My friend, I stand in Judgment now
And feel that You’re to blame somehow.

While on this earth I walked You day by day,
And never did you point the way.

YOU knew the Lord in truth and Glory,
But, never did you ever tell the story,
MY knowledge then was very dim,
You could led me safe to him.

Though we lived-together here on earth,
you never told me of your second birth,
And now I stand this day condemned,
Because you failed to mention Him.
You taught me many things, that’s true,
I called you Friend and trusted you.
But I learned, now that it’s too late,
You could have kept me from this fate.
We walked by day ;and talked by night,
And yet you showed me not the light.
And you let me live, love and die,
And all the while you know I’d never live on high,
Yes, I called you friend in life,
And trusted you in Joy and strife.
And yet in coming to this end,
I see you really weren’t my friend.

Many years ago there was a medical missionary in Africa named George Harley. He built a small clinic and a chapel next to it. Very quickly the natives started coming to the hospital but for some reason they refused to go to the church. For the better part of four years the only people who entered that chapel were Dr. and Mrs. Harley and their young son.

One day, though, Harley’s son fell off a ledge and hit his head on a sharp rock. The missionary ran to the youngster’s side, but he could not save the boy’s life. A casket was made for the lad from old shipping crates and a memorial service planned. Only the two missionaries attended, and not a word was spoken. Dr. Harley recounted, “I could not speak, I could not pray, so finally I just picked up the casket and put it on my shoulder and started to carry it out to the place where he would be buried. As we walked along the road, a man came alongside and asked, ‘Great Father, what do you have in that box?’ I replied, ‘It’s my son. He died last night.’ Then the man took one end of the casket and I took the other, and we carried it to the grave side where I broke down completely and began to cry, ‘Why, God, why?’

Then man looked at me and then ran back to the village with the announcement, shouting it from house to house, ‘The Great Father cries, just like us. The Great Father cries just like us.’ Then they came running from all directions and put their arms around us, and tried to comfort us. And from that time on, every time we had a service in the chapel, those who were not in the clinic were in the chapel. And that’s how we finally got through. But oh, the cost.”

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–Paul W. Powell, “How to Start a Church Fire”

• The man who puts God’s business above any other business.

• The man who brings his children to church rather than sending them.

• The man who is willing to be the right example to every boy he meets.

• The man who thinks more of his Sunday school class than his Sunday sleep.

• The man who measures his giving by what he has left, rather than by the amount he gives.

• The man who goes to church for Christ’s sake rather than for himself or for someone else.

• The man who has a willing mind rather than a brilliant mind.

• The man who has a passion to help rather than a passion to be helped.

• The man who can see his own faults before he sees the faults of others.

• The man who is more concerned about willing others for Christ than he is about winning worldly honor.