What are you ‘Made To Do’?

Home life was fun! Dad liked to surprise us and do things on the ‘spur of the moment’. For example he liked to go to watch the planes come in. Occasionally dad took us to a dead end street located near the end of a run-way at the former Dallas Love Field Airport. He would park the car and we would get out and sit on the hood of the car and wait and watch. “Where’s the plane, dad?” we asked impatiently. It wasn’t long before he would say, “Here one comes now”. He pointed at what seemed a gigantic airplane coming in to land. “Hey dad, isn’t that plane coming in to low?!” The giant plane seemed to be floating, as it came in. The noise, as it passed over was loud. (I think this is one reason dad later needed hearing-aides.)
Dad loved doing this, especially as they got bigger. He learned as much as he could about flying, and eventually with his “Three Unusual Days” ministry, he became a ‘million-mile-flyer’. He explained to us, the principles of flight, which we didn’t understand. We just loved to go watch the planes come in. We asked him how something so big, so heavy, could fly. Dad simply said, “It’s what they are made to do.”
Later in life, I worked at Timco as an Interior Mechanic and had an up-close and personal look at how planes fly. When a plane came in for a ‘D-check’ for example, we would take everything out of the plane… even the floor! Everything was ‘tagged’ and ‘bagged’ and put on shelves. Everything was then inspected, cleaned and repaired or replaced, inspected again, put back on the plane, inspected again. The push to do a high quality job and be on time was and still is the challenge. “People are depending on your work” is the motto. Our proud moment was always when at the end of a check, the plane was rolled out… clean and ready to do what it was made to do… FLY.
What are we ‘made to do’? The choices are endless. Sin and its consequences teach us what we are NOT made for.
What are we ‘made to do’? 1) To glorify God. “That God in all things may be glorified” (1 Pet. 4:11). The glory of God is a silver thread which must run through all our actions. So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” (I Corinthians 10:31). Sin however, makes this impossible… on our own (Romans 3:9-10; 6:26). God’s love came and ‘walked among us’ in Jesus (John 1:12-14; 3:16). All so we could once and forever understand and enjoy what we are made for… 2) To enjoy a relationship with God through Jesus (Romans 5:8-10; 8:1). 3) Have a home in heaven! Planes are not made to ‘sit on the ground’… we are not made for sin’.

This is why believers say, “I am heaven bound.” The question now is, are you heaven bound? Want to learn more about Jesus? Send me an email… Let’s study!

 

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Twenty Five Cents

I was watching “Outnumbered” on Fox News, and they were discussing children getting an ‘allowance’.
A survey which had been taken revealed that the average parent surveyed was giving their children about $1360.00 per year, which is $113.00 per month or $28.00 per week or $4.00 per day as an allowance!!! Some were paying their children $20.00 for every “A” on their report cards.
I remember when I was a teen, dad was making $164.00 per week! As a teenager, we were cleaning up our rooms, making our beds, washing and drying dishes in the evening, cutting the grass and cleaning up the garage, helping plant gardens, helping mom with the dusting, and vacuuming, ironing our clothes and putting away our clothes… or just helping out. It was expected.
What was our allowance? TWENTY FIVE CENTS a week! Back then when gasoline was .50 per gallon and a new Chevrolet Impala was $3500.00, TWENTY FIVE CENTS was pretty good! We never thought of ‘going on strike. We never claimed we were mistreated… but then Eddie, the youngest brother did say, “I want to appeal the Supreme Court.” (Dad told him, “I’m IT son.”) We didn’t say, “You know dad… 3% inflation is eating away at this quarter… we think we deserve more!” $4.00 per day, would have been a major bill for mom and dad. He would have said, “Take it or leave it!” Now one day dad did ‘open the books’ and ask, “How much do you pay for Room and Board? Food? Clothing? Toys? Shoes?” “Nothing” was our answer. Then he said, “So be grateful for what you have and get, and help out!”
Dad wrote a small book called, “How to handle your parents.” One of the chapters is entitled, “Demand your rights”. He points out that kids have the RIGHT to DEMAND that parents allow them to help around the house, make beds, clean rooms, wash dishes etc… and just help carry their weight. Parents have responsibilities… and kids will never learn to be responsible, unless they are taught and allowed to help out.
Times and things have changed… but some things don’t. The dollar isn’t worth what it used to be. Allowances are fine, but don’t try and buy your children’s respect or obedience. We never thought of ourselves as in a position to demand it. We RESPECTED mom and dad, and learned early to say “PLEASE” and “THANK YOU”. We learned to APPRECIATE what we were given… especially our TWENTY FIVE CENTS.
I don’t know how much it cost mom and dad to raise us. A recent survey said the ANNUAL cost for raising a child in 2012 was $12,500 – $14,500, which equals about $225,000.00 over 18 years. You could build a nice house for that! All I know is, I owe mom and dad no matter how old I get… I’ll always be grateful for their love and care.
Paul said, “give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (I Thessalonians 5:18).

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The Roy Wolfe Story (Part Two)

(After his stay in the hospital, Roy) went through about 3 months of rehab and went home, just to find that my girl friend would just do her laundry and leave.
I still remember looking out the window thinking… I have no job, no money, in a wheelchair and a nine year old depending on me.
Then my ex-wife took me to court to prove me an unfit parent. I was desperate…. Something told me to get out the phone book and write to every church in the yellow pages. I sent letters to 28 local churches. No one responded. Two weeks passed and I got a knock at the door. A Christian from the Northeast Church of Christ came to visit and see how I was doing. I had not written them because they had already given me food. I didn’t want to bother them or have them thinking I was a ‘moocher’.
They helped me get back on my feet. I was surprised when one of their elders came by and wanted to study the Bible with me. It was a few weeks later, on April 19, 1999, I was immersed into Jesus.
Before all this, I didn’t even know what a Bible looked like, but as a new Christian I couldn’t put it down. I went to every Bible study I could to learn and grow spiritually. I found friends I hadn’t seen in years coming to help. One was involved in energy healing with vitamins and herbs. Within two years, I threw all my medications in the garbage and things started moving. I started eating right, breathing right, drinking right, giving my body what it needs and not what it craved.
It’s been over 16 years now and I have not taken a drug or a medication and have never been sick. They can’t find the brain tumor and the MS is 80 percent healed. I know what it feels like to hurt and suffer and what extreme humiliation feels like. I praise God for his wonderful grace and healing.
Today I spoke with Roy and he told me he has no regrets over his past. God is working in his life, and now he ministers to many in Nursing Homes. He is a preacher and motivational speaker, sharing how God has worked in his life… helping others not lose hope.
Roy found in Jesus what Paul found, “…we also rejoice in sufferings, knowing that our suffering produces endurance and endurance character, and character, hope” (Romans 5:3-4).
Don’t be glad when suffering comes. Don’t look on suffering as just a part of this wicked world. Don’t wish life would soon be over or those who prosper would come to harm. Don’t move to another town to avoid it. Just understand that when suffering comes, it can be the greatest hidden blessing of life… a turning point to something better. To understand it: be patient (James 1:2-4) – Trust the God who loves you (Romans 5:8-9).
If you want to have Roy Wolfe come and speak, you can contact him at 586-335-0150.

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The Roy Wolfe Story (Part One)

Telling stories and telling a story are often two different things… I take this oppotunity as a great privilege to pass on to you this true story about a man who has gone through much and is now a marvelous servant for Jesus. His name is Roy Wolfe… We begin…

I (Roy) was 5 years of age, living in a small town in Northern Michigan. My mom was young with 4 kids when she and my dad were divorced. After a couple of years, my mom was reported by the school authorities for being unfit because we were always filthy. We had to eat food out the garbage and were being beaten.
We were given to our father (who had remarried) and living in Michigan. He was in the Air Force and was shipped to Viet Nam. Our step mom beat us and locked us in the closet or outside. She had an affair while he was in Viet Nam. Later she took us back to my mom in Oscoda and said, “Here, you can have your kid’s back.”
Feeling unwanted, I had no religion, so I went to church with grandma or an aunt or uncle, just to get out of the house. I joined one church after another for the same reason.
During my teenage years, I was physically and verbally abused. When I was 18, I worked at a store just south of Oscoda and worked my way up to a produce manager.
The first woman that ‘blew in my ear’, I married and with not really knowing what true love was, I put up with anything. One night my wife and some of my friends went to a concert and my best friend slept with my wife. We had been married 9 months and were divorced. I was drinking a lot, and had become a ‘work-a-holic’… working two and sometimes three jobs, just so I didn’t have to deal with the pain.
I met a woman working at Arby’s who was coming to work ‘beat up’, so I took her in and we lived together until she was divorced. We got married and moved to the Detroit area, where we had a daughter. We both worked at the same place, but later I found out my wife was unfaithful. She told me, “I don’t need you” and filed for a divorce, but after four years, I won custody of our daughter and raised her myself.
On my 40th birthday, I went on all ‘all-night’ bowling and drinking spree with a girl friend who was an alcoholic. Since I thought I was physically fit, I figured I could handle it. One day my leg started getting stiff and I began limping. I thought I had just pulled a muscle. I fell out of bed that night and couldn’t stand up so I went to the hospital and they found a brain tumor and Multiple Sclerosis. Barely making it through surgery, I woke up totally paralyzed and was told that “You will never walk again.”
Roy’s story is not finished… hard times were not over… Perhaps you are going through hard times as well, and are tempted to ‘give up’. I hope Roy’s story will encourage you to look to God.
Yes, God really does love you, and as Paul said, “God demonstrates his own love for us in that while we still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

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