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 In 1943,
the French entomologist August Magnan argued that, according to the known
laws of physics, the bumblebee shouldn’t be able to fly. He stated:
“Virtually all insects flap their wings through a wide
arc, about 165 degrees. Frequency generally varies with size: The larger
the insect, the slower the wings beat. Mosquitoes, for example, beat their
wings about 400 times per second, fruit flies about 200. Birds beat their
wings much more slowly-about 50 times per second for hummingbirds. But
bees, which are 80 times as large as fruit flies, flap their wings 230
times per second through an arc of about 90 degrees. And although most
insects produce the majority of lift about halfway through the stroke, when
the wing is moving fastest, bees get an equally large contribution at the
beginning and end of the stroke from the rotation of the wing.”
Someone forgot to tell the bee there was a “flaw” in
God’s design. But every day, the impossible happens and bumblebees
fly. In fact, impossible is one of God’s favorite words. Consider the
following “impossible” events: Moses parts the Red Sea enabling
the Israelites to cross on dry land, the sun stood still in the sky while
Joshua fought his enemies, a virgin conceived and gave birth, five loaves
and two fish fed over 5,000 people, Peter walked on water, Jesus rose from
the dead, and bumblebees fly.
As part of our human condition, we constantly deal with issues of what
is possible and what is not. But, we need to remember that we do not
journey alone and that God is with us. And, for God, nothing is impossible.
So, today, if you are facing something that seems overwhelming and
impossible, keep in mind that, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no
mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him.”
Miracles happen every day and God is waiting to do the impossible in your
life. Today, dare to believe in the impossible!
Here is your copy of firstIMPRESSIONS,
Volume 8.24. Live for God, on purpose, no matter
what your circumstances – for with God, nothing is impossible!
 I
don’t think there has ever been a day when there are more things that
demand your time and attention. From morning ’til night, and even
throughout the night, there seems to be a relentless stream of voices
crying for attention. This is particularly true for today’s men.
Society has placed so many demands upon men, that for many, they have been
tempted to just give up, and do whatever they want!
This Sunday is “Father’s Day” here in America. I
believe the reason our nation finds itself in such a state of moral decay
is due to breakdown of the God created institution of the nuclear family.
And, perhaps the chief reason for the breakdown of the family is because of
the disappearance of the Biblical role of the father.
There are responsibilities that go hand in hand with being a father.
When those responsibilities are abdicated, and when a father
misappropriates his priorities, there are severe consequences.
The Bible is certainly not silent when it comes to informing us of what
a father should be. This Sunday here at WFA we will be taking a glimpse at
the life of Isaac, and examining a three-fold action that he demonstrated
in Genesis 26:25. We are told that “Isaac built an altar there and
called on the name of the Lord. There he pitched his tent, and there his
servants dug a well.” These three actions serve as examples of the
priorities that all fathers need to set in their lives today.
Be sure to join us this Father’s Day as we share “A
Father’s Three Most Important Priorities!”
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 Priceless Scribbles
Richard Fairchild tells about a story that appeared years ago in the
Christian Reader. It was called “Priceless Scribbles.” It
concerns a father who touched his child’s life in an unexpected way.
A young boy watched as his father walked into the living room. The boy noticed
that his younger brother, John, began to cower slightly as his father
entered. The older boy sensed that John had done something wrong. Then he
saw from a distance what his brother had done. The younger boy had opened
his father’s brand new hymnal and scribbled all over the first page
with a pen.
Staring at their father fearfully, both brothers waited for John’s
punishment. Their father picked up his prized hymnal, looked at it
carefully and then sat down, without saying a word. Books were precious to
him; he was a minister with several academic degrees. For him, books were
knowledge. What he did next was remarkable. Instead of punishing his son,
instead of scolding, or yelling, his father took the pen from the little
boy’s hand, and then wrote in the book himself, alongside the
scribbles that John had made.
Here is what that father wrote: “John’s work, 1959, age 2.
How many times have I looked into your beautiful face and into your warm,
alert eyes looking up at me and thanked God for the one who has now
scribbled in my new hymnal. You have made the book sacred, as have your
brother and sister to so much of my life.”
The author of the story, now an adult, goes on to say how that hymnal
became a treasured family possession, how it was tangible proof that their
parents loved them, how it taught the lesson that what really matters is
people, not objects; patience, not judgment; love, not anger.
“And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but
bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.” (Ephesians
6:4)
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 Never
Abandoned
Derek Redmond ran the 400-meters in his fastest time in five years in
preliminary rounds at the summer Olympic Games in Barcelona. Four years
earlier, in Seoul, a tendon problem had forced Derek to drop out. He had
since undergone operations on both Achilles tendons.
But in the finals, as he rounded the turn into the back stretch, a sharp
pain shot up his right leg. He went down, struggled to his feet and began
hobbling around the track.
High in the stands, Jim Redmond saw Derek collapse, ran down onto the
track and, catching up with his son, put his arm around him. “You
don’t have to do this.”
“Yes, I do,” said Derek.
“Then we’ll finish together.”
Defending Olympic champion Steve Lewis won the heat and headed toward
the tunnel. So did the other six runners. Leaning on his Dad’s right
shoulder in intense pain, Derek began sobbing. An usher attempted to escort
Jim off the track. But father and son continued, crossing the finish line
to thundering cheers.
Redmond’s race results read “AB” for abandoned.
Hardly! Redmond was held up and carried across the finish line by a caring,
loving father just like our Heavenly Father does.
as seen in “Men of Integrity,” Vol. 2, no. 4, by
Ken Sutterfield, in “The Power of an Encouraging Word” (New
Leaf, 1997)
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 General
Superintendent –
A Facebook “Friend”
Since 2004, college students across the country have been logging on
(usually numerous times a day) to Facebook, the online networking site that
allows users to request friends, leave messages, post photos and more.
Once viewed as a fad for young people and available only to those with
an email account at certain colleges, Facebook is now available to anyone,
anywhere. According to its press page, the site has more than 70 million
active users. With so many people using Facebook as a primary means of
communication, many ministry leaders are recognizing its potential to be
used as a way to make and maintain connections.
 Assemblies of God
General Superintendent George O. Wood jumped on the Facebook
“bandwagon” recently as a way to “stay in touch with the
younger generation.” Several days ago his list of friends surpassed
1,000. These friends include people of all ages, from students at AG
colleges to church attendees in other countries.
Wood admits that when he first started receiving emails from people
asking him to be their “friend,” he had no idea what Facebook
was. But he as he learned about the social networking site, he realized it
was a great way to establish friendly connections with individuals across
the fellowship.
“I feel it’s important to connect with the younger
generation that has tuned in to cyberspace through Web sites, such as
social networking Facebook,” says Wood. “I have been
encouraging pastors and leaders to use a tool like this to maintain contact
with the young people in their churches and districts.”
Those interested in joining the Facebook community can go to http://www.facebook.com to sign up for the free
service. Once an account has been created, users can begin viewing
others’ profiles and requesting friends. There are a variety of
privacy controls that allow individual users to determine who can view
their profile and whether their name can be accessed in a site search. To
request Wood as a friend on Facebook, enter George O. Wood into the
site’s search bar.
Sidenote – while I don’t quite have a thousand
“friends” yet, you can find me on Facebook (Timothy G. Satryan)
as well as Twitter (@tsatryan). Staying connected!
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 I’m
Addicted to Impersonal Communication
by Nicole Lynne Massie,
I’d rather text than talk and I’ll read an email faster than
I’ll listen to voicemail. I send text messages while driving and I
never turn off my phone. I carry my phone to meetings and when conversation
hits a lull, I send text messages just to pass the time. This morning, I
found myself checking my phone to see what emails I received before I had
even rolled out the bed.
 We’re all
addicted.
The truth is, electronic addiction is a common problem for many people
who use internet technology as their primary means of communication.
According to a recent study by Nationwide Insurance, 1 in 5 people send
text messages while driving. The percentage of users between the ages of
18-34 is even more at 1 in 3 people who will send a text while
driving. For leaders who are too busy to meet and talk with everyone,
forms of communication such as internet, email, and phone technologies are
the perfect solutions for getting it all done.
While these new means of communication are extremely convenient and
efficient, there is certainly a cost associated with its use. Anyone who
spends more time communicating through technology can relate to issues such
as misperceived tone, guilt over sending hastily written messages, and even
the feeling of being overworked or overwhelmed. Unlike face-to-face
communication, electronic forms of communication often force us to make
more assumptions about the sender’s intent, since messages must be
interpreted with limited knowledge. Not to mention that an email sent at
midnight could violate unspoken boundaries that a face-to-face meeting would
never have the opportunity to cross. Without the accompaniment of body
language and facial expressions, electronic communication leaves the door
open for many misinterpretations.
 What about God?
If we are not careful, we can be just as indirect and impersonal with
God as we are with others. In the fast pace of life, we can find ourselves
trying to multi-task our time with God as we do with others, believing that
God understands in light of all that must be done. We will exchange our
intimate times with God for a quick shout out and trade study and
meditation for something we can grab on our way out the door. And just as
our messages can be misperceived, we can misinterpret God’s voice
when we don’t allow ourselves to wait and hear what He has to say.
Now more than ever, God calls out saying: “be still and know that
I am God.” We are called not to be people of hurried agendas,
but to take on stillness as a means of knowing God. Through the example of
Jesus, we learn that in our stillness, God can exchange our wills for His
and can transform the way we see our connections to others. In our
stillness with God, we hear the desires of His heart and learn how to slow
the pace of life to refocus on what’s most important.
In a world that calls us to be “on,” let us take time to
turn off. Turn off the phone to spend time in prayer. Turn off the computer
to stay focused in conversation. Turn off the text in order to study the
Word. Today, let us take forsake the addictive nature of impersonal
communication and pursue direct and personal communion with God!
Minister Nicole Lynne Massie was born and educated in
Baltimore, Maryland. She graduated magna cum laude from Vanderbilt
University in May 2000 with a triple major in Human and Organizational
Development, Educational Studies, and French. Upon graduation, Minister
Massie became a Business Analyst for Deloitte Consulting in Chicago,
Illinois. She accepted the call to ministry in November 2001 and was
licensed to preach in May 2003. In May 2006, Minister Massie received her
Master of Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary. She was the
recipient of the Jones Prize in Music and the Swink Prize in Preaching.
During her time in seminary, she served as the Director of Evangelism at
St. James AME Church in Newark, New Jersey, under the pastoral leadership
of Dr. William D. Watley. She has also had the privilege of serving in
ministry at Mandalay Baptist Church in Cape Town, South Africa where God
further confirmed her call to international ministry. Minister Massie currently
serves at The Park Ministries in Charlotte, North Carolina www.upbc.org as
the Minister of Young Adults and Singles. She is also the founder and
Executive Director of SoulFire International Ministries, a nonprofit
organization committed to empowering individuals to reach their highest
potential by providing economic and educational opportunities with
mentorship and support. Above all, Minister Massie has a passion for God, a
contagious excitement for the Gospel, and an insatiable desire that God be glorified
in her life and in the world. As seen at http://www.futurelead.org/News_Resources/Article_Detail.cfm?
articleID=45.
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 The
High Cost of Family Breakdown
Serious and important studies such as “Why Marriage Matters: 21 Conclusions from the Social
Sciences” and “Hardwired to Connect” have
documented the ravages of divorce and single parenthood on children, as well
as their mothers and fathers. The significantly increased incidence of
divorce, unwed parenthood and alcohol and substance abuse among children of
divorce is well-known to social scientists.
It is also well documented that boys raised without their fathers are
approximately twice as likely to engage in criminal and delinquent behavior
as boys raised in homes with their biological mother and father (Why
Marriage Matters).
Now, a study has been published, “The
Taxpayer Costs of Divorce and Unwed Childbearing”,
which seeks to detail the financial costs to society resulting from the
breakdown of marriage in our society. This new study calculates the
financial costs alone to be at least $112 billion dollars a year, resulting
from expenses associated with healthcare, criminal justice, welfare and
lost income-tax revenue. That means the breakdown of marriage has cost our
country almost $1.1 trillion dollars during the past decade.
as seen at http://erlc.com/article/divorce-yet-more-costs-to-society,
by Richard Land
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 The
Last Impression
The pastor’s young son asked him what the highest number he had
ever counted to was. The pastor replied that he didn’t know, but
asked his son what his highest number was. The boy answered that it was
5,372.
“Oh,” said the pastor. “Why did you stop there?”
“Church was over.”
This Sunday we will be honoring all fathers with a special
gift, and a special message! Bring your dad with you for a special day
together here at WFA! I look forward to seeing all the fathers worshipping
together with their children!
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