In his book, God’s Psychiatry, Charles L. Allen tells about a businessman who came to him for advice.
The businessman was talented, successful, and had risen to be chosen as president of his company. “Yet, along the way,” Allen wrote, “he had left out something, and one of the things he did not achieve is happiness.” Allen observed that he was a nervous, tense, worried, and a sick man. Continue reading
Filed under Passage To Ponder, Psalm 23
“Fellow citizens! Clouds and darkness are round about Him. The dark waters of the seas and stars of the skies form His pavilion. Justice and judgment are the establishment of His throne. Mercy and truth go before His face. Fellow citizens, God still reigns! He will enable the government in Washington to carry on.”
Those words were spoken by General James A. Garfield to an emotionally troubled and distressed crowd in New York City the morning after President Lincoln had been assassinated. Continue reading
Filed under Passage To Ponder
“Influencers are a big part of our world now, largely a creation of the internet and social media,” observed Mark Roberts in his newly released book “The Sermon on the Mount for Everyone.”
While certain people exert influence through facebook, Twitter, Instagram or YouTube, Mark makes the point that “being an influencer isn’t a new phenomenon that arrived in the 21st century.” Continue reading
Filed under Passage To Ponder
Linda J. Black in “Kids of the Kingdom,” shares a story relating to her work as the Church treasurer.
Because of Linda’s role she makes a weekly trip to the bank to deposit Sunday’s contribution, which her kids are familiar with. However, one day her 3-year-old opened the bank bag and looked in.
“Where did all that money come from?” he asked. Continue reading
Filed under Passage To Ponder
Retired Kentucky minister, Bob Russell tells the story of one year when a family kept their Christmas lights up well into January.
The house was located at the entrance of their Louisville subdivision, which he noticed every time he drove by. Finally, about the middle of February, he recalls critically saying, “You know, if I were too lazy to take my Christmas lights down, I think I’d at least turn them off at night.” Continue reading
Filed under Passage To Ponder
Several years ago The New Yorker magazine ran an article about faith by Adam Gopnik who arrogantly opined: “We know … that in the billions of years of the universe’s existence, there is no evidence of a single miraculous intervention with the laws of nature.”
The Gospel writer, John, would disagree with Gopnik. He was an eyewitness to Jesus’ miracles including the very first one of His ministry where He turned the water into wine. Continue reading
Filed under Passage To Ponder
“There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils,” wrote C. S. Lewis in The Screwtape Letters.
“One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them,” Lewis warned. “They themselves are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight.” Continue reading
Filed under Passage To Ponder
In his book, Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life…and Maybe the World, Admiral William H. McRaven shares what he learned during Navy SEAL training in order to live a better life
“Hope is the most powerful force in the universe.” Continue reading
Filed under Passage To Ponder
Author John Ortberg wrote in “The Me I Want to Be” the time he and his wife went fly fishing for the first time.’
Ortberg said the guides told us that “to catch a fish you have to think like a fish.” They said that to a fish life is about the maximum gratification of appetite at the minimum expenditure of energy. To a fish, life is “see a fly, want a fly, eat a fly.”
“A rainbow trout never really reflects on where his life is headed. A girl carp rarely says to a boy carp, I don’t feel you’re as committed to our relationship as I am. I wonder, do you love me for me or just for my body? The fish are just a collection of appetites. A fish is a stomach, a mouth, and a pair of eyes.” Continue reading
Filed under Passage To Ponder
According to educator Edes Gilbert, getting a good education for their children is not the only factor motivating some of today’s parents to enroll their children in elite schools.
During her 15 years as headmistress of Spence, a prestigious Upper East Side girls school in New York City, Ms. Gilbert has seen an increasing number of parents using their children’s education for their own benefit. Continue reading
Filed under Passage To Ponder
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