Look to your own Interests.

All of us have our imbalances. If one of yours is a tendency to tend to other's interests to the neglect of your own, you will appreciate Robert E. Lee's advice:

"You must be aware of one thing, that those you deal with will consider their advantage and not yours. So, while being fair and just, you must not neglect your interests."

"It is the part of benevolence to aid all we can and sympathize with all who are in need; it is the part of wisdom to attend to our own affairs."

This agrees with Paul who says "Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others." Paul assumes we will look to our own interests.
Just be careful to keep the balance.

Overheard in 1994

Joseph: "Sometime I'll have a lose tooth. Maybe when I'm six."
Hannah: "What if it falls out?"
Joseph: "Then I'll let you hold it."

A Red Sea Place

A Red Sea Place

Have you come to the Red Sea place in your life,
Where in spite of all you can do,
There is no way out, there is no way back,
There is no other way but through?
Then wait on the Lord with a trust serene
Till the night of your fear is gone;
He will send the wind, He will heap the floods,
When He says to your soul "Go on."

And His hand will lead you through - clear through -
Ere the watery walls roll down,
No foe can reach you, no wave can touch,
No mightiest sea can drown;
The tossing billows may rear their crests,
Their foam at your feet may break,
But over their bed you shall walk dryshod
In the path that your Lord will make.

In the morning watch, ‘neath the lifted cloud,
You shall see but the Lord alone,
When He leads you on from the place of the sea,
To a land that you have not known;
And your fears shall pass as your foes have passed,
You shall no more be afraid;
You shall sing His praise in a better place,
A place that His hand has made.

Annie Johnson Flint

I am so glad to find this poem on line. It is an old favorite that I lost. Pictures are helpful. This picture has been a sweet comfort to me more than once.

Lee Gems

Some more gems from Robert E. Lee:

"Take a happier view of things and do not be dissatisfied because they do not accord more nearly with your views and wishes."

"What I want to learn is to apply what I already know. We rarely know what is good for us and rarely see things as they really exist, so clouded is our vision by narrow selfishness, and often complain of what we ought not and blame others when the fault is in ourselves."

"Our hardest lesson is self knowledge, and it is one perhaps that is never accomplished."

There, turn those over in the light and see them sparkle.

Swamp Fox Ventures

A bit ago I read a Landmark book called Swamp Fox of the Revolution. It is about General Francis Marion and his brigade of men who camped in a nearly inaccessible swampy area in South Carolina. From this hideout they would spring to make their assaults. Here is what I wrote after reading it:
"Tremendously encouraging in this way: His assaults were not always totally successrful, but they always were to some effect. They may not have taken a fort but they intimidated the English by the attempt, or caused the English to relocate troops to America's advantage. So in the Christian battle. We may not be totally successful in our attempts but we should not believe the devil who would convince us that our efforts had no effect."

A Theology of Suffering -- Calvin and Lee

It is no coincidence that both John Calvin and Robert E. Lee, who each suffered incredible, sustained physical and mental trials in their lives, and remained faithful, had a theology of suffering.
Calvin says "When God, therefore, wishes to lead us to repentance, he may be compelled to continually repeat his blows, either because we are not moved when he chastises us with his hand, or we seem roused for a time, then return again to our former dullness. He is therefore compelled to redouble his blows."
Lee says, "We must expect reverses, even defeats. They are sent to teach us wisdom and prudence, to call forth greater energies and to prevent our falling into greater disasters."
May our sovereign God grant his church today this theology of suffering so she may stand in the battle.

Faith to Go to China on.

One of my favorite quotes is from Hudson Taylor: "Every difficulty is merely a platform for the manifestation of his grace, power and love."
Ruth A. Tucker says that "No other missionary in the nineteen centuries since the apostle Paul has has had a wider vision and has carried out a more systematized plan of evangelizing a broad geographical area than Hudson Taylor." No one can do the work of Hudson Taylor without the faith of Hudson Taylor. And, need I say, the infinitely majestic, powerful God of Taylor. WORLD magazine just interviewed a fourth generation descendent of Taylor. He is following the Lord. Oh, God, give us faith to see you and then labor to bear fruit in the nations around and in our children and children's children.