C. S. LEWIS C. S. Lewis, in his remarkable book, Christian Behavior, said, "Hope is one of the theological virtues. This means that a continual looking forward to the eternal world is not, as some…
Sermon Illustrations
HOPELESS? When you say a situation or a person is hopeless, you are slamming the door in the face of God. Charles Allen
PATIENCE Hope is patience with the lamp lit. Tertullian
JUST A RAY OF HOPE Dr. Victor Frankl, an Austrian psychiatrist, observed that a prisoner did not continue to live very long after hope was lost. But even the slightest ray of hope -- the…
BEAR ONE ANOTHER'S BURDENS All nice and clean and cooled off by a nice swim in the ocean, Herman Trueblood saw a sweating man helped by his two sons trying on a hot day to…
HEAVEN - HOW DO YOU EXPECT TO GET IN? Little Billy, caught in mischief, was asked by his mother, "How do you expect to get into heaven?" He thought for a moment and then said,…
TALKING IN CODE A woman told about the time she sat next to Lady Churchill at a London dinner party. Across the table was Sir Winston, who kept making his hand "walk" up and down…
NUT GATHERING One morning in my romantic- poetry class, the instructor was discussing how much these poets valued their intense relationship with nature. He asked the class to share any similar experiences. A student from…
CLEAR THINKING You don't have to be an intellectual giant to become a successful thinker. Clear and creative thinking is learnable. Millions have become better thinkers by adopting the following guidelines: 1. Think more slowly.…
FORGIVING THE SCARS OF YOUTH I have just read George Sayer's biography, Jack: C. S. Lewis and His Times (Harper & Row, San Francisco, 1988). It is the most illuminating and helpful of the Lewis…
AMBITION A boss approached one of his most ambitious men and told him, "I've had my eye on you. You're a hard worker, and you've put in long hours. You're very ambitious." "Thank you," relied…
A SAD HERITAGE In George Sayer's biography of C. S. Lewis he describes the impact of the life and death of Joseph Greeves, the father of one of Jack [C. S.] Lewis's best friends, Arthur…
BEFUDDLED My mother was flying to visit us in Hawaii. Since her command of the English language was extremely limited, Dad asked the woman at the check-in counter to alert the flight attendants. Just before…
TRAGEDY AROUND US Tragedy fills the news. Did you hear about Christopher Maytag? He was the grandson of Frederic L. Maytag, the founder of the Maytag company (you know--washers, dryers, etc.) An heir to a…
JESUS, SAVIOR, PILOT ME A few months ago there was an awful, scary airline accident. I'm sure you heard about it and saw the pictures on TV: the Aloha Airplane in Hawaii, when metal fatigue…
PROTEST Umpire Bill Guthrie, after a rookie threw his bat into the air to protest a called strike: "Son, if that bat comes down, you're out of the game."
QUOTING FROM BOOKS When it comes right down to it, a book itself is a friend, and it is best remembered when we have a sense of respect for it. When I quote from authors…
CHURCHILL We all know people who spend too much time saying too little. Winston Churchill once handled such a person in his own unique style. The man said to him, "You know, Sir Winston, I've…
COMMUNICATION Alan Greenspan, 62, Federal Reserve Chairman, before speaking on the economy to the 323rd meeting of the Economic Club of New York: "I guess I should warn you, if I turn out to be…
LOCK YOUR CAR At the airport, I struck up a conversation with a couple from New England. "In our small town, no one ever locks anything - except for car doors during August," the woman…
