“I used to ask God if He would come and help me. Then I
asked if I could come and help Him. Finally I ended by
asking God to do His own work through me.”
---J. Hudson Taylor, nineteenth century Christian missionary
and founder of the interdenominational China Inland
Mission
December 2, 2005
“I was born excited.”
---Mark Twain, when asked the reason for his success
December 3, 2005
“No man ever became great by imitation.”
---Samuel Johnson, eighteenth century English essayist
December 4, 2005
“For they can conquer who believe they can.”
---Virgil, ancient Greek poet
December 5,
2005
“It makes a
tremendous emotional and practical difference to one whether
one accepts the universe in the drab discolored way of stoic
resignation to necessity, or with the passionate happiness
of Christian saints.”
---Pioneer Psychologist, William James (1842-1910), in The
Varieties of Religious Experience
December 6,
2005
“The best way
to discern what a person truly believes is to scrutinize
their actions.”
---David B. Whitlock, Ph.D.
December 7,
2005
“Don’t worry
about it.”
---The words of the lieutenant at a small radar station in
the Pacific when informed by subordinates that dots and dots
appeared on their radar screen, 137 miles from Pearl Harbor
at 7 A.M. on December 7, 1941
December 8,
2005
“Find something
to laugh about.”
---Maya Angelou, writer
December 9,
2005
“It’s very hard
to take yourself too seriously when you look at the world
from outer space.”
---Thomas K. Mattingly II, Apollo 16 astronaut, in Bits and
Pieces
December 10,
2005
“No, no! I go
to receive mercy!”
---Puritan preacher Thomas Hooker (1586-1647), on his
deathbed, when a friend tried to console him by saying, “You
are going to receive your reward.”
December 11,
2005
“True worship
compels us, forces us to fall flat on our faces, to be
humbled before God, to be refueled spiritually.”
---Don Julian, in Parables, etc., February, 1999
December 12,
2005
“God grant me
the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage
to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the
difference.”
---St. Francis of Assisi (1182-1286)
December 13,
2005
“It’s easy to
love the people far away. It is not always easy to love
those close to us…Bring love into your home, for this is
where our love for each other must start.”
---Mother Teresa
December 14,
2005
“There are
times when the best way to deal with conflict is to avoid
it. As my father used to tell me when I was a boy trying to
get along with kids in the schoolyard, ‘The easiest fights
to win are the ones you stay out of.’”
---Gary Preston, in Leadership, Summer 1999
December 15,
2005
“I don’t care
how big, or strong, or fast, or whatever else an athlete is,
if a man doesn’t think he can win, he is not going to win.”
---Football coach, Bobby Bowden, in More Than Just a Game.
December 16,
2005
“Do not go
where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path
and leave a trail.”
---Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)
Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone,
everywhere (Mark 16:15).
December 17,
2005
“Do little
things as if they were great because of the majesty of the
Lord Jesus Christ who dwells in you; and do great things as
if they were little and easy because of His omnipotence.”
---Blasé Pascal (1623-1662)
Whatever you eat or drink or whatever you do, you must do
all for the glory of God. (I Corinthians 10:31).
December 18,
2005
“Relying on God
has to begin all over again every day as if nothing had yet
been done.”
---C.S. Lewis (1898-1963)
If any of you wants to be my follower, you must put aside
your selfish ambition, shoulder your cross daily, and follow
me (Luke 9:23).
December 19,
2005
“Time and
again, the way the Bible tells it, when we human beings have
stormed off to pout like spoiled children, or slammed the
door in a huff like angry lovers, or hidden within the
shadows out of shame, this loquacious God has come looking
for us, come wanting to begin the conversation for the
thousandth time, breaking our silences in the name of
steadfast love.”
---William H. Willimon, United Methodist Bishop, in The
Christian Century, December, 1984
While he was still a long distance away, his father saw him
coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son,
embraced him, and kissed him. (Luke 15: 20)
December 20,
2005
“A prison cell,
in which one waits, hopes, does various unessential things,
and is completely dependent on the fact that the door of
freedom has to be opened from the outside is not a bad
picture of Advent.”
---Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945), in a letter to his
fiancée, from Tegel Prison in Germany, November 21, 1943
God will break the chains that bind his people and the whip
that scourges them…In that day of peace, battle gear will no
longer be issued…For a child is born to us, a son is given
to us. And the government will rest on his shoulders. These
will be his royal titles: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9: 4-6
December 21,
2005
“It is in the
giving at Christmas that we receive our greatest gift.”
---David B. Whitlock, Ph.D.
When they saw the star they were filled with joy…Then they
opened their treasure chests and gave him gifts of gold,
frankincense, and myrrh. (Matthew 2: 10&11)
December 22,
2005
“Mary’s calling
was to carry the body of God, and to bear not only her own
pain but her son’s, feeling his anguish as intensely as all
mothers before or since have felt with their children.”
---Luci Shaw (1928--), in Christianity Today, December 12,
1986
But Mary quietly treasured these things in her heart and
thought about them often. (Luke 2:19).
December 23,
2005
“‘I Hear the
Bills on Christmas Day.’”
---A misprint in a church bulletin on the Sunday before
Christmas, as cited by Bob Phillips, in The Return of the
Good Clean Jokes.
Wherever your treasure is, there your heart and thoughts
will be also. (Matthew 6:21)
December 24,
2005
“We must never
allow anything to blind us to the true significance of what
happened at Bethlehem so long ago. Nothing can alter the
fact that we live on a visited planet.”
---J.B. Phillips, from Good News, cited in Parables, Etc.,
December, 2002
So the Word became human and lived here on earth among us.
(John 1: 14)
December 25,
2005
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
“Happy, happy
Christmas, that can win us back to the delusions of our
childhood days, recall to the old man the pleasures of his
youth, and transport the traveler back to his own fireside
and quiet home!”
---Charles Dickens (1812-1870)
Simeon…took the child in his arms and praised God saying,
“Lord, now I can die in peace! As you promised me, I have
seen the Savior you have given to all people. He is a light
to reveal God to the nations, and he is the glory of your
people Israel!”(Luke 2: 28-32)
December 26,
2005
“It is no use
giving us rules of conduct; we cannot keep them…A lecture
will not solve our problem; we need a Saviour.”
---John R.W. Stott, in Basic Christianity
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has appointed me
to preach Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim
that captives will be released, that the blind will see,
that the downtrodden will be freed from their oppressors,
and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.(Luke
4:18-19)
December 27,
2005
“Remember, God
loves you simply because he has chosen to do so. He loves
you when you don’t feel lovely. He loves you when no one
else loves you. Others may abandon you, divorce you, and
ignore you, but God will love you. Always. No matter what.”
---Max Lucado, Christian author, in A Love Worth Giving to
You at Christmas
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so
that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have
eternal life. (John 3:16)
December 28,
2005
“Let the
desolate soul take comfort from the fact that God is just as
present with His lonely children today as He was with His
Son.”
---J. Oswald Sanders (1917-1972), Christian leader in Lonely
but Never Alone
I will never fail you. I will never forsake you. (Hebrews
13:5)
December 29,
2005
“Love is an
irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired.”
---Robert Frost (1874-1963)
Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all
the days of my life. (Psalm 23:6)
December 30,
2005
“The mind of
man is like a clock that is always running down, and
requires to be as constantly wound up.”
---William Hazlitt (1778-1830), English essayist
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by
the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will
of God is, that which is good and acceptable. (Romans 12:2)
December 31,
2005
“We cannot
grasp the opportunities of the New Year while holding to the
limitations of the past year.”
---David B. Whitlock, Ph.D.
I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but
one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching
forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for
the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
(Philippians 3:13-14)
Please
look at my new blog,
"Life Matters". Special messages are added
every Thursday. I look forward to viewing your
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Please
look at my new blog,
