There are all kinds of reasons to laugh. Sometimes we laugh out of embarrassment. Other times we laugh because something is witty. There are times we laugh to cover our despair.
I was reading recently about a man who awoke one morning to find a puddle of water in the middle of his king-size water bed. In order to fix the puncture, he rolled the heavy mattress outdoors and filled it with more water so he could locate the leak more easily. The enormous bag of water was impossible to control and began rolling on the hilly terrain. He tried to hold it back, but it headed downhill and landed in a clump of bushes which poked it full of holes.
Disgusted, he threw out the water bed frame and moved a standard bed into his room. The next morning, he woke to find a puddle of water in the middle of the new bed. The upstairs bathroom had a leaky drain.
What do you do at times like that? Five years from now, it will be funny. There are all kinds of reasons to laugh. In fact there is a man in the Bible who got his name because his mother laughed at an inappropriate time.
Our story begins one hot summer afternoon. The temperature was above 100 degrees. The only relief available was the shade of a tree. Activity as well as travel was limited. It was too hot to do much of anything. The unbearable heat dulled the senses, clouded the eyes, and clogged the ears. It was so hot that a haze could be seen rising from the desert. That's why Abraham was startled to see three visitors coming toward him. It was as if these strangers had appeared from out of nowhere.
When Abraham saw the visitors approaching he jumped up and ran out to greet them. Bowing down before them he welcomed them to his home. In biblical times hospitality was very important to people in the Middle East. It was almost a sacred obligation. Hospitality was given to any passing traveler, even a member of a hostile tribe. Abraham invited the travelers to stay with him. He and Sarah did all they could to take care of these unexpected guests.
This brings us to the first thing to be said for the morning.
GOD HAS A PLAN FOR EACH OF US.
How could it be that he and Sarah would produce children? "Can a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old?" Abraham asked God. In fact, it seemed so absurd that Abraham fell to the ground laughing. What God had promised seemed impossible. Couples well into their nineties don't have children. We discover in the pages of the Bible, however, that God calls and is able to use people of all ages. We are never too old or too young to be used by God.
Charles Kuralt travels across the United States meeting interesting people. He told about an old man he met in Kansas. "We never caught his name," he wrote. The old man was a pilot. Charles and his crew were doing a story about an artist whose canvases were eighty-acre fields. The best way to view this unusual art work was from a plane. Kuralt and his photographer spotted an old J-2 Piper Cub parked in a barnyard.
They asked the old farmer if he would fly them. "Sure, I'll take you up," the farmer replied. "We need to take the door off so I can take pictures," the photographer told the farmer. "Fine!" was his reply.
Flying at 2000 feet the photographer asked the old pilot, "How long ago did you get your ticket?" "Ticket?" the man asked. "You know, your pilot's license," the photographer explained. "I don't have any pilot's license," the old farmer told them. "I just found this thing wrecked out here and patched it up and taught myself how to fly it."
It's never too late to learn, to grow, to have new experiences; we are never too old or too young. We don't know what tomorrow may bring, but we know that God has a plan for each of us. That's the first thing we need to see.
The second is that,
WITH GOD ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE.
A young boy was born into poverty in a rundown section of San Francisco. The boy was a great fan of football legend, Jim Brown, who then played for the Cleveland Browns. Because of malnutrition the young boy had some health problems. At the age of six his legs had become permanently bowed and his calves so atrophied that his nickname was "Pencil Legs." But he set a goal to one day become a star running back like his hero, Jim Brown. He had no money to attend football games, so whenever the Browns played the 49ers he would wait outside the stadium until the maintenance crew opened the gate late in the fourth quarter. Then he would hobble into the stadium to watch the last minutes of the game.
When he was 13 years old he walked into an ice cream parlor after a game and discovered much to his amazement that his long-time idol was there. He approached the football star and said, "Mr. Brown, I'm your biggest fan!" Graciously, Jim Brown thanked him. The young boy persisted, "Mr. Brown, you know what?" Patiently Brown asked, "What is it, son?" The boy replied, "I know every record you've set, every touchdown you've ever scored!" Brown smiled and said, "That's great," and returned to his previous conversation. "Mr. Brown, Mr. Brown," the boy persisted. The football star turned once again to the boy. The boy looked him in the eyes and said with determination, "Mr. Brown, one day I'm going to break every one of your records!"
The football legend smiled and said, "That's great, kid. What's your name?" The boy grinned and answered, "Orenthal, sir. Orenthal James Simpson. My friends call me O. J." O. J. Simpson did indeed go on to break all of Jim Brown's records and set some new ones of his own. We live in a world of infinite possibilities. Abraham and Sarah would have a son just as God had said, and just as the divine visitors had now confirmed.
Here's the last thing to be said:
GOD KEEPS HIS PROMISES.
A lady named Nellia Garber tells about a Bible she received as a gift from her husband. She shared the Bible with her son, Doug. "Doug and I read it together," she said. "Together we underlined God's promises." A few years later she received another Bible and gladly gave that first Bible to her son.
Years passed and Doug got married and had 3 sons. One day his house burned to the ground. "We lost everything," Doug told his mother. For a week, neighbors, family, and friends tried to help them.
They supplied clothes, money, food, furniture and many prayers. Then one day Doug's wife visited her mother-in-law. Smiling she said, "look what I found in the rubble." It was their old Bible. The Bible was soaking wet, its leather cover shriveled and brittle, but with all the pages intact. Nellia began to dry it off, first with a towel, then in the oven. When her son came home that night Nellia handed him their Bible saying excitedly, "Open it up. Just let it fall open."
The Bible opened and Doug read a verse that they had underlined many years before, "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; ...when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you." (Isa. 43:2) God keeps His promises.
Isaac was born. His name means laughter. This son would always remind his mother and father of their disbelief and God's faithfulness. God can be trusted. In Romans 4, St. Paul praises Abraham for his faith, but if we were to ask Abraham, I believe Abraham would praise God for His faithfulness.
Once there was a child prodigy named Ana Maria Trenchi De Bottazzi. Ana began studying the piano at the tender age of 2. She gave her first piano recital in her native Buenos Aires at the age of 4. She toured many countries. By the time she was 18, she had performed recitals, both solo and with orchestras, throughout South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. At 23 she was a full professor for graduate piano students at the Kunatachi University in Tokyo.
Then tragedy struck. The gifted world-renowned concert pianist was nearly killed in an automobile accident. The doctors were honest; the damage to her brain was extensive. They told her she would never play the piano again. "For years to come I couldn't do anything; remember anything," Ana Maria says of her long recovery. The doctors removed fifteen blood clots from her brain. "I couldn't pick up a plate," she says, "I lost coordination."
During her years of recovery her mother told her over and over again, "What we are is God's gift to us. What we become is our gift to God." God doesn't make mistakes, her mother said. Ana began to believe in herself once again. " I could imagine myself playing at Carnegie Hall," she said. In her imagination she saw the people giving her a standing ovation.
After a long 16 years she finally did walk onto the stage at Carnegie Hall. "I was terrified," she says recalling that moment of triumph. "I sat down and I prayed. I asked God to help me." Ana Maria played the piano for 2 hours. "I was totally immersed in music," she says. When she finished her last piece of music she turned to face the audience. Two thousand people were clapping, giving her a standing ovation. "For a second, I wasn't sure that it was really happening," she recalls. "It was exactly like my daydreams. When I realized it was real, I broke down and cried on the stage. As I took my bow I said to myself, `God, this is my gift to you.'"
Since then she has given 10 more concerts at Carnegie Hall. She has also played for government leaders and dignitaries throughout the world. Not bad for a woman who was told she would never play the piano again.
God said to Abraham, "Is anything too wonderful for the Lord?" The answer, of course, is a loud "no!" It's enough to make you want to laugh out loud.
