“Rome wasn’t built in a day.” If I heard that once, I heard it a hundred times while I was growing up. I was young and impatient, anxious to reach the goals I felt were important. But there was always this irksome reminder that good things take time and great things take even longer.
Read MoreCategory Archives: Christian Living
Being Normal
Ever felt weird because you were “normal”? I remember the first time I had that feeling. I was a teenager surrounded by other teenagers in a testimony meeting. One girl, with tears running down her face, told of an alcoholic father who beat her mother almost every weekend. She described how she would hide in the closet lest she become a target of his drunken rage. Then she told how her friend at school had led her to Christ.
Read MoreHe Sees It All
From a distance we in the church often look like beautiful people. We’re well-dressed. We have nice smiles. We look friendly. We appear cultured, under control . . . at peace.
Read MoreBeautiful! Really?
Fresh-fallen snow blanketed the range of mountains on the northeast rim of the Los Angeles basin. When I caught my first glimpse of it in the distance, I found myself smiling and saying aloud, “Beautiful!” Seventy-five miles away, it was beautiful. Up close, well, that was an entirely different matter.
Read MoreBenefits of Breakdowns
Who would’ve ever guessed it? Out of the blue came this nobody. He had spent his youth working for his dad in the quiet, rugged outdoors. Now, suddenly, he was the most famous man in the country. But he couldn’t wait to retreat to the hills where life was simple and uncluttered.
Read MoreGoing On
Flying ace Chuck Yeager has written a book with an inviting title: Press On! A guy with his adventurous background, plus a chest full of medals to prove it, probably has a lot to say about “pressing on.” Few will ever know the thrill of breaking sound barriers, but all of us live with the daily challenge of pressing on. The question is how?
Read MoreWhat Victory Is Not
Victory is not a once-for-all, automatic inheritance. Christians need to be reminded that the life God provides—the abundant life—is not a continuous, unbroken chain of victories. Victory is available, but not automatic. The strength we need is there to be claimed but we should never think of the Christian life as “instant success.”
Read MoreAccommodating
I don’t know anyone who would build a summer home at the base of Mount Vesuvius, and it would be tough trying to get campers to pitch their tents where Big Foot had been spotted. No family I know is interested in vacationing in a houseboat up the Suez Canal.
Read MoreHis Workmanship
Sometimes fundamentalists can be the ugly ducklings of Christendom. We sometimes clothe the infinite riches of Christ in unattractive rags! As a result, the treasure of Truth is tainted and cheapened by the way it is presented to the public.
Read MoreThe Significance of One
In our overpopulated, impersonal world, it is easy to underestimate the significance of one. With so many people, most of whom seem so much more capable, more gifted, more prosperous, more important than I, who am I to think my part amounts to much?
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