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Dr. Harold McNabb
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The Most Powerful Force on Earth |
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Monday, 22 May 2006 15:17 |
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Research psychologists have found there are at least three situations when we are not ourselves. First, the average person puts on airs when he visits the lobby of a fancy hotel. Next, the typical Jane Doe will try to hide her emotions and bamboozle the salesman when she enters the new-car showroom. And finally, as we take our seat in church or synagogue, we try to fake out the Almighty that we've really been good all week.1
Have you ever done that?
I remember as a young man taking my date to a fancy restaurant and the waiter brought out some wine I had ordered. He offered it to me to taste first. Like I would have known a good wine from a bad one. But I played along and tasted it...waited a moment and nodded my approval. The waiter smiled and poured two glasses. I imagined him going back into the kitchen and pouring the last few drops back into the "wine left-overs" bucket where it had come from.
Do you ever do that in church ... pretend to God that you've really been better than you actually have been?
I would hope not.
I heard a saying once that I like: You don't have to put your . . . |
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 23 May 2006 21:24 )
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Monday, 15 May 2006 21:34 |
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The dishes, garbage, and dirty laundry would pile up for days when Cat and Harlan Barnard's teenage children refused to do their chores. So the Barnards—of Enterprise, Florida—went on strike, moving out of their house and into a domed tent set up in their front driveway. The parents refused to cook, clean, or drive for their children—Benjamin, 17, and Kit, 12—until they shaped up. "We've tried reverse psychology, upside down psychology, spiral psychology, and nothing has motivated them for any length of time," said Cat Barnard, 45, as she sat in a lawn chair at an umbrella-covered table. The strike took Benjamin and Kit by surprise. They came home from school Monday to find their mother outside with handwritten signs that read "Parents on Strike" and "Seeking Cooperation and Respect!"
Cat Barnard, a stay-at-home mom, and her 56-year-old husband, a government social services worker, decided their children needed to learn about empathy and responsibility. The Barnards slept on air mattresses in the tent and barbecued while their children fended for themselves with frozen TV dinners. The parents only went inside to shower and use the bathroom.
Passers-by from this bedroom community between Orlando and Daytona Beach shouted out words of encouragement. One woman driving past the Barnards' house rolled down her car window Wednesday and shouted, "Good for you! You should put the kids outside!"
Cat Barnard said she and her husband would . . .
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Last Updated ( Monday, 15 May 2006 21:36 )
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Monday, 24 April 2006 05:20 |
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Fear is a crippling emotion.
When Hannibal attacked Rome, he brought African elephants to accompany his infantry. He hoped the sight of the monsters would spread fear and panic through the Roman legions as well as being an effective fighting animal. He almost succeeded.
On September 21, 2005, the landing gear of JetBlue flight 292 malfunctioned during takeoff, resulting in the wheels under the nose becoming jammed to the side. Local media picked up the story, and millions of viewers across the country tuned in to watch the unfolding drama of the crippled aircraft—including the 145 people on the plane!
Passengers watched a live satellite feed from their seats as the plane circled over southern California, burning off its load of fuel. Actress Taryn Manning, one of the passengers, told the Associated Press: "A lot of the women of course were crying. There was a gentleman across the way who was writing in his journal and crying, and seeing that isn't easy."
Fortunately, the ensuing emergency landing was a success, and all of the passengers survived. One of them, Alexandra Jacobs, made a fascinating observation: "We couldn't believe the irony that we might be watching our own demise on television. That seemed a little bit post-post-modern."1
We experience fear in many ways. There is the emotion that comes from . . .
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Thursday, 20 April 2006 07:25 |
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The last words we hear Jesus speak from the cross are "It is finished. Into your hands I commit my spirit." And he gave up his spirit and died.
Jesus had been able to say that the work God had given him to do was finished. And with that he surrenders his spirit into God's hands.
In the play we presented on Friday, I had Joseph of Aramathea wondering if everything that Jesus had taught and done was really finished. Was it really the end? When Jesus was going to be arrested, Joseph had voted against it, but was over ruled. He was a follower but all he could do for Jesus was to loan him his own tomb and bury him with dignity. Was doing what was right and believing in God really nothing in the face of determined and powerful forces that were determined to obliterate it. On Friday, when Jesus died, it really seemed as if Judas, the high priests, Pilate and the rest had won. They succeeded in putting Jesus to death.
And in his own death, Jesus says, " It is finished."
Was it over?
In one way it was. Jesus earthly job was complete. His mortal body was dead. Dead and buried.
In that way, it was over.
In another way too.
He gave up the . . . |
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What in the world was Jesus thinking about!? |
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Tuesday, 11 April 2006 20:36 |
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The next day the great crowd that had come for the Feast heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem.
They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, “Hosanna!
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
John 12::12,13 What in the world was Jesus thinking about!?
Riding into Jerusalem and stirring up a huge demonstration was the kind of thing that could get him killed.
The Pharisees and Saducees, two different groups who normally fought like cats and dogs were finally agreed on one thing: Jesus must be stopped--permanently!
And why is that?
If nothing else, Jesus played no favorites. He told anyone who cared to listen what He thought. He told them the truth in a flat out unvarnished fashion.
Pharisees were laymen unlike the Saducees who were the priestly caste.
The pharisees had begun as an honorable group of Bible scholars whose only desire was to ensure that all Israel knew God's word and observed it. There were many good Pharisees in Jesus time. Nicodemus and Joseph from Aramathea were only two.
But there were many who loved the authority and honors they accumulated. Some were even on . . . |
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 11 April 2006 20:38 )
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