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Apples of Gold
Radio Script for November 4, 2009
“Salt Life”
Hello, I’m Doug Apple…with Apples of Gold.
Two women are sitting on a park bench, talking.
They are turned toward one another, looking each other in the eye, and ignoring all the passersby.
Meanwhile, two men are on a park bench.
They are talking, just like the women, but they are not facing each other. They are talking, but they are also looking at everyone who passes by, and the cars, and the planes, and everything but each other.
Women may not understand, but that’s just the way we men do it.
Yesterday I met a couple of guys at our radio station tower. We talked about an equipment problem, and while we did, we stood there looking at the equipment, not each other.
Then the conversation moved outside to the deck. We lined up three in a row, elbows on the railing, looking out over the land.
I told them I had seen a gator in our pond, and they regaled me with tales of hunting gators and skinning gators and, did they say “wrestling gators”?
These were true outdoorsmen, you know what I’m talking about. They love to be out in the woods or out on the Gulf. They’re the kind with the big “Salt Life” stickers on their pickup.
You’ve seen those Salt Life stickers, and if you live near the salt water like we do, then you know what it’s about. It’s about being on the water or at the beach. It’s the sun and the salt and the surf.
So anyway, talking to those Salt Life guys made me think of Jesus’ disciples – Peter and Andrew and James and John. They were all fishermen, truly living that on-the-water lifestyle.
So here they were, outdoorsmen, with rough hands, and probably rough demeanors to match.
Now ladies, if you are married to a Salt Life guy, have you ever tried to get him to quit? “Oh, honey, just sell your boat and your tackle box and let’s redecorate the house.” Yeah, right. He ain’t gonna quit. It’s in his blood. And some of them, not the good Christian ones, but some of them would rather give you up than their boat!
The Salt Life has a way of getting into you, and that’s probably where Peter, Andrew, James and John were – completely committed to being fishermen for the rest of their life.
Then Jesus came along and said to them, “Follow me.” But the fishing wasn’t over as Jesus added, “and I will make you fishers of men.”
And Jesus introduced them to a different kind of Salt Life. It’s the life He referred to in the Sermon on the Mount when He said, “You are the salt of the earth.”
As “fishers of men” and “the salt of the earth,” the disciples were to go out and reach people for Jesus Christ.
Recently an FSU student told me about a modern day “fisher of men.” His name is Andrew and he works with the Campus Crusade for Christ. Andrew invited Brandon Reinhardt to a meeting, but before the meeting he invited Brandon to lunch. And then they had lunch again, and Andrew just reached out to Brandon, asking about his life and what he was doing.
Then one day, in Brandon’s words, “He just challenged me and asked me if I had a relationship with the Lord. I said no, I don’t know what that looks like.” And Andrew said, “Would you like to take that step and give your life to the Lord and have a relationship with him?”
Brandon continues: “I remember feeling this big ‘welling up’ inside of me, and just knowing that this burden was going to be lifted off, and just saying yes, I want that relationship.”
So Andrew led Brandon to the Lord right there on the spot. And Brandon described the feeling this way: “All of a sudden I felt, like, everything rush in and out of me at the same time.”
At that moment, Brandon said, he realized that the void in his life was filled with Christ. “And I haven’t lost that feeling since that day,” he said.
So there’s Brandon Reinhardt, a senior at Florida State, with his life changed by Jesus Christ, and it’s because Andrew was truly living the Salt Life. He was being the salt of the earth and a fisher of men.
That’s what all of us Christians are to be doing. We are to be spreading the Gospel and sharing our faith.
Jesus’ disciples loved fishing, but they left it behind to do something far greater – to become fishers of men.
We can change the world! The Gospel is a life-changing message, and we have a life-changing God!
And now it’s up to us. We really can change the world – as we live the Salt Life.
Comments?
E-mail me: dougapple@wave94.com.
May God bless you today! With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.
© 2009 The Arrow’s Tip
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(Proverbs 25:11 – “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.”)
Why “The Arrow’s Tip”? Each morning, after diligently seeking the Lord, I write Apples of Gold. Then before I release it to the public I pray one final prayer, “Lord, send forth your arrows.” I envision Apples of Gold as arrows, tips dipped in the river of the water of life that flows from the throne of God (Rev. 22:1), sailing toward the hearts and minds of men and women around the world.
Doug Apple
General Manager - Wave 94
Christian Radio for Tallahassee
PO Box 4105
Tallahassee, FL 32315
(850) 926-8000
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