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Understanding the paradoxes of life

from Ephesians 2:10

November 10, 2019 "People's Choice: Stories of the Bible" "Paul's Shipwreck" Dr. Rob Gallagher Week 11 Acts 27, Acts 28:1-6

By Pastor Glenn Pease You never know when something embarrassing will happen to you. We are constantly on guard, for we do not like to be humiliated. Mrs. Howard Field was walking to a near by funeral home for the funeral of an old acquaintance when she saw an Easter bonnet that caught her eye. She went…

By Pastor Glenn Pease Arthur Miller's play, All My Sons, is about a manufacturer of airplane engines during World War II. He knowingly allows defective engines to leave his factory, and the result is pilots die in the airplanes with his engines. When he is charged with the crime he cleverly manages to…

By Pastor Glenn Pease Ministers frequently call at a home when the man alone is there, and he will respond in some such manner as this: "I'm sorry my wife isn't home. She takes care of the religious matters in our home." I have not just read about this, but have experienced it, and have wondered how…

By Pastor Glenn Pease Florence Chadwick was the first woman ever to swim the difficult and cold 21 mile stretch of water between Catalina Island and the California coast. She failed on her first attempt because of poor vision. After 15 hours and 55 minutes of numbing cold she asked to be taken out of…

By Pastor Glenn Pease A lion, a fox, an a hyena were moving through the jungle collecting their dinner. When they were done they had gotten a large pile of animals. The lion said to the hyena, "Why don't you go over and divide the pile into three equal parts." The hungry hyena said, "Sure." He quickly…

By Pastor Glenn Pease Paradox is simply the recognition that opposites can both be true. The Christmas story is loaded with paradoxes. The most profound revolving around the Christ-Child Himself: The eternal Son born into time and the Infinite Spirit embodied in finite flesh. The creator of all space…

By Pastor Glenn Pease Salt is a paradox because it is both vital to your health, and one of your health's most deadly enemies. Dr. Conrad of Bethel is a great example of the importance of knowing this paradox. He had too much salt in his system, and needed to reduce his intake of salt. This a theme heard…

By Pastor Glenn Pease Before the turn of the century, a Bishop was paying his annual visit to a church related college. He was the guest of one of the professors, and was stating to his host, that now since man knows all about nature, and all inventions have been discovered, we must be on the verge of…

By Pastor Glenn Pease Successful people almost always attribute their success, in large measure, to the influence and inspiration of some other person. Henry Ford tells of how he was in a period of uncertainty about building his gas engine. He was discouraged about it, and was letting the idea go dead…

By Pastor Glenn Pease Epictetus, the ancient philosopher said, "If a man is unhappy, this must be his own fault, for God made all men to be happy." A Christian writer, St. Bernard, said something similar. "Nothing can work me damage except myself; the harm that I sustain I carry about with me, and never…

By Pastor Glenn Pease A truck had run off the road and crashed into a tree forcing the engine back into the cab. The driver was trapped in the twisted wreckage. The doors were crushed and bent out of shape, and he had his feet caught between the clutch and the brake pedal. To make matters worse, a fire…

By Pastor Glenn Pease It is on the highest interest level to hear of people's most embarrassing moments. Jane Wyman tells of hers. She was preparing for very important guests and she put a note on the guest towels that she had so carefully selected. The note read, "If you use these I will murder you."…

By Pastor Glenn Pease An Irishman on holiday in New York went into a drug store and asked for a small tube of toothpaste. When the clerk handed him a tube he noticed it was marked large. "I'd rather have a small one," he said. "Listen bud," the clerk replied. "In this country toothpaste comes in three…

By Pastor Glenn Pease A professor of math once said that if his life depended upon solving a problem in 15 minutes he would spend 10 minutes trying to understand the problem. Understanding is so essential if any problem is going to be brought to a satisfactory solution. Misunderstanding of a problem,…

By Pastor Glenn Pease A cartoon pictures the door of an office in the central government building of Moscow. The sign reads, Commissar for the Electrification of all the Russias. Underneath is a bit of paper on which is written, "Please knock-bell out of order." We can see the humor in the great inconsistency…

By Pastor Glenn Pease One of the perplexing of all life's paradoxes is the fact that God often answers our prayers by refusing to answer our prayers. One of the greatest examples of this in history is that of Monica praying for her son Augustine. All night in a sea side chapel on the North African coast…

By Pastor Glenn Pease America was at war with Spain in 1898. One of the most unusual incidents in the history of naval warfare took place. One night Captain Freemont of the American ship Porter detected some strange object coming toward the ship. As it came closer he saw that it was a torpedo. Ensign…

By Pastor Glenn Pease Paul Aurandt records this fascinating paradox of history. In September of 1776 Alexander Hamilton was a captain in the army. The British has his division trapped in lower Manhattan. They had only two choices it seemed: To fight and die, or to surrender and be hanged. With those…

By Pastor Glenn Pease A Christian school teacher offered a dollar to the one who could give her the name of the most famous man in history. She wanted them to say Jesus, of course. They all began to shout out names like Washington, Lincoln, Edison, and Columbus, and finally a little Jewish boy said Jesus.…

By Pastor Glenn Pease The world is full of interesting stories about numbers. For example, why does the President get a 21 gun salute. It all began in 1776 when Francis Hopkinson, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, noticed that if you add up the numbers in 1776 they come to 21. He…

By Pastor Glenn Pease Tommy Dorsey, the Gospel song writer, was at a Christian gathering in St. Louis when he got the message that his wife had died in child birth. He rushed back to Chicago and found that the baby also had died. Both were buried in the same coffin. He was a preacher's kid and so he…