Commonplace Book

What to do with Wally? Wally was an awkward and shy child who belonged to the church kids club. It was time to hand out roles for the Christmas play, but what role should the teacher give Wally? She decided on the inn-keeper. It was an important role, but required Wally only to shake his head and say one line “Sorry, we’ve no room.” Wally grinned from ear to ear when he learned of his important role and he couldn’t wait for the big night. It arrived soon enough, and the play was proceeding according to plan. Mary and Joseph had traveled to Bethlehem and come to the door of the inn. Joseph knocked on the door and it opened to Wally. “Please sir, do you have a room we could take?” asked Joseph. Wally shook his head and replied. “I’m sorry, we’ve no room”. Now the boy playing Joseph was a particularly confident child, and while the script called for he and Mary to turn away at this point, Joseph decided to exercise some dramatic license. “But sir” he said to the innkeeper, “My wife i...

A store owner was doing some last minute Christmas shopping with his young son when he saw another store owner with whom he had been friends for some time. The two of them exchanged greetings and spoke with each other about what a financially profitable season it had been for their respective stores. The small boy overheard his father say, “This has been the best Christmas ever.” As the store owners parted company, the father and son continued their shopping, but the father noticed his son had become very quiet. He inquired as to his son’s silence, and his son replied, “Dad, you just told Mr. Johnson that this was the best Christmas ever.” His dad replied, “I did, son. The economy is great, and people are really spending.” “O.K.” the son replied, “It’s just that I always thought the first Christmas was the best one.”

Paul Harvey tells the story about a family on Christmas Eve. This family had a tradition where the Mother and children would go to the Christmas Eve service, and the Father would stay home and read the paper. When the family returns home from church, they would all gather to open up their presents. The Father was not an evil man, but he just couldn’t believe in the childhood stories anymore of God coming as a baby in a manger. As the family left for church, he opened up the evening paper and began to read by the fireplace. Suddenly, he heard tapping on the window. It was a bird flying against the glass of his window trying to get out of the snow into the warmth of his home. The man had compassion on the bird, and he went outside, hoping to bring it in. As he approached the bird, the bird just flew against the window even harder. Pretty soon, the bird flew into the bushes below the window, half frozen, yet too afraid to be caught by this huge man. The more the man tried to reach ...

One of my favorite Christmas stories is about the old shoe cobbler who dreamed one Christmas Eve that Jesus would come to visit him the next day. The dream was so real that he was convinced it would come true. So the next morning he got up and went out and cut green boughs and decorated his little cobbler shop and got all ready for Jesus to come and visit. He was so sure that Jesus was going to come that he just sat down and waited for Him. The hours passed and Jesus didn’t come. But an old man came. He came inside for a moment to get warm out of the winter cold. As the cobbler talked with him he noticed the holes in the old man’s shoes, so he reached up on the shelf and got him a new pair of shoes. He made sure they fit and that his socks were dry and sent him on his way. Still he waited. But Jesus didn’t come. An old woman came. A woman who hadn’t had a decent meal in two days. They sat and visited for a while, and then he prepared some food for her to eat. He gave her a nouri...

There's a legend of a fourth wise man (written in 1895 by Henry Van Dyke ). He set out about the same time as the other three, however, he stops along the way to help a dying man, which makes him late to meet with the caravan of the other three wise men. Because he missed the caravan, and he can't cross the desert with only a horse, he is forced to sell one of his treasures in order to buy the camels and supplies necessary for the trip. He then commences his journey but arrives in Bethlehem too late to see the child, whose parents have fled to Egypt. He saves the life of a child at the price of another of his treasures. He then travels to Egypt and to many other countries, searching for Jesus for many years and performing acts of charity along the way. After 33 years, he is still a pilgrim, and a seeker after light. He arrives in Jerusalem just in time for the crucifixion of Jesus. He spends his last treasure, the pearl, to ransom a young woman from being sold into slavery. ...

Douglas Maurer, 15, of Creve Coeur, Missouri, had been feeling bad for several days. Mrs. Maurer took Douglas to the hospital in St. Louis where he was diagnosed as having leukemia. The doctors told him in frank terms about his disease. They said that for the next three years, he would have to undergo chemotherapy. They didn't sugarcoat the side effects. They told Douglas he would go bald and that his body would most likely bloat. Upon learning this, he went into a deep depression. His aunt called a floral shop to send Douglas an arrangement of flowers. She told the clerk that it was for her teenage nephew who had leukemia. When the flowers arrived at the hospital, they were beautiful. Douglas read the card from his aunt without emotion. Then he noticed a second card. It said: "Douglas - I took your order. I work at Brix Florist. I had leukemia when I was seven years old. I'm 22 years old now. Good Luck. My heart goes out to you. Sincerely, Laura Bradley." His ...

A wealthy farmer responded to the witness of a Christian employee by saying, "I'll admit I'm not perfect. I get pretty angry sometimes. I swear a little, and sometimes tell a lie; but I don't cheat people, and I give liberally to good causes. I figure I'm better than the average individual, with enough good points to offset my weaknesses. This should get me into Heaven." That evening when the hired hand who had tried to testify to his boss came in from building a fence, the employer said, "Well, Jack, is the fence all tight and strong?" The man replied, "I can't say that it's perfect, but it ought to do. Some parts are a little weak, but others are extra firm. There are a few gaps in it, but I made up for them by doubling the rails on each side of the openings. Perhaps it's not entirely satisfactory, but considering everything, it strikes a good average." The farmer exploded, "Why you might as well not have built the fen...

A couple, visiting in Korea, saw a father and his son working in a rice paddy. The old man guided the heavy plough as the boy pulled it. "I guess they must be very poor," the man said to the missionary who was the couple's guide and interpreter. "Yes," replied the missionary. "That's the family of Chi Nevi. When the church was built, they were  eager to give something to it, but they had no money. So they sold their ox and gave the money to the church. This spring they are pulling the plough themselves." After a long silence, the woman said, "That was a real sacrifice." The missionary responded, "They do not call it a sacrifice. They are just thankful they had an ox to sell."

Samuel Colgate, the founder of the Colgate business empire, was a devout Christian, and he told of an incident that took place in the church he attended. During an evangelistic service, an invitation was given at the close of the sermon for all those who wished to turn their lives over to Christ and be forgiven. One of the first persons to walk down the aisle and kneel at the altar was a well-known prostitute. She knelt in very real repentance, she wept, she asked God to forgive her, and meanwhile the rest of the congregation looked on approvingly at what she was doing. Then she stood and testified that she believed God had forgiven her for her past life, and she now wanted to become a member of the church. For a few moments, the silence was deafening. Finally, Samuel Colgate arose and said, "I guess we blundered when we prayed that the Lord would save sinners. We forgot to specify what kind of sinners. We'd better ask him to forgive us for this oversight. The Holy Spirit h...

At the university there was a piano teacher that was simply and affectionately known as "Herman." One night at a university concert, a distinguished piano player suddenly became ill while performing an extremely difficult piece. No sooner had the artist retired from the stage when Herman rose from his seat in the audience, walked on stage, sat down at the piano and with great mastery completed the performance. Later that evening, at a party, one of the students asked Herman how he was able to perform such a demanding piece so beautifully without notice and with no rehearsal. He replied, "In 1939, when I was a budding young concert pianist, I was arrested and placed in a Nazi concentration camp. Putting it mildly, the future looked bleak. But I knew that in order to keep the flicker of hope alive that I might someday play again, I needed to practice every day. I began by fingering a piece from my repertoire on my bare board bed late one night. The next night I added a ...

Bob Edmunds, my former colleague in the church where I used to serve in Elmira, New York, tells a story of what it feels like to be denied hospitality. He and his family were vacationing one summer and decided to worship at a prominent church in the Washington D. C. area. Apparently this church had quite a reputation for the quality of their preaching and corporate worship. The reputation held up, according to Bob and Susan's standards. And believe me, they have rather high ones. The sermon was riveting and the music, inspiring. That much did not disappoint them. But the lack of hospitality did. From the moment they arrived at that church to the time they left, not one person spoke to them - except for the pastor who made a feeble attempt on their way out the door. No one directed them to the nursery. They had to find it themselves. No one invited them to the fellowship hall for coffee and refreshments afterwards. They had to find it themselves. In fact Bob deliberately stood un...

Winston Churchill had planned his funeral, which took place in Saint Paul's Cathedral. He included many of the great hymns of the church, and used the eloquent Anglican liturgy. At his direction, a bugler, positioned high in the dome of Saint Paul's, intoned, after the benediction, the sound of Taps, the universal signal that says the day is over. But then came the most dramatic turn: As Churchill instructed, as soon as Taps was finished, another bugler, placed on the other side of the great dome, played the notes of Reveille - It's time to get up. It's time to get up. It's time to get up in the morning. That was Churchill's testimony that at the end of history, the last note will not be Taps, it will be Reveille. The worst things are never the last things.

GIVE UP grumbling! Instead, "In everything give thanks." Constructive criticism is OK, but "moaning, groaning, and complaining" are not Christian disciplines. GIVE UP 10 to 15 minutes in bed! Instead, use that time in prayer, Bible study and personal devotion. GIVE UP looking at other people's worst points. Instead concentrate on their best points. We all have faults. It is a lot easier to have people overlook our shortcomings when we overlook theirs first. GIVE UP speaking unkindly. Instead, let your speech be generous and understanding. It costs so little to say something kind and uplifting. Why not check that sharp tongue at the door? GIVE UP your hatred of anyone or anything! Instead, learn the discipline of love. "Love covers a multitude of sins." GIVE UP your worries and anxieties! Instead, trust God with them. Anxiety is spending emotional energy on something we can do nothing about: like tomorrow! Live today and let God's grace b...

A young man who applied for a job as a Morse code operator. Answering an ad in the newspaper, he went to the address that was listed. When he arrived, he entered a large, noisy office. In the background a telegraph clacked away. A sign on the receptionist's counter instructed job applicants to fill out a form and wait until they were summoned to enter the inner office. The young man completed his form and sat down with seven other waiting applicants. After a few minutes, the young man stood up, crossed the room to the door of the inner office, and walked right in. Naturally the other applicants perked up, wondering what was going on. Why had this man been so bold? They muttered among themselves that they hadn't heard any summons yet. They took more than a little satisfaction in assuming the young man who went into the office would be reprimanded for his presumption and summarily disqualified for the job. Within a few minutes the young man emerged from the inner office esco...

A friend shared with me a beautiful legend about a king who decided to set aside a special day to honour his greatest subject. When the big day arrived, there was a large gathering in the palace courtyard. Four finalists were brought forward, and from these four, the king would select the winner. The first person presented was a wealthy philanthropist. The king was told that this man was highly deserving of the honor because of his humanitarian efforts. He had given much of his wealth to the poor. The second person was a celebrated physician. The king was told that this doctor was highly deserving of the honour because he had rendered faithful and dedicated service to the sick for many years. The third person was a distinguished judge. The king was told that the judge was worthy because he was noted for his wisdom, his fairness, and his brilliant decisions. The fourth person presented was an elderly woman. Everyone was quite surprised to see her there, because her manner was qui...

Five-year-old Suzie told her mother the story of Snow White which she had heard in school. Prince Charming had kissed her back to life. Suzie concluded: "And do you know what happened then?" "Yes," said the mother, "they lived happily ever after." "No," responded Suzie, with a frown, "...they got married."

Oscar Cervantes is a dramatic example of the Spirit's power to transform lives. As a child, Oscar began to get into trouble. Then as he got older, he was jailed 17 times for brutal crimes. Prison psychiatrists said he was beyond help. But they were wrong! During a brief interval of freedom, Oscar met an elderly man who told him about Jesus. He placed his trust in the Lord and was changed into a kind, caring man. Shortly afterward he started a prison ministry. Chaplain H. C. Warwick describes it this way: "The third Saturday night of each month is 'Oscar Night' at Soledad. Inmates come to hear Oscar and they sing gospel songs with fervor; they sit intently for over 2 hours; they come freely to the chapel altar.... What professionals had failed to do for Oscar in years of counseling, Christ's Spirit did in a moment of conversion."

A wealthy businessman was horrified to see a fisherman sitting beside his boat, playing with a small child. "Why aren't you out fishing?" asked the businessman. "Because I caught enough fish for one day, "replied the fisherman. "Why don't you catch some more?" "What would I do with them?" "You could earn more money," said the businessman. "Then with the extra money, you could buy a bigger boat, go into deeper waters, and catch more fish. Then you would make enough money to buy nylon nets. With the nets, you could catch even more fish and make more money. With that money you could own two boats, maybe three boats. Eventually you could have a whole fleet of boats and be rich like me." "Then what would I do?" asked the fisherman. "Then," said the businessman, "you could really enjoy life." The fisherman looked at the businessman quizzically and asked, "What do you th...

In his book, The Preaching Event, John Claypool tells a poignant story about identical twin brothers who never married because they enjoyed each other's company so much. When their father died, they took over his store and ran it together in a joyful collaboration. But one day a man came in to make a small purchase and paid for it with a dollar. The brother who made the sale placed the dollar on top of the cash register... and walked the customer to the door to say goodbye. When he returned, the dollar bill was gone. He said to his twin brother, "Did you take the dollar bill I left here?" "No, I didn't," answered the brother. "Surely, you took it," he said, "There was nobody else in the store." The brother became angry: "I'm telling you, I did not take the dollar bill." From that point, mistrust and suspicion grew until finally the two brothers could not work together. They put a partition right down the middle of the bui...

Karl Barth was lecturing to a group of students at Princeton. One student asked the German theologian "Sir, don't you think that God has revealed himself in other religions and not only in Christianity?" Barth's answer stunned the crowd. With a modest thunder he answered, "No, God has not revealed himself in any religion, including Christianity. He has revealed himself in his Son."

In 1970, a man by the name of Malcolm Muggeridge went to Calcutta to do a special documentary on Mother Teresa for BBC-TV. Muggeridge then was Europe' s Tom Brokaw. Well, on that fated morning of their meeting (a morning that would change him the him for the rest of his life) he met her as she was working out in the streets with sick and poor people in a ghetto like he had never seen before, amid stench, filth, garbage, disease, and poverty that was just unbelievable. But what struck Muggeridge more than anything else, even there in that awful squalor and decadence, was the deep, warm glow on Mother Teresa's face and the deep, warm love in her eyes. "Do you do this every day?" he began his interview. "Oh, yes," she replied, "it is my mission. It is how I serve and love my Lord." "How long have you been doing this? How many months?" "Months?" said Mother Teresa. "Not months, but years. Maybe eighteen years. ...

A new husband watched curiously as his bride prepared to place a ham in the oven. Before putting it in to cook, she took a knife and carefully trimmed off both ends of the ham. The husband asked, "Why did you do that? I'm not an expert at cooking hams, but I don't think I ever saw anyone cut off both ends of the ham before cooking it." The wife answered, "You know, I don't really know. I never cooked a ham before, but that's the way my mother always did it." Her curiosity aroused, she telephoned her mother and asked her why she always cut off both ends of a ham before she cooked it. "Now that you mention it, I don't know, dear," her mother replied. "That's just the way your grandmother always did it. Other than that, I honestly don 't have a clue." Determined now to unravel this mystery, the young bride then telephoned her grandmother and asked her why she always cut off both ends of the ham before she cooked it...

Jimmy Carter, in his autobiography WHY NOT THE BEST? shared an incident that made him aware of his lack of evangelical fervor. Each year the congregation of Plains Baptist Church holds a one-week revival service. In preparation for the week, the leaders of the congregation would venture into the community inviting non-churched members to the services. As a deacon, Carter always participated in this exercise. Carter would always visit a few homes, read the Scriptures and have prayer, share some religious beliefs, then he would talk about the weather and crops and depart. Carter wrote: "I was always proud enough of this effort to retain a clear conscience throughout the remainder of the year." One day Carter was asked to speak at a church in Preston, Georgia. The topic he was assigned was "Christian Witnessing." As Carter sat in his study writing the speech, he decided he would make a great impression upon the audience by sharing with them how many home visits he m...

Some years ago premier Khrushchev was speaking before the Supreme Soviet and was severely critical of the late Premier Stalin. While he was speaking someone from the audience sent up a note: "What were you doing when Stalin committed all these atrocities?" Khrushchev shouted, "Who sent up that note?" Not a person stirred. "I'll give him one minute to stand up!" The seconds ticked off. Still no one moved. "All right, I'll tell you what I was doing. I was doing exactly what the writer of this note was doing - exactly nothing! I was afraid to be counted!"

D.L. Moody once called on a leading citizen in Chicago to persuade him to accept Christ. They were seated in the man's parlor. It was winter and coal was burning in the fireplace. The man objected that he could be just as good a Christian outside the church as in it. Moody said nothing, but stepped to the fireplace, took the tongs, picked a blazing coal from the fire and set it off by itself. In silence the two watched it smolder and go out. "I see," said the man.

The story is told about a little boy who found a rat in his back yard. He jumped on it. He stomped on it. And he killed it. He was so proud of himself, & he ran to show it to his mother. But he didn't realize that the preacher had come to call. So the excited boy ran into the house, carrying the rat by the tail, hollering to his mom, "Mom, look what I found. I found this rat. I jumped on it, I stomped on it, &..." Just then he noticed the preacher & he finished his sentence by saying, "And then the Lord called him home."

In a rural area near Cairo, Georgia two brothers grew up on a farm. One brother took to education like a duck to water. He graduated from Georgia Tech and became a renowned engineer in Chicago. The other brother was content to stay home and farm. Some years later the learned brother was invited to give a speech in Atlanta at the Peachtree Plaza Hotel. He had not seen his brother in a long while so he invited him to bring his family to the hotel and spend a little time with him. The rural brother had never been in a town bigger than Cairo. He and his wife and son piled into their pickup truck and headed for Atlanta. After a fearful experience on the interstate highways, they pulled up in front of the Peachtree Plaza. The farmer left his wife in the truck. He and his son went inside to check in. Just inside the entrance were a number of elevators. The farmer had never seen one before. He watched a large, very plain, middle aged lady step inside one of those little rooms. The doors c...

A Chinese man and a Jewish man were eating lunch together. Suddenly, without warning the Jew gets up, walks over to the Chinese fellow and smashes him in the mouth, sending him sprawling. The Chinese man picks himself up, rubs his jaw and asks, "What in the world did you do that for?" And the answer comes back: "For Pearl Harbor!" His response is total astonishment: "Pearl Harbor? I didnt have anything to with Pearl Harbor. It was the Japanese that bombed Pearl Harbor!" The Jew responds, "Chinese, Japanese, Taiwanese--theyre all the same to me. With that they both sit down again, and before too long the Chinese man gets up, walks over to the Jew and sends him flying with a hard slap to the jaw. The Jew yells out, "What did you do that for?" And the answer comes back: "The Titanic." "The Titanic? Why, I didn't have anything to do with the Titanic!" Whereupon the Chinese man replies, "Goldberg, Feinberg, I...

In the 1990's the "Leaning Tower of Pisa" was finally reopened to the public, after having been closed for several years. During that time, engineers completed a 25 million dollar renovation project designed to stabilize the tower. They removed 110 tons of dirt, and reduced its famous lean by about 16 inches. Why was this necessary? Because the tower has been tilting further and further away from vertical for hundreds of years, to the point that the top of the 185-foot tower was seventeen feet further south than the bottom, and Italian authorities were concerned that if nothing was done, it would soon collapse. What was the problem? Bad design? Poor workmanship? An inferior grade of marble? No. The problem was what was underneath. The tower was built on the shifting sands of a former estuary. The soil was not stable enough to support a monument of this size. The tower had no firm foundation.

There was once an absent-minded professor who became so absorbed in his work that he forgot the simplest details. One morning his wife said, "Now Henry, remember, we are moving today. Here, I'm putting this note in your pocket. Don't forget." The day passed by and the man came home to his house. He entered the front door, and found the place empty. Distraught, he walked out to the curb and sat down. A young boy walked up to him, and he asked him, "Little boy, do you know the people who used to live here?" The boy replied, "Sure, Dad, mother told me you'd forget." How often do we become so absorbed in "the little things of this world" that we forget who we are and whose we are and where we are going...

A junior high school teacher was telling her class about evolution and how the way everything in the world was formed proved that God doesn't exist. She said, "Look out the window. You can't see God, can you?" The kids shook their heads. "Look around you in this room. You can't see God, can you?" The kids shook their heads. "Then our logical conclusion is that God doesn't exist, does He?" she asked at last, certain that she had won her audience over. But one girl from the back of the classroom said, "Miss Smith, just because we can't see it doesn't mean it doesn't exist. We could do brain surgery and investigate the parts of your brain and we could do a CAT scan and see the brain patterns in your head. But we couldn't prove that you've had a single thought today. Does that mean that you haven't thought anything today? Just 'cause you can't see it doesn't mean it doesn't exist." Seeing i...

A number of years ago, Newsweek magazine carried the story of the memorial service held for Hubert Humphrey, former vice-president of the United States. Hundreds of people came from all over the world to say good-bye to their old friend and colleague. But one person who came was shunned and ignored by virtually everyone there. Nobody would look at him, much less speak to him. That person was former president Richard Nixon. Not long before, he had gone through the shame and infamy of Watergate. He was back in Washington for the first time since his resignation from the presidency. Then a very special thing happened, perhaps the only thing that could have made a difference and broken the ice. President Jimmy Carter, who was in the White House at that time, came into the room. Before he was seated, he saw Nixon over against the wall, all by himself. He went over to [him] as though he were greeting a family member, stuck out his hand to the former president, and smiled broadly. To the s...

I was asked a question by a seeker this week, “Why aren’t dinosaurs mentioned in the Bible?”. My response was that most of the dinosaurs ceased to exist 65 million years prior to humanity’s entrance in the world, and had no bearing on human history. Why would they be in the Bible, a historicity made for humans?

Once there was a man who was involved in an unethical and dishonest business venture.  Eventually the law caught up with him, and he was arrested and convicted of bribery.  He admitted his guilt and threw himself on the mercy of the court. The man's lawyer, hoping for a reduced sentence, brought witnesses to attest to his client's character.  In the course of such laudatory evidence, it was revealed that the man tithed 10% of his ill-gotten income. The judge interrupted upon hearing this news, asking incredulously, "You mean the defendant tried to bribe God, too?" It is a memorable line.  Sometimes in our prayers many of us get close to bribery, trying to influence or sway God's mind, trying to bargain with the Lord by promising something in return for His favor. When we engage in such prayers, we are skating on thin spiritual ice.  Mature Christians seek to know God's will, not to impose their wishes upon Him.  Remember, your Heavenly Father...

A mid-west farm had fallen into disrepair after the last of the Browns had died, leaving it to the starlings and weeds.  Then, Tom Austin bought it and through months of back-breaking work, transformed it into a place of beauty.  The barn roof was repaired, the house was refurbished, fences mended, outbuildings painted, the weeds mowed and the fields pregnant with maturing wheat and corn. One day, the minister came along and, with one foot on the fence, observed, "God and you have sure made a big change in the place, Tom." Tom said he was certainly grateful to God for His goodness.  Then he added drily, "But you should have seen this place when He was running it by Himself." Humor aside, God doesn't do for us what we should do ourselves.  Furthermore, we wouldn't want it any other way.  Satisfaction from a job well done is one of life's richest blessings.  There is truth in the statement that God feeds the birds, but He doesn't throw the food ...

"Closed December 31," the sign on the door of the hardware store read.  "Taking Inventory."  Many businesses will be taking inventory today.  By counting the materials on hand and assigning a value to them, companies can determine their profit or loss for the year. Few are like the corner grocer I knew who, when asked if he made a profit, replied, "Sure, I always have more money in the till at night than I do in the morning." If you were to take inventory of your spiritual profit or loss this year, what would the ledger show?  Did you realize some growth?  What areas of your life need improvement?  What habits do you think God would like to see you eliminate?  What disciplines do you need to initiate in order to accomplish what you should? Each year, I pick four goals to accomplish – two within the spiritual realm, and two within mundane life.  They can, of course, overlap. Whether 2017 was all you had hoped or not, it is behind....

A couple of Christmases ago, I read about a successful businessman who was giving away winter gloves on a New York City street corner to people who had none. "Why?" he was asked. "I do this every Christmas," he explained, "because there was a time many years ago when I was very poor and could not afford to buy a pair.  I remember how cold my hands got and how much I envied people who had gloves. Our needs should sensitize us to others who have needs.  A person who has known hunger can identify with another who has gone without food.  A prisoner knows what it is for another to love his freedom.  A person who has been bedridden understands how lonely and depressing it can be for another to be hospitalized or shut-in with illness. The problem is that sometimes we forget.  That's the inspiring aspect about the story of the man who gives away gloves at Christmas.  He remembers. Whether you can identify with another's problem or not, there is somet...

A man spoke with the Lord about heaven and hell.  The Lord said to the man, "Come, I will show you hell."  They entered a room where a group of people sat around a huge pot of stew.  Everyone was famished, desperate and starving.  Each held a spoon that reached the pot, but each spoon had a handle so much longer than their own arm that it could not be used to get the stew into their own mouths.  The suffering was terrible. "Come, now I will show you heaven," the Lord said after a while.  They entered another room, identical to the first - the pot of stew, the group of people, the same long-handled spoons.  But there everyone was happy and well-nourished. "I don't understand," said the man.  "Why are they happy here when they were miserable in the other room and everything was the same?" The Lord smiled.  "Ah, it is simple," he said.  "Here they have learned to feed each other."

Two brothers worked together on the family farm.  One was married and had a large family.  The other was single.  At the day's end, the brothers shared everything equally, produce and profit. Then one day the single brother said to himself, "It's not right that we should share equally the produce and the profit.  I'm alone and my needs are simple."  So each night he took a sack of grain from his bin and crept across the field between their houses, dumping it into his brother's bin. Meanwhile, the married brother said to himself, "It's not right that we should share the produce and the profit equally.  After all, I'm married and I have my wife and children to look after me in years to come.  My brother has no one, and no one to take care of his future."  So each night he took a sack of grain and dumped it into his single brother's bin. Both men were puzzled for years, because their supply of grain never dwindled.  Then one dark nigh...

President Calvin Coolidge once invited friends from his hometown to dine at the White House.  Worried about their table manners, the guests decided to do everything that Coolidge did.  This strategy succeeded until coffee was served.  The president poured his coffee into the saucer.  The guests did the same.  Coolidge added sugar and cream.  His guests did too.  Then Coolidge bent over and put his saucer on the floor for the cat.

A man risked his life by swimming through the treacherous riptide to save a youngster being swept out to sea.  After the child recovered from the harrowing experience, he said to the man, "Thank you for saving my life." The man looked into the boy's eyes and said, "That's okay, kid.  Just make sure your life was worth saving."

A top executive who had lost his job of 30 years came home considering suicide.  He couldn't bring himself to tell his wife of the humiliation nor could he bear the thought of his friends knowing.  He went into the bedroom where he kept his gun and took it in his hands.  He could end it in a minute, he thought, but something stopped him.  Maybe tomorrow when his wife went shopping... That night he slept fitfully and in the morning at breakfast, he was a nervous wreck.  Then while he was reading the paper, the phone rang.  It was a friend of a friend who had heard the unemployment news.  He was considering starting a new business and needed a partner.  It was the chance of a lifetime. The fired executive went into the bedroom, threw the gun in the safe, and fell on his knees in prayer. Victory is never final, Churchill pointed out, and defeat is seldom fatal.  When you stumble or fall, when you lose something important, when you commit ...

This week I read a letter from a woman in the Southwest whose concern had been a seemingly incorrigible son.  Many months ago she told us that her son had gotten into trouble with the law.  He faced a tough, no-nonsense type of judge whom the mother feared "would throw the book at Tom."  She asked that we pray that the man would be merciful and fair.  This we did. "You cannot believe the warmth and the love this judge showed our son," she wrote later.  "It was a total turnaround from previous conferences.  I know it was the result of prayer." The letter went on to relate that the son had received a suspended sentence, had been placed on probation and had since gotten a job which he is performing well. Prayer is often the court of last resort when it, in fact, should be the first.  That's because it is the Supreme Court, and its Chief Justice is capable of miraculous things.  He can ease the hearts of troubled mothers, give busy judges compa...

I once overheard a conversation between my wife and another young woman - a recent mother - that surprised me.  This young mother had had a very difficult time, laboring long and hard before she finally gave birth to a healthy son.  "But," she said, cuddling the baby to her, "all that difficulty is a dim memory now." Apparently this is a common statement by mothers following childbirth because I have heard it since from other women that the hard work of giving birth isn't prominent in their thinking.  "A minor footnote compared to the immense joy of my child," one told me. Sometimes when we are in a dark spiritual or physical dungeon, it seems as if the night will never pass.  We toil in vain, trying to eliminate problems.  We question the strength of our faith, the devotion of loved ones, the constancy of God's love. Yet in the ripeness of time, when a problem has run its course, we suddenly find ourselves out of our tunnel and into sunshin...

Once, an assignment took a writer to San Juan, Puerto Rico.  There, one night after dinner, he sat with several other diners for a long time listening to a native of the island playing calypso music on a crude steel drum.  Using mallets, the young man produced some toe-tapping sounds from his makeshift instrument. Thinking about that experience drives home an important point to me.  Some people have the wherewithal to surround themselves with the finest instruments - grand pianos, handmade violins, exquisite harps - but don't have the skill or talent or discipline to get music from them.  But a young man beating on the bottom of a steel container was able to make a whole roomful of people happy with his joyous music. The secret is to make the most of life's gifts.  Don't complain to God about what He hasn't supplied you.  Thank Him today for His many gifts, especially for life itself.  Because when you are alive, really alive in every sense of the...

In the figure below are 9 dots, which become a puzzle when we are asked to draw four straight, contiguous lines which will go through all 9 dots (or one contiguous line in four directions): Typically, we are caught with one dot untouched - no matter where we start or how we move.  Our problem, you see, is that we made an assumption, namely that the dots constitute a box.  We think we are supposed to stay within the space "enclosed" by the dots.  Now this assumption is not part of the instructions at all.  We simply presumed it to be so - an unconscious "rule" we brought to the problem.  So we are at a loss to work the puzzle successfully. Now, let's reverse the assumption.  The clue to the resolution is that instead of assuming we have to "stay inside" the box, the truth is that it is necessary  to go outside the lines.  Once we make the reversed assumption, the puzzle is solvable in a matter of seconds.  

Once I read of a man whose plane crashed in a vast snow-covered forest.  Miraculously he lived, but while he was trying to find help, a blizzard struck.  Blinded by snow, he wandered the whole night in circles and eventually froze to death - only a short distance from a rescue station. Had he been an experienced woodsman, he might have survived by following the example of animals and burrowing under fallen pine boughs and other foliage.  He also might have tried to mark his trail to record where he had been.  Smart hikers mark their progress through a wood with blazes, usually cuts on trees; then if they want to backtrack they won't get lost and walk in circles. Many people spend their lives walking in circles, lost and unable to extricate themselves from their narrow, boxlike existences.  In the Bible we read about many lost, sinful, confused men and women who were redeemed by God's saving grace.  If you feel trapped by circumstances and are covering ...

Every couple of years I go to the eye doctor to get my eyes examined, and the last time I was there the optician reminded me of a forgotten fact:  we don't really see with our eyes.  The image comes through the cornea and bounces onto the retina at the back of the eyeball.  From there, electric impulses take the image to the part of the brain where it can then be "seen."  People can have healthy-looking eyes, big and beautiful, but not be able to see if the receiving part of their brain is damaged. In a spiritual sense, God gives his children a special way of looking at things that other people don't have.  He supplies his followers with a keener vision, a deeper understanding.  Today, ask God to help you see beyond the physical plane.  Perhaps there is some need a friend or loved one has, a need that is hidden by brave words or disguised actions.  Reach out in love to heal their hurts.  "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard the things which G...

A woman from the South writes, "I need your prayers.  I have been labeled something I am not because of vicious gossip.  Pray that I can find a way to combat this untruth." Abraham Lincoln came under heavy attack while he was President and was reviled by many leaders of the day.  In response to all the things he was called, Lincoln posed this question:  "How many legs does a lamb have if you call its tail a leg?"  His answer was "Four, because calling a tail a leg doesn't make it one." When you are maligned - and everyone is at one time or another - your best defense is the life you live.  If you are honest, fair, just, those who know you will speak on your behalf.  What others say won't matter.  Don't let others damage your self-esteem if their charges are without foundation.  Ask for God's grace to strengthen you and go forward with your head held high.

I believe in the Sun   even when it is not shining. I believe in Love   even when I feel it not. I believe in God   even when He is silent.                     Anonymous I once read the quotation above on a plaque in a barbershop.  The barber told me that it had meant a lot to him, and that many others had thanked him for posting it.  For me, the message communicates a deep truth:  there are many things in this world that we accept "by faith." We know that the sun is not gone, just because it has disappeared behind a cloud.  And I know that I love my wife and that she loves me even on those days when I don't feel very loving or lovable.  And Christians know that God exists even when they wait on Him to answer their prayers.  All around us we see living testimony to the fact that He loves us.  Live one day at a time, trusting that He is there, caring for you, concerned about you...

Once a young couple lost their only child, a beautiful 3-year-old daughter, as the result of a freak accident.  Unable to justify this tragedy with their concept of a loving God, they went to their minister for help.  "Why?" they asked. "It was God's will," the minister told them. The couple couldn't accept that answer and sought out the assistant pastor.  He quoted yards of Scripture, trying to give them comfort, but his many words fell on deaf ears. Finally, they turned to a frail old woman in the church.  She had little formal education, but she knew her Bible well.  Surely, she could give them a spiritual answer.  After hearing the details of the child's death, the old woman didn't utter a single word.  Instead, she tenderly wrapped her arms around the heartbroken couple's shoulders, and together they cried the hurt away. Sometimes, when answers aren't easy, our best statement is silent caring.

Ruth went to her mail box and there was only one letter. She picked it up and looked at it before opening, but then she looked at the envelope again. There was no stamp, no postmark, only her name and address. She read the letter: Dear Ruth, I'm going to be in your neighborhood Saturday afternoon and I would like to visit. Love Always, Jesus Her hands were shaking as she placed the letter on the table. "Why would the Lord want to visit me? I'm nobody special. I don't have anything to offer." With that thought, Ruth remembered her empty kitchen cabinets. "Oh my goodness, I really don't have anything to offer. I'll have to run down to the store and buy something for dinner." She reached for her purse and counted out it's contents. Five dollars and forty cents. "Well, I can get some bread and cold cuts, at least." She threw on her coat and hurried out the door. A loaf of French bread, a half-pound of sliced turkey, and ...

Two traveling angels stopped to spend the night in the home of a wealthy family. The family was rude and refused to let the angels stay in the mansion’s guest room. Instead the angels were given a small space in the cold basement. As they made their bed on the hard floor, the older angel saw a hole in the wall and repaired it. When the younger angel asked why, the older angel replied, “Things aren’t always what they seem.” The next night the pair came to rest at the house of a very poor, but very hospitable farmer and his wife. After sharing what little food they had the couple let the angels sleep in their bed where they could have a good night’s rest. When the sun came up the next morning the angels found the farmer and his wife in tears. Their only cow, whose milk had been their sole income, lay dead in the field. The younger angel was infuriated and asked the older angel: “How could you have let this happen? The first man had everything, yet you helped him”, she accused. “...

A hungry man was walking down the street in a village of medieval Turkey. He had only a piece of bread in his hand. He came to a restaurant where some meatballs were being grilled. The cooking meat was so near and the smell so delicious the man held his piece of bread over the meat to capture some of the smell. As he started to eat the bread, the angry restaurant owner seized him and took him away to see a judge. The owner protested, "This man was stealing the smell of my meat without asking permission. I want you to make him pay me for it." The judge thought for a moment, then held up his purse in front of the owner and shook it. "What are you doing that for?" asked the restaurant owner? The judge replied, "I am paying you. The sound of money is fair payment for the smell of food."

A little girl once asked, "If God is inside of me and is so big, why doesn't he break through?" This is the question of this heavenly audit. Why doesn't the grace and love of God break through in the way we speak, in how we act, in the many times we come in contract with others. The issue is accountability and God's chosen way of caring for his children. He has chosen to work in and through us who are called to be a part of the Body of Christ.

The story is told of a young monk asking an older monk, "Father, if God is infinitely merciful, how can he deprive anyone of his heavenly kingdom?" The older monk answered, "Why do you keep turning your head from side to side?" The younger monk replied, "Because the sun keeps hitting me right in the eye and just won't leave me in peace." "Then you've answered your own question," the older monk laughed. "God doesn't deprive anyone of his heavenly kingdom. Some simply cannot bear the light, any more than you can bear the light of the sun."

My husband is an Engineer by profession, I love him for his steady nature, and I love the warm feeling when I lean against his broad shoulders. Three years of courtship and now, two years into marriage, I would have to admit, that I am getting tired of it. The reasons of me loving him before, has now transformed into the cause of all my restlessness. I am a sentimental woman and extremely sensitive when it comes to a relationship and my feelings, I yearn for the romantic moments, like a little girl yearning for candy. My husband, is my complete opposite, his lack of sensitivity, and the inability of bringing romantic moments into our marriage has disheartened me about love. One day, I finally decided to tell him my decision, that I wanted a divorce. “Why?” he asked, shocked. “I am tired, there are no reasons for everything in the world!” I answered. He kept silent the whole night, seems to be in deep thought with a lighted cigarette at all times. My feeling of disappointment o...

A young man went to seek an important position at a large printing company. He passed the initial interview and went to meet the director for the final interview. The director looked at his resumé, and asked, “Have you ever received a scholarship for school?” “No,” the man replied. “It was your father who paid for your studies?” “Yes.” “Where does your father work?” “My father is a blacksmith.” Then, the director asked the young man to show him his hands. They were soft and perfect. “Have you ever helped your parents at their job?” the director continued. “Never. My parents always wanted me to study and read more books. Besides, he can do the job better than I can.” “I have a request for you,” said the director. “When you go home today, go and wash the hands of your father, and then come see me tomorrow morning.” The young man left feeling good about the interview. That night, when he returned home, he asked his father if he would allow him to wash his hands. ...

Years ago, a little girl was reprimanded by her father for wasting a whole roll of gold wrapping paper. He reprimanded the child and sent her to her room. The next morning in spite of what had happened the night before, she appeared before her father with a huge box wrapped in gold wrapping paper and said, "Here Daddy, this is for you." Swallowing hard, the man opened the box to find nothing inside and again reprimanded the child by telling her that, when you give a present, there is supposed to be something inside. With tears in her eyes she said, "Daddy, the box isn't empty...I blew kisses into it for you." The father hugged his child and begged for her forgiveness. He kept the box by his bed for years; and whenever he felt overwhelmed by life, he would open the box and take one of the precious gifts that his daughter had given him years before. In this time of giving or at any time, let us remember that it truly isn't the gift, but the intent that...

A cold March wind danced around the dead of night in Dallas as the doctor walked into the small hospital room of Diana Blessing. Still groggy from surgery, her husband David held her hand as they braced themselves for the latest news. That afternoon of March 10, 1991, complications had forced Diana, only 24-weeks pregnant, to undergo an emergency cesarean section to deliver the couple’s new daughter, Danae Lu Blessing. At 12 inches long and weighing only one pound and nine ounces, they already knew she was perilously premature. Still, the doctor’s soft words dropped like bombs. ‘I don’t think she’s going to make it'” he said, as kindly as he could. ‘”There’s only a 10-percent chance she will live through the night, and even then, if by some slim chance she does make it, her future could be a very cruel one.’ Numb with disbelief, David and Diana listened as the doctor described the devastating problems Danae would likely face if she survived. She would never walk; she would nev...

There once was a little boy who wanted to meet God. He knew it was a long trip to where God lived, so he packed his suitcase with Twinkies and a six-pack of root beer and started his journey. When he had gone about three blocks, he met an old woman. She was sitting in the park just staring at some pigeons. The boy sat down next to her and opened his suitcase. He was about to take a drink from his root beer when he noticed that the old lady looked hungry, so he offered her a Twinkie. She gratefully accepted it and smiled at him. Her smile was so pretty that the boy wanted to see it again, so he offered her a root beer. Once again she smiled at him. The boy was delighted! They sat there all afternoon eating and smiling, but they never said a word. As it grew dark, the boy realized how tired he was, and he got up to leave; but before he had gone more than a few steps, he turned around, ran back to the old woman and gave her a hug. She gave him her biggest smile ever. When the bo...

I'd like you to imagine yourself in the first century of the common era.  You're a Roman citizen, fairly well off.  You wear the best silks against your skin, are fairly well educated in the "classics", can speak both Latin and Greek.  You've just kissed your newly cleaned child, breathing in the scent of the oils used to keep his skin in good condition, and sent him off with his nurse.  Now is a time when you can relax with your light evening meal, bread and dates, figs and a bit of meat, wines perfectly matching.  Life in your city was perfect.  You glance out the window, only in that split second seeing Vesuvius before being frozen in time, dying in superheated gasses and volcanic ash.  The explosion of Mt. Vesuvius was so sudden, the citizens in both the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum were perfectly preserved in time, as shown in National Geographic's May 1984 issue.  The saddest part is that these people did not have to die. Scientists co...

I stood in that old church in Richmond where long ago Patrick Henry fired a verbal shot that was heard around the world. It was on March 20, 1775, a day when centuries were crowded into hours. The olive branch men of the time were trying to work out a compromise of peaceful coexistence, although the term hadn't come into use, with George III. But Patrick Henry was fed up with finagling, and that Virginian saw no sense in further negotiation. He said, "I don't know what others will do, but as for me give me liberty or give me death." The dye was cast and the Rubicon was crossed, and all bridges were burned and retreat was impossible. There wasn't any uncertainty about where Patrick Henry stood. He cleared the air and stated the issue. There weren't any third dimensions and middle ground. Such a speech is awfully out of date in this fuzzy day of wooly thinking when experts in double talk, in the art of almost saying something specialize in a straightforward w...

Too often in our evangelism we offer salvation without mentioning the cost of commitment. God's grace is given freely but it's given exclusively. God expects his followers to remain faithful. If they turn away from him after he's saved them he gets angry. He describes it as being like the anger of husband whose wife has an affair. So when you choose to follow him make sure it's an exclusive commitment. When we come to the book of Judges, just over the page, we find account after account of the failure of the people to remain faithful and the disastrous outcomes for the nation that result from their unfaithfulness. They remain God's chosen people but the success and happiness that might have been theirs is destroyed. Time and time again God removes his protection from them in order to bring them back to him.

But going back to salt, I figure this can actually be linked with capacity fairly well.  If we are to flavor life, to make it attractive to others, we need to realize that not everyone is attracted to the same flavors – some enjoy spice, others sweet; some are as we would describe “salt of the earth” and others as “salty” and still others “old salt”.  Each of us have personalities that attract different types of people.  And for people to feel comfortable, they have to know that their particular personality or flavor or salt will be welcome among the family of God – if only appreciated by a few.

No. Generally one of the first words we use as children – mostly because parents say it so often to us.    Makes you wonder how often God had to say it to us when the world was new.  People tend to generally understand that when God says no, or not right now, it’s because He has a greater plan for us, or it’s not something that would be good for us in the long run, or perhaps it’s as simple as – God’s time is not our time. So the question then becomes, how do you know when it’s God saying no, or the “Church” saying no – and is there a difference for the average parishioner?  Today’s commemorations at morning prayer were about  Anna Julia Haywood Cooper  and  Elizabeth Evelyn Wright , two educators (eventually) associated with the Episcopal Church.  Interestingly, Cooper was the fourth black woman to ever achieve the degree of doctorate in the United States, although she had to get it at the Sorbonne in France.  She believed that you s...