Illustration: Honesty

A man was trying to pull out of a parking place but bashed the bumper of the parked car in front of him. Witnessed by a handful of pedestrians waiting for a bus, the driver got out, inspected the damage, and proceeded to write a note to leave on the windshield of the car he had hit.

Illustration: Sin

David Jeremiah writes: "Reuters recently reported about a hunter in Belarus who shot a fox from a distance, but as he approached the wounded animal it sprang on him. As the two scuffled, the fox got its paw on the trigger of the rifle and shot the man in the leg. The hunter was transported to the hospital and the fox escaped."

Illustration: Suspicion

Sometimes women are overly suspicious of their husbands...When Adam stayed out very late for a few nights, Eve became upset.

Illustration: Service

Fred Craddock was the visiting preacher at a church one Sunday afternoon when a van full of ragged teenagers pulled in. They looked in bad shape as they sat on their bedrolls, waiting for their parents to pick them up.

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: Priorities

As the elderly man lay dying in his bed, death's agony was suddenly pushed aside as he smelled the aroma of his favorite homemade chocolate chip cookies wafting up the stairs.

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.

Illustration: Parents

Melvin Newland tells the story about comedian Jerry Clower, whose son was the field goal kicker for his high school football team. One day, his son had a chance to kick the goal that would give his team the lead and perhaps win the game, but the kick went wide of the goal.