<<< Senior Pastor Dr. Charles R. Swindoll's voice! [Continues from yesterday ...] >>>Insight for Today!!
Wednesday, April 29, 2009 4:00 AM
From: This sender is DomainKeys verified "Insight for Living" {c+ifl@trusted-sender.convio.net}
Add sender to Contacts To: tojulei@yahoo.com
April 29, 2009
Observation
by Charles R. Swindoll *1002
2 Timothy 3:16-17
A small bottle containing urine sat upon the desk of Sir William Osler. He was then the eminent professor of medicine at Oxford University. Sitting before him was a classroom full of young, wide-eyed medical students listening to his lecture on the importance of observing details. To emphasize his point, he reached down and picked up the bottle. Holding it high, he announced:
This bottle contains a sample for analysis. It's often possible by tasting it to determine the disease from which the patient suffers.
Suiting action to words, he dipped a finger into the fluid and then into his mouth, as he continued---
Now I am going to pass the bottle around. Each of you please do exactly as I did. Perhaps we can learn the importance of this technique and diagnose the case.
"曾聽過有句話說：「好」是「最好」的敵人。的確如此，人常會安於平庸，安於現狀；所以有人說，年輕人想要改變世界，老年人卻想改變年輕人。因為很自然地，人，就是不喜歡改變," Senior Pastor of ROLCC Tong Liu ( 劉彤) writes early this morning on April 28, 2009. It is published by the Blog of Worldjournal.com.*108 "環境的改變，有時是能幫助生命成長；否則我們會習慣性停留於平庸，不會主動向前邁進。聖經裡也提到，神帶領我們的方式，就像老鷹訓練小鷹一樣。當老鷹訓練小鷹學飛時，第一件事就是攪動鷹巢；本來小鷹睡在窩裡十分舒服，忽然間被震出巢去，牠就不得不展開自己的小翅膀學飛。可是飛了不久就飛不動了，眼看要墜到地上，就在這千鈞一髮之際，忽然老鷹從下面飛上來，一把接住，把牠放在肩膀上，然後一同在空中翺翔."
[*108. 劉彤. '關鍵致勝篇─跨越平庸,' "劉彤 跨越的人生 A Life of Victory," (... by the World Journal .......)
*109. Ibid.
<<<<< On traveling, we may inspired by the natural scenes. The following quotes may also bring us with some philosophy of life:
"When the river is deepest it makes least noise." ---Proverb
"What makes a river so restful to people is that it doesn't have any doubt - it is sure to get where it is going, and it doesn't want to go anywhere else." ---Hal Boyle
"If my ship sails from sight, it doesn't mean my journey ends, it simply means the river bends." ---John Enoch Powell >>>>> *4477777
"這是何等美麗的圖畫，不是嗎？當我回想自己生命中每個環境的轉折，都可以在其中看見成長的痕跡。當然，在生命被攪動的時候，可能你不會覺得好玩，然而那正是你生命成長與突破的關口。這個時候你有兩種選擇，你可以選擇拒絕改變，讓自己落入苦澀與埋怨中；但你也可以選擇倚靠神，藉此磨鍊自己，然後你就能在環境中展翅翺翔，進入生命更高的一個層次。所以，永遠不要安於平庸；要確信在自己裡面有著無窮的潛力，有待你來發揮." Tong describes the miricle of postive thinking.*109 "《跨越要訣》當你發現自己生命正被攪動的時候，不要怨天尤人，反要決心跨越平庸，突破自我，至終像鷹一樣在空中翺翔."
The bottle made its way from row to row as each student gingerly poked his finger in and bravely sampled the contents with a frown. Dr. Osler then retrieved the bottle and startled his students with the words:
Gentlemen, now you will understand what I mean when I speak about details. Had you been observant you would have seen that I put my index finger into the bottle but my middle finger into my mouth!
There is much to be learned from that true story, especially regarding you and your Bible. Time and again I have heard the complaint, "But I just don't get anything out of the Bible. I read it and ask God to show me His truth, but nothing happens!" Or people will occasionally say, "When I read that passage you preached on today, I wondered, 'How in the world will he get anything out of this?' I really can't understand why I can't see what is there."
I've got good news---you can! But you will have to open your eyes and think. You will need to force yourself to observe, to take notice, to read the Scriptures like a detective examining the evidence, to discipline yourself to become saturated with the particulars of the passage. Since such attention to details will supply you with the raw materials you must have to interpret God's Word accurately, I strongly advise you to begin today.
Think of your eyes as searchlights. Become a glutton for details in everyday life. Don't glance at birds---see sparrows. Don't smell flowers, observe the hyacinth, the fuchsia, the tulip. Don't consider a tree---look at a willow or a birch. Don't watch cars, notice Fords or Pontiacs and Toyotas. Don't simply hear others' words---listen for feelings and picture detailed concepts. Stop collecting the garbage of generalities and start stretching your mental muscles in the gymnasium of in-depth perception.
Most folks read through the Bible and casually notice birds, plants, trees, and wind. But not you! Aim higher than that.
Open the Song of Solomon and hear the liquid call of the turtledove.
Taste the pungent mandrakes of Genesis 30.
Smell the sweet cedarwood in 1 Kings.
Feel the salty blast of Euraquilo---that violent northeastern wind sweeping across the pages of Acts 27.
And when you stand in a hallowed place like Gethsemane, be aware! That Man who kneels among the gnarled and twisted trunks of the ancient olive trees is doing more than praying---He is pouring out His very soul before the Father. Don't leave until you see His blood mingle with sweat and tears. Those are your sins He faces---it is the prospect of your punishment that tears at His soul. Don't just glance at that scene---see Him!
The eternal Book of all books deserves a second look.
Excerpted from Come Before Winter and Share My Hope, Copyright ?1985, 1994 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide. Used by permission.
---------------------
