Ferdinand Magellan

• Ferdinand Magellan was the Spanish soldier and who was able to sail around the world; although it was not him who made it, but some of his men.
• Magellan's life goes to show what happens when we let pride come into our lives. The Bible says that pride comes before destruction.
  
• Magellan completely ignored advice, and that was his demise.
• How many times as we "find success" do we find ourselves "invincible?"
• Magellan's life shows us the importance of listening to counsel; especially when we are "successful."

Ludwig Van Beethoven

• Beethoven is known as one of the greatest composer's of all time.

• However, at about the age of 26 or 27 he started losing his hearing...the one thing that he needed more than anything to compose music.

• What would it be like for you to lose the one thing that you feel God has called you to do?

• This whole idea spits in the face of, "if I follow God's will everything will be perfect."

• 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 - Paul faced his "thorn in the flesh" while he was accomplishing God's will.

• How about Paul fulfilling his calling as a church planter and missionary by sitting in a prison writing letters to the churches that he helped start?

• A pastor friend of Andy's told him to never trust a man who didn't walk with a limp. In essence, never trust a man who is in leadership who has not gone through a crucible of some kind in his life.

• Beethoven was even to the point of suicide, but he pushed through because he felt like there were more things in him that he needed to compose.
• Most of the things that Beethoven is known for, at least his compositions, were done after his deafness.

The Nurse named Nightingdale

Florence Nightingdale

• She was the founder of modern nursing.

• During one war, the mortality rate under her care dropped from 42% to 5%.

• Sometimes she even worked 20 hours day and night.

• Florence had a mother who was more interested in social class and not in calling. So, overall, the point of this story shows the price of calling because she had to butt heads with her mother, and even social order.
• Florence's mother thought that she was "odd" for wanting to follow her call to be a nurse.

Following our calling may cost us...and usually does.

• Florence said, "I longed to live like them and with them, and then I thought I could really help them. But to visit them in a carriage and give them money is so little like following Christ, who made Himself like his brethren."
• Florence also said, "I have always found that there was so much truth in the suggestion that you must dig for hidden treasures in silence or you will not find it; and so I dug after my poor little plan in silence.
  
• Florence said, "God called me in the morning and asked me, 'Would I do good for Him, for Him alone without the reputation.'"
  
• "Today I am 30 - the age Christ began his mission. Now no more childish things, no more vain things, no more love, no more marriage. Now, Lord let me only think of Thy will, what Thou willest me to do. O, Lord, Thy will, Thy will."

Quotable Quotes:

Ravi Zacharias said, "Jesus knows how to humble with you without humiliating you, and he knows how to build you up with up without flattering you."

The faith of the Canaanite woman. "Even the dogs eat the crumbs from the table." We discussed this parable a lot this morning. Check Matthew 15 to see more of the story.

Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe. - Proverbs 29:25

Everyone be praying for Chris Valdez as he prepares for his speaking engagement in Hereford on February 1st.

Get Off Your Yehudi

These are notes from our Men's Meeting on January 9th.

The lesson today was on a man named Yehudi Menuhin. Yeah, I can't pronounce it either, but there is definitely a lot to learn from his life.

Andy asked us to think about Michael Jordan and Will Ferrell in his latest basketball movie, "Semi-pro." We started talking about how if Ferrell really did practice for hours on end to become a good basketball player he would still never measure up to what Jordan was. The reason was simple...Jordan was born to play basketball.

However, that led us to our second point. Though Michael Jordan was born to play basketball, he still needed to sharpen his abilities, and because he did, many thought he was the best ever.

So it was in Yehudi's life. He was known as one of the greatest violin players ever. Einstein even said when he heard him play, "Now I know there is a God in heaven."

Yehudi's life reminds us that each and every one of us is called to do something that only our lives can do because of what God has put in us, but at the same time, realizing in humility, that our doing those good things is only because God has already blazed the trail before us. (cf. Ephesians 2:10)

Yehudi said it best when he declared, "Laboriously the composer feels his way through the notes on his symphony to the last triumphant bar, only to discover that their choice and sequence were inevitable all along...So it is with my life. Once traveled, the route is clear, but prescience did not divine it and I am at least in part accountable for the turns it took."


Jokes of the Day:

A wife told her husband that when she came home from work she wanted something in the driveway that was shiny, silver, and could go from 0-150 in no time. The husband thought about it, decided to obey her wishes, and purchased just that. That afternoon, the wife came home and found a scale in the driveway!

Other quotes:

Andy said that Potter county was surveyed and that 103% of it is Christian.

Matt said, "Why is it that woman want to marry you, and then change everything about you?"

See everyone next week!

Our First Meeting for 2009!

It's on.

See you guys this Friday morning. 630 AM. Chase 9th Fl.

Reading for Friday is by Yehudi Menuhim the famous violinist on knowing and doing your calling, pages 105-111.

"I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast. And when I run, I feel his pleasure."
~ Eric Liddell, in Chariots of Fire, explaining to his sister, who is worried that his running is distracting him from his calling as a missionary to China, why he feels he has to run