A ROCKY FOUNDATION

                  Victor Frankl, a Jewish psychologist, lived during the Holocaust and was a prisoner in a Jewish concentration camp during World War II. While seeking to survive the horror of this imprisonment, Frankl began observing his fellow prisoners in the hope of discovering what coping mechanism would help him endure this horrendous existence. What Frankl discovered was this: Those individuals who could not accept what was happening to them and could not make their present suffering fit with their faith, or couldn’t find its meaning in their world view, despaired, lost hope, and eventually gave up and died. Those prisoners who found a meaning from their faith, were then able to find hope for a future beyond their present suffering, and so could accept what they were enduring as a part of their existence. It was these prisoners who survived ( Keith krill ) Today churches are promoting the C...

  A few centuries before Christ, Alexander the Great conquered almost all of the known world with his military strength, cleverness, and diplomacy. One day, Alexander and a small company of soldiers approached a strongly defended, walled city. Alexander, standing outside the walls, raised his voice, demanding to see the king. The king, approaching the battlements above the invading army, agreed to hear Alexander’s demands. "Surrender to me immediately," commanded Alexander. The king laughed. "Why should I surrender to you?" he called down. "We have you far outnumbered. You are no threat to us!"Alexander was ready to answer the challenge. "Allow me to demonstrate why you should surrender," he replied. Alexander ordered his men to line up single file and start marching. He marched them straight toward a sheer cliff that dropped hundreds of feet to rocks below. The king and his soldiers watched in shocked disbelief as, one by one, Alexander...

    Three churches, located on different corners of the same intersection, didn't get along together. One Sunday each of them opened their meeting with a rousing song service. It was a warm day and all the doors and windows were wide open. One congregation began singing the old hymn, "Will There Be Any Stars in My Crown?" The strains had barely faded away when the congregation across the street started singing, "No, Not One, No, Not One!" They had scarcely finished when the third church began singing, "Oh, That Will Be Glory for Me." In the opening verses of Paul’s letter to the Philippians church, he tells them that whatever life presented to him, his joy would continue to increase. Whether he lived or died it did not matter to him, he would win either way. Continuing to live meant fruitful labor and to die was gain. In Philippians1: 27 his concern turns to them. They were facing problems and would face more in the future. When trials come will they...

  In 1979, John Bass interviewed Ronald Reagan as he was preparing to run for presidency. John asked “Do you have a favorite Bible verse?” “Yes I do, John 3:16”, Reagan replied. “What does this Bible verse mean to you personally?” John asked. “It means that, having accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior, I have God’s promise of eternal life in Heaven, as well as the abundant life here on earth that He promises in John 10:10” Reagan replied. “Do you think the Bible is of divine origin?” John asked.”I never had any doubt about it?” Reagan replied. Reagan grew up in Dixon, Illinois, and he never forgot his humble beginnings. At the dedication of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in 1991, he reflected on those early days. Speaking of his mother, he recalled, “I remember a small woman with auburn hair and unquenchable optimism. Her name was Nelly Reagan and she believed with all her heart that there was no such thing as accidents in this life. Everything was part of God’s plan.” ...

                        When the bishop’s ship stopped at a remote island for a day, he determined to use the time as profitably as possible.   He strolled along the sea shore and came across three fishermen mending their nets. In Pidgin English they explained to him that, centuries before they had been Christianized by missionaries. “We are Christians” they said proudly pointing to one another. The bishop was impressed. But, did they know the Lord’s Prayer? They had never heard of it. The bishop was shocked, “What do you say then when you pray?” We lift our eyes to heaven, we pray “We are three, you are three, have mercy on us”. The bishop was appalled at the primitive, heretical nature of their prayer. So he spent the whole day teaching them the Lord’s Prayer. He had the satisfaction of hearing them go through the whole Prayer without a fault. Months later, the bishop’s ship happened to pass by those islands again ...