Legacy Youth Ministry Resources

Illustration texts

Content With No Shoes

I complained about not having shoes until I met someone who had no feet.

Still Thankful

Helen Roseveare suffered greatly as a missionary to Zaire. During that time, she was beaten several times, raped on three occasions, had some teeth knocked out, and was once brought before a firing squad. Most people would have become bitter through all this, but Roseveare still speaks and forwards the cause of missions in her latter years. What made the difference? According to Roseveare, she learned to be thankful and even to thank God for allowing the suffering. (Heard from Rosevere in a lecture at Columbia International University)

Abraham's Proclamation of Thanksgiving Day

Part of Abraham Lincoln?s proclamation to make Thanksgiving a yearly national holiday, 1863: ?We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us. It has seemed to me fit and proper that God should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father Who dwelleth in the heavens.?

Axl Rose and Carlos Santana View the World

Bill Bailey experienced a horrific childhood. He was abused and abandoned by his real father, then beaten and sexually abused by his stepfather. He felt rejected by his mom. To make matters worse, his hypocritical parents claimed to be very religious. He later adopted the stage name ?Axl Rose,? and became famous in the band ?Guns N? Roses.? It?s no surprise to me that his lyrics so often reflect hate and rebellion. How do you think his background affected his lyrics? How do you think his background influenced his view of authorities and his view of God? (Sources: http://www.angelfire.com/ut/urumea/rob.html) Some of you can relate to Axl?s background. And like him, you have a dark view of the world and assume that God is just another authority who wants to let you down and abuse you. And Axl is far from alone in his dark view of the world. When guitarist Carlos Santana chose the songs for his recent (1999-2000) best-selling album, he purposely tried to run positive, encouraging themes through the album. Why? Listen carefully. In a recent interview, Santana says that lots of students have a ?victim mentality.? They wake up each morning believing that life stinks and everyone?s out to get them. He then hits the interviewer with a paradoxical statement: ?As you know, most people are not happy unless they?re miserable.? (?Exploring the Supernatural,? by Rich Maloof, The Musician?s Planet Magazine, Spring, 2000, p. 22) What do you think Santana meant by that statement? (Let them discuss. Many musicians and students think it?s uncool to be positive, happy and thankful. Instead, they are miserable, constantly complain about their circumstances, and seem to prefer life that way.)? Copyright 2002 Steve Miller - All Rights Reserved

Count Your Blessings

Though this is the time of year we most often find ourselves counting our blessings, we should remind ourselves and one another that we are blessed the year through in the simplest and most precious of ways. If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish someplace ... you are among the top 8% of the world's wealthy. If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep ... you are richer than 75% of this world. If you woke up this morning with more health than illness ... you are more blessed than the million who will not survive this week. If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation... you are ahead of 500 million people in the world. If you can attend a church meeting without fear of harassment, arrest, torture, or death ... you are more blessed than three billion people in the world. If your parents are still alive and still married ...you are very rare, even in the United States. If you hold up your head with a smile on your face and are truly thankful... you are blessed because the majority can, but most do not. If you can hold someone's hand, hug them or even touch them on the shoulder... you are blessed because you can offer healing touch. If you can read this message, you just received a double blessing in that someone was thinking of you, and furthermore, you are more blessed than over two billion people in the world that cannot read at all. Count Your Blessings! (Came to me over the internet)

Thankful for the Smallest

Be thankful for the smallest thing, and you will be worthy to receive something greater. ? Thomas a Kempis

Thankful for the Smallest

Be thankful for the smallest thing, and you will be worthy to receive something greater. ? Thomas a Kempis

Einstein on Being Here for Other Men

?From the standpoint of daily life, however, there is one thing we do know: that man is here for the sake of other men ? above all for those upon whose smile and well-being our own happiness depends, and also for the countless unknown souls with whose fate we are connected by a bond of sympathy. Many times a day I realize how much my own outer and inner life is built upon the labors of my fellow men, both living and dead, and how earnestly I must exert myself in order to give in return as much as I have received.? Albert Einstein

On Not Craving Luxuries

The more we count the blessings we have, the less we crave the luxuries we haven?t. (William A. Ward)

Gratitude Comes Late

?A very interesting phenomenon in children is that gratitude or thankfulness comes relatively late in their young lives. They almost have to be taught it; if not, they are apt to grow up thinking that the world owes them a living.? Bishop Fulton J. Sheen

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