Let's Read It!
After 30 years as a pastor, a New Jersey minister concluded, "The Bible is the best-selling, least-read, and least-understood book." In his view, "Biblical illiteracy is rampant."
Poetic Justice
A group of rowdy teenagers spray-painted obscenities on the brick walls of a local high school. The police charged them with malicious destruction of property. The judge sentenced them to probation with no jail time—but only if they could get every bit of paint off the walls, including the cracks between the bricks. It took them days!
A Worthy Effort
Have you heard about the "lawn-chair astronaut"? A 31-year-old truckdriver attached 40 large, helium-filled balloons to a lawn chair. Then, with a CB radio, an altimeter, a parachute, and a life jacket, he began his ascent into the "wild blue yonder." He also took a pellet gun so that he could shoot as many of the balloons as necessary when he was ready to come back to earth.
The Untouchables
Of all diseases, leprosy is the only one singled out by the law of Moses and linked with sin. It's not that having leprosy was sinful, nor was it the result of sin. Rather, the disease was seen as a graphic symbol of sin. If we could see sin, it would look something like leprosy.
Religion And Reality
"Religion and reality don't mix"—that's what a group in Grand Rapids, Michigan, believes. These 24 people call themselves "freethinkers" who have chosen "reality over religion." Most of them grew up in churchgoing families but have left their faith.
Filling Up Empty
"This house ain't worth robbing," said a thief who seemed to feel he was wasting his time. According to a news report, the burglar broke into a home and held the owner at knifepoint while looking for money. He ransacked the place but turned up only $3 in change, $5 in a wallet, and a few pieces of cheap jewelry.
A Promised Gift
I read several years ago about a woman who hurriedly purchased 50 Christmas cards without looking at the message inside. She quickly signed and addressed all but one, and then dropped them in a mailbox. Just imagine her dismay when later she glanced inside the one unmailed card and read these words:
Sweet Little Jesus Boy
On Christmas Eve 1932, Robert McGimsey attended a midnight church service in New York City and then headed back to his one-room apartment. As he walked the final blocks, he passed the open doors of private clubs where people were shouting and swearing and singing. Others were so drunk they had passed out on the sidewalk.
The Light Of The World
One dark and ominous night during World War II, a US aircraft carrier was plowing through heavy seas in the South Pacific. All lights were out because of enemy submarines. One plane was missing. Somewhere in that pitch-black sky it was circling in a seemingly futile search for the carrier—its only landing place, its only hope of not being swallowed up by the giant ocean. The ship's captain, knowing the terrible risk involved, gave the order, "Light up the ship." Soon the plane zoomed onto the deck like a homing pigeon.
What If?
Several years ago a group of historians authored a book called If—Or History Rewritten. Some of the ifs those scholars considered were these: What if Robert E. Lee had not lost the Battle of Gettysburg? What if the Moors in Spain had won? What if the Dutch had kept New Amsterdam? What if Booth had missed when he shot at Abraham Lincoln? What if Napoleon had escaped to America?
O Holy Night
According to tradition, a Christmas song once brought peace to a battlefield. It happened on Christmas Eve during the Franco-German War (1870-1871) as the two sides faced each other in their trenches.
When Jesus Comes In
In 1932, as the US was undergoing a financial breakdown, missionary Robert Cummings was suffering an emotional breakdown. As he carried on his evangelistic ministry with his wife in India, he became obsessed by blasphemous and sinful thoughts so overwhelming that he felt cast aside by God and eternally lost. Hospital care and therapy were of no help. His wife brought him back to the US where he was placed in a private mental facility.
A Matter Of Credentials
For 11 years, an official at a Michigan community college impressed fellow workers as a highly qualified and faithful administrator. He did his work so well that the Board of Trustees named him as a finalist in their search for a new president of the school. Then a routine background check was made on him. What it turned up surprised everyone. No documentation could be found for the man's master's and doctoral degrees.
A Christmas Story
"Suppose there was a king who loved a humble maiden," begins a parable by Danish philosopher Sören Kierkegaard (1813-1855). How could he declare his love for her? She might respond out of fear or coercion, but he wanted her to love him for himself.
Stretching Our Souls
A man and his young son went to a repair shop to get a rake fixed. When the job was finished, the man asked what the charge would be.
God's Answer To Loneliness
Most of us have experienced loneliness in some form or another. I remember the deep sense of aloneness that swept over me during my first day in the military when I was exposed to almost constant cursing and foul language.
Grandpa's Tree
When I first saw the twisted Christmas tree, I wished Grandpa were alive to fix it. He could make any tree beautiful. No matter how bad it looked when we gave it to him, it was beautiful when he gave it back.
Old-timers
How striking are the last lines that David Livingstone (1813-1873) penned on the night he died! His sons found that the famous missionary had died on his knees beside his bed, in the posture of prayer. He had written these words: "My Jesus, my King, my life, my all; to Thee again I dedicate myself." For Livingstone, every day was another day to serve and to grow.
The Meaning Of Christmas
Each year it seems that Christ's birth is acknowledged less and less during the Christmas season. An editorial in a British newspaper stated, "Christ has been detached from Christmas, and the season is now apparently just a time for being kind and ensuring that no one is lonely."
Homemade Religion
The idea is becoming increasingly popular—people thinking they can believe in Jesus while accepting unbiblical teaching. Although professing to have a relationship with Jesus Christ, some feel it's okay to also follow the teachings of Buddha or Krishna. They feel that having an additional belief is simply another step toward spiritual fulfillment.
Representing God
When I stepped up to the checkpoint so I could enter the prison, I was told that my identification card had been misplaced. The guard had to fill out a temporary permission slip so I could get in and teach Bible classes to some of the inmates. After I showed her my driver's license, she filled out the slip and I was allowed in. When I glanced at the piece of paper, I laughed. In the space provided to indicate who I was representing, the guard had written "God."
No Utopia
An exhibit at the New York Public Library was titled "Utopia: The Search For The Ideal Society In The Western World." Time magazine called it "a show about failure," noting that Utopia, which has never existed, "is one of the enduring phantoms of the human mind."
Hidden Fears
John Matuszak was a 6'8", 280-pound football player for the Oakland Raiders. His public image was that of a havoc-wreaking, heavy-drinking, hard-hitting player who was as much of a threat off the field as on. But friends knew "Tooz," as they called him, as a 280-pound puppy dog just begging to be loved.
The Gift Of Joy
During the Christmas season it's easy to be swept along by the flood of frenzied gift-buying. Our motive may be commendable—we want to show our love for family and friends. We may even argue that the exchange of expensive presents reflects God's gift to us of His Son and is a way to spread yuletide joy.
Knowing God's Will
I tell my friends in jest that I make three difficult decisions every day: What should I eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner? I live in Singapore, where we enjoy the food of the Chinese, Malay, and Indian cultures, to name just a few. We are spoiled by having so many choices.
A Healing Community
In 1976 a giant earthquake struck Guatemala City, bringing death to 25,000 people. Many workers went to assist in the rescue and cleanup. At the airport Art Beals, head of a Christian relief agency, spotted Dr. Raymond Benson, former president of the American College of Surgeons. Both had come to help meet the physical needs of the survivors.
The Battle Still Rages
The world has changed drastically since my dad stood his ground against the enemy in World War II. Back then, he and his brave comrades fought against nations that were threatening to destroy any country that dared stand in their way. Dad took a bullet in the leg and suffered the painful effects of that injury for the rest of his life.
From The Heart
A Colorado Springs woman sits in her car in front of an elementary school every weekday afternoon and points a hair dryer out her window at passing vehicles. Many drivers mistake the hand-held dryer for a radar gun and slow down. Mission accomplished! The speed limit is posted in the school zone but it often takes the threat of punishment to make drivers obey the law.
Rejoice, No Matter What!
A Christian friend of mine, now in her eighties, has kept a joyful spirit throughout her life. During World War II, in spite of dangers and separations, she and her husband were still able to laugh together at home. She recalls a summer when their laughter was overheard by a cynical neighbor. "What on earth do you two find to laugh about?" she grumbled.
Waiting For Holiness
The British novelist J.R.R. Tolkien wrote, "Sheep get to be like their Shepherd, it is said, but slowly." The renewal of the inner person, becoming Christlike, is not accomplished in a moment but a lifetime.
