Proper 15: The Purpose of God’s Blessing

In South Korea, every 12th grader has the SAT college entrance exams on the same day in November. On that day, their mothers gather together in Buddhist temples, cathedrals or churches to pray for a good score. For some of the religious institutions, it is one of the most significant days for their financial receipts because mothers donate a lot of money as part of their praying for the SAT. When their children get a good score, parents believe their god has blessed them.

Proper 14: Faith Like a Child

From the time he wakes up until he goes to bed, my 18-month-old son runs all over the house and runs into stuff. Once, he climbed up the couch and managed to get onto the dining table and just pounced. Fortunately, I was ready to catch him, knowing he was about to try out as an acrobat!

Proper 13: Holding Him Tight

My twins are becoming independent as they begin to walk and gain strength. When they started to use a cup, I helped them drink so they wouldn't spill liquid, because they were not yet good at handling a cup. One day, my son tried to hold the cup and drink by himself. I cajoled him into letting me hold the cup so he could drink without spilling. However, he was so reluctant that I just let him go ahead and do it his way. I took my hand off the cup of juice, and he barely drank half the cup before dropping it, messing up his clothes and the floor.

Proper 12: I Admit It-You Are a Sinner

A few years ago in a Fort Worth suburb, a goat escaped from the Future Farmers of America pens and made its way into the halls of the local high school. It was after hours, so no one could let it out; but it was caught on a security camera, butting its head against its own reflection that it saw in the glass doors. Finally, this angry goat butted so hard that the door shattered and it escaped, apparently unhurt.

Proper 10: God Accomplishes His Plans

I now have the joy of pastoring a leading church in Brazil, Igreja Batista Do Murumbi, Sau Paulo; but in 1984, I was teaching at a small Bible school in 1984. God had given us a deep conviction that we should pursue a higher level of theological training, which at that time, was not available in my own country. However, the more time passed by, the more we felt this dream was fading way. Inside of us there was a question: God, how can we accomplish what You have convinced us to do if we don't have the resources?

Illustration: Forgiveness, Debts

An elderly man took his little grandson for a walk around the local cemetery. Pausing before one gravestone he said, "There lies a very honest man. He died owing me 50 dollars, but he struggled to the end to pay off his debts; and if anyone has gone to heaven, he has."

Illustration: Impurity, Immorality

Ken Walker wrote in the Christian Reader about 6-foot-2-inch, 280-pound Clay Shiver, a center for the 1995 Florida State Seminole football team. Regarded as a likely All-American, when Shiver got word that Playboy magazine planned to name him to its All-American team, he prepared his response: "Thanks, but no thanks."

Illustration: Authority, Sexuality

In his book Evangelical Landscapes: Facing Critical Issues of the Day (Baker), John G. Stackhouse Jr. writes, "Ignorance of the Christian faith in our culture is compounded by an equally fundamental problem: a growing distance between Christian ways of deciding about matters of truth and virtue and other ways of deciding about such things.