Title:  Time to Think A Mistake

   Dwight L. Moody, by his own admission, made a mistake on the eighth of October 1871 -- a mistake he determined never to repeat.

   He had been preaching in the city of Chicago. That particular night drew his largest audience yet. His message was "What will you do then with Jesus who is called the Christ?"

   By the end of the service, he was tired. He concluded his message with a presentation of the gospel and a concluding statement: "Now I give you a week to think that over. And when we come together again, you will have opportunity to respond."

   A soloist began to sing. But before the final note, the music was drowned out by clanging bells and wailing sirens screaming through the streets. The great Chicago Fire was blazing. In the ashen aftermath, hundreds were dead and over a hundred thousand were homeless.

   Without a doubt, some who heard Moody's message had died in the fire. He reflected remorsefully that he would have given his right arm before he would ever give an audience another week to think over the message of the gospel.

See:  Psa 32:6; 2 Cor 6:2; Heb 3:15

Title:  On the Brink of Eternity

   Evangelist Paul Rader had often urged a banker in New York State to receive Christ, but the man would not make the decision. One day the preacher sensed that God wanted him to go immediately and speak to him again. So he took a train to the town where the man worked, hurried to the bank, and found his friend standing in the doorway.

   "Rader," he said, "I'm glad to see you! I wrote a telegram begging you to come, but later changed my mind and didn't send it."

   "That's all right," said the evangelist, "your message came through anyhow by way of heaven."

   Under deep conviction of sin, the banker was impressed by Rader's earnestness and his special effort to reach him with the gospel, and within a few minutes he accepted the Lord. In his newfound joy he exclaimed, "Did you ever see the sky so blue or the grass so green!"

   "Hallelujah, you're truly converted!" came Rader's response. "It's just like the song says, 'Heaven above is softer blue, earth around is sweeter green, something lives in every hue Christless eyes have never seen."

   Suddenly the banker gave a strange gasp and fell over dead! He had been saved at the very brink of eternity. What if Paul Rader had delayed or failed to stress the banker's urgent need of turning to the Lord immediately? That man may have been lost.

See:  John 3:3-7; 2 Cor 6:2; 1 Pet 1:23

Title:  Timely Confusion

   Shortly after he opened his first plant, Thomas Edison noticed that his employees were in the habit of watching the lone factory clock. To the inventor who was an indefatigable worker, this was incomprehensible. He did not indicate his disapproval verbally. Instead he had dozens of clocks placed around the plant, no two keeping the same time. From then on clock watching led to so much confusion that nobody cared what time it was.

Title:  My Impatience

   A few years ago I bought a red flowering crabapple tree and carefully planted it in our yard. But it didn't exactly thrive -- in fact, one by one the leaves started dropping off! My husband Jim failed to see the urgency of the situation. "Give it a little time," he murmured.

   The next Spring it did a little better -- it had swelled buds and leaves, but no flowers. "That does it! I'm getting rid of this flowering crabapple!" I sputtered.

   Jim surveyed the scraggly branches. "Maybe this isn't the flowering kind. Some of 'em never blossom, you know."

   "But that tag says: Flowering Crabapple, Red!"

   The third Spring came. Still no red flowers. But this time Jim took me outside and showed me some tiny clusters of red balls nestled in among the leaves. "Blossoms?" I asked, incredulous.

   "Blossoms!" he said.

   Now, as I watch the little red tree become brilliant with color, it reminds me of how impatient I can be with other things in my life.

   -- Vickie Schad

See:  1 Pet 5:6,7

Title:  Come as You Are

   Early one morning fire broke out in a house on a narrow street. The alarm was sounded by a policeman on duty. Before the fire engines could get to the scene, however, flames were leaping high into the air. Suddenly a young man appeared at an upper window in his pajamas. Firemen quickly placed a ladder against the burning building. But to the consternation of all, he refused to come down, shouting back that he had to get dressed first. The firemen pleaded, "Come as you are! Come as you are!" but to no avail. From below they tried to ascend the stairs, but were turned back as the wind fanned the flames into fury. When a rescuer tried to enter through a window, the heat and smoke forced him away. Suddenly the stairs gave way and the roof fell in. The man had waited too long and was buried beneath the ruins.

   How much greater tragedy awaits all who refuse to "flee from the wrath to come." Many reject God's provision of salvation and safety in Christ because they want to get dressed up in the clothes of self-righteousness or religion. Their delay could cost them their souls.

See:  Matt 3:5-10