The Sack Lunch - A Good One to Pass On

The news is full of "international relations".  This is the other element, and we can't ever forget this one.


Copied without cuts from a friend:
 I put my carry-on in the luggage compartment and sat down in my assigned seat. It was going to be a long flight. 'I'm glad I have a good book to read. Perhaps I will get a short nap,' I thought.

Just before take-off, a line of soldiers came down the aisle and filled all the vacant seats, totally surrounding me. I decided to start a conversation.

'Where are you headed?' I asked the soldier seated nearest to me.
'Petawawa. We'll be there for two weeks for special training, and then we're being deployed to Afghanistan

After flying for about an hour, an announcement was made that sack lunches were available for five dollars. It would be several hours before we reached the east, and I quickly decided a lunch would help pass the time...

As I reached for my wallet, I overheard a soldier ask his buddy if he planned to buy lunch. 'No, that seems like a lot of money for just a sack lunch. Probably wouldn't be worth five bucks. I'll wait till we get to base.'
His friend agreed.

I looked around at the other soldiers. None were buying lunch. I walked to the back of the plane and handed the flight attendant a fifty dollar bill. 'Take a lunch to all those soldiers.' She grabbed my arms and squeezed tightly. Her eyes wet with tears, she thanked me. 'My son was a soldier in Iraq ; it's almost like you are doing it for him.'

Picking up ten sacks, she headed up the aisle to where the soldiers were seated. She stopped at my seat and asked, 'Which do you like best - beef or chicken?'
'Chicken,' I replied, wondering why she asked. She turned and went to the front of plane, returning a minute later with a dinner plate from first class.
'This is your thanks..'

After we finished eating, I went again to the back of the plane, heading for the rest room.
A man stopped me. 'I saw what you did. I want to be part of it. Here, take this.' He handed me twenty-five dollars.

Soon after I returned to my seat, I saw the Flight Captain coming down the aisle, looking at the aisle numbers as he walked, I hoped he was not looking for me, but noticed he was looking at the numbers only on my side of the plane. When he got to my row he stopped, smiled, held out his hand and said, 'I want to shake your hand.' Quickly unfastening my seatbelt I stood and took the Captain's hand. With a booming voice he said, 'I was a soldier and I was a military pilot. Once, someone bought me a lunch. It was an act of kindness I never forgot.' I was embarrassed when applause was heard from all of the passengers.

Later I walked to the front of the plane so I could stretch my legs. A man who was seated about six rows in front of me reached out his hand, wanting to shake mine. He left another twenty-five dollars in my palm.

When we landed I gathered my belongings and started to deplane. Waiting just inside the airplane door was a man who stopped me, put something in my shirt pocket, turned, and walked away without saying a word. Another twenty-five dollars!

Upon entering the terminal, I saw the soldiers gathering for their trip to the base.
I walked over to them and handed them seventy-five dollars. 'It will take you some time to reach the base.. It will be about time for a sandwich.
God Bless You.'

Ten young men left that flight feeling the love and respect of their fellow travelers.

As I walked briskly to my car, I whispered a prayer for their safe return. These soldiers were giving their all for our country. I could only give them a couple of meals. It seemed so little...

A veteran is someone who, at one point in his life, wrote a blank check made payable to 'The United States of America ' for an amount of 'up to and including my life.'

That is Honor, and there are way too many people in this country who no longer understand it.


Prayer:

'Lord, hold our troops in your loving hands. Protect them as they protect us. Bless them and their families for the selfless acts they perform for us in our time of need. Amen.'

Unashamedly Copied

His name was Fleming, and  he was a poor Scottish farmer. One day, while  trying to make a living for his family, he heard  a cry for help coming from a nearby bog. He  dropped his tools 
and ran to the  bog. 

There, mired to his waist in black  muck, was a terrified boy, screaming and  struggling to free himself. Farmer Fleming saved  the lad from what could have been a slow and  terrifying death 




The next  day, a fancy carriage pulled up to the  Scotsman's sparse surroundings. An elegantly  dressed nobleman stepped out and introduced  himself as the father of the boy Farmer Fleming  had saved. 




'I want to repay  you,' said the nobleman. 'You saved my son's  life.' 

'No, I can't accept  payment for what I did,' the Scottish farmer  replied waving off the offer. At that moment,  the farmer's own son came to the door of the  family hovel. 

'Is that your  son?' the nobleman  asked. 

'Yes,' the farmer  replied proudly. 

'I'll make  you a deal. Let me provide him with the level of  education my own son will enjoy If the lad is  anything like his father, he'll no doubt grow to  be a man we both will be proud of.' And that he  did. 

Farmer Fleming's son attended the  very best schools and in time, graduated from  St. Mary's Hospital Medical School in London,  and went on to become known throughout the world  as the noted Sir Alexander Fleming, the  discoverer of  Penicillin. 

Years afterward,  the same nobleman's son who was saved from the  bog was stricken with pneumonia. 

What  saved his life this time?  Penicillin. 

The name of the nobleman?  Lord Randolph Churchill .. His son's  name? 
Sir Winston  Churchill. 
Someone once said: What  goes around comes around. 

Work like  you don't need the money. 

Love like  you've never been hurt. 

Dance like  nobody's watching. 
Sing like nobody's  listening. 

Live like it's Heaven on  Earth. 

Tough Spirits and Martyrs

Pakistani Minorities Minister Shahbaz Bhatti, a Christian who had tried to reform the country's blasphemy law, is shot.   So opens a news item today.  Jesus knew it is/was a tough world when he told us to love our enemies.  That did NOT mean to fail to RESIST, but to pray for, even as we defend against.  But to live in a spirit of love.


Our choir is preparing (in rehearsal tonight)  a work by Thomas Aquinas, sung to a Benedictine Plain-Song.  Followers of Benedict were men who worshiped in a profound way, and lived fearlessly in brutal times.  For hundreds of years, they lived according to the word of grace, no matter what the world around tossed to them.   We need profound worship in these times, even within our layers of comfort and protection.


Here's the text, a phenomenal guide to prayer:


 Jesus, I adore thee, Word of truth and grace, who in glory shineth light upon our race.
Christ, to thee surrendered, my whole heart is bowed.  
Alpha and Omega be, thou true Son of God.
Taste and touch and vision to discern thee fail;
Faith that comes by hearing pierces through the veil.
I believe whatever the Son of God hath told.
What the Truth hath spoken, that for truth I hold.
Word of God incarnate, Lord of life and light, teach me how to love and worship thee aright.
Holy Spirit, ever bide within my heart, speaking thy commandments, telling all thou art.
Wondrous revelation, verity and grace, Lo, in glory's heaven, I see thee face to face.
Light of endless light whom heaven and earth adore, 
fill me with thy radiance now and ever more.


Without something very like that happening in the private depths and in public worship, you just can't go out into the rough world and hold to the course God sets for the disciple.  


Shahbaz Bhatti was shot.  He prayed before he left home this morning.  God didn't abandon him, but sustained him in faithfulness even at the worst.  He reminds us of the meaning of the word "martyr".  The world works every day to redirect those who would be faithful to Jesus, and sometimes works under very confusing labels.


Facing YOUR heart's enemies, you need time for prayer and adoration of God.  We all do.

Perfect Pitch

She was superb on the key-board, had a really good voice, and was the total accompanist, the full-bore backup to her extremely talented husband.

When we worked on a processional entry one week, I noticed she didn't use a pitch-pipe - just hummed the pitch and off we went.  As the choir marched and sang without accompaniment, it was a great sound.  Then the daring moment came - the organ came in, and the pitch matched.

I was impressed!  Whew, that was lucky!  Not at all.  Time after time, she sounded the pitch, accompaniment came in later, and everything worked.

More impressed, I noticed her gracious use of her gifts.  And because she appreciated others, I began to notice them, and appreciate, too.

God-given gifts, used graciously and well, grow and replicate.  That makes the church such a grand fellowship for all of us.  There is never just a "single" thing;  when it's well done, it makes more and more.  And it lasts, as a longer influence than you might ever have expected.

Thank, you, friend!