The Old Fisherman

Our house was directly across the street from the clinic entrance to Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. We lived downstairs and rented the upstairs rooms to out patients at the clinic.

One summer evening as I was fixing supper, there was a knock at the door. I opened it to see a truly awful looking man.

“Why, he’s hardly taller than my eight-year-old,” I thought as I stared at the stooped, shriveled body. But the appalling thing was his face – lopsided from swelling, red and raw. Yet his voice was pleasant as he said, “Good evening. I’ve come to see if you’ve a room for just one night. I came for a treatment this morning from the eastern shore, and there’s no bus ’til morning.” He told me he’d been hunting for a room since noon but with no success, no one seemed to have a room. “I guess it’s my face…I know it looks terrible, but my doctor says with a few more treatments…”

Deck of Cards

After heavy fighting, a soldier returned to camp. With the next day being a Sunday, the Chaplain had set up church service. The men were asked to take out their Bibles or Prayer Books.

The Chaplain noticed one soldier looking at a deck of cards. After service, he was taken by the Chaplain to see the Major. The Chaplain explained to the Major what he had seen.

The Major told the young soldier he would be punished if he could not explain himself.

The young soldier told the Major that during the battle, he had neither a Bible or a Prayer Book so he would use his deck of cards and explained:

“You see, Sir, when I look at the ACE, it tells me that there is one GOD and no other.

When I see the “2,” it reminds me that there are two parts the Bible, the OLD TESTAMENT and the NEW TESTAMENT.

The Difference Between Strength and Courage

It takes strength to be firm.
It takes courage to be gentle.

It takes strength to stand guard.
It takes courage to let down your guard.

It takes strength to conquer
It takes courage to surrender.

It takes strength to be certain.
It takes courage to have doubt.

It takes strength to fit in.
It takes courage to stand out.

It takes strength to feel a friend’s pain.
It takes courage to feel your own pain.

It takes strength to hide feelings.
It takes courage to show them.

It takes strength to endure abuse.
It takes courage to stop it.

It takes strength to stand alone.
It takes courage to lean on another.

It takes strength to love.
It takes courage to be loved.

It takes strength to survive.
It takes courage to live.

Made for Community, Part Two

“When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.” – Acts 2:1-4a

You and I were created for community, but we live in a society that is unraveling into social isolation. Fewer and fewer people are availing themselves of the opportunity to experience true community. Acts 2, the story of Pentecost and the birth of the Church, tells us several things about Christian community that are worth noting.

Made for Community, Part One

“It is not good for the man to be alone.” – Genesis 2:18a

Not long ago I put on a sweater and found a couple of loose threads, so I did exactly what you’re not supposed to do…I pulled them. And I pulled them. And I pulled them. And before I knew it I had a handful of loose threads and a whole new fashion sensation that I like to call the “short-sleeved sweater”.

According to sociologists something similar is happening to the fabric of human society in America. The threads that hold us together are getting pulled apart. In his landmark book entitled “Bowling Alone,” Dr. Robert Putnam, a professor at Harvard University, traces the growing crisis of social isolation in
America. Dr. Putnam draws on evidence including nearly 500,000 interviews over the last quarter century to show that we belong to fewer organizations that meet, know our neighbors less, meet with
friends less frequently, and even socialize with our families less often. We’re even bowling alone. More Americans are bowling than ever before, but they are not bowling in leagues; they are bowling by themselves. Putnam shows how changes in work, family structure, age, suburban life, television, computers and other factors have contributed to this decline in our sense of community and connectedness.

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