How Do You Want To Be Remembered?

Hello everyone.  Praise the Lord!

Contributed by Denn Guptill from an unknown source.

Text: John 3:16.

 In 1912, 39 year old, Rev. John Harper a Scottish preacher was making a transatlantic trip to preach at the Moody Church in Chicago. As fate would have it the vessel he choice was the Titanic. We all know the story about the disaster but do you know the story of John Harper? Harper like many others ended up in the water, and as people desperately tried to survive in the chilled waters, Harper swam to them.

Titanic/Google creative commons

The minister asked people in the water if they knew Jesus. Eventually, Harper approached a passenger clinging to a jagged piece of wood and he pleaded for the man to trust Christ. The minister was completely exhausted at this point. As he succumbed to the conditions and went under the water to his death, Harper said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved."

A few years later at a meeting of survivors of the Titanic, the final man who encountered John Harper told the group that he had been saved twice that night. First, he had accepted Christ as his personal Savior because of Harper’s efforts. And, of course, he had been rescued from the deep Atlantic seas. He said “Alone in the night with two miles of water under me I believed, I am John Harper's’ last convert.”

William James Roop

Hospice Care and Dying

The Trucking Tango

Author Page

Brother Roop teaches the Bible

Sin Is Like A Bomb

Hello everyone.  Praise the Lord!

Contributed by Tim Richards from an unknown source.

Nuclear bomb/Google creative commons

Text: Ezekiel 18:20

This bomb was tested above the Arctic Circle on October 30, 1961. The explosion was so intense that the flash was visible over 600 miles away. People felt the air move over 160 miles away. Everything in a radius of 15.25 miles was completely destroyed. Very severe damage extended to a distance of 21.5 miles & the heat was so intense that people over 60 miles away would have experienced third degree burns if anyone had been there. 

All this came from a bomb that was a little over 26 feet long & with a diameter of a little over 6 feet. It was large to be sure, but it was tiny when you look at the power it packed. The point was that a small package can deliver an absolutely incredible punch. The same is true of sin, many people view it as, "no big deal," but God sees sin as a monster that brings incredible harm to those who are involved in it.

William James Roop

Hospice Care and Dying

The Trucking Tango

Author Page

Brother Roop teaches the Bible

Loving Your Enemies

Hello everyone.  Praise the Lord!

Text: Matthew 5:44-46.

Abraham Lincoln/Google creative commons

 In his sermon "Loving Your Enemies," Martin Luther King, Jr., said:

When Abraham Lincoln was running for president of the United States, there was a man who ran all around the country talking about Lincoln. He said a lot of unkind things. And sometimes he would get to the point that he would even talk about his looks, saying, "You don’t want a tall, lanky, ignorant man like this as the president of the United States." …

Finally, one day Abraham Lincoln was elected president of the United States.… Then came the time for him to choose a secretary of war. He looked across the nation, and decided to choose a man by the name of Mr. Stanton. And when Abraham Lincoln stood around his advisors and mentioned this fact, they said to him: "Mr. Lincoln, are you a fool? Do you know what Mr. Stanton has been saying about you? Do you know what he as done, tried to do to you? Do you know that he has tried to defeat you on every hand? Do you know that, Mr. Lincoln? Did you read all of those derogatory statements that he made about you?"

Abraham Lincoln stood before the advisors around him and said: "Oh yeah. I know about it; I read about it; I’ve heard him myself. But after looking over the country, I find that he is the best man for the job."

Abraham Lincoln/Google creative commons

Mr. Stanton did become secretary of war; and…later, Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. And if you go to Washington, you will discover that one of the greatest words or statements ever made about Abraham Lincoln was by this man Stanton. As Abraham Lincoln came to the end of his life, Stanton stood up and said: "Now he belongs to the ages." And he made a beautiful statement concerning the character and the stature of this man.

If Abraham Lincoln had hated Stanton, if Abraham Lincoln had answered everything Stanton said, Abraham Lincoln would not have transformed and redeemed Stanton. Stanton would have gone to his grave hating Lincoln, and Lincoln would have gone to his grave hating Stanton. But through the power of love Abraham Lincoln was able to redeem Stanton.

[Martin Luther King, Jr., on Lincoln, Citation: Martin Luther King, Jr., A Knock at Midnight, edited by Clayborne Carson and Peter Holloran (Warner Books, 1998) p.154]

Abraham Lincoln/Google creative commons

William James Roop

Hospice Care and Dying

The Trucking Tango

Author Page

Brother Roop teaches the Bible

I Could Have Been Here 10 Years Ago!

Hello everyone.  Praise the Lord!

Here is a fun joke that I wanted to share with you.

Text: John 3:16.  Contributed by Jim Kilson from an unknown source.

Google creative commons

 An elderly couple passed away and found themselves at the pearly gates. Peter was there to welcome them. First he showed them their mansion. The man overwhelmed by the sheer luxury of it all asked, "How much does this place cost per night?" Peter replied, "Sir, this is Heaven, it doesn’t cost anything." Then Peter took them to the dining room where table upon table was piled high with the most delicious foods you could imagine. Again overwhelmed by the glory of it all the man asked, "How much for the meals?" Peter said, "You forget, this is Heaven, it’s free." 

Peter then took them out back where they saw a fantastically beautiful golf course. As the man stood there open-mouthed Peter said, "Now before you ask, there are no greens fees, this is Heaven, everything is free." The man looked at his wife and said, "You and your confounded bran muffins, I could have been here 10 years ago!"

 Sometimes when people think of heaven they think of it as dull and boring. This joke however captures the promise of eternal life - a place of unbelievable beauty and delight.

William James Roop

Hospice Care and Dying

The Trucking Tango

Author Page

Brother Roop teaches the Bible

Bubba And The Potato Field

 Hello everyone.  Praise the Lord!

Contributed by Greg Buchner from an unknown source.

Text: John 14:6

Potato plant/Google creative commons

 Bubba and the potato field

An old man lived alone in Idaho. He wanted to spade his potato garden, but it was backbreaking work, and his son, Bubba, who used to help him, was in prison.

The old man mentioned it in a letter he sent to his son by saying, “I’m not sure exactly what to do. I’m just getting too old to be digging up a garden plot. It looks like I won’t be able to plant that garden this year after all.”

A few days later, he received a short letter from his son, “Dad, For heaven’s sake, don’t dig up that garden that’s where I buried the bodies!”

At 4 a.m. the next morning, a crew of police officers, and the FBI arrived to find the bodies. After digging for hours, they gave up and apologized to the old man and left.

That same day the old man received another letter from his son.

“Dear Dad, under these circumstances, that’s the best I can do, go ahead and plant your potatoes now.”

Potato/Google Creative Commons

Sometimes we are like the stubborn earth that stands in the way of experiencing a completely transformed life in Jesus Christ. Instead of being willing to trust, to take direction, and to accept the rewards Christ offers. We remain a potential garden…a potential garden in need of resurrection…a potential garden that needs to find the way, the truth, and the life…a potential garden just waiting to accept the victory that’s found in Jesus Christ.

William James Roop

Hospice Care and Dying

The Trucking Tango

Author Page

Brother Roop teaches the Bible

Bridle Your Tongue

 Hello everyone.  Praise the Lord!

Text: James 3:1-18.  

Here is a fun story from an unknown source.

It seems that one day a kindergarten teacher was helping one of her students put on his cowboy boots?

He asked for help and she could see why. Even with her pulling and him pushing, the little boots still didn’t want to go on. Finally, when the second boot was on, she had worked up a sweat. She almost cried when the little boy said, "Teacher, they’re on the wrong feet." She looked down and sure enough, they were.

It wasn’t any easier pulling the boots off than it was putting them on. But she managed to keep her cool as together they worked to get the boots back on - this time on the right feet. And it was only then that he announced, "These aren’t my boots."

She bit her tongue rather than scream, "Why didn’t you say so?" like she wanted to. And, once again she struggled to help him pull the ill-fitting boots off his little feet. No sooner had they got the boots off then he said, "They’re my brother’s boots. My Mom made me wear ’em today."

Stifling a scream, she mustered up the grace and courage she had left to wrestle the ill-fitting boots on his feet again. Helping him into his coat, she asked, "Now, where are your mittens?"

To which he replied, "I stuffed ’em in the toes of my boots."

William James Roop

Hospice Care and Dying

The Trucking Tango

Author Page

Brother Roop teaches the Bible

Catfish And A Testimony

 Hello everyone.  Praise the Lord!

Text:  2 Timothy 1:8.

My wife and I traveled about an hour southeast to the little town of Patterson, Louisiana.  We had gone their to help with a ministers luncheon.  The fish fry luncheon we hold yearly for the local ministers for fun and fellowship.  It was August and was oppressively hot and humid outside, and the mosquitoes were revengeful! 

My wife had baked some deserts the night before; brownees, pecan miniature pies, and coconut miniature pies. We brought them into the kitchen and she started helping Sister Suzy.  I went outside under the big oak tree with Brother Bass to assist him in frying the catfish.  

Brother Bass was a short white man who was probably in his late sixties in failing health.  He revealed that he had COPD and had trouble breathing. But, in spite of that he kept active.  In the back of his pick-up was a three burner propane rig for frying fish.  He had three frying pans, but the middle burner did not work this morning. But two burners would be enough for ten pounds of catfish.

We set up everything and ended up with a little extra time, so we started to visit a bit.  I mentioned that I was a retired truck driver, and Brother Bass replied that he started out driving trucks in Georgia, where he was born and raised. 

Then he mentioned that he switched to armed robbery and burglarizing houses and business.  I was a bit taken aback by that statement!  He said that he was eventually caught by law enforcement in Florida, where he robbed several place there.  

The authorities in Florida offered to give him a hundred-year sentence if he plead guilty. They said if he was found guilty by trial it would be a hundred and fifteen year sentence.  Brother Bass told them that their wasn't much of a difference between the two sentences, so he chose the trial!

He was put on trial and found guilty of all charges and was placed into the custody of the Florida Department of Corrections for a period of 115 years!  But they did give him the possibility of parole in the future.  So he did have some kind of hope for the future.  

He was sent to a prison in Raymondville, Florida call the "Rock," because it was a maximum security prison that had a death row wing.  It was were all of hard core criminals did their time.  After about five years of good behaviour, he was then transferred to a prison in Madisonville, Florida, which was a medium security prison.  The years slowly dragged on.

In the meantime Brother Bass was given a Bible to read, among all of the other books of the prison library.  He read it and enjoyed it. He asked the prison librarian, a fellow prisoner, if he could keep it permanently. The prison librarian did much care for Christian wanna-bes, so re refused.  

After daily pestering, the librarian finally said that if he could memorize 1 Corinthians 13, then he could keep the Bible permanently.  Brother Bass memorized it and repeated it to the librarian, with a scrawl on his face he blurted out, "Okay, you can keep it!"  

Brother Bass was now a Christian, a baby Christian, but saved in Christ and slowly growing in faith.  A few more years passed and he was informed that he was up for parole!  After an interview was conducted he was rejected with the phrase, "no change!"  Brother Bass was devastated but accepted it as the Lord's will.

The next year he had another parole hearing, this time during the interview, the asked about his Christian life and the positive change in his life.  Brother Bass replied that he didn't want to use his new faith to get himself out of prison.  He informed the interviewer that if the Lord wanted him out of prison, He would make it happen without anyone's help!

A little over six months later Brother Bass was paroled from prison!  He said that the Lord must have softened up the hearts of the parole board to have him released so early.  Brother Bass said that he served only 13 years of the 115 year sentence!

Well, after he finished sharing his interesting story, I looked down at my watch, and noticed that the fish had better get to frying!  We happily double-timed it and got the fish to cooking.  The ministers luncheon went well, and everyone raved about the fish.  Nothing like catfish and a testimony!

William James Roop

Hospice Care and Dying

The Trucking Tango

Author Page

Brother Roop teaches the Bible