For years preachers have used the Dead Sea as an illustration of the importance of giving back. The have made the point that the Dead Sea receives but has no outlet to give to and that is what makes it dead. Now it no longer even receives. We have a new...

Robert Shannon tells the story of the Waldensians, a small Protestant group greatly persecuted in Europe in the seventeenth century. In 1686 they were exiled to Switzerland where they remained until 1689. Then they crossed the mountains, going 128 miles in 8 days over...

A teenager came out of the church service and began to complain to her friends. "That sermon was way to long," she said, before realizing the preacher was right behind her. Trying to dig herself out of the hole she had dug she tried again; "Well, I guess it...

Michaelangelo started forty-four statues, but completed only fourteen. In a museum in Italy, you can see his thirty unfinished works. There are huge chunks of marble with only a hand, or a foot, or a leg completed. Are our lives like...

Perseverance

The famous jockey, Willie Shoemaker, once lost a race because he thought he had won it. He mistook a marker for the finish line and stood up in the stirrups. The horse took this to mean the race was over and slowed down just enough for...

A drive-in espresso place might be innovative enough, but Al Holm has added a new dimension to his drive-in coffee shop. You see, Al is a minister and he also serves up drive through weddings. His coffee shop is called "Sacred Grounds." There is no waiting period in Idaho, the location of th

Watchman Nee used to tell of a Chinese Christian who was a poor rice farmer. Every day, he would fill his rice patties with water only to find out that his neighbor, who was not a Christian, would drain the water into his own rice patties. For a while, the Christian ignored this offense, but

A University of Southern California study found that greater wealth didn't translate into greater happiness. The survey monitored the lives of approximately 1,500 people over the course of thirty years. Richard Easterlin, a professor at USC, says that instead of money, time with family and g

There is a story about a brother in a monastery who was assigned to preach. All the brothers came into the chapel and found the lights off. The brother who was supposed to preach lit a candle. He took that candle and held it up to the crucifix. There he illuminated the thorn crowned brow, th