Your Biography
When D. L. Moody was moving into old age, he was asked to grant permission for his biography. Moody refused, saying, “A man’s life should never be written while he is living. What is important is how a man ends, not how he begins.”
A Personal Letter
In 1991, actress Julia Roberts was asked what object she valued most. “I have a letter from my daddy,” she replied, “the only letter that I managed not to lose as a child . . . . If anybody ever took that away from me, I would just be destroyed. It doesn’t mean anything to anybody else, yet I can read that letter 10 times a day, and it moves me in a different way every time.”
Unity In The Faith
Aristides, a second-century apologist for the Christian faith, wrote this to the Roman emperor Hadrian about believers in his day:
The Promise Of Peace
At Christmastime we love to hear the angelic message of peace on earth. But the message that’s repeated in songs and sermons needs to be heard and heeded every day of the year. We continually hear reports of tragedies around the globe. And we may be troubled by personal problems and crises. We long for and pray for peace.
How To Face Another Day
World-famous cellist Pablo Casals once gave this challenging testimony: “For the past 80 years I have started each day in the same manner. . . . I go to the piano and I play two preludes and fugues of Bach. I cannot think of doing otherwise. It is a benediction on the house. But that is not its only meaning for me. It is a rediscovery of the world of which I have the joy of being a part.”
Grooves Of Grace
A man was traveling in Canada one springtime when frost and melting snow made it nearly impossible to drive farther. He came to a crossroads and saw a sign that said, “Take care which rut you choose. You will be in it for the next 25 miles.” That’s a wise warning for all of us—and not just when we’re driving in rough road conditions.
He Never Changes
Photographer David Crocket of Seattle’s KOMO-TV knows that solid mountains can move. On May 18, 1980, he was at the foot of towering Mount St. Helens when it erupted. For 10 hours he was nearly buried by the falling debris. As the atmosphere cleared, a helicopter pilot spotted him. He was dramatically rescued and flown to a hospital.
Magnifying Our Master
As a man of unwavering steadfastness, the apostle Paul had a fixed ambition. He spelled it out in his letter to the Philippians: "Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death" (1:20).
The Difference Faith Makes
What if we didn't have faith in God but accepted instead the God-denying theory of evolution? Suppose we had an atheistic view of life. Cornell University biologist William Provine declared in a public debate that if you're a consistent Darwinian, you realize there's no life after death, no ultimate foundation for ethics, no ultimate meaning for our existence, no free will. Life would be empty.
