An Honor to Sacrifice

"If a commission by an earthly king is considered a honor, how can a commission by a Heavenly King be considered a sacrifice?" — David Livingstone

You Can Make A Difference

"The opening chapters of Job, however, reveal that God staked a lot on one man's wickedness or righteousness. Somehow, in a way the book only suggests and does not explain, one person's faith made a difference. That, to me, is the most powerful and enduring lesson from the book of Job." - Philip Yancy in "The Bible Jesus Read" page 65.

Someone's Help

I'm a like a turtle on a fence post. I didn't get here by myself.

Perspective

"If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next. The Apostles themselves, who set on foot the conversion of the Roman Empire, the great men who built up the Middle Ages, the English Evangelicals who abolished the Slave Trade, all left their mark on Earth, precisely because their minds were occupied with Heaven. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this. Aim at Heaven and you will get earth 'thrown in': aim at earth and you will get neither." - C.S. Lewis in "Mere Christianity", page 116-117

For the Whole World

"The themes of Jesus' teaching are important, but of course he was more than a teacher. All the gospels put the end of his life at the dramatic center of his story. Here all the hopes of Israel come together - he is the king of the Jews, the greatest of the suffering prophets. Yet Jesus transformed those expectations. He did not lead Israel to victory over Rome. Indeed, one of the remarkable features of the narratives of his last days is that his increasing isolation makes it impossible to identify him with any one 'side' or cause. The Roman governor sentenced him as a Jewish rebel, but the leaders of Judaism also turned against him. He attacked the powerful on behalf of the poor, but in the end the mob too called for his blood. His own disciples ran away; Peter denied him. He did not go to his death agony as a representative of Jews, or of the poor, or of Christians, but alone, and thus, according to Christian faith, as a representative of all." - William C. Placher in "A History of Christian Theology: an introduction", page 30.

Part Mystery

"If you find God with great ease, perhaps it is not God that you have found." - Thomas Merton

Sin Enslaves

The evil deeds of a wicked man ensnare him;
the cords of his sin hold him fast.

He will die for lack of discipline,
led astray by his own great folly.

Proverbs 5:22,23

Think Before You Leap

"There is time for daring, there is a time for caution, and a wise man knows which is called for." - John Keating (teacher in Dead Poet's Society)

Upward and Onward

"I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired." - Roy (inmate I met in a prison ministry day yesterday. He has been a Christian now 32 days and was really excited about what God was doing in his life. What a great blessing to meet him.)

Look For The Good In People

"If you look for the bad in mankind expecting to find it, you surely will." - Abraham Lincoln (quoted in the movie 'Pollyanna')

Eric Liddell #2

"Jenni, I believe God made me for a purpose - for China - but He also made me fast; and when I run, I feel His pleasure. You were right; it's not just fun. To win is to honor Him. To give it up would be to hold Him in contempt."

Motivation

"If you wish to build a ship teach men to yearn for the sea." - Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Simplify

It seems the more things you accumulate the more stressful life becomes.

Leadership

To be a good leader one must first be able to follow.

Make A Difference

"History will be kind to me, because I intend to write it." - Winston Churchill

A Good Deal

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." - Jim Elliot

Stupidity . . .

. . . is doing with efficiency that which doesn't need to be done at all.

What God Has Given You To Do

"If a man is called to be a street sweeper, let him sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Shakespeare wrote, or Beethoven composed. Let him sweep streets so that all of heaven will rejoice and say, "Here lived a great man who did his job well." - Martin Luther King

Trying to live by His Word . . .

"It's not the parts of the Bible I don't understand that trouble me; it's the parts I do understand." - Billy Graham

Sacrifice 2 . . .

I once read - for the life of me I can't remember where - of a single mother in California who was concerned about the number of kids dropping out of school. So she went to a first grade class and told them that if they graduated from high school she would put them through college. I can't remember how many actually made it but the lady scrimped and saved over 12 years and put several - I want to say 18 - kids through college. Inspiring to say the least.

Use Your Gifts

"Don't fail to do something just because you can't do everything." - Bob Pierce (World Vision Founder)

You Really Need To Read The Whole Book . . .

"Are we concentrating more on the kingdom of this world than on the kingdom that is not of this world? The public image of the evangelical church today is practically defined by an emphasis on two issues that Jesus did not even mention. How will we feel if historians of the future look back on the evangelical church of the 1990s and declare, 'They fought bravely on the moral fronts of abortion and homosexual rights,' while at the same time reporting that we did little to fulfill the Great Commission, and we did little to spread the aroma of grace in the world?" - Philip Yancey, in "What's So Amazing About Grace?" p. 236.

Caring for the least of these

"There are people in the world so hungry that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread." - Mahatma Gandhi

Discipline

If you do not master your time and money, they will master you.

Peace

"Peace is not merely the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice." - Martin Luther King

Why I like Chariots of Fire

Because I respect Eric Liddell - yes, for his stand at the 1924 Olympics, but primarily for his life after the Olympics. After the Olympics Eric Liddell could have stayed in Scotland and spent his life speaking at any number of places, telling his story and sharing the gospel and that would have been fine. But instead, he left a place where everyone knew his name to go to a country where he was unknown, where he would eventually die in a concentration camp at the end of WWII, in order to bring the gospel to people who needed to hear it. It seems there's no shortage of well-known people who use their fame for the gospel, which is all well and good, but Eric Liddell was a man who forsook his fame for the sake of the gospel . . . what am I willing to forsake, sacrifice, or give up, if indeed "love is found in the things we've given up more than in the things that we have kept"?

Sacrifice . . .

"Love is found in the things we've given up more than in the things that we have kept." -Rich Mullins

Eric Liddell #1

"My arrogance, sir, extends exactly as far as my conscience demands."