October82006 - 2006 Eastland Bulletins

October 8, 2006

Eastland eBulletin 10.8.06

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Area Meetings
. October 8-11 - Mt Washington
. October 8-13 - Douglass Hills, Valley Station.
. October 13-14 - Men's Study at Carlisle, KY.

Potpourri
. Remember the kid's bulletin in the foyer.
. The monthly children's singing will be this afternoon at 4:25.

Monthly Duties
. Transportation: Broderson, McPherson
. Lord's Supper: P Reece, T Reece
. Meals: B Crowder, B Barnett
. Deacon: J Mindel
. Ushers: S Riggle
. Sound: J Price

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The Fool's Prayer
By Edward R Sill

The royal feast was don; the King
Sought some new sport to banish care,
And to his jester cried: "Sir Fool,
Kneel now, and make for us a prayer!"

The jester doffed his cap and bells,
And stood the mocking court before;
They could not see the bitter smile
Behind the painted grin he wore.

He bowed his head, and bent his knee
Upon the monarch's silken stool;
His pleading voice arose: "O Lord,
Be merciful to me, a fool!"

"No pity, Lord, could change the heart
>From red with wrong to white as wood;
The rod must heal the sin: But, Lord,
Be merciful to me, a fool!

"'Tis not by guilt the onward sweep
Of truth and right, O Lord, we stay;
'Tis by our follies that so long
We hold the earth from heaven away.

"These clumsy feet, still in the mire,
Go crushing blossoms without end;
These hard, well-meaning hands we thrust
Among the heart-strings of a friend.

"The ill-timed truth we might have kept -
Who knows how sharp it pierced and stung?
The word we had not sense to say -
Who knows how grandly it had rung?

"Our faults no tenderness should ask,
The chastening stripes must cleanse them all;
But for our blunders - oh, in shame
Before the eyes of heaven we fall.

"Earth bears no balsam for mistakes;
Men crown the knave and scourge the tool
That did his will; but Thou, O Lord,
Be merciful to me, a fool!"

The room was hushed in silence rose
The King, and sought his gardens cool,
And walked apart, and murmured low,
"Be merciful to me, a fool!"

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Prayer And Potato Bugs
Adapted By Robert F Turner

(From "Safed the Sage", by William E. Barton, 1919. It combines two
stories.)

There came one to me and said, O Safed, I am told that thou art a wise man
and also a righteous man. And I answered, The two are not wholly
incompatible; if men say such things concerning me I must be the more
mindful of my folly and my unworthiness.

And he said, Dost thou believe in the power of prayer?

Forasmuch as he knew very well what I believed, I answered him as I answer
men when I desire that they shall make the Next Move. And I said unto him,
Whether thou hast come to be enlightened, or hast come to enlighten me, say
on, for the sunlight is scarce.

And he said, I believe that God answereth every prayer. Dost thou so
believe? And I answered, Yea; and sometimes He answereth Yea, and sometimes
He answereth Nay.

And he said, There is no Nay with the Almighty when the prayer of faith is
answered. And I said, It is well that all men pray the prayer of faith. But
the prayer of faith is still the prayer of human understanding; and although
the faith be perfect, the wisdom may be scant. Wherefore, if God must needs
say Yea to every fool prayer, then would I desire to move into some Other
Universe. For I do verily believe that God doth not loan his Rubber Stamp to
every strong-faithed and weak-minded Christian.

And he said, Cannot God turn our folly into wisdom?

And I answered, God can do everything that denieth not his own nature and
that involveth no contradiction of terms. But some things that God can do,
God is too good and too wise to do, even though all the foolish Christians
on earth do tease Him.

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A Great and Beautiful Tree grew for an Hundred Years beside a stream. Cattle rested in the shade thereof, and Birds of Heaven did build their Nests in the branches thereof. But there came a Potato Bug who desired to fill his
Belly from a Potato Patch on the far side of that stream. And he rested by
the tree, and he prayed.

And in the night there arose a Great Wind, and it smote the tree so that it
fell across the stream. And when morning was come, the Potato Bug climbed
upon the tree, crossed the water, and entered the Potato Patch.

The Cattle mourned for the Shade which had sheltered them, and the Birds
were Sorrowing over their Broken Eggs, and over their little birds that were
Crushed, and over their Homes that were Desolate. But the Potato Bug knew it not, nor regarded it; but thanked his God for the answer of the Prayer of
the Potato Bug.

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