selective belief
If you believe what you like in the gospel, and reject what
you don't like, it is not the gospel you believe, but yourself.
... St. Augustine (354-430)


nearness of God
The nearness of God may inspire awareness of his activity,
mystery and order in the most ordinary and "non-sacred" places.
Therefore, Christians working in any kind of college must pray
for and cultivate delicate sensitivity to God's unexpected
disclosures in the ordinary and even in the profane areas of
life. The temptation of those who exalt the unrestricted
activity of God in any and all places is that they may become
overly diffuse in their outlook, seeing him where he does not
deign to disclose himself or scorning the customary or
conventional places of public worship. These, strangely
enough, are the places where the very distance of God leads us.
(Continued tomorrow)
... Wallace Gray, "Philosophy and Worship"

ON WORSHIP

Has it ever occurred to you that one hundred pianos all
tuned to the same fork are automatically tuned to each other?
They are of one accord by being tuned, not to each other, but
to another standard to which each one must individually bow.
So one hundred worshippers meeting together, each one looking
away to Christ, are in heart nearer to each other than they
could possibly be were they to become 'unity' conscious and
turn their eyes away from God to strive for closer fellowship.
Social religion is perfected when private religion is purified.
The body becomes stronger as its members become healthier. The
whole church of God gains when the members that compose it
begin to seek a better and a higher life.
... A. W. Tozer (1895-1963

BROKEN HEART
By constantly meditating on the goodness of God and on our
great deliverance from that punishment which our sins have
deserved, we are brought to feel our vileness and utter
unworthiness; and while we continue in this spirit of
self-degradation, everything else will go on easily. We shall
find ourselves advancing in our course; we shall feel the
presence of God; we shall experience His love; we shall live in
the enjoyment of His favour and in the hope of His glory...
You often feel that your prayers scarcely reach the ceiling;
but, oh, get into this humble spirit by considering how good
the Lord is, and how evil you all are, and then prayer will
mount on wings of faith to heaven. The sigh, the groan of a
broken heart, will soon go through the ceiling up to heaven,
aye, into the very bosom of God.
... Charles Simeon (1759-1836)

ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE
If all things are possible with God, then all things are
possible to him who believes in him.
... Corrie ten Boom (1892-1983)

WITH HONOR
I would prefer even to fail with honor than win by cheating.

Sophocles
(BC 495-406, Greek Tragic Poet)


KNOWLEDGE
If a man empties his purse into his head, no man can take it away
from him, for an investment in knowledge pays the best interest.

Joseph E. O'Donnell

FEAR OF TIME

"Don't let the fear of the time it will take to accomplish something
stand in the way of your doing it. The time will pass anyway; we might
just as well put that passing time to the best possible use."

-- Earl Nightingale

HAPPINESS
Happiness adds and multiplies, as we divide it with others.

A. Nielsen
(1897-1980, American Businessman, Market Researcher))

Happiness will never come to those who fail to appreciate what
they already have.

Source Unknown


If you want happiness for an hour -- take a nap. If you want
happiness for a day -- go fishing. If you want happiness for a month --
get married. If you want happiness for a year -- inherit a fortune. If
you want happiness for a lifetime -- help someone else.

Chinese Proverb



COURTESY
All doors open to courtesy.

Thomas Fuller
(1608-1661, British Clergyman, Author)

FEAR
There is no greater hell than to be a prisoner of fear.

Ben Johnson
(1600-?British Clergyman, Poet)


JUDGING
We judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing, while others
judge us by what we have already done.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
(1819-1892, American Poet)


PRAYING FOR LABORERS
It is true that [people] are praying for world-wide
revival. But it would be more timely, and more scriptural, for
prayer to be made to the Lord of the harvest, that He would
raise up and thrust forth laborers who would fearlessly and
faithfully preach those truths which are calculated to bring
about a revival.
... A. W. Pink (1886-1952)


PRAYER
We have taught our people to use prayer too much as a means
of comfort -- not in the original and heroic sense of
uplifting, inspiring, strengthening, but in the more modern and
baser sense of soothing sorrow, dulling pain, and drying tears
-- the comfort of the cushion, not the comfort of the Cross.
... G. A. Studdert Kennedy (1883-1929)

We can do nothing, we say sometimes, we can only pray.
That, we feel, is a terribly precarious second-best. So long
as we can fuss and work and rush about, so long as we can lend
a hand, we have some hope; but if we have to fall back upon God
-- ah, then things must be critical indeed!
... A. J. Gossip (1873-1954

Faith is to the soul what life is to the body. Prayer is
to faith what breath is to the body. How a person can live and
not breathe is past my comprehension, and how a person can
believe and not pray is past my comprehension too.
... J. C. Ryle, "A Call to Prayer"
[Thanks to Robert J. Douglas at RJDOUGLAS@stthomas.edu]


You don't always get what you ask for, but you never get what you
don't ask for... unless it's contagious!

Franklyn Broude

You create your opportunities by asking for them.

Patty Hansen
(American Author)






PRIDE
The trouble with self-made men is that they tend to worship their
creator.

Source Unknown


CHANGE
Just because everything's different doesn't mean anything's
changed.

Irene Porter


LIFE
Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived
forward.

Soren Kierkegaard
(1813-1855, Danish Philosopher, Writer)

There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though
nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.

Albert Einstein
(1879-1955, German-born American Physicist)

WORRY

Set aside half an hour every day to do all your worrying; then
take a nap during this period.

Source Unknown


REPENTANCE
It is better to run back than run the wrong way.

Proverb


ACHIEVEMENT
You don't have to be a fantastic hero to do certain things - to
compete. You can be just an ordinary chap, sufficiently motivated to
reach challenging goals.

Sir Edmund Hillary
(1919-, New Zealand Mountaineer, Explorer)

There are risks and costs to action. But they are far less than
the long range risks of comfortable inaction.

John F. Kennedy
(1917-1963, Thirty-fifth President of the USA)

Adversity cause some men to break; others to break records.

William A. Ward


You create your opportunities by asking for them.

Patty Hansen
(American Author)


We cannot become what we need to be, remaining what we are.

Max Depree
(1924-, American Furniture Manufacturing Company Executive)





INFLUENCE

"Read something positive every night and listen to something helpful
every morning."

-- Tom Hopkins


TEACHING

"To teach is to learn twice."

-- Joseph Joubert

GREATEST TRAP
Over the years, I have come to realize that the greatest trap in our life is not success, popularity, or power, but self-rejection. Success, popularity, and power can indeed present a great temptation, but their seductive quality often comes from the way they are part of the much larger temptation to self-rejection. When we have come to believe in the voices that call us worthless and unloveable, then success, popularity, and power are easily perceived as attractive solutions. The real trap, however, is self-rejection. As soon as someone accuses me or criticizes me, as soon as I am rejected, left alone, or abandoned, I find myself thinking, "Well, that proves once again, that I am a nobody." ....[My dark side says,] "I am no good... I deserve to be pushed aside, forgotten, rejected and abandoned." Self-rejection is the greatest enemy of the spiritual life because it contradicts the sacred voice that calls us the "Beloved." Being the Beloved constitutes the core truth of our existence.

Henri Nouwen (1932 - 1996) was a Jesuit priest and writer, born in the Netherlands.


LEGACY
The key to the fire within is our spiritual need to leave a legacy. It transforms other needs into capacities for contributions. Food, money, health, education, and love become resources to reach out and help fill the unmet needs of others.

Stephen R. Covey is chairman and founder of Covey Leadership Center, a worldwide, 700 member leadership development firm.


BEING QUIET
"Why are you all so quiet all the time?" I say, still
whispering at him in this hoarse voice.
"We are teachers and workers," he says, "not talkers."
"Workers, O.K.," I say, "but how can a teacher be quiet all
the time and teach anybody anything?"
"Christ was the best," he says, thinking of something. "He
lived thirty-three years. Thirty years he kept quiet; three
years he talked. Ten to one for keeping quiet."
... Franc Smith, Harry Vernon at Prep [1959]


CHRISTIANITY AND COMMUNITY
There are many things which a person can do alone, but
being a Christian is not one of them. As the Christian life
is, above all things, a state of union with Christ, and of
union of his followers with one another, love of the brethren
is inseparable from love of God. Resentment toward any human
being cannot exist in the same heart with love to God. The
personal relationship to Christ can only be realized when one
has "come to himself" as a member of His Body, the Christian
fellowship.
... William T. Ham

GOD TAKING CARE
Nobody seriously believes the universe was made by God
without being persuaded that He takes care of His works.
... John Calvin (1509-1564)










OBEDIENCE
Do not ask the Lord to guide your footsteps, If you are not
willing to move your feet.

Source Unknown



TRUST
After Calvary, God has the right to be trusted; to be
believed that He means what He says; and that His love is
dependable.
... A. J. Gossip, In the Secret Place of the Most High [1947]



ON TALKING
Say not always what you know, but always know what you say.

Claudius
(10 BC-AD 54, Roman Emperor)


REACTING
It's not what happens to you, but how you react to it that
matters.

Epictetus
(50-120, Stoic Philosopher)