(~) CANT JUST SIT AROUND

You may have heard the story of Larry Waters of Los Angeles. Larry's
boyhood dream was to fly. When he graduated from high school, he joined
the Air Force in hopes of becoming a pilot. Unfortunately, poor eyesight
disqualified him. When he was finally discharged, he had to satisfy
himself with watching jets fly over his backyard.

One day, Larry, had a bright idea. He decided to fly. He went to the
local Army-Navy surplus store and purchased 45 weather balloons and
several tanks of helium. The weather balloons, when fully inflated, would
measure more than four feet across.

Back home, Larry securely strapped the balloons to his sturdy lawn chair.
He anchored the chair to the bumper of his jeep and inflated the balloons
with the helium. He climbed on for a test while it was still only a few
feet above the ground.

Satisfied it would work, Larry packed several sandwiches and loaded his
pellet gun -- figuring he could pop a few balloons when it was time to
descend -- and went back to the floating lawn chair.

He tied himself in along with his pellet gun and provisions. Larry's plan
was to lazily float up to a height of about 30 feet above his back yard
after severing the anchor and in a few hours come back down.

Things didn't quite work out that way. When he cut the cord anchoring the
lawn chair to his jeep, he didn't float lazily up to 30 or so feet.
Instead he streaked into the LA sky as if shot from a cannon. He didn't
level off at 30 feet, nor did he level off at 100 feet. After climbing and
climbing, he leveled off at 11,000 feet.

At that height he couldn't risk shooting any of the balloons, lest he
unbalance the load and really find himself in trouble. So he stayed there,
drifting, cold and frightened, for more than 14 hours.

Then he really got in trouble. He found himself drifting into the primary
approach corridor of Los Angeles International Airport. A United pilot
first spotted Larry. He radioed the tower and described passing a guy in a
lawn chair with a gun. Radar confirmed the existence of an object floating
11,000 feet above the airport. LAX emergency procedures swung into full
alert and a helicopter was dispatched to investigate. LAX is right on the
ocean. Night was falling and the offshore breeze began to flow. It carried
Larry out to sea with the helicopter in hot pursuit. Several miles out,
the helicopter caught up with Larry. Once the crew determined that Larry
was not dangerous, they attempted to close in for a rescue but the draft
from the blades would push Larry away whenever they neared.

Finally, the helicopter ascended to a position several hundred feet above
Larry and lowered a rescue line. Larry snagged the line and was hauled
back to shore. The difficult maneuver was flawlessly executed by the
helicopter crew. As soon as Larry was hauled to earth, he was arrested by
waiting members of the LAPD for violating LAX airspace. As he was led away
in handcuffs, a reporter dispatched to cover the daring rescue asked why
he had done it. Larry stopped, turned and replied nonchalantly, "A man
can't just sit around."

While there are certainly more productive (and less dangerous) things
that a man can do with his time, Larry was right. God doesn't want us to
just sit around doing nothing. Far too often, we are content with our
spiritual lives because "I haven't done this" and "I haven't done that."
Of course, the truth of the matter is, we haven't done much of anything.
God is not content just to know what sins we stayed away from. He wants to
know what positive things we have done as well.

"Then they also will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You
hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not
minister to You?' Then He will answer them, saying, 'Assuredly, I say to
you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did
not do it to Me.'" (Matthew 25:44-45)

"If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them." (John 13:17)

A man can't just sit around -- go do something! (but stay away from the
balloons!)

Have a great day!

Alan Smith

Ninure Saunders aka Rainbow Christian
http://Rainbow-Christian.tk

The Lord is my Shepherd and He knows I'm Gay
http://Ninure-Saunders.tk

My latest Poll
Who would Jesus vote for?
http://www.network54.com/Hide/Votelet/34458


My Yahoo Group
http://Ninure.tk

My Online Diary
http://www.ninure.deardiary.net
-
Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches
http://www.MCCchurch.org

To send e-mail, remove nohate from address