Some people are kind, polite, and sweet-spirited – until you try to sit in their pews.

“Don’t let your worries get the best of you. Remember, Moses started out as a basket case”

What makes life worth living is the mutual enrichment of people through understanding, intelligence and affection. It is just here that our awareness that Jesus is our contemporary and that Calvary is relevant to our present human situation ought to help us greatly. And that is not merely because in his relationships with others during his earthly life in Palestine Jesus exemplified all that I have tried to say about human relationships. In every genuine human encounter with another person we may become aware of Jesus, and meet with him. This may sound fanciful, but there is much in the Scriptures and in Christian experience which suggests that Jesus is frequently met in the traffic of person with person, provided that there is a genuine encounter between them. Jesus himself showed that for this to happen demands courage and a willingness to move from a life that is centered in itself. So if we are to pass out of that lonely world of isolation then we must be prepared to take the risks that are always involved when we allow persons to confront us as persons and do not regard them as things. Yet, dangerous though it may be to live in this way, it is the only way to live.

…Ambrose Reeves (1899-1980), Calvary Now [1965]

“Your time equals your life. You can run out of money and still have some time left. You can run out of friends with life to spare. But once you run out of time, it’s over.”
Andy Stanley, The Best Question Ever, Sisters, Oregon, Multnomah Publishers, 2004, p. 65.
cog’nitive dis’sonance

Only one way to get there……….GETTING IN TO HEAVEN
A man dies and goes to heaven. Of course, St. Peter meets him at the Pearly Gates. St. Peter says, “Here’s how it works. You need 100 points to make it into heaven.
You tell me all the good things you’ve done, and I give you a certain number of points for each item, depending on how good it was. When you reach 100 points, you get in.
“Okay,” the man says, “I was married to the same woman for 50 years and never cheated on her, even in my heart.” “That’s absolutely wonderful,” says St. Peter, “that’s worth three points!”
“Three points?” he says. “Well, I attended church all my life and supported its ministry with my tithe and service.” “Terrific!”! says St. Peter. “That’s certainly worth a point.”
“One point!?!!” “Well I started a soup kitchen in my city and worked in a shelter for homeless veterans.” “Fantastic, that’s good for two more points,” he says.
” Only two points!?!!” Exasperated, the man cries. “At this rate the only way I’ll ever get into heaven is by the grace of God.”
“Bingo … 100 points! Come on in!”
We often try to fix problems with WD-40 and duct tape. God did it with a nail.

We should always pray with as much earnestness as those who expect everything from God; we should always act with as much energy as those who expect everything from themselves.

…Charles C. Colson

All who call on God in true faith, earnestly from the heart, will certainly be heard, and will receive what they have asked and desired, although not in the hour or in the measure, or the very thing which they ask; yet they will obtain something greater and more glorious than they had dared to ask.

…Martin Luther (1483-1546)

Do little things as though they were great, because of the majesty of Jesus Christ who does them in us, and who lives our life: and do the greatest things as though they were little and easy, because of His omnipotence.

…Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), Pensées [1660]

We cannot understand the depth of the Christian doctrine of sin if we give it only a moral connotation. To break the basic laws of justice and decency is sin indeed. Man’s freedom to honor principles is the moral dimension in his nature, and sin often appears as lawlessness. But sin has its root in something which is more than the will to break the law. The core of sin is our making ourselves the center of life, rather than accepting the holy God as the center. Lack of trust, self-love, pride, these are three ways in which Christians have expressed the real meaning of sin. But what sin does is to make the struggle with evil meaningless. When we refuse to hold our freedom in trust and reverence for God’s will, there is nothing which can make the risk of life worth the pain of it.

…D. D. Williams (1910-1973), Interpreting Theology 1918-1952 [1953]

It does not make a very great difference what side of Christ’s work attracts us and appeals to us most; doubtless Christ has many ways of drawing men to Himself. One side of Christ’s work will appeal most to one mind, another to another. The mistake that is often made by those who speak most about Christian experience is that they are so apt to insist upon everyone else’s experience—on penalty of its utter worthlessness—being exactly the same as their own. The great thing is that we should be attracted by Christ in some way, that we should come to God in that spirit of penitence which Christ taught was the one condition of acceptance with Him, and with that steady purpose of amendment which is, as he always taught, a part of true penitence.
James Hastings Rashdall (1858-1924), Principles and Precepts [1927]
There is a pride of faith, more unforgiveable and dangerous than the pride of the intellect. It reveals a split personality in which faith is “observed” and appraised, thus negating that unity born of a dying-unto-self, which is the definition of faith. To “value” faith is to turn it into a metaphysical magic, the advantages of which ought to be reserved for a spiritual elite.

…Dag Hammarskjöld (1905-1961), Markings [1964]