Monthly Archives: October 2015

“The church, if it expects to rouse from lethargy, must know why it exists and what God expects it to accomplish.” —Calvin C. Ratz in Leadership, Vol. 10, no. 3. Elesha Hodge, comp., Today’s Best Illustrations – Volumes 1-4, (Carol Stream, IL: Christianity Today, 1997), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, Under: “Z”. … Continue reading →

“People who want to be amused have lost the art of living.” —Holbrook Jackson in Platitudes in the Making. Christianity Today, Vol. 42, no. 3. , Today’s Best Illustrations – Volume 5, (Carol Stream, IL: Christianity Today, 1997), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, Under: “LIFE”. Psalm 90:12 (TEV) Teach us how short … Continue reading →

My family has always called me Cin. One Sunday in church, our pastor began his message, “Today, I want to talk about sin.” My six-year-old nephew, Seth, sighed and said loudly to my sister, “Oh Mom, what’s she done this time?” —Cotten, Cindy. Today’s Christian Woman magazine, “Small Talk,” May/June … Continue reading →

Eve, with all the fruits of Eden blest / Save only one, rather than leave that one unknown / Lost all the rest. Thomas Moore (1779-1852) Edythe Draper, Draper’s Book of Quotations for the Christian World, (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1992), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, 604. Proverbs 7:1-5 (TEV) 1 … Continue reading →

“Though we live on earth we have already established legal residence in heaven.” —Erwin W. Lutzer (Illinois pastor). Men of Integrity, Vol. 2, no. 4., Today’s Best Illustrations – Volume 5, (Carol Stream, IL: Christianity Today, 1997), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, Under: “HEAVEN”. John 14:1-3 (KJV) Let not your heart be … Continue reading →

Time is life—nothing more, nothing less. The way you spend your hours and your days is the way you spend your life. —John Boykin in The Gospel of Coincidence. Christianity Today, Vol. 38, no. 5. Elesha Hodge, comp., Today’s Best Illustrations – Volumes 1-4, (Carol Stream, IL: Christianity Today, 1997), … Continue reading →

God… can be received only through appreciation and conscious appropriation. He comes only through doors that are “purposely” opened for him. A person may live as near to God as the bubble is to the ocean and yet not find him. He may be “closer than breathing, nearer than hands … Continue reading →

One Sunday, our 3-year-old son Jason had a quarter to put in the offering plate. As the plate passed by, he asked me what God did with the money. I whispered that I’d explain it to him later. He thought for a minute, looked at me and said, “I know. … Continue reading →

We sit at the piano of life and insist that every note we strike is right—because we struck it. We justify want of faith by saying, “I don’t go to church, but I am better than those who do”; as one might say, “I don’t pay taxes or serve the … Continue reading →

It is never enough to have pity on the victims of injustice if we do nothing to change the unjust situation itself. —John R. W. Stott, quoted in “Reflections,” Christianity Today, Vol. 45, no. 5., Today’s Best Illustrations – Volume 5, (Carol Stream, IL: Christianity Today, 1997), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, … Continue reading →