Bruce Kendall Barnard

“At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon during the night in a dream, and God said,

‘Ask for whatever you want me to give you.’ Solomon answered… ‘So give your servant

a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong.”

(1 Kings 3:5-9)

"Nothing ever built arose to touch the skies unless some man dreamed that it should,

 some man believed that it could, and some man willed that it must."

Inventor/Researcher/Engineer Charles Kettering

Charles Francis Kettering was one of America’s most creative inventors and automotive engineers. He was a “screwdriver and pliers” inventor who, even 50 years after his death, continues to impact our lives on a daily basis. Take for example this sampling of his inventions: electric cash register, electric ignition system for American cars (first appeared on the 1912 Cadillac), spark plugs, Freon, leaded gasoline, safety glass, four-wheel brakes, and the automatic transmission. He acquired 140 patents in his name.

He is remembered for his "Ketteringisms"—sayings that have made it into our vocabulary without even knowing the background of who said it. The above quote is one of them. In 1945 Kettering and Alfred Sloan founded Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research in New York City, considered one of the world's leading cancer institutes today.

The world is full of people whose best days are behind them. You know the kind. Some of them are in our churches today. They are the ones about whom it has been said, “There goes a man who is so heavenly-minded that he is of no earthly good.” That’s not the kind of “dreamers” we want to follow. Instead, today’s Church needs dreamers who dream God’s dreams after Him. The Church needs people who can visualize things that should be, who believe in things that could be, and who have the will to do whatever it takes to see the dream through. I think that's the way God designed us!

Heavenly Father, I want to be a person who puts your dreams into action—a person who asks for things that are practical rather than for things that promise quick but not long-lasting results. Like Solomon, I pray for a discerning heart. I pray for wisdom to be able to distinguish between right and wrong. I don’t pray for people to govern, but for people who want to follow a leader who is following God to the best of his ability. And, like Solomon, I want to be known as your servant. That is the highest calling of all. Amen.

You are reading Friday Evenings, a weekly devotional for Christians who are going somewhere good. To subscribe, send your name and email address to Dr. Tom Barnard at barnard22@cox.net. Prior devotionals can be accessed at the following website: www.emfsprayerandpraise.com. This week’s devotional was written by Bruce Kendall Barnard, a pastor living in New York. If you wish to contact him personally, his email address is PastorBruce@wvcn.org.