November 26, 2009

Encouraging Words 11/26/09-Six Things We Can Learn From the Pilgrims

Here is a classic thanksgiving message from Billy Graham:

The Mayflower's voyage to the new world was a "survival test" on a huge scale. The passengers had sold their possessions and had to work for years to pay for their passage. The ship had no heat or plumbing. Storms raged, and a main beam cracked in mid-ocean.

But after more than two months on the Atlantic Ocean, this band of 102 people arrived before Christmas, 1620. William Bradford wrote in his journal, "Being thus arrived at a good harbor, and brought safely to land, they fell on their knees and blessed the God of heaven who had brought them over the vast and furious ocean and delivered them from all the perils and miseries thereof." What a celebration that must have been!

But just after Christmas a serious sickness broke out, and in the next three months nearly half the Pilgrims died. Hunger and illness stalked them, but they never wavered in their purpose.

Today, if these Pilgrims could observe our troubled world with its disillusioned outlook, its rebelliousness and its erosion of traditional values, they would be not only dismayed but also shocked. However, since their time, certain things have not changed. There is still lust, greed, hatred and prejudice in the human heart. There is still persecution and war in the world.

With all of the world's churches and universities, we would do well to go back to the church and the school of early Plymouth to see what those pioneers can teach us.


Click here to read the rest of Dr. Graham's message.

No comments:

Post a Comment