A
daily, Bible-based perspective of hope, encouragement and
exhortation.
Send a message to Stephen & Brooksyne
Monday,
September 14,
2020
Jim Thorpe*
from bike train leaving station
Click on
photo to enlarge
"Smiles
and Waves"
Message
summary: Today let us consider two of the
lesser considered pleasantries of life; waving and
smiling!
Listen
to this message on your audio player."Men
listened to me expectantly, waiting in silence for
my counsel. After I had spoken, they spoke no
more; my words fell gently on their ears. They
waited for me as for showers and drank in my words
as the spring rain. When I smiled at them, they
scarcely believed it; the light of my face was
precious to them. I chose the way for them and sat
as their chief; I dwelt as a king among his
troops; I was like one who comforts mourners" (Job
29:21-25).
This last
weekend we went on a train/bike ride we'll describe
below in photos. There are two pleasantries that
seem common in trains and bikes. Have you ever
noticed that people tend to wave at and from trains
and if you're riding on a bike trail most passerby
bikers smile at you? It's true!We
don't know the people on the train but we wave
anyway and usually receive their friendly wave in
return. While on the landing approach to Harrisburg
airport we don't go out and wave at the planes going
over. Fulfillment in waving requires some sort of
visual connection.
Sitting
in our rocking chairs on our front porch we often
wave at people driving by which is one of the many
characteristics of country life we enjoy. Waving is
not found in the Bible but some have likened waving
to a virtual pat on the back or the exchange of a
hug. You can wave and safely practice social
distancing (at one time a strange term to our ears,
but now heard daily in this coronavirus season)!
During
our rides we notice most recreational bikers smile
when you make eye contact. (Now the bikers who have
the really expensive bikes and wear special spandex
biking outfits tend to be too serious to smile. I
suppose they're just too focused.) But most of the
riders we encounter are just out for fresh air,
beautiful views, good exercise and smiles abound.
A
smile is one of the blessings of humanity that
speaks to our emotions. We rejoice in that first
smile from an infant and all through life we
appreciate smiling people. We even tend to impose
the expression on animals such as a dolphin or a
baby doll sheep, which gives the appearance of a
smile. We can't prove it but we think our dogs smile
with their wagging tail!Some time back we had a discussion with a man whose son has autism. His son was on a new drug therapy that is showing promise and shared of the blessing he and his wife experienced when their son smiled and made eye contact with them, a milestone for this young boy, and such a blessing for his parents.
What a
joy it is to be around smiling people. We can think
of many people all though life who have blessed us
with their smile. Some of you may recall this chorus
sung many years ago in churches. Brooksyne was
familiar with it and said fellow believers greeted
one another and shook hands while singing the words,
for sure with a smile on their faces:
Interestingly the Bible doesn't have a lot of references to smiling. But today's portion is one of them. It's kind of hard to read this without smiling! Job is sharing his personal testimony while in isolation from his peers in the midst of his deep suffering. In this discourse he considers the blessing he had been to others prior to his trial, "in months gone by" (Job 29:1).
Now I would have a hard time saying this about myself but notice Job's words as he reflected on how life had been, "When I smiled at them, they scarcely believed it; the light of my face was precious to them". That's quite a description of the influence of a smile isn't it? When going through a very dark period the untroubled past can seem so much brighter, maybe even brighter than it was really was, as Job was reflecting on the good old days.
Consider an individual you personally know who has a great smile. It affects the entire face as though it were bringing light to a dismal setting. Perhaps it also has to do with the fact that a smile isn't just confined to the lower face, but it almost always brings sparkle and light to the eyes. And that is greatly needed so much more these days since in most public settings we are covering our smile with masks.
Consider these words as you receive smiles today and as you share yours with others. Smiles are much less frequent these days with so many playing on or tending to their cell phones whether they're walking on a sidewalk, buried in their phones during a work break or in the lunch room, grocery line, etc.
It can be a gloomy world with so much distressing news and for those going through hard times. What a blessing we can be to one another when our facial expressions are accentuated with a smile. Truth is, we'd much rather be surrounded by those who frequently smile, than those who rarely see anything to smile about!
Be encouraged today,
Stephen & Brooksyne Weber
Smile
awhile and give your face a rest
Raise your hand to the One who loves you best
Then shake hands with those nearby
And give to them a smile.
Raise your hand to the One who loves you best
Then shake hands with those nearby
And give to them a smile.
Interestingly the Bible doesn't have a lot of references to smiling. But today's portion is one of them. It's kind of hard to read this without smiling! Job is sharing his personal testimony while in isolation from his peers in the midst of his deep suffering. In this discourse he considers the blessing he had been to others prior to his trial, "in months gone by" (Job 29:1).
Now I would have a hard time saying this about myself but notice Job's words as he reflected on how life had been, "When I smiled at them, they scarcely believed it; the light of my face was precious to them". That's quite a description of the influence of a smile isn't it? When going through a very dark period the untroubled past can seem so much brighter, maybe even brighter than it was really was, as Job was reflecting on the good old days.
Consider an individual you personally know who has a great smile. It affects the entire face as though it were bringing light to a dismal setting. Perhaps it also has to do with the fact that a smile isn't just confined to the lower face, but it almost always brings sparkle and light to the eyes. And that is greatly needed so much more these days since in most public settings we are covering our smile with masks.
Consider these words as you receive smiles today and as you share yours with others. Smiles are much less frequent these days with so many playing on or tending to their cell phones whether they're walking on a sidewalk, buried in their phones during a work break or in the lunch room, grocery line, etc.
It can be a gloomy world with so much distressing news and for those going through hard times. What a blessing we can be to one another when our facial expressions are accentuated with a smile. Truth is, we'd much rather be surrounded by those who frequently smile, than those who rarely see anything to smile about!
Be encouraged today,
Stephen & Brooksyne Weber
Daily
prayer: Father, I
consider the words of Nehemiah who wrote, "The joy
of the Lord is my strength" and Solomon who reminds
us that "A cheerful heart is good medicine." Both
verses speak about matters of the heart where we
store up Your love, joy and goodness. Help us not to
rely solely on external stimulus to bring forth a
smile, but let our waves and smiles be contagious as
they are evidence of Your abundance within in our
lives. Help us to find a person today who has no
smile so that we can pass ours onto her or him. May
we be purposeful in making eye contact with others
so they realize we value them as you would want us
to. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.
Today's Suggested Music and Supplemental
Resources
"Smile
Awhile" Video Just some normal
people enjoying singing!
"Holy,
Holy, Holy" Video Opening song at
yesterday's Calvary Church worship service. Second set of songs.
On the ride Saturday I noticed a young couple with two little girls, one of them altogether unhappy about riding on her bike seat. I wonder if they had acclimated the children to the bikes with shorter bike rides before doing the long trail. Later down the trail at one point I saw the mother holding an inconsolably crying toddler frantically trying to call her husband on the cell phone but alas, there's no cell service in the gorge! All I could offer was an understanding, sympathetic smile in hopes that they soon reunited.
This last Saturday morning we went up to Jim Thorpe in the Poconos to ride the "bike train". In Jim Thorpe we got on a train with our bikes put on a separate gondola car and rode 25 miles up a beautiful gorge formed by the Lehigh River. Then we rode our bikes on another former rail grade along the river, mostly downhill back to Jim Thorpe! Our longtime friend, Mark Pulliam, joined us.
*
Jim Thorpe is indeed the name of the town,
renamed after the legendary Olympian.
Read
the story here.
Bikes
are loaded on the gondola cars at the Jim Thorpe
rail station for the train ride up the gorge.
One
of the diesel engines used for the train. This
photo was taken after our trip when we returned to
Jim Thorpe. To the right is the historic Jim
Thorpe train station.
The
train runs up to a little town named White Haven
where we disembark and wait for our bikes to be
unloaded from the gondola cars. Our long-time
friend Mark Pulliam joined us for the ride and
another friend Richard Spiegel, who along with his
wife were also on the train, took our photo.
Richard works at White Oak Display and is probably
the most avid rail fan we see in the course of our
chaplaincy!
The
ride down the trail was very scenic and we have
shared photos from previous trips. Here is a photo
Mark took of us at Buttermilk Falls, one of
several waterfalls along the way.
Following
the long ride down the river we rode past the
train station to a new section of the trail now
connected by this Lehigh River rail trail
bridge. We rode over 30 miles. The trail is part
of the Delaware & Lehigh Rail
Trail which runs a total of 165 miles.
Friday
morning we took our long-time friends, Jim and
Dorothy Schmidt, for a countryside ride through
Lancaster County. We will share some photos
tomorrow. They have been isolated at Calvary
Homes, one of our many local retirement
communities, since March and were thrilled to get
out. This photo was taken at Willow Valley where
we enjoyed lunch together. We met Jim at a
conference in Boston in 2000. At that time they
lived in Ocean City New Jersey and he was
representing SEND, a missions agency.
Yesterday
as I sat down for our church service I engaged in
conversation with the couple two rows behind us,
separated by an empty pew due to "social
distancing". However thankfully the church is
filling back up and they are adding another
service on Sunday morning. As I greeted David and
Elizabeth Givens he informed me they were new to
the church, having moved down from Michigan. I
asked "What did you do in Michigan?" He told me he
was in missions work. "With SEND", I asked. "Yes"
he answered. I then asked, "Do you know Jim
Schmidt?" Of course he did. Then we suddenly
realized that we had actually met before at the
same "Vision New England" conference 20 years
earlier where I originally met Jim and Dottie as
they were hosting an exhibit for SEND. They were
located across from the exhibit we had for Daily
Encouragement!
Finally
today:
Coming
up for those who may be interested: We
plan to join a group from our area going down to
Washington DC on Saturday, September 26 for The
Return, National and Global Day of Prayer and
Repentance. See here for info. America is
in deep trouble, let’s call on God’s power and a
movement of the Holy Spirit to bring Repentance
and Revival to our land!
Send a message to
Stephen & Brooksyne
To receive the
"Daily Encouragement" each Monday-Friday
through email see this
page to subscribe to our email list. You can also
subscribe to the Wordpress rss feed or
through a Wordpress email subscription.
(See the email subscription on the right side
after opening this page)
We want to thank all who
financially support our ministry. We
realize there are many fine ministries and
causes requesting support but if the Lord
would lead you we surely need and appreciate
the financial support from our readers and
listeners. Our ministry
labor is comprised of approximately half our
time to Daily Encouragement and the other half
to our chaplaincy ministry to companies for
which we receive compensation. Each of these
ministries essentially is the same as a
part-time job (20+ hours weekly) for each of
us. Our goal for many years is that each would
provide half of our ministry expenses and
income.
If you would consider making a donation to our ministry see here for more information.
To donate directly online here. This will open to a page that designates the offering to: WEBER,STEPHEN CHAP, Specialized Chaplaincy Ministry ID: 700001-237376
If you would consider making a donation to our ministry see here for more information.
To donate directly online here. This will open to a page that designates the offering to: WEBER,STEPHEN CHAP, Specialized Chaplaincy Ministry ID: 700001-237376
Please Note:
We also provide this easy option due to
the convenience, for international
supporters, and for those who may not be
concerned regarding receiving an official
tax deductible receipt.
Click
here to send an offering using
PayPal. This will open to a page that
states "Brooksyne Weber".Permissions:
Please feel free to pass on, reproduce and
distribute any material on Daily Encouragement
Net, in part or in whole, in any format,
provided that you do not alter the wording in
any way or charge a fee beyond the cost of
reproduction. It is our desire to spread this
material, not protect or restrict it. We do
request that you keep the contact, copyright and subscription
information intact.
Scripture references are from The Holy Bible: New International Version. © 1984 by International Bible Society; NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, New King James Version (NKJV) Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. and the King James Version.
Personal Mission Statement: "I am created by God to bring Him glory. Through God's Son Jesus Christ I have been redeemed and make it my life's goal to please the Lord. My mission in life is to honor God through my faith and obedience and prepare myself and all whom I may influence for eternity."
Scripture references are from The Holy Bible: New International Version. © 1984 by International Bible Society; NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, New King James Version (NKJV) Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. and the King James Version.
Personal Mission Statement: "I am created by God to bring Him glory. Through God's Son Jesus Christ I have been redeemed and make it my life's goal to please the Lord. My mission in life is to honor God through my faith and obedience and prepare myself and all whom I may influence for eternity."
© Copyright 2020 Stephen C. & Brooksyne
Weber - All Rights Reserved
Daily Encouragement Net - 495 Kraybill Church Road - Mount Joy, PA 17552 USA
Daily Encouragement Net - 495 Kraybill Church Road - Mount Joy, PA 17552 USA