First Session of Continental Congress was opened with prayer

American Minute with Bill Federer

SEPTEMBER 7, 1774, the First Session of the Continental Congress was opened with prayer in Carpenter’s Hall, Philadelphia.

Threatened by the most powerful monarch in the world, Britain’s King George III, America’s founding fathers heard Rev. Jacob Duche’ begin by reading Psalm 35, the Anglican Book of Common Prayer’s “Psalter” for that day:

“Plead my cause, Oh, Lord, with them that strive with me, fight against them that fight against me. Take hold of buckler and shield, and rise up for my help.

Draw also the spear and the battle-axe to meet those who pursue me; Say to my soul, ‘I am your salvation.’ Let those be ashamed and dishonored who seek my life; Let those be turned back and humiliated who devise evil against me.”

Then Rev. Jacob Duche’ prayed:

“Be Thou present, O God of Wisdom, and direct the counsel of this Honorable Assembly; enable them to settle all things on the best and surest foundations; that the scene of blood may be speedily closed;

that Order, Harmony and Peace may be effectually restored, and that Truth and Justice, Religion and Piety, prevail and flourish among the people…

Preserve the health of their bodies, and the vigor of their minds, shower down on them, and the millions they here represent, such temporal Blessings as Thou seest expedient for them in this world, and crown them with everlasting Glory in the world to come.

All this we ask in the name and through the merits of Jesus Christ, Thy Son and our Saviour, Amen.”

That same day, John Adams wrote to his wife, Abigail, describing the prayer:

“When the Congress met, Mr. Cushing made a motion that it should be opened with Prayer.

It was opposed by Mr. Jay of New York, and Mr. Rutledge of South Carolina because we were so divided in religious sentiments, some Episcopalians, some Quakers, some Anabaptists, some Presbyterians, and some Congregationalists, that we could not join in the same act of worship.

Samuel Adams

Mr. Samuel Adams arose and said that he was no bigot, and could hear a Prayer from any gentleman of Piety and virtue, who was at the same time a friend to his Country.

He was a stranger in Philadelphia, but had heard that Mr. Duche’ deserved that character and therefore he moved that Mr. Duche’, an Episcopal clergyman might be desired to read Prayers to Congress tomorrow morning.

The motion was seconded, and passed in the affirmative. Mr. Randolph, our president, vailed on Mr. Duche’, and received for answer, that if his health would permit, he certainly would…”

Adams continued:

“Accordingly, next morning Reverend Mr. Duche’ appeared with his clerk and in his pontificals, and read several prayers in the established form, and read the collect for the seventh day of September, which was the thirty-fifth Psalm.

You must remember, this was the next morning after we heard the horrible rumor of the cannonade of Boston.

I never saw a greater effect upon an audience. It seemed as if heaven had ordained that Psalm to be read on that morning.

After this, Mr. Duche’, unexpectedly to every body, struck out into an extemporary prayer, which filled the bosom of every man present. I must confess, I never heard a better prayer, or one so well pronounced.

Episcopalian as he is, Dr. Cooper himself never prayed with such fervor, such ardor, such earnestness and pathos, and in language so elegant and sublime, for America, for the Congress, for the province of Massachusetts Bay, and especially the town of Boston. It has had an excellent effect upon everybody here. I must beg you to read that Psalm.”

The Library of Congress printed on an historical placard of Carpenter’s Hall, Philadelphia:

“Washington was kneeling there with Henry, Randolph, Rutledge, Lee, and Jay, and by their side there stood, bowed in reverence the Puritan Patriots of New England…

‘It was enough’ says Mr. Adams, ‘to melt a heart of stone. I saw the tears gush into the eyes of the old, grave, Pacific Quakers of Philadelphia.’”

The Journals of Congress then recorded their appreciation to Rev. Mr. Duche’:

Wednesday, SEPTEMBER 7, 1774, 9 o’clock a.m. Agreeable to the resolve of yesterday, the meeting was opened with prayers by the Rev. Mr. Duche’.

Voted, That the thanks of Congress be given to Mr. Duche’…for performing divine Service, and for the excellent prayer, which he composed and delivered on the occasion.”

Rev. Jacob Duche’ exhorted Philadelphia’s soldiers, July 7, 1775:

“Considering myself under the twofold character of a minister of Jesus Christ, and a fellow-citizen…involved in the same public calamity with yourselves…

addressing myself to you as freemen…’Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty, wherewith Christ hath made us free’ (Galatians, ch. 5).”

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The Moral Liberal contributing editor, William J. Federer, is the bestselling author of “Backfired: A Nation Born for Religious Tolerance no Longer Tolerates Religion,” and numerous other books. A frequent radio and television guest, his daily American Minute is broadcast nationally via radio, television, and Internet. Check out all of Bill’s books here.

190 – July 08 – THIS DAY IN BAPTIST HISTORY PAST

 

His heart remained in Burma

Rev. and Mrs. J.G. Binney sailed in Nov. 1843 to Burma to open a training school for the Karen a Baptist training school to prepare native men for the gospel ministry. They were sent out by by the Triennial Convention in Philadelphia.

When the need became apparent, because of the successful evangelism of the Karen people in Burma, for a training school for native ministers, The Triennial Convention turned to J.G. Binney as the man to head up such an effort. To Dr. Binney this was a dream come true. He and his wife Juliette sailed in Nov. 1843. A school was opened in Maulmain with thirteen adult students, all converts from heathenism. After five grueling years, Mrs. Binney’s health broke and they were forced to return to the States, where Dr. Binney pastored for a brief period, and then became President of Columbian College, but his heart was still in Burma.

They sailed again for Burma in 1859. The school was now moved to Rangoon and opened with 80 students. Dr. Binney carried the full load as he preached, translated, and published. Strength weakening, he was again compelled to leave Burma.

On furlough his health improved and he began to pastor a church in Savannah, Georgia. Joseph Getchell Binney was the third child in a rather affluent family in Boston, having been born in Dec. 1807. He contracted whooping cough at the end of his first year that affected him the rest of his life.

His father, through a foolish business move lost his modest wealth and left the family, not to return until the death of Joseph’s mother when he was ten, when his grandmother moved in to take his mother’s place.

He was saved at twenty, united with the Congregational church, entered Yale to prepare for missionary service, and became a Baptist upon examining the subject of “baptism” in studying for a debate. He was baptized in 1830. On July 9, 1877, he resigned his church that he might return to his first love.

However, he never made it back, and he died on Nov. 26, and was buried in the Indian Ocean.

Dr. Greg J. Dixon from: This Day in Baptist History Vol. I: Cummins/Thompson, pp. 281-82.

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71 – March – 12 – THIS DAY IN BAPTIST HISTORY PAST

 

He preached politics from the pulpit

1807 – Samuel Stillman, Pastor of the First Baptist Church of Boston during the Revolutionary War died on this day at seventy years of age.  He was converted to Christ and baptized under the ministry of Oliver Hart when his parents moved to S.C.  He later founded a Baptist Education Society in Charleston.  Always weak in health he moved back to N.J. to improve his physical condition.  He was called as the assistant pastor of the Second Baptist Church of Boston.  After one year, he became the pastor of the historic First Baptist Church of that city on Jan. 9, 1765 where he stayed until his death.  The Baptists, with only two or three exceptions stood solidly behind the Revolution.  Stillman was one of the strongest proponents.  His heart blazed for liberty.  He despised the Stamp Act and preached against it from his pulpit.  He was outraged over the inflicted Baptists of Ashfield, Mass., and authored a petition to the general court against it.  The issue had to do with a general assessment for the support of the state church (Congregational).  He was a powerful preacher who drew crowds from great distances including dignitaries such as, Washington, Adams, John Hancock, and Gen. Knox.  He lifted high the cross, preached sin black, and hell hot and saw great revivals.  His flock was scattered during the war but he returned, gathered them together again, and First Baptist was the only church in Boston that stayed open for the duration.  The forty-two years he spent in Boston covered the great debates of the Revolution, the war itself, the birth of the nation, the Federal Constitution, and the presidencies of Washington, Adams, and Jefferson.  Samuel Stillman was a remarkable man for remarkable times.  But history shows that God always has His man for the times.

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God Expects Christian Growth

 

“For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat,” Hebrews 5:12.

 

When our children were infants, we would take them to the doctor for regular check-ups and one of the first things the nurses did was measure the child’s weight and height.  The doctor would then make a general determination of the child’s health based upon age, weight and height and, hopefully, say things like, “Your child is healthy and growing normally.” If the child did not meet the growth requirements expected, it would be necessary to run tests to see if there was something wrong. Normal growth in a child is expected, but stunted growth is an indication that there might be a physiological abnormality.

 

The same is true in the spiritual life of every believer: God expects Christian growth. The Bible does not give us normative growth charts or spiritual growth deadlines, but in some places, including our Key Verse for today, God expressed disappointment in believers who had been walking with Him long enough that they should have been teaching others, but were not. The problem God had with these believers is that they never built upon their faith. They should have been mature enough to transmit truth to other people but because they had a problem of apathy, disobedience and doubt in their hearts, their growth was stunted. God weighs and measures us daily. Has He found us mature and teaching others or has He found us still in a stage of spiritual infancy? Unlike children, we are responsible for feeding ourselves and growing in our faith.

 

 

JUST A THOUGHT

 

Will you commit to growing in your faith today?

 

 

Mark Clements

 

 

307 – Nov. 03 – This Day in Baptist History Past

 

Christ the True Refuge

 

1847 – Rev. and Mrs. I.J. Stoddard, appointed by the American Baptist Missionary Union, sailed from Boston on the Cato to serve the Lord in Assam. Rev. Stoddard’s expertise was in the field of education, however, he preached extensively, until nine years later when ill health forced them back to the states in 1856. After returning to America, their hearts were so burdened for Assam, that they returned to that heathen darkness in 1866. The sacrifice that they made was nearly unbearable, as they made arrangements for their children to be left in the states. After arriving in Assam they were assigned to Gauhati, and then removed to Goalpara where they reaped a great harvest of souls. It is reported that no work excelled his, up to that time, on any mission field of the ABFMU. Then another great sacrifice was made as the Stoddards had to separate, that they might serve in two different areas. In 1871 when her health failed again, his wife had to sail alone for America, leaving I.J. to continue without her. Following is one of the examples of “So Great a Salvation.” An English evangelist had gone to a bazaar and gave a tract True Refuge to an old man who had been a village bard. He learned the tract by memory, and he and his wife traveled many miles, often through waste deep water and mud to Gauhati to find the teacher. All the way he would cry out, “Life, life, eternal life! Who will tell us about it? People would laugh and mock. At Gauhati he found the missionaries and they told him about Jesus, the Way of Life. He was discipled and baptized. From then on he would go throughout the land singing the praises of God. [Helen Barrett Montgomery, Following the Sunrise Philadelphia: Louis H. Everts, 1881), 2:1112. This Day in Baptist History II: Cummins and Thompson, BJU Press: Greenville, S.C. 2000 A.D. 600-02.]   Prepared by Dr. Greg J. Dixon

 

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The Medical Account of the Crucifixion by Daniel DeSailles

The Medical Account of the Crucifixion by Daniel DeSailles

Posted: 28 Mar 2013 06:31 PM PDT

The Medical Account of the Crucifixion

In this paper, I shall   discuss some of the physical aspects of the passion, or suffering, of   Jesus Christ.  We shall follow Him from Gethsemane, through His   trial, His scourging, His path along the Via Dolorosa, to His last   dying hours on the cross…This led me first to a   study of the practice of crucifixion itself; that is, the torture and   execution of a person by fixation to a cross.

Apparently, the first   known practice of crucifixion was by the Persians. Alexander and his generals   brought it back to the Mediterranean world – Egypt and Carthage.  The Romans apparently learned the practice   from the Carthaginians and (as with   almost everything the Romans did) rapidly developed a very high   degree of efficiency and skill in carry it out.  A number of Roman authors   (Livy, Cicero, Tacitys) comment on it.   

Several innovations and   modifications are described in the ancient literature; Ill mention only a few which   may have some bearing here.

The   upright portion of the cross (or stipes)   could have the cross-arm (or patibulum) attached two or three feet below   its top – this is what we commonly think of today as the classical form of   the cross (the one which we have later named the Latin cross); however, the   common form used in Our Lords day was the Tau cross (shaped like the   Greek letter Tau or like our T).  In   this cross the patibulum was placed in a   notch at the top of the stipes.  There   is fairly overwhelming archeological   evidence that it was on this type of cross that Jesus was crucufied.

The upright post, or   stipes, was generally permanently fixed in the ground at the site of execution   and the condemnded man was forced to carry the patibulum, apparently   weighing about 110 pounds, from the prison to the place of execution.  Without any historical or biblical proof,   medieval and Renaissance painters   have given us our picture of Christ carrying the entire cross.  Many of these painters and most of the   sculptors of crucifixes today show the   nails through the palms.  Roman   historical accounts and experimental   work have shown that the nails were driven between the small bones of   the wrists and not through the palms.    Nails driven through the palms   will strip out between the fingers when they support the weight of a   human body.  The misconception may have   come about through a misunderstanding   of Jesus words to Thomas, Observe my hands.

Anatomists, both modern   and ancient, have always considered the wrists as part of the hand.

A titulus, or small sign,   stating the victims crime was usually carried at the front of the   processions and later nailed to the cross above the head. This sign with its staff   nailed to the top of the cross would have given it somewhat the   characteristic form of the Latin cross.

The physical passion of   the Christ begins in Gethsemane.  Of   the many aspects of this initial   suffering, I shall only discuss the one of physiological interest;   the bloody sweat.  It is interesting   that the physician of the group,   St. Luke, is the only one to mention this.    He says, And being in agony,   He prayed the longer.  And his sweat   became as drops of blood, trickling   down upon the ground.

Every attempt imaginable   has been used by modern scholars to explain away this phrase, apparently   under the mistakes impression that this just doesnt happen. A great deal of effort   could be saved by consulting the medical literature.  Though very rare, the phenomenon of   Hematidrosis or bloody sweat, is well documented.   Under great emotional stress, tiny capillaries in the sweat glands can   break, thus mixing blood with sweat.    This process alone could have produced   marked weakness and possible shock.

We shall move rapidly   through the betrayal and arrest; I must stress that important portions of the   passion story are missing from this account. This may be frustrating to   you, but in order to adhere to our purpose of discussing only the purely   physical aspects of the Passion, this is necessary.  After the arrest in the middle of the   night, Jesus was brought before the Sanhedrin and   Caiphas, the High Priest; it is here that the first physical trauma is   inflicted.  A soldier struck Jesus   across the face for remaining silent   when questioned by Caiphas.  The palace   guards then blindfolded Him and   mockingly taunted Him to identify them as they each passed by, spat on   Him, and struck Him in the face.

In the morning, Jesus,   battered and bruised, dehydrated, and exhausted from a sleepless night, is   taken across Jerusalem to the Praetorium of the Fortress Antonia, the seat   of government of the Procurator of Judea, Pontius Pilate.  You are, of course, familiar with Pilates   action in attempting to pass   responsibility to Herod Antipas, the Tetrarch of Judea. Jesus apparently suffered   no physical mistreatment at the hands of Herod and was returned to   Pilate.

It was then, in response   to the cries of the mob, that Pilate ordered Bar-Abbas released and   condemned Jesus to scourging and crucifixion. There is much disagreement   among authorities about scourging as a prelude to crucifixion.  Most Roman writers from this period do not   associate the two.  Many scholars believe that Pilate   originally ordered Jesus scourged as his full punishment and   that the death sentence by crucifixion came only in response to the   taunt by the mob that the Procurator was not properly defending Caesar   against this pretender who claimed to be the King of the Jews.

Preparations for the   scourging are carried out.  The   prisoner is stripped of His clothing and His   hands are tied to a post above His head.    It is doubtful whether the   Romans made any attempt to follow the Jewish law in this matter of   scourging.  The Jews had an ancient law   prohibiting more than forty lashes.  The Pharisees, always making sure that the   law wa strictly kept, insisted   that only thirty-nine lashes be given.    (In case of a miscount, they were   sure of remaining within the law.)  The   Roman legionnaire steps forward   with the flagrum (or flagellum) in his hand. This is a short whip   consisting of several heavy, leather thongs with two small balls of lead   attached near the ends of each.

 

The heavy whip is brought   down with full force again and again across Jesus shoulders, back and   legs.  At first the heavy thongs cut   through the skin only.  Then, as the blows continue, they are cut   deeper into the subcutaneous tissues,   producing first an oozing of blood from the capillaries and veins of   the skin, and finally spurting arterial bleeding from vessels in the   underlying muscles.  The small balls of   lead first produce large, deep   bruises which are broken open by subsequent blows. Finally the skin of the   back is hanging in long ribbons and the entire area is an unrecognizable   mass of torn bleeding tissue.  When it   is determined by the   centurion in charge that the prisoner is near death, the beating is finally   stopped.

The half-fainting Jesus is   then untied and allowed to slump to the stone pavement, wet with His own   blood.  The Roman soldiers see a great   joke in this provincial Jew   claiming to be a king.  They throw a   robe across His shoulders and place a   stick in His hand for a scepter.  They   still need a crown to make their   travesty complete.  A small bundle of   flexible branches covered with long   thorns (commonly used for firewood) are plaited into the shape of a crown   and this is pressed into His scalp.    Again there is copious bleeding (the   scalp being one of the most vascular areas of the body.)  After mocking Him and striking Him across   the face, the soldiers take the stick from His   hand and strike Him across the head, driving the thorns deeper into His   scalp.  Finally, they tire of their   sadistic sport and the robe is torn from   His back.  This had already become   adherent to the clots of blood and   serum in the wounds, and its removal, just as in the careless removal of a   surgical bandage, causes exruciating pain…almost as though He   were again being whipped – and the wounds again begin to bleed.

In deference to Jewish   custom, the Romans return His garments.    The heavy patibulum of the cross is   tied across His shoulders and the procession of the condemned Christ, two   thieves and the execution detail of the Roman soldiers, headed by a   centurion, begins its slow journey along the Via Dolorosa.  In spite of His efforts to walk erect, the   weight of the heavy wooden cross together with   the shock produced by copious blood loss, is too much.  He stumbles and falls.  The rough wood of the beam gouges into the lacerated skin and   muscles of the shoulders.  he tries to   rise, but human muscles have been   pushed beyond their endurance.  The   centurion, anxious to get on with the   crucifixion, selects a stalwart North African onlooker, Simon of Cyrene,   to carry the cross.  Jesus follows,   still bleeding and sweating the   cold, clammy sweat of shock.  The 650   yard journey from the fortress   Antonia to Golgotha is finally completed.    The prisoner is again stripped   of His clothes – except for a loin cloth which is allowed the Jews.

The crucifixion begins,   Jesus is offered wine mixed with Myrrh, a mild analgesic mixture.  He refuses to drink.  Simon is ordered to place the cross on the ground and   Jesus is quickly thrown backward with His shoulders against the   wood.  The legionnaire feels for the   depression at the front of the   wrist.  He drives a heavy, square,   wrought-iron nail through the wrist and deep   into the wood.  Quickly, he moves to   the other side and repeats the   action, being careful not to pull the arms too tightly, but to allow some   flexibility and movement.  The   patibulum is then lifted in place at   the top of the stipes and the titulus reading Jesus of Nazareth, King of   the Jews is nailed in place.

 

The left foot is pressed   backward against the right foot, and with both feet extended, toes down,   a nail is driven through the arch of each, leaving the knees   moderately flexed.  The victim is now   crucified.  As He slowly sags down with more   weight on the nails in the wrists, excruciating, fiery pain   shoots along the fingers and up the arms to explode in the brain – the   nails in the wrists are putting pressure on the median nerves.  As He pushes Himself upward to avoid this   wrenching torment, He places His   full weight on the nail through His feet.    Again there is the searing agony   of the the tearing through the nerves between the metatarsal bones of   the feet.

At this point, another   phenomenon occurs.  As the arms   fatigue, great waves of cramps sweep over   the muscles, knotting them in deep, relentless, throbbing pain.  With these cramps comes the inability to   push Himself upward.  Hanging by His arms, the pectoral muscles   are paralyzed and the intercostal muscles are   unable to act.  Air can be drawn into   the lungs, but cannot be   exhaled.  Jesus fights to raise Himself   in order to get even one short breath.  Finally carbon dioxide builds up in the   lungs and in the blood stream and the   cramps partially subside.    Spasmodically, He is able to push Himself   upward to exhale and bring in the life-giving oxygen. It was undoubtedly during   these periods that He uttered the seven short sentences which are   recorded:

The first, looking down at   the Roman soldiers throwing dice for His seamless garment, Father,   forgive them for they know not what they do.

The second, to the   penitent thief, Today thou shalt be with me in Paradise.

The third, looking down at   the terrified, grief stricken, adolescent John, (the beloved Apostle), He   said, Behold thy mother, and looking to Mary, His mother, Woman behold   thy son.

The fourth cry is from the   beginning of the 22nd Psalm, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

Hours of this limitless   pain, cycles of twisting joint- rending cramps, intermittent partial   asphyxiation, searing pain as tissue is torn from His lacerated back as He moves   up and down against the rough timber.    Then another agony begins.  A deep crushing pain deep in the chest as   the pericardium slowly fills   with serum and begins to compress the heart.

Let us remember again the   22nd Psalm (the 14th verse), I am poured out like water, and all my   bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax, it is melted in the midst of my   bowels.  It is now almost over – the   loss of tissue fluids has reached   a critical level – the compressed heart is struggling to pump heavy,   thick, sluggish blood into the tissue – the tortured lungs are making   a frantic effort to draw in small gulps of air. The markedly dehydrated   tissues send their flood of stimuli to the brain.

Jesus gasps His fifth cry,   I thirst.

Let us remember another   verse from the prophetic 22nd Psalm: My strength is dried up like a   potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou has brought me into the   dust of death.

A sponge soaked in Posca,   the cheap, sour wine which is the staple drink of the Roman legionnaires,   is lifted to His lips.  He apparently   does not take any of the   liquid.  The body of Jesus is now in   extremis and He can feel the chill of death   creeping through His tissues.  This   realization

brings out His sixth words   – possibly little more than a tortured whisper.

It is finished.

His mission of atonement   has been completed.  Finally He can   allow his body to die. With one last surge of   strength, he once again presses His torn feet against the nail,   straightens His legs, takes a deeper breath, and utters His seventh and last cry,   Father into thy hands I commit my spirit.

The rest you know.  In order that the Sabbath not be profaned,   the Jews asked that the condemned   men be dispatched and removed from the crosses.

The common method of   ending a crucifixion was by cruxifracture, the breaking of the bones of   the legs.  This prevents the victim   from pushing himself upward; the   tension could not be relieved from the muscles of the chest, and rapid   suffocation occurred.  The legs of the   two thieves were broken, but when they came   to Jesus they saw that this was unnecessary,thus fulfilling the   scripture, not one bone shall be broken.

Apparently to make doubly   sure of death, the legionnaire drove his lance through the fifth   interspace between the ribs, upward through the pericardium and into the   heart.  The 34th verse of the 19th   chapter of the Gospel according to John:   And immediately there came out blood and water.

Thus there was an escape   of watery fluid from the sac surrounding the heart and blood from the   interior of the heart.  We, therefore,   have rather conclusive   post-mortem evidence that Our Lord died, not the usual crucifixion death by   suffocating, but of heart failure due to shock and constriction of the heart   by fluid in the pericardium.

Thus we have seen a   glimpse of the epitome of evil which man can exhibit toward man – and toward   God.  This is not a pretty sight and is   apt to leave us despondent and   depressed.  How grateful we can be that   we have a sequel:  A glimpse of the infinite mercy of God   toward man – the miracle of the atonement and the   expectation of Easter morning!

 

John   3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that   whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Contact:   Daniel de Sailles
Email: hbeng151@csun.edu

Burned Biscuits – A lesson we all should learn.

When I was a kid, my Mom liked to make breakfast food for dinner every now and then. I remember one night in particular when she had made breakfast after a long, hard day at work. On that evening so long ago, my Mom placed a plate of eggs, sausage and extremely burned biscuits in front of my dad. I remember waiting to see if anyone noticed!
All my dad did was reach for his biscuit, smile at my Mom and ask me how my day was at school. I don’t remember what I told him that night, but I do remember watching him smear butter and jelly on that ugly burned biscuit. He ate every bite of that thing…never made a face nor uttered a word about it!

When I got up from the table that evening, I remember hearing my Mom apologize to my dad for burning the biscuits. And I’ll never forget what he said, “Honey, I love burned biscuits every now and then.”

Later that night, I went to kiss Daddy good night and I asked him if he really liked his biscuits burned. He wrapped me in his arms and said, “Your Mom put in a hard day at work today and she’s real tired. And besides–a little burned biscuit never hurt anyone!”
As I’ve grown older, I’ve thought about that many times. Life is full of imperfect things and imperfect people.
I’m not the best at hardly anything, and I forget birthdays and anniversaries just like everyone else. But what I’ve learned over the years is that learning to accept each other’s faults and choosing to celebrate each other’s differences is one of the most important keys to creating a healthy, growing, and lasting relationship.

And that’s my prayer for you today…that you will learn to take the good, the bad, and the ugly parts of your life and lay them at the feet of God. Because in the end, He’s the only One who will be able to give you a relationship where a burnt biscuit isn’t a deal-breaker!

We could extend this to any relationship. In fact, understanding is the base of any relationship, be it a husband-wife or parent-child or friendship!
Don’t put the key to happiness in someone else’s pocket, keep it in your own.
So, please pass me a biscuit, and yes, the burned one will do just fine.
Be kinder than necessary because everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.
“Life without God is like an unsharpened pencil–it has no point”

 

30 – Jan. 30 – THIS DAY IN BAPTIST HISTORY PAST

He believed that this is foundational truth
 
Basil Manly, Jr. was ordained on Jan. 30, 1848, at Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and he undertook the pastoral care of three churches in Al and MS. Shortly his health failed, but after it was restored, he was called to the First Baptist Church of Richmond, VA, the most prestigious church in the Southern Baptist Convention at that time. He served there until Oct. 1, 1854 until he became president of the Richmond Female Institute, but he still ministered to a country church. In 1859 he was chosen to write the Articles of Faith when the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary was founded at Greenville, S.C.  He later became president of Georgetown College, at Georgetown, KY.  When the SBA Seminary was moved to Louisville he returned to the faculty. He devoted much of the remainder of his life to education and gospel music. However, the most important writing of Basil Manly, Jr. is The Bible Doctrine of Inspiration.  He believed that this is foundational truth, whether we are following God or men, and whether our religion is of divine or human origin. Manley argued that without an inspired Bible, we would have no infallible standard of truth, no authoritative rule for obedience, and no ground for confident and everlasting hope. At the opening of the twenty-first century, Baptists have come full circle for this battle for an infallible Bible. It will be the deciding factor as to where Baptists end as a people and their impact on this generation.
Dr. Greg J. Dixon from: This Day in Baptist History Vol. IIII: Cummins, pp. 60-62.

MY WORRY

A little bitty worry
Started early in the day;
By noon, it seemed my worry
Hovered, standing in my way;
The things and thoughts I should have had
Got buried in my mind,
Until my little worry turned
Into the horrid kind.
By bedtime, i was frantic –
What to do, oh, what to do!
And then I couldn’t go to sleep,
For worrying – fretting, too.
By morning I was almost sick,
When suddenly and soon,
My worry had been all worked out
Before the toll of noon;
Then I looked back and saw my worry
Just for what it was –
A thing that didn’t happen,
As a worry seldom does.

Bonnie Daisy Nelson

Losing Weight

My wife and I just started a 24 day challenge. We need to lose weight. We did this previously and had good results so we decided to do it again. My goal is to be at 200# at the end of 24 days. That means I have to lose 26# in that time period. We began Monday and my weighin was 226#. As of this morning I weighed 223.5#. Maybe I can make it.