The Brightest Hope

In the comic strip BC, a cave man stood before a rock labeled "Exchanges." He complained to the person in charge of exchanges, "My calendar watch won't budge." The other man replied, "I don't wonder. I'm not too choked up about moving into the next year myself."

Prepare To Celebrate

In 1983, Ed Woodyard decided where he wanted to spend New Year's Eve 1999. After some discussion with a reservation agent, he booked a room at a hotel which hadn't been built yet—the Marriott Marquis that would overlook Times Square in New York City. Now that's triple faith—that the day will arrive, that the hotel will be built, and that he will still be around.

Confident People

In a television interview, a highly successful businessman admitted that he is a troubled person. He said he worries little about himself, but he's afraid something dreadful—such as a nuclear holocaust, a cosmic collision, an environmental disaster, or a plague out of control—may wipe out all life as we know it.

Sin's Deadly Wages

The following story was often told by Charles Haddon Spurgeon: "A cruel king called one of his subjects into his presence and asked him his occupation. The man responded, 'I'm a blacksmith.' The ruler then ordered him to go and make a chain of a certain length.

"I Forgot"

I was relieved to find out that I'm not the only one who forgets things. Everyone does at one time or another, according to Karen Bolla, a Johns Hopkins researcher. These are the things people most often forget:

• names 83%
• where something is 60%
• telephone numbers 57%
• words 53%
• what was said 49%
• faces 42%

Better Than Happiness

Mark was 21 and dependent on drugs. Finding happiness was his big goal in life, a goal that had eluded him. Once, while talking with our family, his frustration erupted: "Look, all I want in life is happiness. I want to feel happy. Is that asking too much?"

Earth Walk

After the Apollo XV mission, Colonel James Irwin related some of the high points of his experience. He told of weightless bodies floating free in the space capsule, the rising crescent of the earth as seen from the moon, and the triumphal splashdown before a watching world.

While The World Sleeps

In the vivid imagination of many young children, high above the decorations and colorful holiday lights, a jolly man in a red suit is pulled through the sky by a team of flying reindeer. Youngsters go to bed in fitful anticipation of the next morning. It's Christmas Eve!

Peace On Earth

Perhaps you remember the newspaper photograph in December 1991 that showed eight members of a police SWAT team looking for a sniper in a small Missouri town. Stretched across the road over their heads was a Christmas banner that read "Peace On Earth." The headline above the photo said: Four Killed, One Wounded in Attacks.

No Other Name

The angel announced to Joseph, "You shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins" (Mt. 1:21).

Why Does It Matter?

As I watched a network TV news magazine explore the growing use of foul language in America, I was pleased to see that someone had noticed the problem. With TV itself contributing to the growing use of swearing and profanity, it was surprising to see the subject addressed. But when the newsman finished his report, his comments revealed a common opinion. He concluded, "It's just words. What does it hurt?"

Thanks For Inconvenience

Thanking God for the good things He has given us comes pretty easy. But thanking Him for an enduring "inconvenience" can be difficult.

Hope Beyond Hope

The English poet Alexander Pope wrote, "Hope springs eternal in the human breast: Man never is, but always to be blest." But where does man turn when hope dries up?

Praying Like Paul

It's dark. It's cold. You've been thrown into prison, and you don't know when you'll get out or when you'll eat your next meal. You bow your head to pray. What will you pray for? Safety? Deliverance? A decent meal?

He Knows Your Name

How many stars are there? Astronomers don't know. They simply assure us that the cosmos contains more stars than can be numbered. Billions for sure—probably trillions!

Energy Crisis

Each day as your body performs its round of duties, it's not functioning without resources. The fact is, your body is working out what your well-supplied digestive system is working in. It's a physical law, a cooperation between supply and demand that is fundamental to healthy living.

Hiding In Plain Sight

A Baltimore congregation found the answer to its financial troubles on a church wall. And it had been "hiding" there for more than 25 years! Someone finally recognized a piece of art hanging in the chapel as a valuable woodblock print by Albrecht Dürer, dated 1493. The work shows the angel telling Mary she would give birth to God's Son.

Come, See

Christ has done great things in my life. Because of what He has done for me and for other believers, I like to extend to people the same invitation that the Samaritan woman gave to her neighbors: "Come, see" (Jn. 4:29).

Star Praises

The Hubble telescope has provided us with dramatic pictures of the farthest regions of the starry heavens. Photographs show clouds of interstellar hydrogen gas towering nearly 6 trillion miles high, illuminated by the ultraviolet radiation of stars like our sun.

Predicting The Future

During the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, a group of social analysts gazed 100 years into the future and tried to forecast what the world would be like in 1993. Some of their predictions were:

• Many people will live to be 150.
• The government will have grown more simple, as true greatness tends always toward simplicity.
• Prisons will decline, and divorce will be considered unnecessary.