The Lure Of Convenience
Don't have time to eat breakfast? Not even a bowl of cereal or a slice of toast? No problem. Just unwrap a "breakfast bar" made from one of many popular cereal products and eat it on your way to work or school. It may not be the most nourishing meal, but it's convenient, and that seems to be what people want most today. In the US alone, more than 30,000 new beverage, health, beauty, household, and pet products appeared in just one year. The most popular of them emphasized convenience.
Prepared For His Presence
Whenever the President of the United States visits a community, local officials cooperate with advance teams to prepare for his coming. His motorcade route is carefully laid out. Streets are repaired and litter is picked up. The offices, auditoriums, and businesses he'll visit are decorated. Those who will meet him put on their finest clothes. Everything possible is done to give him the kind of reception his high position deserves.
Who Is On The Throne?
According to English poet Oliver Reynolds, an old man had a family altar where he burned incense to an engraving of Napoleon. When asked why he worshiped the picture as a god, the man replied that he would worship anything.
A Bitter Attitude
Great emphasis is being placed on living longer and better. Advances in medical science are making it possible for more and more people. Yet in spite of this, none of us can avoid growing old. One day aging will overtake all of us, and our bodies will shut down.
The Wonder Of Grace
When I was a young boy, a few of my friends had fathers who led their families in daily Bible reading and never missed a church service. But I also knew that some of them were proud, tyrants at home, ruthless in their business dealings, and heartless toward people in need. Although I was young, I knew this kind of hypocrisy did not please God.
Gentle Persuasion
While teaching a college writing class, I used a textbook based on Aristotle's classic work Art of Rhetoric. He outlined three forms of persuasion that can apply to the way we witness to others about Christ.
Rejected, But Loved
An 8-year-old girl wrote to a Christian leader, seeking advice. She wanted to know how she could get her daddy to carry her picture. She said her dad had a photo of her little brother in his wallet (the boy looked like his dad). And he carried a picture of his pretty 15-year-old daughter too. But when this 8-year-old gave him a photo of herself, he put it in a drawer. It seems that she wasn't good enough for her daddy.
Where Love Comes From
What happened between my husband and a dog named Maggie was not love at first sight. In fact, their first meeting was more like a war dance. When Jay came home from work, Maggie stopped him at the back door and growled at him as if he were an intruder. Then Jay growled, wanting to know why a strange dog was in his home. I explained why I rescued her from the kennel, but he was unmoved.
Bowwow
I'll never forget Bowwow—a rag dog that Randy, one of my sons, adopted when he was young. Bowwow was Randy's most precious possession. He had other toys that had cost much more, but none was more greatly loved. Bowwow was Linus' blanket and the Velveteen Rabbit all rolled up into one.
