The carpenter’s tools were having a conference. Brother Hammer was acting as chairman, but the group insisted that was far too noisy and demanded that he leave. Brother Hammer quickly responded, “If I leave, then Brother Plane must leave too. All his work is on the surface...there is no depth to him or whatever he does.” To this Brother Plane replied, “Well, Brother Rule, you will have to withdraw also, because you are constantly measuring people as though you were the only person who is right.” Brother Rule in turn complained against Brother Sandpaper and said, “He should leave because he is rougher than he ought to be. He is forever rubbing people the wrong way.” During this heated discussion, the carpenter walked in. He put on his apron and walked to the bench. He employed the hammer, the plane, the rule, the sandpaper, and other tools that were present and necessary. When the day’s work was completed, he had built a pulpit from which the gospel would be preached.

This modern day fable illustrates an encouraging thought. Even though we are not perfect tools, in the hands of our master, we can be used to His glory. Someone said, “No one is completely worthless...they can at least serve as a bad example. Seriously though, the Word of God from Genesis to Revelation, reveals and demonstrates to us how God can work mightily through imperfect, weak, frail men and women. Often it was the very fact of God’s willingness to work through certain individuals, that gave them the desire and conviction to direct their attitudes and minds to greater service and faithfulness.

If God intends to perform some great thing through me, I must be a vessel fit for His use. Philippians 1:6 - “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ…”

When you have a few moments away from the hustle and bustle of your busy life and take time for personal meditation and prayer, remember the words (and even sing them) “Have thine own way Lord, have Thine own way.”

— Adapted

Little Billy cannot remember sitting through his cradle roll class—but make no mistake, he was there. In fact, Billy has been in Bible class every Sunday morning and Wednesday night since before he could even walk. He can recite many of the stories in the Bible—especially his two favorites: Noah and the ark, and Daniel in the lion’s den. Having grown up in the church, Billy obeyed the Gospel and was baptized when he was twelve. Even now, at age fourteen he never misses a worship service.

But Billy is having some nagging feeling about his faith. It’s not that he doesn’t believe in God, because he does. The problem is that he has never seen God—or Jesus for that matter. And to compound problems, he’s taking physical science this year at school. His science teacher spent an entire month on the topic of evolution, and showed the students pictures of how scientists allegedly know evolution is true. In fact, Billy’s science textbook contains many pictures that certainly look like they prove evolution. Billy desperately wants to have a faith as strong as his parents’, but those pictures are making it harder and harder to believe that this world was created as it is described in Genesis chapter 1.

Billy could show the pictures to his parents, but he’s not sure how they would react. Would they get mad at his lack of faith? Would they simply dismiss the images? Would he cause them to lose some of their own faith? For several weeks, Billy struggles internally as he “goes through the motions” at his local church. After giving it a great deal of thought, he just decides to do nothing.

To me, the scenario above is one of the scariest for parents. A child is struggling with questions pertaining to his or her faith, and instead of seeking answers from parents, the child simply remains silent—and all the while, his or her faith slowly begins to crumble. Those pictures with which Billy is struggling are real. The bookshelves in my office are full of biology textbooks that contain many such pictures. The problem is that many of those pictures are dishonest. In some cases, they are outright frauds. Without an honest explanation, young people are tricked into thinking that the case for evolution is much stronger than it really is.

(Note: The above article is an excerpt from an older bulletin from Central in Clearwater, back when Brad Harrub was presenting a series of lessons on science and evolution. Recently our young people went through one of his DVD’s. We have ordered several of these to be placed in the church library. If you are interested in some of this material, please see me. We need to fortify ourselves in this area of study and be able to get our hands on the answers. — Chris)

One: Don’t miss the boat.
Two: Remember that we are all in the same boat.
Three: Plan ahead. It wasn’t raining when Noah built the Ark.
Four: Stay fit. When you’re very old, someone may ask you to do something really big.
Five: Don’t listen to critics; just get on with the job that needs to be done.
Six: Build your future on high ground.
Seven: For safety sake, travel in pairs.
Eight: Speed isn’t always an advantage. The snails were on board with the cheetahs.
Nine: When you’re stressed, float a while.
Ten: Remember, the Ark was built by amateurs; the Titanic by professionals.
Eleven: No matter the storm, when you are with God, there’s always a rainbow waiting.

— Adapted —