequate teaching on how to carry our burdens, but we have to do our own training, for training is putting theory into practice. And if we have not attended to the training, then when heavy burdens come, we may falter under them.
It is difficult to remember our teaching if we skip the training til the time something crashes in on us. A death in the family, a rebel child, rejection by an employer, a checkbook suddenly found to be floating in red; these can really put us in a tailspin if we have not been practicing what we preach.
We have such wonderful heroes to imitate in courage! It was when enemies surrounded him like a pack of hungry wolves that David sat down and calmly composed those famous lines: "The lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want."
When he could scarcely tell which enemy was worse, the one in the church or outside the church, Paul bent over his parchment and calmly dipped his quill: "Forgetting those things behind, I press forward to the mark."
Then night of nights when Jesus was in Gethsemane he prayed "Not my will, but thine." For 2000 years people have looked at how he bore burdens and became inspired. BL
My, but how we need to remember this! Likely, most of us have had adequate teaching on how to carry our burdens, but we have to do our own training, for training is putting theory into practice. And if we have not attended to the training, then when heavy burdens come, we may falter under them.
It is difficult to remember our teaching if we skip the training til the time something crashes in on us. A death in the family, a rebel child, rejection by an employer, a checkbook suddenly found to be floating in red; these can really put us in a tailspin if we have not been practicing what we preach.
We have such wonderful heroes to imitate in courage! It was when enemies surrounded him like a pack of hungry wolves that David sat down and calmly composed those famous lines: "The lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want."
When he could scarcely tell which enemy was worse, the one in the church or outside the church, Paul bent over his parchment and calmly dipped his quill: "Forgetting those things behind, I press forward to the mark."
Then night of nights when Jesus was in Gethsemane he prayed "Not my will, but thine." For 2000 years people have looked at how he bore burdens and became inspired. BL
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