Rather sends regards to Orton
By Tom Kubat, Journal and Courier
After reading a story recently in the New York Times about how as a youngster Orton — who has said that someday he might like to run for office — would follow the political scene by watching the CBS Evening News, Dan Rather fired off a note to the Purdue quarterback. The note said: Dear Kyle, Just a note of support and encouragement. I was admiring and pulling for you before someone in the newspaper noted that you and your family were watchers of The CBS Evening News. As a one-time alleged pass-catching end (started in high school; rode the pine mostly in college), I, naturally, have a liking for good-throwing quarterbacks. Keep charging and know — just know — that I’m always hoping the best for you and believing in you. Strength and honor, my young friend from afar. Sometime, anytime you’re in New York, let’s have a cup of coffee and talk politics. My best to your family. Sincerely, Dan Rather

We never become truly spiritual by sitting down and wishing to become so. You must undertake something so great that you cannot accomplish it unaided.

…Phillips Brooks (1835-1893)

“People say that we’re searching for the meaning of life. I don’t think that’s it at all. I think what we’re seeking is a spirit of being alive, so that our life experiences on the purely physical plane will have resonances within our innermost being and reality, so that we actually feel the rapture of being alive.”
Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth, and quoted by Aron Ralston in his book Between a Rock and a Hard Place, Atria Books, a trademark of Simon Schuster, Inc., 2004, p. 173.
Doubts: A man may be haunted with doubts, and only grow thereby in faith. Doubts are the messengers of the Living One to the honest. They are the first knock at our door of things that are not yet, but have to be, understood… Doubt must precede every deeper assurance; for uncertainties are what we first see when we look into a region hitherto unknown, unexplored, unannexed.
George Macdonald (1824-1905), “The Voice of Job,” Unspoken Sermons, Second Series [1885]
Meditation:
Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.
— 1 Thessalonians 5;21 (KJV)

“So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun.”
Jon Krakauer, Into The World, and quoted by Aron Ralston in his book Between a Rock and a Hard Place, Atria Books, a trademark of Simon Schuster, Inc., 2004, p. 73.

We all live on borrowed time which is why the late Beetle George Harrison said “Everything else can wait but the search for God cannot wait …”
The heart must be kept tender and pliable; otherwise agnosticism converts to skepticism. In such a case, the value of apologetics is voided, for apologetics is aimed at persuading doubters, not at refuting the defiant. He who demands a kind of proof that the nature of the case renders impossible, is determined that no possible evidence shall convince him.

…Edward John Carnell (1919-1967), The Case for Orthodox Theology, p. 84 [1959]

How did Jesus show his authority? Not by making vast claims for himself, though such claims were implicit. His authority seemed to reside in what he was and what he did rather than in what he specifically claimed to be. Especially in Mark’s Gospel there is an elusive quality about his authority, the mystery of the hidden Messiah. His authority was at the same time most deeply hidden and most clearly expressed by his servanthood… The more the Church in its life shows forth the character of the Servant, the more will its teaching bear the marks of the authority of the Servant.

…Anthony T. Hanson (1916-1991), The Church of the Servant [1962]

The Gospel is not presented to mankind as an argument about religious principles. Nor is it offered as a philosophy of life. Christianity is a witness to certain facts — to events that have happened, to hopes that have been fulfilled, to realities that have been experienced, to a Person who has lived and died and been raised from the dead to reign for ever.

…Massey H. Shepherd, Jr. (1913- ), Far and Near

I am persuaded that love and humility are the highest attainments in the school of Christ and the brightest evidences that he is indeed our Master.

…John Newton (1725-1807)

I’m Israle and i’m a student going to st jhon coummity collage. I took pre algebra 5 years ago as a freashman in high school. This is my frist year of collage. I have a high school diopoma but these people put me into these prep classes. Per algebra is pretty easy but i do need help sometime. Commutative property of addition, additive identity, additive inverse, distributive property, associative multiplilation, multiplicative identity and closure. I may past the test before you can give this back to me. I mean i past the self test with 100% but the post test i get a 60%. I want to know what going on. If i need more help in math i’ll come back to you.

BERTRAND RUSSELL: In conclusion, there is a marvelous anecdote from the occasion of Russell’s ninetieth birthday that best serves to summarize his attitude toward God and religion. A London lady sat next to him at this party, and over the soup she suggested to him that he was not only the world’s most famous atheist but, by this time, very probably the world’s oldest atheist. “What will you do, Bertie, if it turns out you’re wrong?” she asked. “I mean, what if — uh — when the time comes, you should meet Him? What will you say?” Russell was delighted with the question. His bright, birdlike eyes grew even brighter as he contemplated this possible future dialogue, and then he pointed a finger upward and cried, “Why, I should say, ‘God, you gave us insufficient evidence.'” Al Seckel, in Preface to Bertrand Russell on God and Religion