Proper 14 B - Mark 6:2 - Living Powerfully One Day at a Time

"...What mighty works are wrought by His hands!"
~Mark 6:2

No psychiatrist, no psychologist, no behavioral scientist has had a greater authentic, documentable record of changing people deeply, permanently, or lastingly than have we who minister in the name of Jesus Christ and in the power of God.

Do people really change? Can you alter your altars? Some of you many remember Bill Sands, author of the book My Shadow Ran Fast. He was such a tough crook he was listed as incorrigible and not eligible for parole. He was sentenced to solitary confinement in Sing Sing. The warden at the time was a man named Duffy who believed he could transform people through his Christian love. He believed that the worst person could be totally tranformed and changed into someone beautiful, and he wanted to try to reshape Bill.

One of the chief executives in the prison had an arguement with Warden Duffy. It was turning into a real inter-office war. Finally Mr. Duffy's opponent said, "Leopards don't change their spots." And Warden Duffy said, "I don't have any leopards in Sing Sing. I only have people. And people change." Bill Sands did. He was completely, totally, and permanently changed.

Robert H. Schuller, Living Powerfully One Day at a Time; Fleming H. Revell Company, Old Tappan, New Jersey; 1982. Pg. 158.