God's Heirs
According to syndicated columnist L. M. Boyd, an out-of-work and penniless man was strolling along a San Francisco beach one day in 1949. The man, Jack Wurm, found a bottle with a note inside that read, "To avoid confusion, I leave my entire estate to the lucky person who finds this bottle and to my attorney, Barry Cohen. Share and share alike."
Giving Yourself Away
Studies show that people who don't reveal their deep thoughts and feelings tend to be less well-adjusted than those who do. But it is also true that those who freely talk about all their weaknesses are usually not very well-adjusted either. Men and women with healthy personalities do expose their personal lives, but they are selective in what they say.
When You Feel Like Heman
We can all relate to Heman. As we read Psalm 88, we quickly realize that things weren't going very well for him. Although he began by addressing the Lord as the One who could save him, he continued with 17 verses of darkness.
Nursery Rhyme Scholars
A minister flying to the West Coast struck up a conversation with the passenger next to him. "What's your occupation?" he asked. His seatmate replied, "I'm a professor of astronomy. And what about you?" "I'm a pastor," the minister answered.
The Book You Must Read
The December 1995 edition of Writer's Digest included a list of books every writer must read. I was glad to see that the number one book on the list was the Bible. This is what several authors had to say about it.
Filling An Empty Heart
A more vocal man-hater I had never met," said missionary Sophie Jenista. She was describing Erika, a woman she sat next to on a flight from Australia to Singapore. The woman hated men because of an abusive husband.
How Will You Be Remembered?
When we are young, we tend to live as if we think we'll never die. Yet the psalmist said that if we want to gain a heart of wisdom, we need to start numbering our days, whatever our age (90:12). The best way to number them is to make sure that our life is patterned each day after the example of Jesus. Only then can we anticipate that our life will not have been lived in vain.
Fight Fear With Fear
The daughter of a well-known Chicago crime boss has written a book in which she tells of the uneasy fear that continuously stalked her father. His gangland-style death later confirmed that his fears were not unfounded.
The Purpose Of Pain
When Alexander Whyte (1837-1921), the great Scottish preacher, was a boy, he badly injured his arm in a threshing machine. Instead of going to a hospital for almost certain amputation, he was treated at home by a neighbor. When the boy complained of his suffering, she simply said to him, "I like the pain. I like the pain." She knew it was the first step to recovery.
