Complaining

Charles Dickens once visited America and gave some lectures across the country. He told one audience that we here in this country are a bit mixed up. He said we should not have one Thanksgiving Day, but that we should have 364 Thanksgiving Days. The one day left over would be used just for complaining and griping; the...

Communion

At the heart of the city of Indianapolis stands a towering granite monument. About it are clustered statues depicting various scenes from the Civil War. Carved on the stone are these words: "To Indiana's Silent Victors." When we come to communion we come to honor a Victor, but He is not a silent Victor. It was...

Church

When they inaugurated the city of Constantinople in 330 they wanted to honor its founder and namesake. So they brought from Greece a statue of Apollo, but they removed from the statue the head of Apollo and replaced it with a carved image of the head of Constantine. Does it not seem sometimes that Christ has been...

Age

Kant wrote his famous philosophical work at the age of seventy-four. Verdi wrote Ave Maria at the age of eighty-five. At the age of eighty Tennyson wrote Crossing The Bar, Goethe finished Faust, and Moses started on the Exodus. When Michelangelo died at the age of eighty-seven he was still supervising the construction of...

Water

When we read that Jesus is the Water of Life we think of all the usual things that water does: quenches thirst, cleanses, refreshes, makes life possible. We draw a parallel between those functions and what Jesus can do in our lives. There is one function of water we may miss. You can cut steel with water! It's true. We have...

Value

If I were to ask you to name the most valuable thing in the world, ounce for ounce, you would probably say that it was gold, or platinum or perhaps diamonds or emeralds. In fact the most valuable thing in the world measured by its weight is a piece of paper. It's not just any piece of paper, it's a stamp printed in Sweden in...

Quitting

Everybody hails the runner who finishes first. Who pays any attention to the runner who finishes last? One reporter did at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City. The runner was John Stephen Akhwari of Tanzania. His right leg was bandaged, he was bleeding, and obviously in great pain. By the time he reached the stadium...

Luck

In 1936 an advertising executive in Philadelphia, Philip Klein, founded the Friday the 13th Club. Its members are committed to defying old superstitions. They walk under ladders. They break mirrors. The sit at a table set for thirteen. Two American Presidents, Herbert Hoover and Franklin D. Roosevelt, wouldn't sit a table set for...

Life

Joe Piscatella is the author of several widely-read books on health including Don't Eat Your Heart Out and Controlling Your Fat Tooth. He often gives lectures around the country encouraging people to live healthier lives. One of his lectures is entitled: "Life Is Not a Dress Rehearsal" In one sense, we would agree with that. We need to...

King

One of the loveliest structures in Constantinople was the throne room of Constantine. It was called the Hall of Gold. Even the banquet table was of gold and silver. A curtain hung on the wall woven with gold and precious stones. But above the throne where Constantine sat was a picture of Christ on his throne. And on their...