Western novelist Stephen Bly says that in the days of America’s Old West there were two types of friends (and horses): runners and standers. At the first sign of trouble, the runner would bolt—abandoning you to whatever peril you were facing. But a stander would stick with you no matter the circumstances. Unfortunately, you wouldn’t know which kind of friend you had until trouble came. And then it was too late—unless your friend was a stander.
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Giants hold a special place in our lore—both historical and literary. From the real giant Goliath to the fictional giant of Jack and the Beanstalk fame, we are fascinated by these larger-than-life characters.
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When I signed up for a popular Internet social network, I was shocked to be greeted with the words, “You have no friends.” Although I knew it was untrue, I still felt sad for a moment. The idea that anyone, even an impersonal Web site, would call me friendless was upsetting. Friends are essential for our emotional, physical, and spiritual well-being.
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In 1948, the US Air Force Chief of Staff noticed that no one attended the funeral of an airman at Arlington National Cemetery, and that deeply disturbed him. He talked with his wife about his concern that each soldier be honored at burial, and she began a group called the Arlington Ladies.
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No one watching Britain’s Got Talent (a popular televised talent show) expected much when mobile phone salesman Paul Potts took the stage. The judges looked skeptically at one another when the nervous, unassuming, ordinary-looking chap announced he would sing opera—until Potts opened his mouth.
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A man who played double-bass in the Mexico City Philharmonic told me that the finest instruments are made of wood that has been allowed to age naturally to remove the moisture. “You must age the wood for 80 years, then play the instrument for 80 years before it reaches its best sound,” said Luis Antonio Rojas. “A craftsman must use wood cut and aged by someone else, and he will never see any instrument reach its peak during his own lifetime.”
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After the South lost the US Civil War, John Wilkes Booth wanted to be remembered as its avenger against the North. Some scholars speculate that because he was an actor, Booth’s planned assassination of President Lincoln was, in his mind, his greatest “performance.”
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Ashpenaz, a high court official in ancient Babylon, was committed to banishing any testimony of Israel’s God from his kingdom. His strategy focused on young leadership from the captive Hebrews. Ashpenaz gave the captives new names to honor the pagan gods of Babylon. This made sense to him, because their original Hebrew names honored their God (Daniel 1:6).
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George Washington Carver is well known as an African-American scientist who developed scores of products from the peanut. Dr. Carver was also a humble servant of God who took every opportunity to speak to others about the Savior he loved and served.
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Adoniram Judson (1788-1850) was gifted with a brilliant mind. He learned to read at age 3, could translate Greek at 12, and enrolled in Brown University when he was 16. While there he was befriended by Jacob Eames, a man who rejected the miracles of the Bible. When Judson graduated as valedictorian in 1807, he had been so influenced by Eames that he denied his Christian faith.
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I once read some theology on the bumper of a car in front of me. It said, “If you go to hell, don’t blame Jesus!” The slogan apparently was an attempt by the driver to do some evangelism. I gave him credit for trying, but I wondered if those who saw that warning felt it was put there in love.
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My father-in-law Pete is a genius. No, he didn’t develop any scientific theories like Einstein did. His genius is that of a handyman. Just ask him about an ailing furnace or a clogged garbage disposal. He can intuitively diagnose the problem and come up with a solution. When my in-laws visit, it looks like a home repair TV show. I often take notes. In many ways, as I watch Pete, I am equipped to do the repairs on my own.
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I’ve seen a number of recent reports about efforts to remove monuments with the Ten Commandments from public places in the US. It’s regrettable, for the monuments celebrate righteousness, and “righteousness exalts a nation” (Proverbs 14:34). I believe that removing these reminders is a reflection of our crumbling moral foundations.
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The young boy looked up at his grandfather and wondered aloud, “Grandpa, how do you live for Jesus?” The respected grandfather stooped down and quietly told the boy, “Just watch.”
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When a professional musician nicknamed “Happy” became a Christian, he quit playing in nightclubs and offered his services to a rescue mission. Some time later, he received a phone call from a club manager who wanted to hire him to do a show that would have brought in a lot of money. But Happy turned down the offer, telling the manager that he would be playing at the mission. Happy said, “He congratulated me. That surprised me. Here was a man who wanted me to play for him and he was congratulating me for refusing his offer.” The manager respected Happy’s decision.
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What’s the best argument we can give those who ask why we have accepted Jesus as our Savior? How can we most persuasively bear witness to our faith?
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“You don’t want to interview me for your television program,” the man told me. “You need someone who is young and photogenic, and I’m neither.” I replied that we indeed wanted him because he had known C. S. Lewis, the noted author and the subject of our documentary. “Sir,” I said, “when it comes to telling the story of a person’s life, there is no substitute for an eyewitness.”
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A psychologist made the observation that children often develop lifelong complexes because of their names. That may have been true in the case of a boy I read about. His parents gave him the name Tonsilitis Jones, and it caused him difficulties in school and again when he tried to enlist in the navy.
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As a young boy, I enjoyed singing hymns in church like “Throw Out the Lifeline” and “Let the Lower Lights Be Burning,” which used images of shipwreck and danger at sea to illustrate our spiritual responsibility to others. But living in landlocked Oklahoma I had never seen the ocean, and my nautical experience was limited to sailing matchbox boats on mud puddles. I knew the words but had little concept of how to rescue a “fainting, struggling seaman.”
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Pastor Craig was having an intense conversation at a health club with Jacob, a man he had befriended. It started after Jacob climbed onto the exercise bike beside him. Craig asked, “Are you going to see the movie The Passion of the Christ?” “No!” came the quick response. As the two men pedaled side-by-side, they had a half-hour discussion about the purpose of Jesus’ death. When they parted, Jacob said, “I still don’t think I’ll see the movie.”
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Many hotels in countries around the world have a Bible in each room. Just open a drawer and you’ll find it.
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Rabbits are timid creatures that pop out of their holes every morning, try to avoid everything (except other rabbits), eat their food, and jump back into their holes in the evening. “Whew! We made it through another day,” they’d say if they could talk.
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Mel Trotter was a drunken barber whose salvation not only turned his own life around but also changed thousands of others. He was saved in 1897 in Chicago at the Pacific Garden Mission, and not long afterward was named director of the City Rescue Mission in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
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John, a friend of mine, was once addicted to drugs. Several times he nearly died. He was a broken man when he entered the Christian rehabilitation program that my husband and I established. By the end of the program, John had become a Christian.
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In June 2002, the Hayman fire destroyed more than 137,000 acres of beautiful mountain forest in Colorado. Smoke darkened the skies, choking residents of cities 40 miles away. Thousands of people evacuated their homes, and millions of dollars were spent fighting a blaze that began with a single match.
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The cover of a recent Our Daily Bread pictures a leaf-strewn road through the mountains of Vermont. Those who use the road can enjoy a smooth and beautiful ride over difficult terrain. To make this possible, others had to work hard to chart the route, clear the trees, and level the rough spots.
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A businessman gave his heart to Jesus as a result of a Billy Graham evangelistic event. When he told his co-workers, his Christian business partner was elated. But the new believer hadn’t known about his faith, and said, “You know, you’re one reason I resisted becoming a Christian for several years. I figured that if someone like you could live a good life and not be a Christian, there was no need for me to become one.”
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In a debate at Boston College, Christian scholar William Craig Lane convincingly set forth the historical arguments for believing in Jesus’ resurrection, much as the apostle Paul did in Acts 26. Then Lane told the story of his conversion.
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The word Halloween comes from All Hallows Eve, which was the evening before a religious holiday in Medieval England that became known as All Saints’ Day. It was a time set aside by the church to commemorate its saints.
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While D. L. Moody was attending a convention in Indianapolis on mass evangelism, he did more than just talk about it. He asked a friend, who was a gifted musician, to meet him on a street corner at 6 o’clock one evening. The man stood on a box and sang a song. When a crowd gathered, Moody spoke briefly and then invited the people to follow him to the nearby convention hall.
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David Isay, a radio producer, says that in a culture inundated with the stories of celebrities, we need to hear the recorded voices of ordinary people, because their lives and contributions are no less important. Isay is a driving force behind StoryCorps, “a national project to instruct and inspire people to record each other’s stories in sound.”
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When it comes to telling others about Jesus, I’m sometimes like a cautious farmer who keeps his eye on the weather, looking for the perfect day to plant his crops. The season passes and he sows nothing. The opportunity is gone; the harvest is lost (Ecclesiastes 11:4).
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Jesus was having dinner one evening when “many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Him” (Matthew 9:10). The religious leaders of that day were outraged by His behavior. Their conclusion was that Jesus was a friend of sinners, and as it turns out, He was. “The Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10).
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The heroes and heroines of the Bible often take us by surprise. The woman in today’s Scripture reading is a prime example. (John 12:3 tells us her name was Mary.) She was singled out by Jesus to be mentioned wherever the gospel is preached. Mary had scandalized some of those dining with Jesus by her lavish devotion as she anointed Him with perfume worth more than a year’s wages. I believe Mary did this in anticipation of Jesus’ death.
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Are you in a situation where you are often misunderstood for your faith in Christ? Are you surrounded by people with a carping, critical spirit? Do you get little or no credit for the work you do in your church or for your family?
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While driving in rush-hour traffic one day, I found myself behind a car with a bumper sticker. It had a yellow smiley face on it with these words: SMILE—JESUS LOVES YOU.
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When two uniformed men came to my door on Memorial Day afternoon, I thought they were collecting for charity. Instead, they told me that my sister and her husband had been killed in an accident earlier that day.
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In his book Christians in the Marketplace, Bill Hybels says that people outside the faith often say, “Show me” before they say, “Tell me.”
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Tom Knapp never won a race during his entire high school track career. Tom was a “pusher.” It was his task to set the pace for his fellow team members, who would then beat him to the finish line. When he ran a successful race, he was enabling a fellow teammate to win. Even though Tom never had enough reserve energy for the final sprint to victory, the coach considered him a valuable member of the team.
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Do you feel as if you’re burning out in your service for God? You may want to supply spiritual light to your dark world till the end of your life, but you wonder if you can. You won’t burn out if you understand and apply the truth of Zechariah 4:1-6.
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I received a letter from a woman who told me she had grown up in a troubled home. At an early age she ran away, began a life of crime, and spent time in jail. Later, ensnared by drugs, she felt that the only way out of her sin-darkened life was suicide.
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When we read the story of Jesus washing the disciples’ feet, we may think we understand why He was doing that for them. John, for instance, was a close friend. Then there were Peter and Andrew, who had been so faithful in following the Master.
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As a child growing up in the former Soviet Union, Nickolas was the only one in his school who refused to join the political group for young people. Because of his faith in God, he was singled out for ridicule, given bad grades he did not deserve, and denied a recommendation to the university. Despite the opposition, he persisted, and in later years he led some of his persecutors to trust in Jesus Christ. Now he is the pastor of a thriving church in Belarus.
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If the people in your community were asked about the Christians who live there, what do you think they would say? Would they say they recognize Christians by their love, or because of something else?
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I was driving through the mountains of western Maryland on a cold December night. As I topped a ridge near Rocky Gap State Park, a brilliant sea of lights caught my attention. What in the world is that? I wondered as the exit road flashed past. It so aroused my curiosity that 5 miles down the interstate I turned around and drove back to see what it was—a local community’s celebration in lights during the Christmas season. At noon, I wouldn’t have noticed anything. But at night, the dazzling display couldn’t be ignored.
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Advertisers are after our young people. They are increasingly targeting their messages to children. Because of the strong influence they have on the purchasing habits of their parents, and because they have an increasing buying power of their own, millions of dollars are being spent to get their attention. People in the advertising business are convinced that a young, satisfied consumer could become a lifelong customer—eager to buy their products far into the future.
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John the Baptist had been dead for at least 2 years and the memory of his ministry had begun to fade. That’s the way it is when a public figure leaves the scene and is eclipsed by a more illustrious successor.
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After the United States was attacked by terrorists on September 11, 2001, President Bush called on Congress to create a Department of Homeland Security. The job of this agency is to do everything possible to keep citizens safe.
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According to Homer’s Odyssey, when King Odysseus went off to fight in the Trojan war, he left his son Telemachus in the hands of a wise old man named Mentor. Mentor was charged with the task of teaching the young man wisdom.
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On Memorial Day in the United States, thousands of people visit cemeteries and monuments to remember and honor their loved ones. They ponder a name carved in stone and recall the person for whom it stands.
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