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March 2001 Table of Contents
Food For Thought
Soles and Souls
By Derric Johnson
 Four-year-old Rusty was getting himself dressed for Sunday School. Suddenly he burst out crying. "What's the matter?" his harried mother asked.
"My feet hurt," was his tearful reply.
"Mommy observed, "Well, you've got your shoes on the wrong feet,"
Rusty whined back, "But these are the only feet I have!"
A lot of us would like to change feet when our shoes don't fit the way we would like. But when God gives us shoes to wear... we have to figure out that these are the only feet we have. So if you sometimes feel stuck with problems too big to handle and nothing seems to fit right in the process of living life... get used to it.
We say, "if God really wanted me to do this...it wouldn't be so hard!" Oh, really? Did you ever check out 1 Corinthians 16: 8 and 9? When Paul wrote those words, he was in Ephesus, a wildly debauched city centered around the temple worship of the Greek fertility goddess Diana, grotesquely represented with turreted head and many breasts. Her cult found expression in lascivious trade and a host of priestess courtesans.
The believers that Paul was determined to help in the faith were simply not ready for his message. They were obstinate and demonized...just not willing to be the people God intended them to be.
Most of us would have said, "I'm out of here. Ephesus...what a place to preach the gospel."
"NO! What a gospel to preach in this place!" was Paul's response. "I'll stay in Ephesus until Pentecost...because there are many adversaries here." What a shoe-filling attitude. And he ended up staying for three years...the longest visit to any of his churches. Did you get that? He stayed not because it was easily successful, but because it was hard...and that made it worth it! Paul Harvey has a great line..."In times like these, it's good to remember there have always been times like these."
God will accomplish His work with us or without us. Paul was resolved to be in the middle of it with Him. Too many times people say, "If only I were someplace else...I'd really be something." But remember the size of the obstacle always determines the scope of the opportunity.
So you have problems! Who doesn't? Trials and difficulties are the common denominator of life. In the long look it's not that they intrude into your life...but what you do with them that counts.
I was standing with a friend in a crowd listening to an enthusiast speak about attitudes, my colleague muttered, "I hate people who say 'Fabulous, super, and fantastic.' It all seems so shallow and unrealistic. Nothing is that good!"
I grinned to myself. It was easy to see how he would resent those words. He responds to "How do you feel?" with an organ recital. He can tell you what's wrong with the world and her people in the pause of a conversation. Politically, spiritually and morally everything is falling apart. When I listen to him I don't think anything could possibly be that bad!!
However tough life may be...it's better than the alternative. Life is not a cafeteria line where you can just pick out what you want. It is a full course meal...and you get it all from soup and salad to gravy and dessert. So you might as well decide to make the best of it. "As a man thinketh in his heart so is he." "Whatsovever things are true, honest, just, pure, lovely and of good report, think on these things."
One morning shortly after Christmas I woke early, studied the ceiling for awhile and dreamily shared with my wife that for the first time in months I had nothing to do. No project clamoring for completion, no music to write for tomorrow, no squeaky wheels to oil. I could just relax..."Soul, take thine ease."
Not more than ten minutes later the phone rang with an administrative problem that would add a new dimension to the word disaster. It put both my feet on the floor and sweat on my brow.
I got one of those wifely smiles and the accompanying words of wisdom, "Looks like God thought of something for you to do."
He knows it's not good for me to have time when I'm coasting. I need constant pressure to keep me leaning on the Rock. When heavy storms come they push us to your knees...and what's wrong with that.
So ask me how I'm doing. GREAT!! God noticed me today,
There is nothing more beautiful than a rainbow, but it takes both rain and sunshine to make it. If life is to be rounded and many colored like the rainbow, both joy and sorrow must come to it. Those who have never known anything but prosperity and pleasure become hard and shallow, but those whose prosperity has been mixed with adversity become kind and gracious.
Regardless of how we look at the problems of life, the truth remains that what really matters is what happens in us...not to us. God is always more interested in our character than in our comfort.
God made us like tea... our real strength never shows 'til we get into hot water.
It was in Junior High that I met the stoic master of mathematic mayhem, Miss Williams, dispenser of algebraic knowledge. KEEP SMILING was posted on every wall of her classroom. One might as well hang KEEP COOL stairs in the raging inferno of Hell. Nice sentiment...but hardly practical to the situation.
Being persuaded that my college career hinged on my success in Miss Williams's class, I sought desperately to please her. Even stayed after class to impress her sometimes. (Didn't work. I still had to turn in assignments.)
One super-puzzling problem kept me in her presence one April afternoon. All my friends were long gone...enjoying the freedoms of after-school life. But I was determined to get that answer.
Finally I moaned, "I wish I knew the answer," hoping for some academic pity.
"The answer is easy," she assured me.
"Not for me," I protested, "Tell it to me and I'll go."
"Oh, no," she insisted, "It's working through the equation that teaches the lesson."
Four pages of calculations later, I was done. The answer? Zero! "All that work for NOTHING," I muttered.
"Not for nothing," she rebutted. "You just learned the difference between answers and solutions."
I never forgot Miss Williams...or her lesson. She taught me something valuable about the processes of God. The puzzles of life are to be worked out...not zipped through like magic. Getting to the answer is often more important than the answer itself.
Maybe that's why the Bible never says that Jesus is the answer. It only says that Jesus is the way.
The prerequisite to any miracle is a problem. Without a problem...you just don't need a miracle.
More than anything today, we need a faith, not that we can possess, but that possesses us. A faith that keeps our hands and feet working when our head says it can't be done. Faith that is not belief without proof, but trust without reservations
We need to stop mountain climbing over molehills. We spend too much energy on the things that cannot change, and too much time on things that complicate our life focus. Peter Marshall used to talk about dressing up in deep-sea diving equipment and then marching forward to bravely pull plugs out of bathtubs.
So stop worrying if the sun will rise tomorrow...just prepare to enjoy it. And rind someone you can spread some of that sunshine-of-tomorrow on.
I've never made a fortune
And its probably too late now,
But I don't worry much about that...
I'm happy anyhow.
And as I go along life's way,
I'm reaping better than I sowed,
I'm drinking from my saucer,
'Cause my cup has overflowed.
I haven't got a lot of riches
And sometimes the going's tough,
But I've got loving folks around me,
And that makes me rich enough.
I thank God for His blessings
And the mercies He's bestowed,
I'm drinking from my saucer,
'Cause my cup has overflowed.
I remember times when things went wrong,
My faith wore somewhat thin,
But all at once the dark clouds broke
And the sun peeped through again.
So Lord, help me not to gripe
About the tough rows that I've hoed,
I'm drinking from my saucer,
'Cause my cup has overflowed,
If God gives me strength and courage
When the way grows steep and rough,
I'll not ask for other blessings,
I'm already blessed enough.
And may I never be too busy,
To help others bear their loads,
I'll keep drinking from my saucer,
'Cause my cup has overflowed.
Think about that and your shoes will fit fine... because they'll be on the right feet.
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