A SOBERING CONSIDERATION Many parents today are concerned about making a living, building a house and achieving some place on the social ladder. As a result, they often neglect their children and have little concern about the spiritual values of life. Such parents might consider the following. In the book Twenty-One Stayed, written by Virginia …
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ON TIME Cross a porcupine with an alarm clock and you get a stickler for punctuality.
HOW TO SURVIVE A SERMON Strategy #1: Wait for at least one idea in the sermon before giving up. Sometimes a preacher can stand in the way of God’s speaking for a long time, and, inadvertantly, say something true and memorable. Strategy #2: Fight back. It is probably best to do this silently . . …
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YOU’LL BE A MAN, MY SON If you can keep your head, When all about are losing theirs, And blame it on you . . . If you can dream, And not make dreams your master . . . If you can think, And not make thoughts your home . . . If you can …
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ONCE IN A LIFETIME OPPORTUNITIES Arthur Gordon tells this story: “When I was around thirteen and my brother was ten, Father promised to take us to the circus. But at lunch there was a phone call: Some urgent business required his attention downtown. My brother and I braced ourselves for the disappointment. Then we heard …
NEEDED — THE PERSONAL TOUCH A man stopped at a flower shop to order some flowers to be wired to his mother who lived two hundred miles away. As he got out of his car he noticed a young girl sitting on the curb sobbing. He asked her what was wrong and she replied: “I …
TODAY Now is the time to love. Tomorrow the baby won’t be rocked, the toddler won’t be asking, “Why?” The schoolboy won’t need help with his lessons, nor will he bring his school friends home for some fun. Tomorrow the teenager will have made his major decisions. From a Father’s Day message by John Dresches, …
SLOW DOWN A woman who had been living a very high-pressured life, moved with her family from the city to the country. The family had resolved to reduce the stresses and tensions they had been under by entering into a gentler, easier lifestyle. A neighbor called on the mother one day and noticed something that …
IF I HAD MY LIFE TO LIVE OVER I ‘d dare to make more mistakes next time, I’d relax, I would limber up, I would be sillier than I have been this trip, I would take fewer things seriously, I would take more chances, I would climb more mountains and swim more rivers, I would …
COMMERCIAL COMMUNICATION In the first twenty years of an American kid’s life, he or she will see something approaching one million television commercials at the rate of about a thousand a week. This makes the TV commercial the most voluminous information source in the education of your child. These commercials are about products only in …
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COMMUNICATION In the comic strip “For Better Or For Worse,” the wife is talking to her husband, who is a dentist: “John, I wish you wouldn’t refer to your staff as ‘your girls.’” The husband replies, “Well, aren’t they?” He continues: “I took Jean out for lunch today, Elly, and we had a long talk. …
RUSH, RUSH I heard recently about a man who prided himself on being exceedingly punctual. He followed a very precise routine every morning. His alarm went off at 6:30 a.m. He rose briskly, shaved, showered, ate his breakfast, brushed his teeth, picked up his briefcase, got into his car, drove to the nearby ferry landing, …
Busyness | Humor | Peace | Rest | Stewardship | Time Read More »
GOING THE SECOND MILE A salesman called his wife from a coin-operated phone in a distant city, finished the conversation, said good-bye and replaced the receiver. As he was walking away, the phone rang. He went back and answered it, expecting to be informed of extra charges. But the operator said, “I thought you’d like …
FAMILY LIFE “A family in the East was planning a month’s vacation to the West Coast. At the last minute the father’s work responsibilities prevented him from going, but Mom insisted that she was capable of driving and that she and the kids would go ahead. Dad got out the maps and planned the route …
ALWAYS AND ALL FOR GOD No time for trifling in this life of mine; Not this the path the blessed Master trod, But strenuous toil; each hour and power employed Always and all for God. Time swiftly flies; eternity is near, And soon my dust lies beneath my sod; How dare I waste my life, …
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I’M TALKING ABOUT A LONG SERMON It seems this particular pastor was really given to long-winded sermons. He often would go well past an hour, and on occasions had preached upwards of two hours. One Sunday he had been going strong for some time when he noticed one of his regular members get up and …
COMMITMENT One of my favorite Peanuts cartoons was printed many years ago when little Sally was still a toddler. One day as she was crawling by, Linus and Lucy were watching her progress and Linus asked, “How long do you think it will be before Sally starts to walk?” Lucy comes back: “Good Grief! What’s …
PSALM 23, JAPANESE VERSION Maribel Kraybill of Lancaster Pennsylvania sent in this version of the familiar Shepherd’s Psalm as translated into English from the Japanese version: r17601 The Lord is my pace setter, I shall not rush. He makes me stop and rest for quiet intervals, He provides me with images of stillness which deepen …
THE ONE FINGER PIANO PLAYER A seminarian was spending his last summer before his final year of schooling as a chaplain in a national park. He had duties with trimming trees, feeding animals and emptying trash during the week, and then conducting worship on Sundays for the tourists. One Sunday the pianist didn’t show up, …
WHEN IN DOUBT — STALL According to Gene Brown in the News-Times, dealing with the subject “What to Do When Your Spouse Asks for a Divorce,” the gist of the advice by psychiatrist Steven S. Smiring is to demand one year to straighten it out. Why one year? Dr. Smiring suggests a parable of what …
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