A ROCKY FOUNDATION

    John Sammis wrote about an experience he had, “even with a satnav (a satellite navigating system) in your car you can still make a wrong turn. At one point on a recent journey I was quite sure the lady in the guidance system was wrong. She said to go left, I went right because I knew she was wrong. The lady with the irritating voice said “recalculating route, when safe to execute a u-turn, turn round if possible. I knew she was still wrong so I unplugged her. That is the beauty of the lady in the box-you can unplug her. But then, would you believe it, I got completely lost and ended up driving round and round in circles. So I plugged the lady back in again and you know what she said? “re-calculating route, turn around if possible” David was an old man when he wrote the twenty third psalm. He had come to know God’s character and ways very well. In the psalm he uses the sheep-shepherd relationship to describe his relations with God. He wrote of a shepherd who leads him...

                The French philosopher Voltaire (1694-1778) wrote voluminous writings against Christianity and the Bible. In 1776 he predicted that within one hundred years, the Bible will no longer be read and Christianity would be swept from existence. However, within fifty years after his death, in an ironic twist of providence, the very house in which he once lived was used by Geneva Bible society as a storehouse for Bibles and gospel tracts.   The printing press he used to print his work was used to print Bibles. During World War II, Adolf Hitler ordered the building of a 100,000 watt radio transmitter in Monte Carlo, Monaco.   His plan was to use it to broadcast venomous Nazi propaganda throughout the world; he never used it. Today from that very building Trans World Radio beams the gospel of Christ in numerous languages to millions all over the world. Could these ironies of history be just a hint of the last word Christ will h...

  The story is told of an actor who was known for a dramatic recital of Psalm 23. Each time, as he recited, the crowd would listen attentively and then rise with thunderous applause, in appreciation of the actor's ability to bring the psalm to life. One night, just before the actor offered his customary recital of the Psalm, an old man from the audience spoke up. "Sir, would you mind if tonight I recite Psalm 23?” The actor was surprised by this unusual request. However, he invited the old man to come onto the stage to recite the psalm; curious to see the how the ability of this old man weighed against his own talent. Softly the old man began to recite the words of the psalm. When he was finished, there was no applause. There was no standing ovation as on other nights. The audience had been so moved that every eye was tearful. Amazed by what he had just witnessed, the actor queried, "I don't understand. I have been performing Psalm 23 for years. I have a lifeti...

    Gregory of Nyssa lived in Cappadocia (a region in modern Turkey) in the fourth century. His older brother, a bishop, arranged for him to be appointed bishop of the small and obscure and unimportant town of Nyssa (A.D. 371). Gregory objected; he didn’t want to be stuck in such an out-of-the-way place. But his brother told him that he did not want Gregory to obtain distinction from his church but rather to confer distinction upon it. Gregory went to where he was placed and stayed there. His lifetime of work in that place, a backwater community, continues to be a major invigorating influence in the Christian church worldwide (Eugene Peterson: side walk in the kingdom). In Philippians 2:5-9 Paul instructed the Philippians to be willing to take humble positions in their relationships as Jesus “ who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;   rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a se...