Aldous Huxley was once asked for his general observations on the nature of history. “Generally speaking,” answered the famous author, “history is one damn thing after the other.”
Sermon Illustrations
When Sir Walter Raleigh was imprisoned in the Tower of London, he decided to pass the time by writing a history of the world. He had filled about two hundred pages when, one morning, he…
In the famous novel, “The Diary of a Country Priest,” by Georges Bernanos, there is a moving scene in which the priest encounters a woman who is completely turned in on herself. She has been…
In his well-known play, “No Exit,” French philosopher/ author/playwright Jean Paul Sartre, tells the story of a woman and a man who find themselves together in a comfortable living room. There they are given to…
Do Daddy’s ever go to heaven?” a little girl asked her mother. “Why of course dear,” said the mother. “Why do you ask?” “Because I’ve never seen angels with whiskers. ”Soundings” (adapted).
A little girl was walking along beside her father on an evening stroll. She kept looking up at the stars. She was fascinated by them, but she wasn’t talking about it. Finally her father asked…
A man with a terrible lung condition went to the doctor. The doctor said to him, “Do you smoke?” The man said “No, I don’t smoke.” The doctor said, “Too bad. It would be great…
(“... the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable . . . If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it.”…
Shortly before his death, the famous American missionary doctor, Tom Dooley, returned to the U.S. to raise additional funds for his hospital in Southeast Asia. As a doctor, he knew he had terminal cancer and…
Dr. Bernie Siegel’s seven steps to healing: 1. Accept your illness! Being resigned to an illness is destructive, allows the illness to run your life, but accepting allows energy to be freed for other things…
There is an amusing story of a woman who one day decided to read the New Testament and investigate the claims of Christianity. Several months later she was baptized. Immediately following the ritual she said…
Many years ago, in the cornerstone of its new office building, a large insurance company buried a capsule containing a number of predictions by community leaders as to what life in the United States would…
“When I thought, ‘My foot is slipping,’ your steadfast love, O Lord, held me up. When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul” (Psalms 94:18-19). As director of the New…
Some people feel greatly honored when they are given a place at the dinner table where the finest china and the costliest linen are set. But the people who are really honored are the ones…
Have you ever noticed how most people, including the most intelligent among us, will argue their position or point of view, without ever hearing, and possibly benefiting from what the other person has to say?…
A college class was graduating on a hot and humid day. As graduates walked across the platform and received their diplomas from the college president, he smiled, shook their hands, and said loudly, “Congratulations!” Then,…
“Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I received a stoning. Three times I was shipwrecked; for a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers,…
A minister greeted an old rabbi whom he had not seen for many years. “Why, you haven’t changed a bit since the last time I saw you,” the minister offered. The old rabbi looked over…
There’s a trick to the “Graceful Exit.” It begins with the vision to recognize when a job, a life stage, a relationship is over — and to let go. It means leaving what is over…
An enterprising optician was giving his son a lecture on the technique of getting the highest price out of a customer. “Son,” he said. “after you’ve fitted the glasses to the customer, and he asks,…