Focus ~

ON Day Six of the ill-fated mission of Apollo 13, the astronauts needed to make a critical course correction. If they failed, they might never return to Earth.

To conserve power, they shut down the onboard computer that steered the craft. Yet the astronauts needed to conduct a thirty-nine-second burn of the main engines. How to steer?

Astronaut Jim Lovell determined that if they could keep a fixed point in space in view through their tiny window, they could steer the craft manually. That focal point turned out to be their destination--Earth.

As shown in 1995's hit movie Apollo 13, for thirty-nine agonizing seconds, Lovell focused on keeping the earth in view. By not losing sight of that reference point, the three astronauts avoided disaster.

Scripture reminds us that to finish our life mission successfully, we must "Fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and prefecter of our faith" (Hebrews 12:2).
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--Stephen Nordbye

-God's Voice -

IN Directions, James Hamilton writes:

Before refrigerators, people used icehouses to preserve their food. Icehouses had thick walls, no windows, and a tightly fitted door. In winter, when streams and lakes were frozen, large blocks of ice were cut, hauled to the icehouses, and covered with sawdust. Often the ice would last well into the summer.

One man lost a valuable watch while working in an icehouse. He searched diligently for it, carefully raking through the sawdust, but didn't find it. His fellow workers also looked, but their efforts, too, proved futile. A small boy who heard about the fruitless search slipped into the icehouse during the noon hour and soon emerged with the watch.

Amazed, the men asked him how he found it.

"I closed the door," the boy replied, "lay down in the sawdust, and kept very still. Soon I heard the watching ticking."

Often the question is not whether God is speaking, but whether we are being still enough, and quiet enough, to hear.

--Phillip Gunter

--DEATH ~

-'If you attempt to talk to a dying man about sports or business, he is no longer interested. He now sees other things as more important. People who are dying recognize what we often forget, that we are standing on the brink of another world.'

--William Law
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'If you live wrong, you can't die right.'

--Billy Sunday

"Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with me." (Revelation 3:20)

This is the most familiar verse in the Book of Revelation. It is the invitation by Jesus to those living 'outside' of God's will.

T.S. Elliott wrote that "hollow men" are those who hear the call and refuse to heed it. The Lord of the church is seeking to enter His church. He presents them with the choice, "Open up or shut me out."

C. S. Lewis wrote: "There are only two kinds of people in the end: Those who say to God, 'Thy will be done,' and those to whom God says, in the end,'thy will be done.'"
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Please don't shut Him out. He loves you and is always waiting for you to invite him into your heart.

--(excerpt from: Opening the Door/ By: Ross Rhoads)
-DECISION Magazine March 2012

-The Danger of Drifting
-BIBLE MEDITATION:
"Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip." Hebrews 2:1

-DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:
Life is like an ocean...a trackless ocean with winds, currents and waves. We'll meet ships we never knew were on that ocean and we'll have all kinds of opportunities, heartaches, tears and fears as we sail into a new year on an uncharted sea.

Scholars tell us Hebrews 2:1 refers to the sea--the writer is using a nautical term. He must have spent time at sea, because the phrase "giving more earnest heed" and the word "slip" refer to bringing a ship into the harbor, a difficult and sometimes dangerous task. A ship never just drifts into the harbor. The most skillful part of being a sea pilot is bringing the ship into the harbor. "Let them slip" literally means drift away. You have to be careful when you enter the harbor that you don't end up on the rocks or drift past the harbor.

The worst thing that could happen to us this year is that we just drift through it--live an aimless life--letting this year "happen" to us rather than charting a course and getting into God's appointed harbor. The winds of worldliness, the tides of circumstance, and the currents of the old nature are determined to cause you to drift.

-ACTION POINT:
You will drift unless you decide not to drift. You must have an anchor. You need a fixed direction. It's important, because drifting is one of the easiest things in the world to do.

--Adrian Rogers