Love and Obey

Rev. Harriette Cross First United Methodist Church of Wilmington John 14:15-21 Love and Obey May 17, 2020 Sixth Sunday of Easter Year A Children’s Sermon Object: a game board for a game that requires two or more players all look for ways to share our love with those around us. Good morning, boys and girls. Have you ever played (name of game)? It's really fun. Do you usually play it with your friends, or with your brothers or sisters? Have you ever tried playing this game all by yourself? That wouldn't be any fun. What if I decided I wanted to play this game all by myself, that I didn't want to share it with anyone else that wouldn't be any fun for me or for you. This game was made to be played by more than one person. It doesn't work if only one person tries to play. A game like this was made to be shared and the more people who play it together, the more fun it is. Our Bible story today is about something else that's supposed to be shared, and that's love. The greatest commandment Jesus ever gave us was to love one another. Love was made to be shared. If we just keep all our love inside of us, and we never share that love with anyone else, then our love is useless. And it's no fun to keep our love to ourselves. But how do we share our love with others? We can tell people that we love them. We can do nice things for people, like share our toys, or hold their hand when they're scared, or visit people who are sick or lonely. What are some other ways that we can share our love with others? Those are all wonderful ideas. This week, let's Prelude Opening Prayer Opening Prayer (Acts 17, Psalm 66, John 14) Source of all creation, maker of the world and everything in it, you are never far from each one of us. We come into your house seeking you, O giver of life and breath. Reveal yourself to us; dwell with us; and abide in us. We live because of you. We hope because of you. In the name of Jesus Christ in whom we live, and the Spirit of Truth who abides in us, amen. Stewardship Moment Every time we come to the moment of offering, it’s a crossroads. There is an inner struggle between selfishness and generosity, a pull between fear of the future and belief in God’s providence. We give our offering this morning, Lord, stepping out in faith down the road of grace. We do this together, as your people, called and sent to be a blessing for all the world. In the name of Jesus we pray, Amen. Offertory Prayer God of Power and Mercy, you have not deserted us; we have been tested, and yet we know we have never been far from your redeeming love. We celebrate your relentless caring, not only with the gifts we offer, but with our voices and testimony. We want the world to see what it means to live in the light of your love and mercy. Help us to guide our lives in your way. In the name of Christ, our Rock and Redeemer. Amen. (Psalm 66:8-20) Scripture John 14:15-21 Common English Bible (CEB) I won’t leave you as orphans 15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 I will ask the Father, and he will send another Companion,[a] who will be with you forever. 17 This Companion is the Spirit of Truth, whom the world can’t receive because it neither sees him nor recognizes him. You know him, because he lives with you and will be with you. 18 “I won’t leave you as orphans. I will come to you. 19 Soon the world will no longer see me, but you will see me. Because I live, you will live too. 20 On that day you will know that I am in my Father, you are in me, and I am in you. 21 Whoever has my commandments and keeps them loves me. Whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.” Footnotes: a. John 14:16 Or Advocate Common English Bible (CEB) Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible Sermon I’ll Be Ready! One of the best newspaper cartoons of all time is Calvin and Hobbes. One day Calvin and Hobbes come marching into the living room early one morning. His mother is seated there in her favorite chair. She is sipping her morning coffee. She looks up at young Calvin. She is amused and amazed at how he is dressed. Calvin's head is encased in a large space helmet. A cape is draped around his neck, across his shoulders, down his back and is dragging on the floor. One hand is holding a flashlight and the other a baseball bat. "What's up today?" asks his mom. "Nothing, so far," answers Calvin. "So far?" she questions. "Well, you never know," Calvin says, "Something could happen today." Then Calvin marches off, "And if anything does, by golly, I'm going to be ready for it!" Calvin's mom looks out at the reading audience and she says, "I need a suit like that!" That's the way many of us feel as we see the news and deal with life. Sometimes this world seems quite violent and people seem to be at each other's throats. A suit like that would help, so we can say with Calvin, "Whatever may come my way, I'm going to be ready for it! Bring it on!" Brett Blair, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com In these days we all need a suit like that, that will prepare us for anything. But we don’t have that kind of protection. But we are here because we all live lives where we have to rely on the word of God to protect us, guide us, and sometimes even give us hope. In many ways Jesus us our suit of protection. Jesus gave a lot of thought of what he needed to say to his friends that would help us get through difficult times. John 14 is one of those talks that Jesus gave intentionally to give comfort in difficult times. Jesus knew that he would not be with his disciples much longer, and he wanted to make sure that they would be able to go forward without him. We still read the first half of the chapter to give comfort to families during funerals. Jesus says that he goes to prepare a place for us – where we will all one day be together. He gives us the gift of peace as our suit of armor to deal with anything in life. We are reading the second half today on one of the last Sundays of Easter. Easter, the scripture focus is a little different from the rest of the year. After the resurrection, Jesus appears to the disciples in order to give them hope. Next week Jesus goes to the place in the clouds with God. And then we shift from following the life of Christ on earth, and we look for the presence of the holy spirit during the Pentecost season. Today, our focus is on the second half of John. There are two very important lessons for us to remember in Jesus words of comfort – love and obedience. He says that if you love God, then you will obey him. Those are not two words that we would normally put together – but Jesus says that they go hand in hand. As Americans we value freedom and independence. So we get concerned when we hear the word obedience. Obedience Obedience … now that’s pretty much a dirty word these days isn’t it? I remember the very first wedding I had the honor to officiate. The young couple had requested pre-marital counseling and I agreed to provide it for them. At our first counseling session, the bride-to-be - a petite, soft-spoken, beautiful young woman who had just turned 18 a month before - said this: "Preacher, let me tell you one thing right up front. If the word 'obey' comes out of your mouth during the marriage vows, I will hike up my wedding dress and run screaming right back down that aisle and out the front door and I will not be back!" I suppose it's the American spirit of independence that makes us so resistant to the concept of obedience, even when it comes to our relationship with God. Johnny Dean And hear Jesus is telling us that we need to obey him. That our hope is dependent on obeying him. Why would we do that? Obedience Some years ago, Erma Bombeck printed a piece about having the meanness parents in all the world. It went something like this: I had the meanest parents in all the world. When I was seven years old they dared to spank me just because I told them I would not do what they asked me to do to help around the house. My friend next door never got spanked. He didn't have to help at home. He had nice parents. I had the meanest parents. I had to eat all my broccoli and carrots before they would ever let me have dessert. My friend next door never had to eat vegetables. He had fast food brought in with burgers and shakes and brownies with all kinds of ice cream. I had the meanest parents. They made me go to church every Sunday as long as I lived under their roof, sit there in that boring worship service. My friend next door could do as he pleased. He never went to church. Sunday was a fun day for him. I had the meanest parents. They made me work for my allowance. I had to get a job helping an elderly old man with chores around his house. My friend next door never had to do anything and he was given four times as much allowance as I could ever earn. He had nice parents. I had the meanest parents. When I turned sixteen, they made me earn points before I could drive the family car. My friend next door was given a brand new luxury automobile. My folks had bought an old jalopy for me to get back and forth to school, but you think I'd drive that hunk of junk and park it beside those Jeep Wagoneers, BMWs, Buicks and Mercedes? My friend had it made. Or so I once thought, but, when we reached age thirty, I had a change in perspective. I had learned that my parents were not so mean after all. I was experiencing: the pleasure of work, the reward of recreation, the strength of a healthy body, the bonds of a strong marriage, the inward confidence that comes from faith and the wonderful supportive fellowship that comes from the Church as a community of believers. As for my friend, things were not going so well: he was not finding his niche in the workplace, nothing seemed to satisfy him, he was having difficulty getting along with people who were not willing to do everything just as he thought he knew it ought to be done, his marriage had not lasted even two years, his body was getting out of shape, and he evidenced a cynical outlook without any under-girding that comes from the assurance of faith. Erma came to understand that obedience to her parents ways instilled in her lasting, life giving values. "If you love me, obey..." Obedience. Adapted from a sermon by Julian M. Aldridge, Jr. Love's Consequence Love and obedience go hand in hand. Sometimes the greatest form of love is setting rules and giving instructions in order for us to have an ordered life. In order for us to be free, we have to have order. In order for us to truly be independent, we have to be in connection with other people. As United Methodist we know about the connection between love and obedience. We not only look to the bible stories in both the old and new testament for guidance, but also to the book of discipline in order to structure our life as a community. So it is important for us to hear the stories of the bible, but to read them and take them to heart, and to live them out. Jesus says that will help us in our relationship with God. Our relationship with God is our suit of protection in a difficult world. The closer we are to God, the easier it is to obey the words of Jesus to love one another. I'm Not Allowed to Cross the Street A little boy was riding his tricycle furiously around the block, over and over again. Finally a policeman stopped and asked him why he was going around and around. The boy said that he was running away from home. The policeman asked why he kept going around the block. The boy responded, "Because my mom said that I'm not allowed to cross the street." The point is clear--obedience will keep you close to those you love. Michael Green, Illustrations for Biblical Preaching. All of us, no matter what our age, need help staying focused and keeping hope. Jesus has already thought about what we need to hear in order to stay focused on those days when we don’t feel that he is present. Trust and obey. He also promised us help to keep moving forward. He promised that in those days when we don’t see Christ presence clearly, we can rely on the holy spirit. That invisible, unexpected help from God. It is hard fully explain the holy spirit – because we don’t have any stories in the bible about it. It is a spirit, a presence that we have to feel for ourselves. The presence is in our lives, not in the bible. Lori Hetzel tells the story of adopting a child from Russia. There were hurdles as every turn. They didn’t speak Russian, their travel plans seemed to fall through at every turn. But in those times of great need, there always seemed to some person who showed up that had the right answer, who was available to help them and provide food and shelter and whatever they needed. Gerald Kennedy remembers one very cold winter day that he woke up and realized that he had to deliver newspapers. He got ready to walk his route, when a car pulled up. It was his dad, who knew it was too cold for him to do it alone, so he was there to help him through a difficult moment. Gerald was so impressed, he not only became a pastor but a bishop. I too can think of times in my life when I had no answers, and God seemed to provide the right situation, the right person to bring me through. Jesus says that if we love trust and obey – then our eyes will be open to receive the invisible, unexplainable help in our lives. Jesus promised that if we have a relationship with God, then there is never a time when we are alone. God is always with us. God always lets our presence known. That was good news to an orphaned community about to lose its leader. Jesus words help us in our individual lives. But Jesus was speaking to us as a community. The word orphaned means being with a leader or a guide. The disciples were hanging on the words of Jesus, because they were afraid of what was going to happen to them all when he was gone. Today, we as the church have many threats. We have many questions of how we are going to go forward. During this virus outbreak, we ask how are we going to go forward. What is church going to look like. These are the dark days that are creating our future. If we love, trust and obey – then we will be present. Changed and transformed, yet still powerful. A Community of Love In a sermon titled "A New Vision," Dr. E. Howard Satterwhite of Trinity United Methodist Church in Alexandria, Virginia, compared the ideal of a Christian community of love, with a marriage in which the romance has faded, the honeymoon is over, and the relationship has become a labor of love requiring simple tenacity, "hanging in there." Describing his vision of Christian love at close quarters he said, "We should lose the illusions of perfection ... if we are looking for perfection here, we had better go somewhere else. But no one else has it either. We need to deal with the fact that we are imperfect and yet are in love as community. The community cannot save us from anything and we cannot save anyone else, not on our own skills and not on our charms. But trusting in God we become more trustworthy to each other, and more available for the authentic community that is grounded in God's power and not our own." Carl Jech, Channeling Grace, CSS Publishing Company, Inc. The Future Belongs to the Saviors A schoolmaster in France was discouraged with one of his students. He wrote in his roll book concerning this student: "He is the smallest, the meekest, the most unpromising boy in my class." Half a century later, an election was held in France to select the greatest Frenchman. By popular vote, that meekest, smallest, most unpromising boy was chosen. His name? Louis Pasteur, the founder of modern medicine. At age seventy-three, a national holiday was declared in his honor. He was too old and weak to attend the ceremony in Paris, so he sent a message to be read by his son. The message read: "The future belongs not to the conquerors but to the saviors of the world." King Duncan, Collected Sermons,www.Sermons.com We are the community that has been called to be the saviors of our community and our world if we are willing to love and obey. Prayer Reflection time Passing the Peace of Christ (Acts 17, John 14) Because Jesus Christ is in us, and we in him, his peace is a powerful gift that we may share with others. Pass the blessing of this peace to your brothers and sisters in Christ and to all the children of God. Benediction Additional Illustrations Playing God Mee Spousler of the Mount Hope United Methodist Church, in Aston, PA., tells how she was trying to put her three-year-old son to bed for a nap. When she was unsuccessful, she put him in her bed and laid down with him to encourage him to rest. She fell asleep, but he didn't. When she woke up, she saw him sitting on a chair at the end of the bed, and asked, "Luke, what are you doing?" "I'm playing God," he replied. "Playing God?" she asked. "Yes," he said. "I'm watching over you while you sleep." Children understand more than we do sometimes. God IS watching over us. Jesus gave that promise here in talking about the coming of the Holy Spirit. Not only will God watch over us but through the presence and reminder of the Holy Spirit, we will be reminded of what it means to "Love Jesus and keep his commands." And God will help us to create the environment of love, grace, faith and security that we need for our homes today. Our challenge is to listen to the Holy Spirit and to trust Christ. Billy D. Strayhorn, If You Love Me…. When Jimmy Carter was running for President of the United States, one of the more vivid moments in the campaign passed by almost unnoticed. One Sunday morning, candidate Carter had been worshipping at the Baptist Church in Plains, Georgia. When the service was over, he exited the church into the swarm of press encamped on the church's front lawn. Cameras whirring, video lights glaring, microphones thrust forward, the media mavens moved in for interviews, pushing themselves to think of clever questions to ask a presidential candidate on the way out of a Southern Baptist Church -- "Did you like the sermon?" "Did you enjoy the choir this morning?" "Do you plan to remain a Baptist in Washington?" -- on and on the banal questions spewed. Suddenly, a reporter, probably in a stroke of luck, shouted out a question that genuinely mattered: "Mr. Carter, suppose when you are President, you get into a situation where the laws of the United States are in conflict with what you understand to be the will of God. Which will you follow, the laws of the state or the commandments of God?" Carter stopped, looked up, and blinked into the bright Georgia sun, obviously turning the question over in his mind. Then, perhaps still "in the Spirit on the Lord's Day," perhaps with the Spirit gently whispering the lyrics of the gospel into his ears, he turned toward the reporter and replied , "I would obey the commandments of God." Alert aides, alarmed by this candor, unnerved by their candidate's near-treasonous remark, hurriedly whisked him away from the press and into a waiting car. Carter the politician should have avoided the question, or hewed closely to the law of the land, but Carter the Christian had the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ whispering in his ear, "Do you love me? The world cannot see or know me, but do you love me? Do you keep my commandments?" Thomas G. Long, Whispering the Lyrics, CSS Publishing The Land of Look-Behind – Regret Norman Vincent Peale tells of spending some time on a lush tropical isle in Jamaica. In the hotel in which they were staying there was a map that hung in one of the hallways. In the corner of the map there was some very faint lettering over an almost totally uninhabited part of the island. Looking closely Dr. Peale realized that the words were, "The Land of Look-Behind." Intrigued, he asked the owner of the hotel what those words meant. The hotel owner said that in the days of slavery, runaways from the sugar plantations sometimes escaped into that lonely and barren territory. They were often pursued by slave owners or the authorities with guns and dogs. The fugitives were always on the run, always looking over their shoulders. So that was where the term came from: The Land of Look-Behind. What a terrible place to live - in a land where you are always looking back over your shoulder in fear. Some people do live there, though. King Duncan, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com The Dark Night of the Soul "Sometimes I feel like a motherless chile," the weary black slave would sing to the hot southern night, giving expression to the condition of having been taken from home and family and subjected to the power of death. Although none of us has known the bitterness of that dehumanizing experience, the sung lament has surely expressed our own agony of soul from time to time, as we confront isolation and alienation and the world becomes too much with us. "The dark night of the soul" is a fact of the religious life; the sense of the absence of God is as real as the divine presence. Those who use the Psalms as a daily part of their spiritual diet cannot but be impressed by the alternating sense of the presence and absence of God occurring there. St. John of the Cross makes it clear that the sense of God's absence is even important for us if we are to mature in Christian life and faith. So if we assume that having made a Christian profession will protect us from times of doubt, loneliness, unhappiness, we have a naive view of the way God works in the lives of women and men. Kendall K McCabe and Michael L. Sherer, Path of the Phoenix, CSS Publishing Company A Transitional Object (And So Much More) In the last few days, I’ve been reading some of the theories of D.W. Winnicott, a pediatric psychiatrist who was the chief proponent of a unique British variation of psychoanalysis known as "Object Relations Theory." Winnicott put a name on a phenomenon familiar to all of us. He asserted that all children have what is called a ‘transitional object.’ We can tell it is a ‘transitional object’ because she always has it with her. It’s usually dirty and ratty because it can’t be replaced. It might be a doll, a blanket, a teddy bear, a bottle, a pacifier, an item of clothing--anything! If a child’s ‘transitional object’ accidentally gets left at church, I usually get a frantic call from the parents, within the hour: "can you let us back in the building--we’ve left something there!" One of the purposes of a transitional object is to help the child navigate through a world that is changing and uncertain. A transitional object provides emotional security for a child until that child can adjust and grow inwardly in order to cope with the real world ‘out there.’ (I am indebted to Robert C. Dykstra and his book, Discovering a Sermon for the above material.) Even adults have ‘transitional objects.’ We know that life is full of change and loss. We know that we occasionally have to move beyond places that are familiar. People die, relationships break, people change, and time grinds on--oblivious to our feelings. Often, religion becomes a ‘transitional object’ for us. We cling to the comfort of our church, the familiarity of our pastor, the reassurance of our music, the sensibility of our ideas about God and faith. And when things religious are torn away from us, we can be in as much distress as a small child losing a beloved teddy bear. In the gospel text this morning, Jesus, in all the ways in which he was familiar, is being taken away from his disciples. And THIS text invites us to reflect: perhaps our most cherished religious ideas and experiences are merely ‘transitional objects.’ Perhaps God’s love for us, God’s relationship with us is far deeper, far more mysterious, far more secure than any religious belief, experience, or idea now known by us. J. Michael Smith, Anxiety Life after Desolation Desolation calls to mind an abandoned house against a bleak landscape. It imparts the feeling of loneliness, isolation, futility. But we need to be able to distinguish between the feeling of desolation and the fact of it. A child of five feels desolate on the first day of kindergarten. When mother leaves, that youngster is surrounded by new sights and sounds. But that feeling of desolation, strong and real as it is, ends. There is life after the first day of kindergarten! And so the feeling of being suddenly desolate gives way to the assurance that the new situation is good indeed. Dean Lueking, From Ashes to Holy Wind, CSS Publishing Company The Best Relationships There was a college student who spent a year living with a group of Navajos as part of his doctoral studies. As he did research on and with the Native Americans, he lived with members of this one Navajo family. He slept in their home, ate their food and worked side by side with them every day. As much as was possible, he tried to live as one of them. The old grandmother of the family spoke no English and the student spoke no Navajo and yet a close relationship developed between the two. They spent a great deal of time together. Despite the language problems, they shared a common understanding of love and friendship. And of course, over the months, they each learned a few phrases from each other. When it came time for the young man to return to college, the tribe held a going away celebration for him. The next day, as he prepared to get in his pickup and leave, the grandmother came to tell him good-bye. With tears in her eyes, she said, "I like me best when I'm with you." We can say the same thing about our relationship with Jesus, "I like me best when I'm with Jesus." Jesus said He "would not leave us orphaned." And when we are with Him, Heart and Soul, we ARE the best we can be. Billy D. Strayhorn, From the Pulpit, CSS Publishing Company The Church Reminds Us If you have noticed that pastors often seem to dislike funeral chapels, you should know that the cause of the apparent animosity is not professional jealousy. The mortuary funeral chapel is used for only one purpose and is associated with nothing but death. The church building, on the other hand, is associated with all aspects of life. All kinds of things go on at churches - baptisms, weddings, potlucks, many types of meetings, day care, choir rehearsals, funerals, worship services, confirmations. Churches are associated with life in all its variety and splendor, in all its sorrow and pain. The church reminds us that the story of Jesus is more about life than about death. Carl L. Jech, Channeling Grace, CSS Publishing Company Running Out of Fuel In 1991 an Air Canada flight ran into big trouble. Passengers were enjoying an in-flight movie on the Boeing 767 when the jumbo jet's massive engines abruptly stopped. At first only those without earphones on noticed anything. However, soon it was apparent the jet was in trouble. The pilot came on the speaker system and announced that Flight 143 would be making an emergency landing. The 69 people on board were trapped in an agonizingly slow but inescapable descent to earth. For several minutes a desperate silence hung over the cabin. Then fear gave way to screams of anxiety as the landing neared. All the latest technology could not keep the jumbo jet in the air. What had happened was this. The electronic digital fuel gauge was out of order. So the flight crew had depended on the figures given them by the refueling crew before takeoff. But someone on the refueling crew had confused pounds with kilograms. Therefore, eight hundred miles short of its destination, that mighty jet simply ran out of fuel and was forced to make an emergency landing. Fortunately no one was injured. A multimillion dollar airplane, headed in the right direction, but running out of fuel. That's what's happening to a lot of people today. They have everything in life going for them -- a new car, a wonderful home, a good education, and a good job -- and one day they wake up out of fuel. At the center of their lives there is an emptiness. They don't know why they are living. There is nothing outside of themselves to live for. Don't let that happen to you. Jesus tells us that the power for successful living comes from God. It is the promised gift that Jesus offers us. "Peace be with you," he says. "My peace I give to you, not as the world gives you. Let not your hearts be troubled, believe in God, believe also in me." Lee Griess, Sermons for Lent/Easter, CSS Publishing Company Humor: The Holy Spearmint A family was sitting in church when their youngest daughter tugged on her mother’s dress. Mom leaned to her side and the little girl whispered, “I know who the Father and the Son are, but what’s the Holy Spearmint?” The little girl was probably not the only one in church that Sunday who was uncertain about the third person of the Trinity. If the Holy Spirit had to go through adolescence in a typical American church, he would most certainly suffer an identity crisis. If the Spirit’s search for an identity and self discovery ever prompted the question, “who am I?” the Spirit would probably hear the congregation respond with a unanimous, “Good question, who are you?” John H. Pavelko, The One Who Comes Alongside The Holy Spirit The Holy Spirit is the one of the most difficult theological concepts in Christian tradition to explain. The Rev. Dr. Clint McCann, who teaches Biblical theology at Eden, often jokes with seminarians that if parishioners ask you to explain what the Holy Spirit is you should give them a serious look and say simply, "It's a mystery," and then get out of the room before anyone can ask a follow-up question. Rev. Barbara Brown Taylor, an Episcopal priest, has described the Holy Spirit this way: "When Jesus let go of his last breath - willingly, we believe, for love of us - that breath hovered in the air in front of him for a moment and then it was set loose on earth. It was such a pungent breath, so full of passion, so full of life that it did not simply dissipate as so many breaths do. It grew, in strength and in volume, until it was a mighty wind, which God sent spinning through an upper room in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. God wanted to make sure that Jesus' friends were the inheritors of Jesus' breath, and it worked!" Chuck Currie The Protective Father There was a nature show on television about a black bear that gave birth to two cubs. One cub died right away. Three weeks later the mother died and the remaining cub was left to fend for itself. An orphaned cub in that condition is like a walking buffet for predators. And of course the camera immediately showed a hungry-looking mountain lion. One day the orphan cub encountered a giant male black bear. The little cub cowered at the bear's sheer mass. The larger bear peered around and seemed to realize that the mother bear wasn't anywhere to be found. He gave the little cub a friendly nudge. The camera then showed the little bear happily trailing along after the larger one. The adoption papers were signed, sealed and registered at the county seat in that nudge. Papa bear proceeded to show the cub how to grub for insects and how to catch fish and how to scratch his back against a tree. One day the two bears became separated. The cub began to cry and looked frantically for his new father, but couldn't find him anywhere. The cub approached a stream where he'd learned to fish and something caught his attention. He looked up to see a mountain lion ready to pounce. That same mountain lion had stalked the cub for the entire show. There was no way that mountain lion would've gone for that cub with Papa bear around, but now.... The camera zoomed in on the cub. He automatically mimicked the posture of his adopted father when threatened. He stood on his hind legs and bared his teeth. Then, in exactly the same way his new father would have done, this cub let loose a mighty growl that should have reverberated throughout the forest. But, instead, only a tiny bear cub squeak came out. You just knew what was about to happen, so you covered the children's eyes or did something to divert their attention from the TV. But, to everybody's astonishment the mountain lion lowered his head and ran off in the opposite direction! The camera panned back to the proud little cub still standing tall on his hind legs. And then all the viewers saw what that little cub could not: a few yards behind him, at full, ferocious height, his sharp, white teeth bared in a snarl, stood Daddy bear. He may not have made a sound, but he was there. Even though the cub couldn't see his father, his father stood guard, protecting his young. The little cub had power available greater than anything he could produce on his own. There was a greater power watching over him. Billy D. Strayhorn, What Difference Does It Make? Always Alongside Us A student named Steve Winger from Lubbock, TX was taking a challenging class in Logic. The course and teacher were known for exacting and demanding exams. The final exam was looming, and the professor mercifully told the class that each student would be permitted to bring in a single 8 x 11 ½ inch sheet with as much information as they could put on that one sheet for help during the test. On exam day, each student came to class clutching their precious pieces of paper with as much information as possible. Some students had crammed lines and lines of font so tiny and so numerous onto that single sheet that you had to wonder how they could read it. But Steve walked in with a single blank sheet and a friend who was a senior student and who had an ‘A’ in logic. Steve bent down and placed that single, blank sheet of paper on the floor next to his desk. His expert friend stood on the paper. The professor noticed the extra body in the room and asked what he was doing. Steve piped up, “You said we could bring in whatever we could fit on a single piece of paper for help on this test, well, this is my help and he can fit on the paper!” He had followed the instructions to the letter and was the only student in that class to score an ‘A’ since he had his expert friend standing alongside him. The Holy Spirit is like that friend, standing alongside us, supporting us, and guiding us. Adapted from an unknown source, Staff, www.Sermons.com