<TITLE>01. Par 1-2</TITLE>61-0205M, Expectation, Central Assembly Of God, Tucson, AZ, 73 min
L-1 Thank you very much, brother, and I'm happy to be here. May the Lord bless you. You can be seated now. I certainly have a great privilege this morning to stand in the pulpit at Tucson for my first time in life. I was thinking as I come over this morning of how many cities throughout the world that the Lord has given me the privilege of visiting, and talking with the congregations, and this morning being my first time here in America to ever be in this fine city.
Since we have been here we have learned to love its people and, and your atmosphere, your fine weather, the beautiful mountains, the deserts. There's something about it that would make me crave to stay here. It's so quiet. We was on the desert yesterday looking around, and it just seems like when you're out there that God speaks. There's nothing in a hurry, they're going nowhere, not excited about anything, so they're just quiet and relaxed. And that seems to be a whole lot like their people that I meet here--relaxed. No hurry. We're not... no hurry to do anything, and that's a good place for a nervous minister, so he can quieten down. No hurry. Life has its... such hustles and bustles, as we call it "running to and fro", and we've got to get this done in a few minutes, and this, and just so much time. It seems like when you come here, "Well, what's the hurry?" And I like that.

L-2 And now, you can learn another thing on the desert that I think would kind of pay us to look at--all those cactus needles. When I... You see those needles, and I don't believe there'd be a machine could sharpen one that sharp. My son could say "amen" to that, 'cause we had to pick them out of him all day yesterday. And now, if that little cactus was, was in my country, it would unfold and be a beautiful soft leaf, because what it is, is a leaf rolled up. And nature's sharpened it that way. That's the way it protects itself. It might be good for us to think of that just a moment.
Now, put water on this desert and leave it here for several years, that cactus would come up with leaves on it, would be soft. And that's the way the churches get sometimes when we run without spiritual water. We just roll up real tight and sticking one another. But put the water on it, it softens out, and flexible, and... I think that's what we have churches for, is where we can have spiritual water that keeps us sweet and soft so that God can use us; and flexible, not sticking one another, but just laying softly and sweetly upon the other fellow's shoulder, and each one of us bearing one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.


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