Never Judge A Book By Its Cover

Hello everyone.  Praise the Lord!

Here is a well-known story from an unknown author.

Text:  John 7:24.

A couple, the woman in modest attire and her husband in a simple suit, arrived unannounced at Harvard University's principal office after disembarking from a train at Boston Station. The receptionist, judging them hastily, initially dismissed their purpose.

"We would like to meet with the principal," the man requested quietly.

"He's occupied all day," the secretary curtly replied.

"We'll wait," the woman asserted.

Hours passed with the couple patiently seated, prompting the secretary to reluctantly inform the director of their persistence.

"Perhaps if you meet with them briefly, they'll leave on their own," she suggested.

Grudgingly, the director acquiesced. Upon their entrance, he scrutinized them with a stern gaze.

 The woman spoke softly:

"Our son studied here and cherished this place. Sadly, he passed away unexpectedly a year ago. We wish to establish a memorial in his honor."

The director, visibly annoyed, retorted, "We can't erect memorials for every student who dies. It would turn this place into a cemetery."

"No, not a memorial or statue," the woman interjected hastily. "We wish to build a new building for Harvard."

The director scoffed, noting their modest attire, "Do you have any idea how much that would cost? Our buildings are valued at over seven million dollars."

The woman paused briefly before calmly saying to her husband, "Is building a university that inexpensive? Perhaps we should start our own."

With a nod of agreement, they left without further discussion. The director was left bewildered as the couple departed.

In Palo Alto, California, they indeed founded a university in memory of their son – Stanford University.

William James Roop

Hospice Care and Dying

The Trucking Tango

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Brother Roop teaches the Bible

Obedient Out Of Passion?

Hello everyone.  Praise the Lord!

Here is a short message from David Schaal that I wanted to share with you. 

Text:  John 14:15.

The other day, Hunter my 6 year old shocked me as I came in the door. He said Dad, did the trash man come yet? I said, “I think so,” he said,” Good, I will go get the trash can and bring it in.” I thought, “ I am such a great leader, I have taught my son the responsibilities of taking care of and taking pride in his chores. I watched him run to the curb, and joyfully bring in the trashcan. 

As I was sitting eating my lunch, reality hit. Hunter comes up to me and says, “Dad, it sure is hot out there, do you think we can go swimming?” Now- I did not know, what just happened here? Was I being set up?- Was he only performing his chores because he hoped to gain something, or was he doing it out of enthusiasm?

When we react in obedience to God, is it because we are trying to set God up? Or are we obedient out of passion?

The Key To Revival

Hello everyone.  Praise the Lord!

Here is part of a book called God's Generals (The Revivalists), Roberts Liardon.

Text:  Psalm 51.

THE KEY TO REVIVAL.

Charles Finney felt that prayer played a major part in the work of the revival. He wrote that “the key which unlocked the Heavens in this revival was the prayer of [Abel] Clary, Father Nash, and other unnamed folk who laid themselves prostrate before God’s throne and besought Him for a divine outpouring.” 

When Charles heard that Clary was in town, he remarked, “I have not seen him at any of our meetings.” The man who told him of Clary’s attendance responded, “No...he cannot go to meetings, he says. He prays nearly all the time, day and night, and in such an agony of mind that I do not know what to make of it. Sometimes he cannot even stand on his knees, but will lie prostrate on the floor, and groan and pray in a manner that quite astounds me.” Charles replied, “I understand it; please keep still. It will all come out right; he will surely prevail.”

He knew what this spirit of prayer was doing and he knew better than to do anything to interfere with it. Of this kind of fervent prayer, Charles said, I have never seen a person sweat blood, but I do know a person who prayed until his nose bled. And people have prayed until drenched with sweat, even in the coldest winter. Some have prayed for hours until their strength was exhausted from the labor of their minds. Such prayers reached out and took hold of God.

William James Roop

Hospice Care and Dying

The Trucking Tango

Brother Roop teaches the Bible

William Roop's books

Spiritual Trust

Hello everyone.  Praise the Lord!

Here is a funny story about trust from an unknown author.

Proverbs 3:5-6; Psalm 9:10.

 The story is told of the pioneer days in our country. A man was making his way west when he came to the Missouri River. It was winter and the ice covered the river from bank to bank. But how could the man be sure it would hold his weight? He knew people often drowned in that river when the ice broke. Yet he had to cross. 

He walked out a little way, then gripped with fear he crawled on his hands and knees. He looked back and saw how far the bank was now behind him and knew he would drown if the ice broke and the frigid water swallowed him up. To spread his weight even more, he lay out flat on his belly and slowly drew himself sliding across the river a few inches at time. 

All of a sudden from behind him he heard whistling. He whipped his head around and there saw a big man, a farmer, walking across the ice leading a team of horses drawing a heavy wooden sleigh full of hay. He was smiling and whistling and tipped his hat. The timid man stood and brushed off the ice crystals and managed a sheepish smile. That old farmer had crossed the ice many times and knew it could be trusted.

William James Roop

Hospice Care and Dying

The Trucking Tango

Brother Roop teaches the Bible

William Roop's books

Satan's Opposition Against The Ministry.

Hello everyone.  Praise the Lord!

Here is an interesting message from the Evangelist, Derek Prince.

Text:  John 10:10;  James 4:7.

Jesus never sent anyone out to preach the Gospel without specifically instructing and equipping that person to take action against demons in the same way that He Himself did. I can find no basis anywhere in the New Testament for an evangelistic ministry that does not include the expelling of demons. This is as true today as it was in the time of Jesus.

I soon came to realize that satan has developed a special opposition to this ministry. He is, by choice, a creature of darkness. He prefers to keep the true nature of his activities concealed. If he can keep humanity unaware of his tactics or even of his very existence he can use the twin tools of ignorance and fear to open the way for his destructive purposes.

 Unfortunately, ignorance and fear are not confined to non Christians. They are often at work inside the Church. All too often Christians have treated demons with superstitious dread, as if they are in the same category as ghosts or dragons. 

William James Roop

Hospice Care and Dying

The Trucking Tango

Brother Roop teaches the Bible

Books by William Roop

Old Wooden Buckets

Hello everyone.  Praise the Lord!

Here is some old wisdom for us today. 

Text:  Hebrews 4:9-11.

I heard someone give an illustration once about a wooden well bucket he came upon. He thought it was useless at first, because it had been sitting next to a barn in the sun, unused for a long time. He could see daylight between the wooden slats of the bucket. Certainly, this thing would never hold water again.

But an older man with him tied the bucket to the well rope and let it drop into the water below. In a couple of days they came back and turned the crank to draw the bucket back up. It was full of clear, cool well water and was not leaking a drop.

The water had re-hydrated the wooden slats until they fit together as originally designed, and the bucket was useful again.

Sometimes in life we just need to stop and rest for a few days where we can clear our heads and so we can be useful to others again.

William James Roop

Hospice Care and Dying

The Trucking Tango

Brother Roop teaches the Bible

Books by William Roop

The Old Man And The Gulls

Hello everyone.  Praise the Lord!

Text:  Proverbs 3:5-6; Psalm 37.

 THE OLD MAN AND THE GULLS

It is gratitude that prompted an old man to visit an old broken pier on the eastern seacoast of Florida. Every Friday night, until his death in 1973, he would return, walking slowly and slightly stooped with a large bucket of shrimp. The sea gulls would flock to this old man, and he would feed them from his bucket. Many years before, in October 1942, Captain Eddie Rickenbacker was on a mission in a B-17 to deliver an important message to General Douglas MacArthur in New Guinea. But there was an unexpected detour, which would hurl Captain Eddie into the most harrowing adventure of his life.

Eddie Rickenbacker

Somewhere over the South Pacific the Flying Fortress became lost beyond the reach of radio. Fuel ran dangerously low, so the men ditched their plane in the ocean... For nearly a month Captain Eddie and his companions would fight the water, and the weather, and the scorching sun. They spent many sleepless nights recoiling as giant sharks rammed their rafts. The largest raft was nine by five. The biggest shark...ten feet long.

But of all their enemies at sea, one proved most formidable: starvation. Eight days out, their rations were long gone or destroyed by the salt water. It would take a miracle to sustain them. And a miracle occurred. In Captain Eddie’s own words, "Cherry," that was the B- 17 pilot, Captain William Cherry, "read the service that afternoon, and we finished with a prayer for deliverance and a hymn of praise. There was some talk, but it tapered off in the oppressive heat. With my hat pulled down over my eyes to keep out some of the glare, I dozed off."

Now this is still Captain Rickenbacker talking..."Something landed on my head. I knew that it was a sea gull. I don’t know how I knew, I just knew. Everyone else knew too. No one said a word, but peering out from under my hat brim without moving my head, I could see the expression on their faces. They were staring at that gull. The gull meant food...if I could catch it." And the rest, as they say, is history. Captain Eddie caught the gull. Its flesh was eaten. Its intestines were used for bait to catch fish. The survivors were sustained and their hopes renewed because a lone sea gull, uncharacteristically hundreds of miles from land, offered itself as a sacrifice.

 You know that Captain Eddie made it. And now you also know...that he never forgot. Because every Friday evening, about sunset...on a lonely stretch along the eastern Florida seacoast...you could see an old man walking...white-haired, bushy-eye browed, slightly bent. His bucket filled with shrimp was to feed the gulls...to remember that one that, on a day long past, gave itself without a struggle...like manna in the wilderness.

SOURCE: "The Old Man and the Gulls" from Paul Harvey’s The Rest of the Story.

Scriptures: Exodus 16:11-18

William James Roop

Hospice Care and Dying

The Trucking Tango

Brother Roop teaches the Bible

Books by William Roop