LOVE #5
LOVE AMPLIFIED IN DAILY LIVING #2
FROM THE BOOK "750 ENGAGING ILLUSTRATIONS"
Love
Rubel Shelly tells this story:
Jason Tuskes was a 17-year-old high school honor student. He was
close to his mother, his wheelchair-bound father, and his younger
brother. Jason was an expert swimmer who loved to scuba dive.
He left home on a Tuesday morning to explore a spring and
underwater cave near his home in west central Florida. His plan
was to be home in time to celebrate his mother's birthday by
going out to dinner with his family that night.
Jason became lost in the cave. Then, in his panic, he apparently
got wedged into a narrow passageway. When he realized he was
trapped, he shed his yellow metal air tank and unsheathed his
diver's knife. With the tank as a tablet and the knife as a pen,
he wrote one last message to his family: I LOVE YOU MOM, DAD, AND
CHRISTIAN. Then he ran out of air and drowned.
A dying message - something communicated in the last few seconds
of life - is something we cant ignore. God's final words to us
are etched on a Roman cross. They are blood red. They scream to
be heard. They, too, say, "I love you."
God's Love, Christ's Blood
Love
In 1996 Disney came out with the movie 101 Dalmatians, and it was
a box-office success. Many viewers fell in love with the cute
spotted puppies on the big screen and decided to get one for
themselves. When they brought those adorable little puppies home,
however, they found that living with a dalmatian is an entirely
different experience from watching one on the movie screen. Soon,
according to the Associated Press, all over the United States dog
shelters saw a dramatic increase in the number of dalmatians
being abandoned by their owners. A Florida organization called
Dalmatian Rescue took in 130 dalmatians in the first nine months
of 1997; usually they get that many dogs in two and a half years.
Dalmatians can be a challenge to own for several reasons.
Dalmatians grow to be big dogs, weighing as much as seventy
pounds. They are rambunctious and require a lot of exercise. They
can be moody, becoming restless and even destructive if they
don't get enough activity. They shed year-round, and 10 percent
of dalmatians are born deaf.
Tracey Carson, a spokeswoman for the Wisconsin Humane Society,
says, "Although Dalmatians are beautiful puppies, and can be
wonderful dogs, you have to know what you're getting into."
Whether with pets or with people, infatuation with someone's
appearance is a poor foundation for a relationship.
Appearance, Commitment, Expectations, Faithfulness, Illusions,
Infatuation, Marriage, Relationships, Romance Rom. 12:10; 1 Cor.
13:7-8
Love
Rita Price writes in a 1995 issue of the Columbus Dispatch:
Katie Fisher, 17, pulled her unruly lamb into the arena of the
Madison County Junior Livestock Sale last July. With luck the
lamb would fetch some spending money - and she wouldn't collapse
as she had during another livestock show the day before.
Fisher had been battling Burkitt's lymphoma, a fast-growing
malignancy, since February. She had endured many hospitalizations
and months of chemotherapy. "Sometimes, in the beginning, it hurt
so bad all she could do was pace," said her 12-year-old sister,
Jessica.
Selling the lamb did raise pin money for Fisher.
"We sort of let folks know that Katie had a situation that wasn't
too pleasant," said auctioneer Roger Wilson, who hoped his
introduction would push the price-per-pound above the average of
$2. It did-and then some.
The lamb sold for $11.50 per pound. Then the buyer gave it back.
That started a chain reaction. Families bought it and gave it
back; businesses bought it and gave it back.
"The first sale is the only one I remember. After that, I was
crying too hard," said Katie's mother, Jayne Fisher. "Everyone
kept saying, 'Re-sell! Re-sell!'"
"We sold that lamb 36 times," said Wilson. And the last buyer
gave back the lamb for good. The effort raised more than $16,000,
which went into a fund to help pay Katie's medical expenses.
It is blessed both to give and to receive.
Giving, Mercy, Sacrifice Acts 20:35; Gal. 6:2;1 John 3:16-18
Love
Researcher Beppino Giovanella knows what it means to give himself
on behalf of others. In Johns Hopkins Magazine Melissa Hendricks
writes:
Nobody put a gun to Beppino Giovanella's head and said, "Take
this or else." It was the desire to find a safe but effective
dosage that made the biologist swallow a gelatin capsule
containing 100 milligrams of an experimental cancer drug. Like a
modern-day Dr. Jekyll, Giovanella, director of laboratories for
the Stehlin Foundation in Houston, chose himself as a guinea pig.
Partly as a result of his self-experiment, the drug is now in
clinical trials.
Science is rich with stories of self-experiments, but today an
investigator like Giovanella, who has tested several drugs on
himself without seeking formal approval of his institution, is a
rare bird. As a result of his latest experiment, he temporarily
lost his hair. But he did find that cancer drug doses effective
in animals are too much for humans.
"As a biologist, you become acutely aware that drugs at times act
very differently from one species to another," Giovanella says.
"That is why I always test new drugs on myself first. It wouldn't
be very nice to risk another person before I risk myself."
Love is considerate.
Golden Rule, Self-Sacrifice 1 Cor. 13:7; James 3:17-18
Love
How do we love someone who stumbles?
In a Leadership profile of pastor and author Stu Weber, Dave
Goetz writes:
Growing up, Weber developed a temper, which blossomed in high
school and college. "And then I went in the military," Weber
said, "which doesn't do a lot to curb your temper and develop
relational skills."
Early in his ministry, he stopped playing church-league
basketball altogether; his temper kept flaring, embarrassing
himself and the church. A decade passed. "I hadn't had a flash of
temper for years," Weber said. "I thought, the Lord has been
good. I'm actually growing."
Then his oldest son made the high school varsity basketball
squad. "I began living my life again through my son." Weber
terrorized the referees. On one occasion, seated in the second
row, Weber wound up on the floor level, with no recollection of
how he got there. He received nasty letters from church members,
who, he says now, "were absolutely right on."
But then he got another note: "Stu, I know your heart. I know
that's not you. I know that you want to live for Christ and his
reputation. And I know that's not happened at these ballgames. If
it would be helpful to you, I'd come to the games with you and
sit beside you."
It was from one of his accountability partners.
"Steve saved my life," Weber said. "It was an invitation, a
gracious extension of truth. He assumed the best and believed in
me."
When we love others, we believe in and hope the best for them
even when they fail.
Accountability, Anger, Belief, Community, Devotion, Discipleship,
Failure, Forbearance, Loyalty, Men, Stumbling, Support, Temper
Rom.12:10; 1 Cor.13:7; Col. 3:8,12-14
..........
To be continued
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