There is a story about the mid-Victorian era Bishop Samuel Wilberforce who experienced a religious conversion late in life. He said that one night, some years before his conversion, he was thinking of the wickedness of the world, and it bothered him. And he said, of course there was some self-righteousness involved, but he truly …
There was a young man named Bud who spent two years working in the oil fields of New Mexico in order to earn enough money for college. One winter day, when he was ninety-feet up on a derrick, Bud slipped on some ice that had formed on the platform. As he fell toward the ground, …
Trust Him when dark doubts assail you, Trust Him when your faith is small, Trust Him when simply to trust Him Is the hardest thing of all.
We’re all too familiar with our automobile’s speedometer, but have you ever heard of a “trustometer?” Or, as an enormously popular web site calls it, a “Trust-O-Meter?”-2 Interestingly, this web site offers what they describe as a “Trust Test” that you can take online. According to the site’s experts, the test is designed to tell …
THE RIDDLE OF SALVATION You are on the road of life and you come to a fork in the road. One road leads to heaven and the other to hell. There are two guides standing at the fork in the road from whom you can ask one question only (one question among them, not one …
OUT RANKED: OR, SCENES THAT WOULD LOOK GREAT IN THE MOVIE S. I just finished reading Yeager, the autobiography of Chuck Yeager, well-known war hero, test pilot (who first broke the sound barrier) and currently cleaning up as a TV pitchman. It was fascinating, to say the least. In the chapter entitled “To Moscow With …
Adversity | Authority | Courage | Power | Success | Trust Read More »
WHERE HE LEADS ME In “pastures green?” Not always. Sometimes He Who knoweth best, in kindness leadeth me In weary ways, where heavy shadows be. And by “still waters?” No, not always so; Ofttimes the heavy tempests round me blow, And O’er my soul the waves and billows go./But when the storm beats loudest, and …
Guidance | Providence | Sovereignty | Trial | Trust Read More »
PERCENTAGE PRAYERS Three Indians (or Native Americans, if you prefer) — A Navajo, a Hopi and an Apache — were speaking about how powerful their prayers were. The Navajo said, “You know, we Navajos pray for healing, and the patients get well about half the time.” The Hopi said, “Well, we Hopis pray for rain …
FOOT DOCTOR I went to visit the doctor with my sore foot. He said, “I’ll have you walking in an hour.” He did. He stole my car. Henny Youngman Henny Youngman lines
RECOGNIZING AN ANSWER TO PRAYER Bill was sitting in his house during a torrential downpour. As the floodwaters reached the bottom of his front door, some friends came along in a rowboat and called to him to climb in. But Bill said, “No, I’m trusting in the Lord. I’ll be O. K. I’m staying here.” …
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IN TUNE WITH GOD’S UNIVERSE Thomas Lane Butts, Methodist pastor from Montgomery, Alabama, reports that he heard this in a lecture given by Dr. William Muehl at Minister’s Week at Candler School of Theology, Emory University, in the mid-sixties. He remembers it this way: Back in the days when New Bedford, Massachusetts was a major …
Desire | Faith | Guidance | Meditation | Trust | Wisdom Read More »
FIRST FRUITS TITHING There was a knock on the door of the hut occupied by a missionary in Africa. Answering, the missionary found one of the native boys holding a large fish in his hands. The boy said, “Reverend, you taught us what tithing is, so here — I’ve brought you my tithe.” As the …
ANSWER TO THE RIDDLE Remember, you can only ask one question. And you don’t know which of the guides will tell the truth and which will tell you the lie. Here’s the question you ask (of either one): “Tell me, sir, if I were to ask the other guide which is the right road, what …
SCIENCE AND THEOLOGY — SHOW THE OPEN HORIZON “What is the relationship between Science and Theology? The relationship has never been closer, because it is mathematics and physics which now point beyond the natural world. In 1931, before Bultmann began to use “modern” science to demythologize the Bible by excluding the supernatural, Herman Weyl, an …
Assurance | Doubt | Knowledge | Technology | Trust | Wisdom Read More »
SELF-AWARENESS IS THE KEY When he was eighty-eight years old, the late Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes once found himself on a train. When the conductor came by, Justice Holmes couldn’t find his ticket, and he seemed terribly upset. He searched all of his pockets and fumbled through his wallet without success. The conductor …
Desire | Guidance | Humor | Salvation | Trust | Understanding Read More »
HOW YOU KNOW A twelve year old boy became a Christian during a revival. The next week at school his friends questioned him about the experience. “Did you see a vision?” asked one friend. “Did you hear God speak?” asked another. The youngster answered no to all these questions. “Well, how did you know you …
PRUDENCE Trust in God, but tie your camel. Persian Proverb
WHAT WE THINK WE NEED “Surely,” one sometimes hears it said, “it is absurd to try to change the will of God. Who are we that we should tell God what to do? If we believe in God at all, we must believe that he is already ordering all things for the best.” Well, let …
Burden | Faith | Prayer | Providence | Sovereignty | Trust Read More »
THE INCONTROVERTIBLE EVIDENCE OF PERSONAL EXPERIENCE I was also reminded recently of another old story I’d long forgotten (in the pages of Pulpit Helps (Mar 82). It’s the one about the bold unbeliever who was lecturing a group on the folly of religious faith in general and the Christian faith in particular. At the close …
Consecration | Evangelism | Example | Faith | Ideas | Salvation | Trust Read More »
DANDELIONS A gardener took great pride in caring for his lawn. But one year it grew full of dandelions. He tried every method and product to get rid of them, but nothing worked. Exasperated, he wrote the Department of Agriculture explaining all he had done. “What shall I try next?” he wrote. “Try getting used …