BRUISES NEEDED My son constantly ventures out past his known boundaries, continually expanding the envelope. You can tell by the number of bruises on his legs how far he has ventured that day. But he…
Sermon Illustrations
WHERE'S THE FRUIT "Some people complain about our seeker service and ask me 'where's the beef?' I look at their lives and ask 'where's the fruit?'" -- Denny Bellesi From Understanding Ministry in a Changing…
WHAT FEET ARE FOR A teenage son kept begging his father to let him drive the car to school which was only three blocks away, because of a light snowfall. "Drive to school?" his exasperated…
MILK OR WATER Overheard at O'Hare International Airport. One woman said to her friend: "If you are constantly filling your cup with water, don't expect to drink milk." How many times do we fill ourselves…
STRUGGLING WITH SHADOWS Sometimes humans beg for battles to be taken away from them, not realizing, that only in struggling with shadows is the Light made manifest. From People of the Sea, by Gear and…
DO-IT-MYSELF CHRISTIAN A couple of weeks ago, our three-year-old grandson Drew went with his parents to a church party at a home with a swimming pool. Drew sat by the water's edge watching the older…
OPINIONS OF WOLVES It is useless for the sheep to pass resolutions in favor of vegetarianism while the wolf remains of a different opinion. Editor's note: That's not a bad pieceof advice for us sheep…
PROGRESSIVE PRACTICE When Pablo Casals reached the age of 95, a young interviewer asked him this question: "Mr. Casals, you are 95 years-old and the greatest cellist who ever lived. Why do you still practice…
TREE RINGS OF FIRE While vacationing in California, we were able to visit the Sequoia trees near Yosemite National Park. One of the things that impressed me most was a cross-section of a tree that…
GROWN UP WHIMS Every conviction was a whim at birth. By Heywood Broun
THE NARROW ROAD The only problem with the "straight and narrow" is that the road is kind of lonely. By Michael Hodgin
MARRIAGE PRE-ADVICE Go into marriage with your eyes and ears open. But once you're married, this may not always be such great advice. By Michael Hodgin
DOWNSHIFTERS In 1995, Harvard Economist Juliet Schor and the Merk Family Fund surveyed eight hundred American adults. They discovered that 28% had downshifted their lifestyles in order to experience more quality in their lives. According…
HELPING CHILDREN IMPROVE "If you want children to improve, let them overhear the nice things you say about them to others." From Better Families
MEN OVER FORTY President Lincoln turned down an applicant for a job and gave as his reason: I don't like his face." One of the Cabinet members indicated that he did not think this was…
NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH -- PROBABLY National Security advisor, Brent Scowcroft, recently commented on President Bush's claim that he didn't actively oppose the Iran-contra arms sale because he didn't know all the facts. Scowcroft said,…
MATURING IN GIVING In Run with the Horses, Eugene Peterson tells how he saw a family of birds teaching their young to fly. Three young swallows were perched on a dead branch that stretched out…
BELIEVING LIES If we want to believe a lie, we will get the lie to believe. If we come to the Word of God determined to do what we please, we can get from the…
RETIRED NUISANCES On the eve of his eighty-second birthday, Herbert Hoover, still elbowing though the crammed schedule of a twelve-hour-workday, explained his philosophy of late life: "There is no joy to be had from retirement…
TOO BUSY TO HATE If biography and history teach us anything, it is that great men have almost always refused to poison their spirits with vindictiveness and hate. Abraham Lincoln amazed the nation by putting…
