OF FAITH AND FABLES.
By Bob Haynes
Just What The Doctor Ordered!
Proverbs 17:22 says: “A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.” It is difficult, in these times of turmoil, to find much to cheer about. I’ve just about stopped watching the evening news and often just glance at the monthly magazines—searching for the “good news” that will lift me up and lighten my day.
In a devotional entitled “Just What the Doctor Ordered,” Stephen Graves and Thomas Addington reminded their readers of this interesting fact: “Even though our work is often tedious, and coworkers can be mean-spirited and crude, and bosses can be critical or unfair, and budgets get tight and clients get frustrated, Solomon had it all figured out many years ago…A cheerful heart promotes health while a dispirited one prompts illness.”
It is true that we are a health conscious culture. I know a number of people—family included—who make it a daily practice to walk or run for several miles before breakfast. We exercise, we watch our cholesterol, we try to lower the stress in our lives, we eat fruits and vegetables and take vitamins, but we often overlook one of the best health remedies of all—LAUGHTER.
“Few things are more disheartening than to see a professed follower of Christ who walks around all day looking as if he just lost his best friend.” After all, the authors said, “Why would coworkers want to share his faith; why would they want to have what he has if it makes him so gloomy. On the other hand, few things are more attractive than believers whose faces reflect the joy they feel in their hearts, joy that comes solely from knowing Jesus personally.”
Just so you’ll get my point, I’d like to share a rather funny story with you... about an atheist and a bear. An atheist was taking a walk through the woods. “What majestic trees! What powerful rivers! What beautiful animals!” he said to himself. As he was walking alongside the river he heard a rustling in the bushes behind him. He turned to look. He saw a seven foot grizzly charge towards him.
He ran as fast as he could up the path. He looked over his shoulder and saw that the bear was closing in on him. He looked over his shoulder again, and the bear was even closer. He tripped and fell on the ground. He rolled over to pick himself up but saw the bear right on top of him, reaching for him with his left paw and raising his right paw to strike him.
At that instant the Atheist cried out: “Oh my God...” Time stopped. The bear froze. The forest was silent. As a bright light shone upon the man, a voice came out of the sky: “You deny my existence for all of these years, teach others I don’t exist, and even credit creation to a cosmic accident. Do you expect me to help you out of this predicament? Am I to count you as a believer?”
The atheist looked directly into the light, “It would be hypocritical of me to suddenly ask You to treat me as a Christian now, but perhaps could you make the bear a Christian?”
“Very well,” said the voice. The light went out. The sounds of the forest resumed. And then the bear dropped his right paw, brought both paws together and bowed his head and spoke: “Lord, bless this food, which I am about to receive from thy bounty.”
Sometimes we just need to lighten up a little…Laugh a little…When we look in our mirror each morning do we see the face of someone who has a perpetual stomach ache… or a face that reflects joy? Hope you had a good laugh! Shalom!
