FOCUS ON THE SPOT?
Wade Martin Hughes, Sr.
Kyfingers@aol.com
I ponder this day, a very sad pondering:
Gal. 5:7 YE DID RUN WELL;
WHO DID HINDER YOU THAT YE SHOULD NOT OBEY THE
TRUTH?
Wish I had the answers! ? ! ?
Maybe losing the focus and seeing the all the bad,
negative, fault finding could be killing our
vision?
Memory Lane is a good place to visit, but she is a poor place to move into permanent resident.
No sadder words of pen or tongue, than the words what might have been?
How sad to hear the words, "ye did run well?"
We lose our focus, and when our focus things become distorted by looking
at people’s faults,
or by things not quiet right.
We head quickly toward rocks of destruction by an attitude of negative focus.
Focus suggest a point at which an image becomes clear.
Out of focus suggest ministry and family have become distorted.
We see the trouble and not the individual,
then all becomes not clear, blurred and smeared.
What can cause a serious worker with a clear purpose and goals to become aimless and drift away from the high calling? YE DID RUN WELL?
I always use a 8 1/2 by 10 piece of paper here.
I draw a very black spot the size of a quarter in the middle of the paper.
I hold up the piece of paper of paper up, ... to the viewing of all the crowd, I asked one person,
"What do you see?"
I have never had a person ever say anything, but a black dot?
I personally don’t understand? No one has ever seen the big piece of paper, every one always sees the black spot.
There are 50 times more white paper than black dot, but the person always focuses on the black dot?
Why? Why see the little? That is where the focus of the eyes seem to want to see.
While pastoring in the mountains of eastern Kentucky,
I was visiting an old lady from church. She told me about this poor young girl that was pregnant and her dad put her out of the house, and I felt so sorry for the girl, I asked the name, I would visit and encourage her.
The old lady said, that was 30 years ago.
The baby was 30 years old, and all that could be remembered was the black spot?
We must teach others, in 15 minutes you can do something that will cause you to carry a black spot to your grave?
What I am trying to say, ...
God loves people with black spots in their life.
So, why not see the whole page?
Ministry is so exciting, until you see everybody’s
black spot.
People love the new church, until they see the pastor’s black spot, that imperfection that really shows our humanness.
Then we search for a new race to work, where that are people without any spots?
How foolish?
God calls all workers to work with people that have
potential, some small, some great.
We must quit seeing people’s black spots, now?
Billy Graham was a snot-nose mean little boy in a Sunday School Class, someone invested in him? Maybe you could teach a young person that would reach to the mission fields?
What happens when ministry focuses on the
"black spot of stupidity?"
We re-enforce the negative?
Faith has to have a telescopic ability that can see
beyond the disappointments of today ...
and see the GOD of tomorrow.
I read years ago a sad story, it is said that when the British and the French were fighting in Canada in the 1750’s, that Admiral Phipps, was the commander of the British fleet.
He had received the order to sail through the Great Lakes and wait for the land troops to arrive outside of Quebec.
When the land forces arrived, Admiral Phipps was to support the soldiers by firing the cannons of the ship to shore and pen the French forces between land and the sea.
As the Admiral arrived much before expected, he and the navy was annoyed by waiting.
The Admiral focused the ships cannons on the great cathedral’s statues of the saints surrounding the towers of the cathedral.
So, Adm. Phipps commanded his men to shoot at the statues of the saints for target practice.
The sailors fired and fired the ships cannons at the statues of the saints, until not one was left standing.
Finally many days later, the land troops arrived, and gave the signal for the ships to fire on the enemy for the complete attack, with great embarrassment the Admiral was no help in the attack, for Admiral Phipps had used all the ammunition shooting at the saints?
To this day, Quebec is under the influence of the French, because one man lost his focus?
Ye did run well, what hinders you? Losing the focus?
Peter is recorded as the only water walker besides Jesus, a pretty good honor?
Matthew 14:28 - 14:32
But Peter lost his focus, from Messiah to STORM?
From the Master’s voice to the howling wind?
All that focus on the negative will sink even the
best?
It is very hard to continue your focus with cold
water running up your leg?
We must keep our eyes and focus on Jesus,
not the circumstances and the storms.
I know the name of 2 of 12 spies, without looking the names up?
Caleb and Joshua?
Why do we know them?
Because they focused not on the black spot, but on
the whole.
Marriages start to focus on the faults, arguing, fussing, cutting remarks, ...
all because we focus on the black spot?
Precious children, loving and growing; and good old dad sees nothing but the negative actions.
I long to move to the range, I like deer and antelope, but I would love to live ...
"where seldom is heard a discouraging word."
I better not move there, nor you either, we might
mess it up, seeing the black spot?
Once an usher brought a mean little boy to me, the mean little boy had torn an offering envelope, and the usher wanted the little boy "killed?"
In the offering plate, the mean boy had place an
offering envelope with his name written on the
outside,
I opened the envelope to find inside, the mean bad
boy had torn the red heart printed on the one
envelope, and put it in the other envelope.
He had given his heart to Jesus, and wanted me to
know.
The usher was right, but he lost the proper focus?
The BOY was what mattered, not the envelope.
I still have this envelope,
I treasure it more than any in the offering that
day.
We must see beyond the black spot? I took him and bought him an ice cream.
Right now, our enemy is trying to get you to focus on someone else’s black spot, maybe even your own failures.
We can’t afford to focus on the black spots.
To continue doing God’s work over many years, we must discipline the old flesh to see beyond man’s faults and limitations and failures.
Luke 13:8
One more try, dig around the tree, dung it, Lord knows we have plenty of dung?
Maybe, this time our goal will be accomplished, maybe you will show the LOVE of God, maybe if we save the ammunition, we can win the battle.
LOVE NEVER FAILS.
God can, it all depends on the FOCUS.
How sad the road ahead, when all we can see is the black spot of the negative?
Never offer criticism, without first giving praise?
Ponder what seeing the black spot and not the white will do for you and yours?
God builds His church with less than perfect people.
Keep trying, then try again. Never give up, never quit trying.
His servant,
Kyfingers@aol.com
Wade Martin Hughes, Sr.
Could you enlarge my hands and pass this to others?
