Sacrifices That Please God
A man touring a rural area of the Far East saw a boy pulling a crude plow while an old man held the handles and guided it through the rice paddy. The visitor commented, "I suppose they are poor."
What's My Ministry?
How is my life helping to spread the gospel? Does that question ever haunt you? Does it seem that day after day you slave away at a humdrum job, performing repetitious tasks?
Looking Ahead
The other day I talked with a man who expressed his apprehension about the future. He is certain the stock market will crash. He thinks our country will be taken over by evil forces, and the church will be overrun with worldliness. And even though he professes faith in Jesus Christ, he is afraid that by some quirk or oversight he will end up in hell.
Thirst Aid
It was a lot of miles for little legs to pedal. I knew that before we started. What I didn't remember was that little mouths get thirsty too.
Supermarket Fishing
Have you ever raced around the supermarket, praying you won't see someone you know because you're too hurried to stop? I have. And yet we should always be available for the opportunities God gives us to witness.
Where Will Death Lead?
In the midst of this tragedy, the great theologian Augustine (354-430) wrote his classic The City of God. His reflections, now more than 15 centuries old, are still fresh today.
Augustine wrote, "The end of life puts the longest life on a par with the shortest . . . . Death becomes evil only by the retribution which follows it. They,…
Shrike System
The ancient sport of falconry used trained hawks or falcons in the pursuit of wild game. When the "educated predator" was allowed to fly, however, it often rose too high for human eyes to see it. So a hunter often carried a small caged bird called a shrike. By watching the antics of the little bird, the man could always tell where his hawk was, for the shrike instinctively feared the predator and cocked its head to keep it in view.
A Call To Repentance
A mixture of thoughts and emotions swept over me when I heard that a plane had crashed near Pittsburgh, killing everyone aboard. I felt numb. So many people were suddenly ushered into eternity. I thought about the panic that swept over the passengers and crew as the plane hurtled downward. I wondered how many were ready to meet the Lord. My heart went out to those who had loved ones or friends on that flight.
A Dime Among Pennies
One day, educator and comedian Sam Levinson was standing with a group of men who seemed to tower above him. Someone asked, "Sam, don't you feel strange surrounded by so many tall people?" He replied, "Yes, I do. I feel like a dime among a lot of pennies!"
