PONDER? DO WE EVER PONDER? By Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com
Luke 2:19 But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart. Luke 2:19 (NASB) But Mary treasured all these things, pondering them in her heart. Luke 2:19 (MSG) Mary kept all these things to herself, holding them dear, deep within herself.
Perhaps now days we are so busy we take little time to ponder. I always thought if I ever wrote a book I would call it PONDERING POINTS or maybe POINTS TO PONDER.
**PONDER: significant enough to be worth considering, TO THINK ABOUT OR CONSIDER CAREFULLY, to weigh in the mind, to reflect, consider usually quietly and deeply. I love to ponder and think about deeper issues of daily life. I think we often miss some great opportunities to “PONDER.” We must learn to think about what we think about, ponder.
PONDER THIS:
When we speak we talk of what we already know. When we listen we might have the opportunity to learn something new. Many refuse to shut up long enough to listen. God teaches us a lesson in that he gave us two ears and one mouth. Could you imagine how terrible this world would be if everyone had two mouths? James 1:19 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: James 1:19 (MSG) Post this at all the intersections, dear friends: Lead with your ears, follow up with your tongue, and let anger straggle along in the rear.
MAYBE TO PONDER IN OLD TESTAMENT DAY WAS TO MEDITATE? PONDERING HAS A WAY OF LEADING US INTO DEEPER THINGS. THERE WAS A GROUP IN WASHINGTON, D.C. THAT HAD AN OPPORTUNITY TO PONDER AND MEDITATE ON A DEEPER LEVEL. Here is a story that is a wonderful example for us to ponder. If we were in Washington, D.C. visiting monuments, we might miss this great point?
SIX BOYS AND 13 HANDS. By James Bradley …
Each year I am hired to go to Washington, DC, with the eighth grade class from Clinton, WI where I grew up, to videotape their trip. I greatly enjoy visiting our nation’s capital, and each year I take some special memories back with me. This fall's trip was especially memorable. .
On the last night of our trip, we stopped at the Iwo Jima memorial. This memorial is the largest bronze statue in the world and depicts one of the most famous photographs in history -- that of the six brave soldiers raising the American Flag at the top of a rocky hill on the island of Iwo Jima, Japan, during WW II. Over one hundred students and chaperones piled off the buses and headed towards the memorial. I noticed a solitary figure at the base of the statue, and as I got closer he asked? 'Where are you guys from?' I told him that we were from Wisconsin. 'Hey, I'm a cheese head, too! Come gather around, Cheese heads, and I will tell you a story.
(It was James Bradley who just happened to be in Washington, DC, to speak at the memorial the following day. He was there that night to say good night to his dad, who had passed away. He was just about to leave when he saw the buses pull up. I videotaped him as he spoke to us, and received his permission to share what he said from my videotape. It is one thing to tour the incredible monuments filled with history in Washington, DC, but it is quite another to get the kind of insight we received that night.)
When all had gathered around, he reverently began to speak. (Here are his words that night.) 'My name is James Bradley and I'm from Antigo, Wisconsin. My dad is on that statue, and I wrote a book called 'Flags of Our Fathers'. It is the story of the six boys you see behind me.
'Six boys raised the flag. The first guy putting the pole in the ground is Harlon Block. Harlon was an all-state football player. He enlisted in the Marine Corps with all the senior members of his football team. They were off to play another type of game. A game called 'War.' But it didn't turn out to be a game. Harlon, at the age of 21, died with his intestines in his hands. I don't say that to gross you out, I say that because there are people who stand in front of this statue and talk about the glory of war. You guys need to know that most of the boys in Iwo Jima were 17, 18 and 19 years old - and it was so hard that the ones who did make it home never even would talk to their families about it.
(He pointed to the statue) 'You see this next guy? That's Rene Gagnon from New Hampshire. If you took Rene's helmet off at the moment this photo was taken and looked in the webbing of that helmet, you would find a photograph...a photograph of his girlfriend Rene put that in there for protection because he was scared. He was 18 years old. It was just boys who won the battle of Iwo Jima. Boys. Not old men.
'The next guy here, the third guy in this tableau, was Sergeant Mike Strank. Mike is my hero. He was the hero of all these guys. They called him the 'old man' because he was so old. He was already 24. When Mike would motivate his boys in training camp, he didn't say, 'Let's go kill some Japanese' or 'Let's die for our country' He knew he was talking to little boys.. Instead he would say, 'You do what I say, and I'll get you home to your mothers.'
'The last guy on this side of the statue is Ira Hayes, a Pima Indian from Arizona . Ira Hayes was one of them who lived to walk off Iwo Jima . He went into the White House with my dad. President Truman told him, 'You're a hero' He told reporters, 'How can I feel like a hero when 250 of my buddies hit the island with me and only 27 of us walked off alive?'
So you take your class at school, 250 of you spending a year together having fun, doing everything together. Then all 250 of you hit the beach, but only 27 of your classmates walk off alive. That was Ira Hayes. He had images of horror in his mind. Ira Hayes carried the pain home with him and eventually died dead drunk, face down, drowned in a very shallow puddle, at the age of 32 (ten years after this picture was taken).
'The next guy, going around the statue, is Franklin Sousley from Hilltop, Kentucky . A fun-lovin' hillbilly boy. His best friend, who is now 70, told me, 'Yeah, you know, we took two cows up on the porch of the Hilltop General Store. Then we strung wire across the stairs so the cows couldn't get down. Then we fed them Epsom salts. Those cows crapped all night.' Yes, he was a fun-lovin' hillbilly boy. Franklin died on Iwo Jima at the age of 19.
When the telegram came to tell his mother that he was dead, it went to the Hilltop General Store. A barefoot boy ran that telegram up to his mother's farm. The neighbors could hear her scream all night and into the morning. Those neighbors lived a quarter of a mile away.
'The next guy, as we continue to go around the statue, is my dad, John Bradley, from Antigo, Wisconsin, where I was raised. My dad lived until 1994, but he would never give interviews. When Walter Cronkite's producers or the New York Times would call, we were trained as little kids to say 'No, I'm sorry, sir, my dad's not here. He is in Canada fishing. No, there is no phone there, sir. No, we don't know when he is coming back.' My dad never fished or even went to Canada. Usually, he was sitting there right at the table eating his Campbell's soup. But we had to tell the press that he was out fishing. He didn't want to talk to the press.
'You see, like Ira Hayes, my dad didn't see himself as a hero. Everyone thinks these guys are heroes, 'cause they are in a photo and on a monument. My dad knew better. He was a medic. John Bradley from Wisconsin was a combat caregiver. On Iwo Jima he probably held over 200 boys as they died. And when boys died on Iwo Jima, they writhed and screamed, without any medication or help with the pain.
'When I was a little boy, my third grade teacher told me that my dad was a hero. When I went home and told my dad that, he looked at me and said, 'I want you always to remember that the heroes of Iwo Jima are the guys who did not come back. Did NOT come back.'
'So that's the story about six nice young boys.. Three died on Iwo Jima , and three came back as national heroes. Overall, 7,000 boys died on Iwo Jima in the worst battle in the history of the Marine Corps. My voice is giving out, so I will end here. Thank you for your time.'
Suddenly, the monument wasn't just a big old piece of metal with a flag sticking out of the top. It came to life before our eyes with the heartfelt words of a son who did indeed have a father who was a hero. Maybe not a hero for the reasons most people would believe, but a hero nonetheless.
We need to remember that God created this vast and glorious world for us to live in, freely, but also at great sacrifice Let us never forget from the Revolutionary War to the current War on Terrorism and all the wars in-between that sacrifice was made for our freedom...please pray for our troops. Remember to pray praises for this great country of ours and also ... please pray for our troops still in murderous places around the world.
JUST AS MARY PONDERED IN HER HEART, WE NEED TO STOP AND PONDER and thank God for being alive and being free due to someone else's sacrifice. God Bless You and God Bless America. REMINDER: Every day that you can wake up free, it's going to be a great day. One thing I learned while on tour with my 8th grade students in DC that is not mentioned here is that if you look at the statue very closely and count the number of 'hands' raising the flag, there are 13. When the man who made the statue was asked why there were 13, he simply said the 13th hand was the hand of God. PONDER THAT!
MARY DID YOU KNOW? WELL, WE HAVE A TREASURE CHEST IN OUR HEART THAT STORES THE THOUGHTS, THE THINGS WE HEAR AND VALUE, THE IMPORTANT TREASURES… MARY HAD A TREASURE CHEST OF THE LIFE OF JESUS CHRIST… Matthew 6:21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
Mary ponder this: Did you know as you wrapped your baby in the swaddling clothes and laid Baby Jesus in that manger? Mary did you ever ponder and know? Mary, did you know Jesus would walk on water? Mary that baby will save our sons and our daughters. Mary that baby will give sight to blind people! Mary, Jesus is going to calm the troubled waters. Mary ponder this: Deaf ears will hear, the dead will return to life. I doubt that Mary knew the full extent of the JOURNEY FROM THE CRADLE TO THE CROSS, FROM THE CROSS TO THE GRAVE, FROM THE GRAVE TO THE RESURRECTION… BUT MARY KNEW GOD HAD A PLAN AND SHE WAS PART OF THE PLAN. The GREAT I AM BORROWED YOU TO MAKE HIS GRAND ENTRANCE TO A LOST AND DYING WORLD.
PONDER THIS QUESTION: WHOM SHALL I SEND? PONDER THE MILLION DOLLAR QUESTION: WILL I ACCEPT THE INVITATION OF GOD? WE NEED TO PONDER GOD’S INVITATION.
No man should ever think of building until he counts the cost… do I have sufficient means, am I willing to give, go and do? When I accepted the call of God, did I really understand the journey? Do you think while Elisha was plowing in that field where Elijah would lead him? Teach him? Grow his faith?
Isaiah 6:8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.
PONDER THIS: WHO WILL GO? WHO WILL GIVE? LORD, HERE ARE MY HANDS, USE ME.
PONDER THIS: MARY ACCEPTED THE INVITATION: WHO WILL GO? MARY ANSWERED CLEARLY: GOD, ACCORDING TO YOUR WILL!
Mary was a wise young woman that pondered many issues as she surrendered her reputation. Many of the religious crowd would never accept as truth the VIRGIN BIRTH. As a matter of fact today only about 50% of Christians accept the VIRGIN BIRTH. Mary pondered and treasured the WORDS OF GOD. The Holy Spirit would come upon this young lady and the IMPOSSIBLE BECAME POSSIBLE. ALL GOD NEEDED WAS A WILLING VESSEL TO CARRY TO TERM GOD’S ONLY BEGOTTEN SON. God would become man for 33 years. PONDER THAT PLAN?
Luke 1:37 For with God nothing shall be impossible. 38 And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.
WE NEED TO PONDER WHAT THE GREATEST GIFT WE COULD EVER GIVE COULD BE AND ARE WE WILLING TO GIVE IT?
1. REMEMBER THIS: TO ERR IS HUMAN, TO FORGIVE IS DIVINE. If someone treats you bad remember that there is something wrong with them, NOT WITH YOU. Normal mature individuals don’t go around being mean and knocking other people down.
2. Mary delivered a baby, Christ Jesus, Emmanuel, GOD WITH US. And we remember that JESUS DELIVERED US. To this day many refuse to accept that Mary was a “virgin.” Which means people destroy Mary’s reputation and demean her. Mary was willing to GIVE HER BODY and carry God’s son. Mary pondered all of this in her heart. PONDER THE PRICE THAT MARY PAID!
3. We need to clearly understand LIFE SEEMS TWISTED and we can never understand what God is doing. Will we ponder that olives must go through the heavy press to make olive oil? Ponder that grapes must be crushed to make grape juice? Ponder the shine of the diamond is that it has known extreme pressure and heat to sparkle so brightly. Therefore can we understand God is building His church and His people that will learn to walk by faith and acknowledge that the heavy press, the crushing of our will, and the extreme pressure and the heat of trials is God bringing good out of bad.
4. Love the hard to love people. The person that needs your love the most deserves it the least. LOVE ANY WAY!
His servant, Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com
My friend dig your well deep.
