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>trACker>> number168 |  Get On-track |
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>Dear Tracker >VoW >Quote of the Week >Check this Outt >Look Up! |
Do you have a story to tel of how God has helped you track his plans for your life? Then why not tel us...
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| >Dear God-tracker>> |
| Stumbling Blocks or Building Blocks As soon as Karen and I arrived at the church dinner we immediately sensed something was wrong. We always enjoyed a great deal of fun at our church socials but somehow the laughter at this evening was different. As my eyes scanned the room I noticed several bottles of open liquor on the sideboard in the dinning room of the house we were visiting. Now let me make it quite plain at the offset, I have no problem with a moderate personal consumption of wine or beer but to see alcohol flowing so freely at a church function left a bitter taste in my mouth. As it happened, one of the men at this dinner was Sam, who had recently given his life to Jesus. He had a lovely wife and two wonderful kids but unbeknown to most of us, Sam was a rehabilitated alcoholic. He had steered clear of alcohol for several weeks and was boldly seeking help with his drinking problem. As Sam entered the room he saw the open bottles of wine and beer invitingly welcoming him to the party; Sam was tempted: “If the pastor and elders of this church can freely consume a few beers then it must be okay,” Sam mused to himself as he watched the church leader refill his glass. “Perhaps just one drink. It won’t hurt to have one drink.” Sam filled his own glass. A few weeks later Karen received a desperate phone call from a good friend who happened to be Sam’s sister-in-law. Clair was weeping on the phone, “Sam has just dowsed himself with petrol and set himself alight!” she sobbed, “He did it in the garden, in front of his kids...” In 1 Corinthians 8 and 1 Corinthians 10, the Bible says that we are to live in such a way that should not cause others to be led astray. By the Holy Spirit Paul says that our freedom should not become a stumbling block to those with a weaker conscience. Dear God-tracker, this is not merely about the consumption of alcohol. This is about how as you and I track the plans of God for our lives we find ourselves crossing the paths of others who do the same. As this happens, we leave a trail of our own movement across their paths. We might very well be seeking God with true and sincere motives but as we do so let us never become negligent to the needs and experiences of other God-trackers along these tracks of life. Jesus gave us two great commands. He said, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: `Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these,” (Mark 12:29-31). Love God, love man. Therefore, if our hearts are true, as we track God – in love for God – we will also love those around us as they, in turn, track God’s plans for their own lives. Tracking God is impossible to do without loving him and loving those he brings across our paths. Whatever I leave behind me in my path should build others up and not cause any to stumble. So my precious friend, what are you leaving in your God-tracking wake for others to discover? Are you leaving stumbling blocks or are you leaving building blocks? Happy tracking. Dudley |
>VoW>> Verse of the Week |
| 1 Cor 8:9 Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak. |
>Quote of the Week>> A Sample of Dudley’s Fave Quotes |
| “Compassion will cure more sins than condemnation.” --- Henry Ward Beecher |
>Check This Out>> A bit of InspiratonJust for You |
| A Poem A Builder Or a Wrecker As I watched them tear a building down A gang of men in a busy town With a ho-heave-ho, and a lusty yell They swung a beam and the side wall fell I asked the foreman, "Are these men skilled, And the men you'd hire if you wanted to build?" He gave a laugh and said, "No, indeed, Just common labour is all I need." "I can easily wreck in a day or two, What builders have taken years to do." And I thought to myself, as I went my way Which of these roles have I tried to play? Am I a builder who works with care, Measuring life by rule and square? Am I shaping my work to a well-made plan Patiently doing the best I can? Or am I a wrecker who walks to town Content with the labour of tearing down? "O Lord let my life and my labours be That which will build for eternity!" Anon |
>Look Up!>> Fix Your Eyes on Jesus |
| A Commitment to Build Acts 20:32 "Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. I am sorry, Lord, for the pain or difficulty I have caused in the lives of other people. I repent of times when I may have caused others to stumble in their walk with you. I pray that you will restore the faith of any that I may have hurt, offended, disappointed or lead astray. Help me to be always be there for them and be willing to do all I can to care for them where I can. Help me to be a builder not a stumbler. In your name, Lord Jesus, I pray. Amen. |
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