Christian Reflection and Prayer

Scripture:

"As the Father sent Me, so I am sending you"
John 20:21

In "The Road Not Taken," one of the most
well-know poems of the 20th century " Robert Frost
describes two roads discovered during a walk in the
woods. Frost knows he can only explore one, and
he tells himself that someday he will travel the other.
But realistically, he knows he will never return. And
by the time we reach the end of the poem, we
realize the poet is talking about something infinitely
more important than a simple choice of paths.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I --
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

No, Frost is not talking about the choice of paths in
a wood, but the choice of paths in a person's life.
Choosing a road symbolizes any choice we must
make between alternatives that appear equally
attractive but lead to entirely different destinations.

In the verse Jesus Christ is empowering all followers
of Christ to go out into the world and proclaim the
Good News that a Loving God of Resurrection Power
is right here in our midst, in the very Person of Jesus
Christ, who is always their to transform despair into
hope, sorrow into joy, death into new life.  As a
follower of Jesus Christ the path that we choose has
us "turning the world upside-down".

A story has come down through the years about a
king who visited the monasteries of a great Zen leader
named Lin Chi. (Zen is a Japanese Buddhist sect that
seeks enlightenment through the practice of
meditation.) The visiting king was astonished to learn
from Lin Chi that there were more than ten thousand
monks living there with him. Wanting to know the
exact number of monks, the king asked Lin Chi,
"How many disciples do you have?" To which Lin Chi
replied, "Four or five, perhaps."

The number of Christians living worldwide today is
almost two billion. And most, if not all of us here today,
are pleased to be included in that number. But how
many of those two billion Christians can be counted
as true disciples?

WHICH PATH DO YOU TAKE ARE YOU A TRUE
BELIEVER?

(excerpts taken from Sunday Sermon on Line)

Psalm 33

Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord,
    the people he chose for his inheritance.
13 From heaven the Lord looks down
    and sees all humankind;
14 from his dwelling place he watches
    all who live on earth—
15 he who forms the hearts of all,
    who considers everything they do.

16 No king is saved by the size of his army;
    no warrior escapes by his great strength.
17 A horse is a vain hope for deliverance;
    despite all its great strength it cannot save.
18 But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him,
    on those whose hope is in his unfailing love,
19 to deliver them from death
    and keep them alive in famine.

20 We wait in hope for the Lord;
    he is our help and our shield.
21 In him our hearts rejoice,
    for we trust in his holy name.
22 May your unfailing love be with us, Lord,
    even as we put our hope in you.

A young man, who was always jockeying for the
very best position in all of his summer jobs went
through college dreaming of the day he would be
offered an executive role in his father's huge
industrial plant. On graduation day, the father
took him aside and said, "Son, now you're ready
to come into the family business." Immediately,
the young man had visions of a big, plush office,
a large staff of assistants, and a hefty executive
salary. "I'll start work tomorrow, dad," he said
enthusiastically. Whereupon, the father said,
"Of course, in order to learn the business, you'll
have to start at the bottom. To begin with, your
job will be to water the hundreds of plants located
in our buildings." In an attempted "power play" the
son protested, figuring his father would relent and
offer him a more prestigious position. "I've
changed my mind," he said to his father. "I'm not
coming to work tomorrow." Later, he thought
better of his ill-conceived plan and instead
decided to please his father. And so he went to
work at the job he had been offered. The father
hoped for the best, but was concerned that
despite his son's good intentions, he wouldn't
stay on the job for long. But he stopped worrying
when the young man showed him his new
business card, which read...

"PLANT MANAGER."

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