Devotions On This Page:
The Six Million Dollar Man
Help!
The Spare Rib
Three Rivers
Bear Hunting in Alaska
The Rest of the Story
"You ought to be Shot" (Re: Ed & Donna)
The Six Million Dollar Man
By
Ed Handkins
Remember the “six million dollar man?” In this TV show from the 1970’s the main character, Steve Austin - played by Lee Majors, was a test pilot almost killed in an accident. His legs, an arm and an eye were replaced with atomic powered replacements. He was stronger, faster and could see better than he could before the accident. He was sent on special missions for a government agency (OSI) – whoever they were.
For all practical purposes, Steve Austin had died in the crash. The six million dollars – a lot of money in 1973 – was what it took to save his life and give him a new purpose in life. The price was paid for him.
Steve Austin is a good metaphor for the Christian life. Before Christ we were dead in our sins. Jesus paid a debt He did not owe because we owed a debt we could not pay.When we invited Jesus into our life we gave everything over to Him. When He came into our life, it was like we were being born again (John 3:16). We were dead but He gave us new life – eternal life.
Steve Austin was given an eye implant that helped him see things like he had never seen them before. When we are born into God’s family he gives us the ability to see things from a new perspective. We can see ourselves as a child of God. We can learn to love ourselves – not for self’s sake but for Christ sake. Not because we are loveable but because He is loveable. Our body is now the temple of God. We take care of the temple.We can see the world from a new perspective. Life is sacred. We can love others – not for self’s sake but for Christ’s sake. Not because of what they can do for us but because they have been created in God’s image.
Because He paid the price for us we have a new mission in life. We can use our feet and hands to accomplish the work He has for us. He wants us to be on mission for Him. We are here to help others find that they too can have new life in Christ.
We truly are not our own. We have been bought with a price. We were spiritually dead but He gave us new life. All we can do is to spend the rest of our life saying “thank you” to Christ as we seek to carry out His mission.
© 2010 Ed Handkins
HELP!
Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. Ephesians 5:1-2 (RSV)
Two sailors were adrift on a raft in the ocean. They had almost given up hope of being rescued. One man started to pray. “Dear Lord, I know I’ve led a sinful life. I’ve been unkind to my wife and I’ve neglected my children, but if you’ll save me, I promise…”
“Stop!” shouted the other sailor, “I think I see land.”
Sometime we try to bargain with God. This type of “foxhole religion” (promises we make during times of stress) is really an attempt to manipulate God. We try to use our promises to get God to do thing the way we want them done.
Jesus is the “Lamb of God” but we cannot pull the wool over His eyes.
God offers us his Grace – His undeserved gift. In response He calls us to follow Him each day. He wants us to follow, not to lead.
Prayer: Ask God to help you live today the way He would have you live.
The Spare Rib
By Ed Handkins
Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. Genesis 2:22
A loose translation of Adam’s response when he first saw Eve was, “Wow!”
Marriage is a great mystery. A successful marriage is a wonderful thing. How does it happen? What can be the basis for a good marriage?
Several years ago I heard a poem about that kind of relationship. I do not know who wrote it and I don’t remember seeing it in print. This is what I remember.
When God created woman
He took a rib from Adam’s side.
Not from his head,
That she should rule over him.
Not from his foot,
That he should rule over her,
But from near his heart
That he might love her,
From under his arm
That he might cherish her,
And from his side that
They might face life together
Side by side.
A willingness to walk together is not something that can be demanded. It can only be given.
Prayer: Ask God to help you walk closer to someone you love.
Three Rivers
By Ed Handkins
For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh. Genesis 2:24
A woman sat in my office. Tears came to her eyes as she told about her marriage. Her husband was very demanding. He was in charge and everything had to be done his way. What was worse – he believed this was his God-given role. He thought he was doing right.
What is the God-given role or relationship within marriage? I came to understand what the husband-wife relationship ought to be by watching the rivers.
A few years ago I was pastor of a church in Cairo, Illinois. FortDefiant is at the confluence of the Ohio and MississippiRivers. As you stand on the point where the two rivers merge you can see the line that marks the meeting of the waters. The waters are different in color.
A little way down the river, the waters are mixed. The Ohio River is absorbed by the mighty Mississippi River. That is a picture of what was happening in the relationship of this woman and her husband.
In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, I stood on Mt.Washington. The lights of the city made a beautiful sight. It was at the point of the “three rivers.” At that point the Allegheny River and the Monongahela River merge. One is not absorbed by the other. Instead they come together to form the Ohio River – they come together to form something new.
When a husband and wife come together they each bring their own identity but they are to merge in order to begin something new. The husband is to love his wife as Christ loves the church. Christ does not lead with a heavy, angry hand. He leads with love and compassion. One is not absorbed by the other. Instead they begin something new. The wife is honor her husband.
A willingness to walk together is not something that can be demanded. It can only be given. A marriage relationship is not a fifty-fifty relationship. Instead, like the rivers in Pittsburgh, each one must give 100 percent of themselves in order to start something new.
Prayer: Ask God to help you see your mate as a gift from God – one that you seek to love and honor. Ask Him to show you what you can do to help your mate as you walk together.
Bear Hunting in Alaska
By Ed Handkins
We know that in everything God works for good with those who love him, who are called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28
A Texan went with a group of men to Alaska to hunt the huge Kodiak bear. As the group walked the trail to their mountain cabin, one of the men noticed the Texan did not have a gun. All he had was a large, straight stick he used for walking. A few of the men began to make fun of the Texan.
“What are you going to do,” they asked, “spank the bear with a switch?”
“Shucks,” replied the Texan, “that’s the way we hunt bears in Texas.” That was all he would say to their jeers.
When they got to the cabin the Texan said, “We’ve got plenty of daylight left. I’ll just go get us a bear.” With that he started out the door with nothing but his stick.
At first the other men thought he was teasing. After almost three hours, they started to get worried.
“What if he got out there and got himself lost or hurt? Maybe we should not have teased him so much,” one of the men said. They decided they had better send out a search party.
Just as they walked out the door to look for the Texan, they looked up the mountain and saw the Texan run across a clearing. Right behind the Texan was a ten foot tall Kodiak bear. The bear would almost catch the Texan and the Texan would use his large pole to vault down the mountain. It looked as if the Texan might make it to the cabin – with the help of his stick.
The Texan burst into the edge of the clearing near the cabin. The bear was right behind him. The men in the cabin yelled encouragement to the Texan as he came closer to the cabin. The bear got closer to him as he got closer to the cabin. The men in the cabin opened the door of the cabin and yelled for the Texan to close the door as he came in.
Just as the Texan got to the cabin, he sidestepped the door and stayed on the outside. The bear could not stop and charged into the cabin.
The Texan started to close the door from the outside and yelled, “You guys skin this one and I’ll go and get another one.”
Most of us have known that kind of feeling. All of us have felt like life has locked us in a cabin with a ten foot bear. In troubled times we realize we need a strength that beyond our own. When we have that trapped feeling in life, it is good to know that help is only a prayer away. God can give us the strength we need for the situation we are in.
The Rest of the Story
By Ed Handkins
From the beginning God chose you to be saved…. 2 Thessalonians 3:18b
On February 10, 1962 my bride of 46 years and I shared our first kiss. Donna had started playing the piano for the Glorylanders Quartet on December 31, 1961. The four guys in the quartet, Dee, Don, Lindell and I, were taking turns picking her up before we sang at a church and taking her home after the event.
On February 10, 1962 I had a plan. Privately I approached Dee, Don and Lindell and suggested that should not be available to take Donna home that evening. Of course that left me as the only one available for this privilege.
That night was our first kiss. Neither of us dated anyone else after that night. Just over a year later, April 21, 1963, we were married.
After we had been married about five years I finally learned what really happened the night of February 10, 1962. It learned that Donna had also approached Dee, Don and Lindell, each in turn, and suggested that they should not be available to take her home that evening. Of course that would have made it necessary for me to take her home that night. Before I had chosen her she had chosen me.
Someone suggested that could be the reason things have worked out so well between us.
As it turns out, this also has a lesson about our salvation. We choose God only to discover that before we chose Him, He has chosen us. We can love Him because He first loved us. We can call out to Him because He first sought us. Even while we were yet sinners Christ died for us!
Prayer: Thank God for your salvation. Thank Him for His love for you and that He has called you to follow Him. Ask Him to help you live for Him and to share His love with others today.
“You Ought to be Shot”
By Ed Handkins
We know that in everything God works for good with those who love him, who are called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28
A group of us were in our home after church on a Sunday night. Some of us gathered around the piano and started to sing. I was startled when my Aunt Ruth walked up to me and said, “Edward Handkins, you ought to be shot!”
As a teenage boy I had long suspected I should be shot but I had no idea why Aunt Ruth would say that. After my startled response, I was able to ask her “why?”
“You’ve got a good voice and you’re not using it for God. You ought to be in the church choir,” she explained.
The next Sunday I was in the choir at the CenterBaptistChurch in Crab Orchard, Illinois. It was better than being shot – I believed Aunt Ruth might have done it!
I enjoyed music and I enjoyed singing in the choir. After a few months of singing in the church choir I got the idea that I would like to sing in a group – maybe a quartet. I talked with my cousin, Dee Ozment to see if he might be interested. He was. I didn’t know anyone else who might be interested but Dee suggested Lindell King and Don Richey. They were both interested. We asked Charlotte Smith if she would play the piano for us. That was the start of the Glorylanders Quartet.
We sang together for several months. Charlotte decided her schedule would not allow her to continue to play for the quartet. After some real searching, Dee suggested a young lady who played the piano for their Methodist Youth Conference. We agreed. Dee invited Donna Childers to play for the quartet and she accepted.
We were scheduled for our first practice to get ready for some invitations we had for New Years’ Eve. I was working part time at a local department store. My boss asked me to deliver some shoes to the owner of the local Pepsi bottling plant. He had bought them to give away at Christmas time. As I made the deliver, I tried to get in the door with the stack of shoe boxes. I dropped some of them. A young lady at the reception desk helped me pick up the shoes. I really thought she was cute but didn’t think about her any more - until that evening. When the quartet got together that evening for our first practice with our new piano player I saw her for the second time. Our new piano player was the same young lady that had helped me with the shoes that afternoon.
We had a good practice and a lot of fun. We were making beautiful music together.
We were singing almost every weekend. Because Donna needed a ride, we took turns picking her up and taking her back home. On February 10, 1962 I approached Dee, Lindell, and Don and suggested that they would not be able to take Donna home that evening. That left me to take her home. That evening was our first kiss. We were married a little over a year later - April 21, 1963.
God used my Aunt Ruth to set me on a path that led us together. God has blessed us in so many ways – a beautiful family and a wonderful partnership in ministry. It has been a life of harmony together – some of it in a minor key – but all of it has worked out to be good! All of it has been better than being shot – a lot better!