Tag Archives: Care

The Story of Squanto

November Stories, , , , , , , ,

Around 1608 Captain Hunt and a group of English traders landed in the new world at Plymouth, Massachusetts. When the trusting Wampanoag Indians came out to trade with them, the Englishmen took many of them prisoners and took them to Spain where they sold them as slaves.*

A boy, named Squanto, was bought by a kind Spanish monk who treated him with kindness, taught him to speak English and shared the Christian Gospel with him. Squanto eventually made his way to England where he worked in a stable. The owner of the stable, a man named John Slaney, took compassion on the young man and helped him make plans to return to America.

In 1619, a decade after he was kidnapped, Squanto returned to his home but his return was met with heartbreak. During his absence an illness had swept through his people and he had returned to find that everyone he loved was dead.

In 1620 the Pilgrims, seeking the freedom of worship and freedom from the influences of popular culture, sailed to the new world and landed at Plymouth, where Squanto’s tribe had once lived. As they settled in and began to build homes the leader of the tribe with whom Squanto now lived sent another English speaking Indian to greet them. Eventually Squanto helped them know how to fish and plant crops. He also translate a treaty between the new colonists and the Indians that lasted for 50 years.

According to the diary of William Bradford, the governor of the Pilgrims, Squanto “became a special instrument sent of God for [our] good . . . He showed [us] how to plant [our] corn, where to take fish and to procure other commodities . . . and was also [our] pilot to bring [us] to unknown places for [our] profit, and never left [us] till he died.”**

Years later, as Squanto lay dying with a fever, Bradford wrote that he “desir[ed] the Governor to pray for him, that he might go to the Englishmen’s God in heaven.” Squanto also left all his possessions to his English friends “as remembrances of his love.”

Squanto’s story is an amazing tale of how God turned tragedy and difficult circumstances to the good. Instead of dying with his people in the epidemic, God used the evil of his kidnapping to save Squanto’s life. Then God used Squanto to help save the lives of the Pilgrims, which helped to shape the future of our country. It is God’s goodness and provision even through difficult circumstances that we celebrate when we remember Thanksgiving.

As we approach the holiday season, let’s remember the true story behind the “feast.” And let’s remember that the Bible says, “In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus toward you” (1Thess 5:18).

The Bible doesn’t say to give thanks in just the good and pleasing things, but in all circumstances. A follower of Christ can do this because no matter what happens, even if you don’t understand why, you know the One sits on the Throne. We don’t give thanks because we like what happened but because we know to whom we belong and that our lives are in His hands. We know the character of God and how He has promised to “work all things together for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).

Happy Thanksgiving!

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Written and adapted by Kolby King from numerous sources.

*…it happened there had beene one Hunt … [who]seized upon the poore innocent creatures, that in confidence of his honestie had put themselves into his hands. And stowing them under Hatches, to the number of twentie foure, carried them into the Sraits, where he sought to sell them for slaves, and sold as many as he could get money for. But the Friers of those parts took the rest from them, and kept them to be instructed in the Christian Faith; and so disappointed this new and Devillish project.

A Relation of New England” in
Haklytus Posthumus or Purchas His Pilgrimes:
In Twenty Volumes (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1906) 19:272-3

**https://bible.org/illustration/story-squanto

Find another detailed reference at: http://www.cupids400.com/english/about/squanto.php

© Copyright 2017 Kolby King

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Relying on God

Stories of God's Goodness, , , , , , ,

Bristol, England. Tuesday, February 8, 1842

Enough food remained in George Mueller’s orphan houses for that day’s meals, but that was it. There was no money to buy bread or milk for the following morning. And two of the orphan houses needed coal.

Mueller believed that if God sent nothing before nine o’clock on Wednesday morning, “His name would be dishonored.” Tuesday afternoon nine plum cakes arrived from a kindly sister. But the situation was still grim, as Mueller noted in his diary: “Truly, we are poorer than ever; but, through grace, my eyes look not at empty stores and the empty purse, but to the riches of the Lord only.”

Any other man responsible for the continual care and feeding of scores of children would have been climbing the walls. But Mueller believed in a God who is eternally faithful. He had, in fact, bet his entire career on the proposition that such a God could be relied upon implicitly and exclusively.

Mueller would not be disappointed. Wednesday morning just after seven he walked confidently to the orphan house on Wilson Street to find out how his Lord was going to provide food for that day. Mueller discovered that the need had already been met. A Christian businessman walking to work early that morning had suddenly wondered whether “Mueller’s children” might need funds. He decided to take something by the homes that evening. But, he later said, “I could not go any further and felt constrained to go back.” The man delivered three sovereigns just in time to make purchases for the orphan’s breakfast.

Timely provisions like this came in to Mueller’s homes countless times in his more than six decades of work. Never once did the orphans lack for food or clothing. There was always enough, sometimes just enough, but the children never knew a moment’s anxiety.

Mueller’s work was entirely supported by donations. During his 63-year career nearly 1,500,000 pounds was given, enough to care for some ten thousand children and to build several orphanages. It was quite an undertaking: two thousand children to be fed each day, their clothes washed and repaired, five large buildings to be kept up, matrons, overseers, nurses, and teachers to be paid.

And, according to Mueller, over these six decades God never missed a step. No child ever went without a meal; no baker or milkman ever settled for an IOU.

But now we come to the real catch: George Mueller accomplished all this without ever once asking a soul for a penny and without ever making any needs known. This man had embarked on his enterprise as a grand experiment. He wanted “something that would act as a visible proof that our God and Father is the same faithful God as ever he was…to all who put their trust in Him.” So this devout believer decided to demonstrate that the Almighty “had not in the least changed” by the fact that “the orphans under my care are provided, with all they need, only by prayer and faith, without anyone being asked by me or my fellow-laborers, whereby it may be seen, that God is faithful still, and hears prayer still.”*

Reflect

Read Matthew 6:25-34 and Philippians 1:6 from your Bible.

Respond

God will never lead you to a task that He will not equip you with all you need to accomplish that task. God always provides what we need to serve Him effectively, but sometimes (like Abraham who was promised an heir) we get impatient and try to work out God’s purposes in our own strength, resources, and timing.

How are you relying on God’s strength to accomplish the life and ministry to which He has called you? How has God provided you with the resources you need to be effective in serving Him? (God built some of these resources into you before you were born!) What are you trusting God to do in and through your life?

Your thoughts?

What prayer requests do you have for yourself and others today?

Remember

Many believers expect too little from a God who can do all things. What are you trusting God for in your life and ministry that no man could accomplish apart from the moving of the Holy Spirit?

*Mosley, Steven R., God: A Biography, (Phoenix: Questar Publishers, Inc., 1988), p. 230-232.

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Do You Care?

Devotions for Childrens Leaders 4, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Read:

A man who was a member of a church asked his pastor to visit his son, who was sick unto death. He met his pastor at the door and said, “Preacher, I am afraid that my son is dying. I wish you would talk to him about his salvation.” The preacher went into the bedroom and started talking to the boy but found him totally indifferent. Finally the preacher said, “Oh, son, your father is so interested in your being saved.” The boy looked up and said, “What did you say?” And the preacher repeated, “Son, your father is deeply interested in your salvation.” The boy said, “That is strange. I am twenty-one years of age. I have lived at home all my life. My father is a member of the church, but he never said one word to me about God and salvation.”*

What a shame it is that so many have waited so long to say so few words, those few words which can change a heart, cleanse a life, and set one on the road to heaven. We say we care, do we?

Reflect

Read what David wrote in Psalm 142:4 about no one caring for his soul.

Respond

Prayerfully consider what you have read today. Then take a few moments to pray for yourself, your students, and others with whom you serve in ministry.

Remember

“The church has halted somewhere between Calvary and Pentecost.” -J.L. Brice**
 
Get all 52 Children’s Leader Devotions HERE. 

Find more children’s ministry resources and training at:
 www.330resources.org/children.

If these resources bless you, consider supporting this ministry:




*W. Herschel Ford, Sermons You Can Preach on John, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1958) p. 174.
**Leonard Ravenhill, Why Revival Tarries, (Minneapolis: Bethany House Publishers, 1990), p. 68.

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The Power of a Children’s Ministry Leader

Devotions for Childrens Leaders, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Read:

I saw him in the church building for the first time on Wednesday. He was in his mid-70’s with thinning silver hair and a neat brown suit.

Many times in the past I had invited him to come. Several other Christian friends had talked to him about the Lord and had tried to share the Good News with him. He was a well-respected, honest man with so many characteristics a Christian should have, but he never “put on Christ,” nor entered the doors of the church.

“Have you ever been to a church service in your life?” I had asked him a few years ago. We had just finished a pleasant day of visiting and talking. He hesitated. Then with a bitter smile he told me of his childhood experience some fifty years ago. He was one of the many children in a large, impoverished family. His parents had struggled to provide food, with little left for housing and clothing.

When he was about ten, some neighbors invited him to worship with them. The Sunday School class had been very exciting. He had never heard such songs and stories before. He had never heard anyone read from the bible. After class was over, the teacher took him aside and said, “Son, please don’t come again dressed as you are now. We want to look our best when we come into God’s house.”

He stood in his ragged, unpatched overalls. Then looking at his dirty bare feet, he answered softly, “No Ma’am, I won’t—ever.”

“And I never did,” he said, abruptly ending our conversation.

There must have been other factors to have hardened him so, but this experience formed a significant part of the bitterness in his heart.

I’m sure that Sunday school teacher meant well. But did she really understand the love of Christ? Had she studied and accepted the teaching found in the second chapter of James? What if she had put her arms around that dirty, ragged little boy and said, “Son, I am so glad you are here, and I hope you will come every chance you get to hear more about Jesus.”

Yes, I saw him in the church house for the first time on Wednesday. As I looked at that immaculately-dressed old gentleman lying in his casket, I thought of a little boy of long ago. I could almost hear him say, “No Ma’am, I won’t—ever.”

And I wept.

Oh God, help us all—pastors, teachers, parents, to remember the lowliness of the Babe in the manger and help us show forth His love to the lowly, unlovely, and unloved! In the name of Jesus, I pray. Amen.

Reflect

Read Philippians 2:15 from your Bible.

Respond

What do you think would have happened if the teacher in the story above had put her arms around that little boy and said, “We love you so much and we are so glad you came to church today”? What kind of difference do you think it would have made? As a children’s ministry leader God has given you the privilege of making a positive difference in the lives of kids. In what ways do you desire for God to grow and use you this year? Are there areas in which you desire to do better as compared to last year (i.e., build stronger relationships with students and parents, do better remembering and recognizing birthdays, do better in attending a ball game or other events that your students participate in outside of church to show how special they are to you, etc.)?

Prayerfully consider what you have read today. Then take a few moments to pray for yourself, your students, and others with whom you serve in ministry.

Remember

“A reflection is only as clear as the mirror is clean. Let Jesus shine in you this week.”

Get all 52 Children’s Leader Devotions HERE. 

Find more children’s ministry resources and training at:
 www.330resources.org/children.

If these resources bless you, consider supporting this ministry:




——

*Shirley Ward, published in the The Handley Herald.
© Copyright 2017 Kolby King

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