SERMON FEED An old farmer said to the preacher, "I see at the Minister's Seminar you discussed, how to get people to attend church. I've been to a lot of meetings for farmers, but I…
USEFUL WORK Many of you learned quite a while ago, and at a very young age, that it's not work that makes you tired. It's frustration that comes from lack of work or lack of…
SPARK PLUG LEADERSHIP The leader must be the leader. As Robert Schuller has said, "Let there be no dodging of this issue. Pastor? Do you hear me? You should be the spark plug. You should…
READ THE BOOK General George Patton of World War II fame was seldom at a loss for words. What he said during a battle in North Africa may be legend, but it typifies the man.…
DISCOUNTED JESUS I recently read of a commercial venture of one of the largest department stores in our nation. It proved to be disastrously unsuccessful. It was a doll in the form of the baby…
FINDING A SMILE A few years back I had the fortune to be involved in the life of a young girl, just turning age sixteen. She was as hard as nails. Not rough, not earthy…
STOP PRAYING The Hasidic Jews tell the wonderful story of Morris Meltzer who went to his rabbi and said: "Rabbi, my wife is going to have a baby. It's our first child and my Lily…
ENEMY PRAYERS Two members of a congregation have been feuding for years. On Yom Kippur Eve, just before the synagogue service, the rabbi brings the two men together in his office. "You must make peace,"…
WASHED AWAY It seems that several management-types were gathered at the River Jordan along with the crowds that came out to see John and they decided they needed to get things better organized. So they…
LOOKING FOR TROUBLE The new minister had just moved into town. It was late at night when his wife remembered that their dog, very aptly named "Trouble", had not been taken out yet. Since it…
MARK TWAIN ON AGING In his seventies in January of 1906, Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) wrote to his friends the Gordons in response to their invitation to their golden wedding anniversary. This is a sad…
A FATHER'S FUNERAL The funeral service concluded, mourners and friends proceeded outdoors, and the immediate family remained in the funeral home's shelter. As an officiating pastor, I always linger until the last, remaining with the…
MEMORY MAKES ROSES "It is said that God gave us memory so we could have roses in winter. But it is also true that without memory we would not have a self in any season.…
SHARING GLORY OF VICTORY The documents of surrender officially ending World War II were signed by the Japanese and designated representatives of the Allied Nations. General Douglas MacArthur officiated the ceremony aboard the USS Missouri,…
THE WORST EVIL OF THEM ALL Science may have found a cure for most evils; but it has found no remedy for the worst of them all -- the apathy of human beings. -- Helen…
BEST LIARS There was a little boy who had a bad habit of lying. His mother had tried everything she knew to make him stop, but nothing seemed to work. It came to a head…
REASON FOR THE COFFEE A church that loved good fellowship always served coffee after the sermon. The pastor asked a little boy if he knew why they served the coffee. "I think," said the boy,…
IF YOU ONLY KNEW WHAT I KNOW A man in New York City had a wife who had a cat. Actually, the cat had her. She loved the cat. She stroked it, combed its fur,…
NAZI OR JEW The Nazis had a reputation of being coldly efficient, but a picture postcard published two years after Hitler came to power disproves that estimation. In 1935 Nazi government officials selected a blond,…
GOD ALREADY BLESSED MOM My brother and sister-in-law have gotten used to people exclaiming over the fact that they are the parents of eight children, now grown. But recently a young woman, the mother of…
