HOW COMMITTED ARE YOU? There is a silly story about two New York men who had never been out of the city who decided that they had just about “had it” with city living. So they bought a ranch down in Texas. They decided they were going to live off the land like their ancestors. …
CHOICES: TWO WAYS OF RESPONDING Two paraplegics were in the news recently. One was Kenneth Wright, a high school football star and later, an avid wrestler, boxer, hunter and skin diver. A broken neck sustained in a wrestling match in 1979 left him paralyzed from the chest down. He underwent therapy, and his doctors were …
Adversity | Courage | Health | Life | Perseverance | Sports | Strength | Success | Trial Read More »
LUTHER ON MARRIED LIFE Along comes the clever harlot, namely natural reason, looks at married life, turns up her nose and says: ‘Why, must I rock the baby, wash its diapers, change its bed, smell its odor, heal its rash, take care of this and take care of that, do this and do that? It …
Blessing | Discipline | Marriage | Sanctification/ Risk | Trial Read More »
COURAGE AND PEACE IN THE STORM Do you remember Tom Dooley, that young doctor who organized hospitals, raised money, and literally poured out his life in the service of the afflicted peoples of South East Asia? Here was a man whose deep relationship with God motivated him to abandon a soft career in the United …
Communion | Consecration | Courage | Peace | Success | Suffering | Trial Read More »
PERSECUTION The stories of the martyrs down through the ages are filled with accounts of those who have come to do the Father’s will or proclaim his message and who have been murdered for their efforts. One of the classic stories of martyrdom is that of Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, c. 155 A.D. The following …
Courage | Persecution | Strength | Success | Suffering | Trial Read More »
I WAS THERE I have a dear friend, Bill Mann, who has one of the great singing voices in the Christian Church in this nation. I remember some years ago he told me about the most special concert in his life. It was after the concert was over and he returned to his dressing room. …
Art And Music | Christ | Love | Success | Suffering | Trial Read More »
A WORD FOR TRIED ONES A blacksmith, about eight years after he had given his heart to God, was approached by an intelligent unbeliever with the question: “Why is it you have so much trouble? I have been watching you. Since you joined the church and began to ‘walk square’ and seem to love everybody, …
Adversity | Commitment | Endurance | Perseverance | Service | Trial Read More »
RECIPE FOR MOTHERS Preheat oven . . . check for rubber balls or plastic “He-Men,” which might be lurking inside. Clear counter of wooden blocks and “Key-Cars.” Grease pan. Crack nuts. Measure flour . . . remove Johnny’s hands from flour. Re-measure flour. Crack more nuts to replace those Johnny ate. Sift flour, baking powder, …
Adversity | Children | Frustration | Humor | Mother | Trial Read More »
THE SKILLED BLOWS OF GOD God’s ways are past finding out, says the Scriptures. Sometimes we just do not understand why He operates the way He does. We become disillusioned and disappointed with God. But God always knows what is best and what is best for us. Many years ago, there was found in an …
Adversity | Pain | Salvation | Sanctification/ Regeneration | Suffering | Trial Read More »
REJECT REJECTION Many of those who have risen from failure to real achievement have rejected the rejection of this world. In 1902, the poetry editor of The Atlantic Monthly returned a sheaf of poems to a 28-year-old poet with this curt note: “Our magazine has no room for your vigorous verse.” The poet was Robert …
THE ZIGZAG PATH We climbed the height by the zigzag path And wondered why — until We understood it was made zigzag To break the force of the hill. A road straight up would prove too steep For the traveler’s feet to tread; The thought was kind in its wise design Of a zigzag path …
Love | Protection | Sanctification/ Guidance | Suffering | Trial Read More »
MAXIMIZE YOUR STRENGTHS When Woolworth decided to open a brand new department store of his own, he worked hard for the grand opening day. Just a week before he was to open his doors, a competitor just down the street came out with a massive sales promotion and advertising campaign. Obviously, the competitor had gotten …
Example | Stewardship | Strength | Success | Trial | Weakness Read More »
WHAT MAKES COURAGE? George Zaharias, the husband of the great golfer Babe Didrikson Zaharias once told Bob Richards this story: Babe was dying of cancer, and he stood by her bed, crying like a baby. She said, “Now, honey, don’t take on so. While I’ve been in the hospital, I have learned one thing. A …
Courage | Strength | Success | Suffering | Trial Read More »
THE PROPER FOCUS OF PRAYER There is a shrine in the French Pyranees where people come to pray for healing. A war veteran who had lost a leg appeared at the shrine sometime after World War II. As he hobbled his way along the street to the shrine someone said, “Look at that silly man! …
Character | Courage | Prayer | Stewardship | Suffering | Trial Read More »
EQUIPPED FOR LIFE Because the way was steep and long, And through a strange and lonely land, God placed upon my lips a song, And put a lantern in my hand. Joyce Kilmer
STRUCK DOWN, BUT NOT DESTROYED Jim Ryun once held the record for the mile race. He was a devoted Christian man. In 1972 Ryun was set to run in the Olympics held in Munich, West Germany. Ryun was picked to win. Jim Ryun was known as a ‘lagger’ in running. That meant he would stay …
Adversity | Commitment | Edification | Endurance | Trial Read More »
AND HE DID Born on a Kansas farm and educated in a one-room school, he lived a tough and difficult existence as a boy. Glenn and his brother kept the school’s fire going, and one morning when the boys poured kerosene on live coals, the stove blew sky high. Glenn would have escaped, but his …
THE STRUGGLE FOR STRENGTH When we lived in Lexington, Kentucky, each year a local hatchery would set up an incubator display in one of the local malls around Easter. As I would observe the eggs at different stages of development, I became amazed and intrigued by the process. It would not take long before an …
Sanctification/ Courage | Strength | Suffering | Trial Read More »
OVERCOMING HARDSHIPS Rabbi Earl A. Grollman has a fine book on death and grieving, entitled Talking About Death: A Dialogue Between Parent and Child (Boston: Beacon Press, 1970), in which he tells a famous rabbinic story: “A king once owned a large, beautiful, pure diamond of which he was justifiably proud. It had no equal …
THE GUTTY BOAT PEOPLE Did you notice this statistic about Indo-Chinese immigrants who started “flooding” the United States since 1978 as refugees? Two thirds have found jobs, “and more than a fourth of their children are pulling straight A’s in American schools . . . These are boat people, survivors of a journey that 50 …
Courage | Perseverance | Statistics | Strength | Success | Trial Read More »