The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-12-16
4'D0N'T K|CK--JUST BE PREPARED, IS DR, SIUARI'S ADVICE
''The Mystery of Suffering" Subject of First Method ist Pastor for Yester-
 day Morning

Do you feel blue-are you miserable do you whine and growl and look sad?" said Dr. George R. Stuart in his pulpit at the First Methodist church yester- day, preaching from the subject, 'eThe Mystery of Suffering" to capacity au- dience. If you do, and are trying to make everyone you come in contact with feel that way, then hope to be able to do you some good this morning."
 "Did you ever call up central and put in kick and have her tell you wait minute-I will give you trouble?' I have, and l told her not to do it, for I had troubles enough of my own.
 Sometimes God must need fight great battle with affliction for the good of his people as we have just experienced and are experiencing now. The old devil is always here in the form of 8 critic he Is here today. He was there in Jobs time. These critics will live as long as Christianity lives. They are here in Bir- mingham today the same as way back wonder in ages past. These critics say that Gods people serve for show and that is all. But God used Job to fight this battle against the critic. He stripped Job of everything, then made him sore from the top of his head to the soles of his feet with boils-and while old Job growled a little-he was sjust hu- man being, you know, a man just like you-he stuck to God.
 LUCK BORN IN HELL
 M1n 3r sparks fly upward. Luck was born in hell and comes from the devil There is no such thing as luck. for that would put God out of 1t. The good God has saved you-give him credit for it-don't say it was luck or that you were lucky It reminds me of the fellow who picked up horseshoe and exclaimed that he was In luck; then further on down the road he found another and another, until he came to junk wagon loaded down with scrap iron horSeshoes, and the wagon was broken down-then he couldn't see much luck in horseshoes
 Troubles don't jump up out of the dust There's law for 1t, either by law or by God, and God works in law and by law. They are all under a law-just like the sparks that fly upward You needn't kick into 1aw-what you need to do is to arrange yourself to go with the law. You can't kick into a law and hope to accomplish but one thing-bruise yourself up.
 winter spring and faIl-there will be rain and there will be frost and snow To have bread in the winter you must make it in the summer; to be prepared for rain you must have a raincoat and overshoes; get ready for these things that come by law, and it won't be hard on you-just look ahead and prepare for them. f
 LEARN TO LOVE RAIN
 T wish that you people would learn to love the rain-Ehat would you do if it never rainedH In Brownsville, Tex, once there was fno rain for two years, and the people threw water on the house tops to letf their children watch it run down so that they would know what to do when 1t did rain. Just listen to the thunder and think of 1t being Gods plan to burn up the impurities of the air with his lightning, to cleanse and purify it. don't kick at the weather, get ready for it, prepare for it. Thank God for the weather. Why the wind is only Gods pruning hooks-it clears out the dead limbs and shakes the trees in the forest up and makes them grow-so that lumber can be made for you lumber men and shade trees for you lazy men. Calculate upon loss, whether it be in your business or in your family. You can't pull them all through You must prepare for the loss that comes by the law. You can not escape 1t. Make up your mind that you are living under the law and run with the loss in view. I asked a man the other day what he was going to do when prices dropped and he replied that he had already prepared 9 place for them to fall. He was pre- pared for 1t. The natural laws come to us all-sickness is a natural law.
 MOSQUITO AND FLY
 ''The Mosquito singing his weird man. dolin song that makes you so mad that you could tear up creation is only the warning that he Is giving you that you are living in a malarial country-that you must move or death will get you. The pesky little old fly crawling and l stalking about over you, over your paper, and finally paving into your eye or getting into your nose is only another warning of 8 place of filth and death and disease near you-or the fly is only l born in filth and disease. All of these cootie stories of the trenches-about lice comes from filth, it is because the men cannot get to bath tub. We have been told to segregate in case of the flu and not stay around it, or let member of the family stay in the same room with 1 it for 1t is contagious-it is just another case of preparing for it.
 Death is natural-you have to have some deaths in your family so leave it l to God to pick the one that shall go l first-let him judge for he knows best. | God almighty leads yOu-He is over all |