Quote of the day

[Pilgrim]

"The word 'prodigal' does not mean 'wayward' but, according to Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary 'recklessly spendthrift.' It means to spend until you have nothing left. This term is therefore as appropriate for describing the father in the story as his younger son. Ther father's welcome to the repentant son was literally reckless, becaouse he refused to 'reckon' or count his sin against him or demand repayment." ~Rev. Dr. Timothy Keller from "The Prodigal God: Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith."

[Teluog]

“We turn to God for help when our foundations are shaking only to learn that it is God shaking them.” Charles West

[lee_merrill]

"I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me" (Acts 27:25).

I went to America some years ago with the captain of a steamer, who was a
very devoted Christian. When off the coast of Newfoundland he said to me,
"The last time I crossed here, five weeks ago, something happened which
revolutionized the whole of my Christian life. We had George Mueller of
Bristol on board. I had been on the bridge twenty-four hours and never
left it. George Mueller came to me, and said, "Captain I have come to tell
you that I must be in Quebec Saturday afternoon." "It is impossible," I
said. "Very well, if your ship cannot take me, God will find some other
way. I have never broken an engagement for fifty-seven years. Let us go
down into the chart-room and pray."

I looked at that man of God, and thought to myself, what lunatic asylum
can that man have come from? I never heard of such a thing as this. "Mr.
Mueller," I said, "do you know how dense this fog is?" "No," he replied,
"my eye is not on the density of the fog, but on the living God, who
controls every circumstance of my life."

He knelt down and prayed one of the most simple prayers, and when he had
finished I was going to pray; but he put his hand on my shoulder, and told
me not to pray. "First, you do not believe He will answer; and second I
BELIEVE HE HAS, and there is no need whatever for you to pray about it."

I looked at him, and he said, "Captain, I have known my Lord for
fifty-seven years, and there has never been a single day that I have
failed to get audience with the King. Get up, Captain and open the door,
and you will find the fog gone." I got up, and the fog was indeed gone. On
Saturday afternoon, George Mueller was in Quebec for his
engagement.

(from Streams in the Desert, by Lettie Cowman)

[lee_merrill]

According as His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue.
--2 PETER 1:3

We often try in vain to cut up our errors by the roots, to fight evil hand to hand on its own ground, where it has us at a disadvantage, whereas our most sure way to victory is by developing and fortifying the good that is in us. We have but a certain measure of strength and activity; as much of this as is added to the good is taken from the evil.
--MADAME SWETCHINE

I think you will find that it is not by making resolutions in a difficulty that you will conquer a fault--tackling it, I mean--but much more by opening a window to Almighty God, and letting Him speak to you. As long as we are young we set so much importance on our own efforts, whereas often, if we will just do nothing but listen quietly to what God has to say to us, we shall find that He sets us thinking and mending our faults by a quiet way which looks as though it had nothing to do with it; and then, when we come to where our fault used to be, we find it gone, imperceptibly as it were, by our having been strengthened in another direction which lay, though we did not know it, at the real root of the matter.
--HENRIETTA KERR

(from Joy and Strength, by Mary Wilder Tileston)

God bless you,
Lee

[NeilUnreal]

"Whether we and our politicians know it or not, Nature is party to all our deals and decisions, and she has more votes, a longer memory, and a sterner sense of justice than we do."

--Wendell Berry

[Teluog]

“Our local Catholic church has plans to bring their parishioners to services by bus; they plan to call it mass transit.” Robert Tanner

[lee_merrill]

“Our local Catholic church has plans to bring their parishioners to services by bus; they plan to call it mass transit.” Robert Tanner

Oog...

"To go to Him is nothing mysterious. It simply means to turn our minds to Him, to rest our hearts on Him, and to turn away from all other resting places. It means we must not look at, think about, and trouble over our circumstances, our surroundings, our perplexities, or our experiences. We must look at and think about the Lord."

- Hannah Smith

[lee_merrill]

The fulness of joy is to behold God in all; for by the same blessed might, wisdom, and love that He made all things, to the same end our good Lord leadeth it continually, and there to Himself shall bring it, and, when it is time, we shall see it.
--Mother Juliana

[lee_merrill]

"Our Christianity is apt to be of a very 'dutiful' kind. We mean to do our duty, we attend church and go to our communions. But our hearts are full of the difficulties, the hardships, the obstacles which the situation presents, and we go on our way sadly, downhearted and despondent. We need to learn that true Christianity is inseparable from deep joy; and the secret of that joy lies in a continual looking away from all else--away from sin and its ways, and from the manifold hindrances to the good we would do--up to God, His love, His purpose, His will. In proportion as we do look up to Him we shall rejoice, and in proportion as we rejoice in the Lord will our religion have tone and power and attractiveness." (Charles Gore)

[lee_merrill]

And above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.
--COLOSSIANS 3:14 (R. V.)

We have cause to suspect our religion if it does not make us gentle, and forbearing, and forgiving; if the love of our Lord does not so flood our hearts as to cleanse them of all bitterness, and spite, and wrath. If a man is nursing anger, if he is letting his mind become a nest of foul passions, malice, and hatred, and evil wishing, how dwelleth the love of God in him?
--HUGH BLACK

(from Joy and Strength, by Mary Wilder Tileston)

[Teluog]

"For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountains of ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries." Robert Jastrow

[lee_merrill]

Some of us believe that God is all mighty, and may do all; and that He is all wisdom, and can do all; but that He is all love, and will do all, there we fail.

- Mother Juliana

[Teluog]

A teacher told this story in class yesterday:

There is a wise man in a village with a reputation for having solid answers and for never being caught off guard. One day some kids decide they want to trick him into saying something untrue. One proud kid says “I can spot a lie easily when I see one. I know how to trick him. I will get a bird and hide it behind my back. I will ask him what I have in my hands. If he guesses correctly, I will then ask him if the bird is dead or alive. If he says it’s dead, then I’ll open my hands and let it fly away. But if he says it’s alive, I’ll just twist it until it snaps and show the dead bird to him.”

So the kids go to the wise man, the one kid with a bird in his hands behind his back. He asks the wise man what he has in his hands. The wise man spots a white feather fall to the ground behind the kid, so he says, “You have a white bird in your hands.” The other kids are all amazed at the answer, but the proud kid with the bird isn’t fazed one bit. So he proceeds to ask the wise man if the bird is dead or alive.

"That," replies the wise man, "is entirely up to you."

[lee_merrill]

"That," replies the wise man, "is entirely up to you."

Sounds like a Solomon story! And people thought they had Jesus in a puzzle trap a number of times.

"Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers." (Luk2:47 NIV)

[Teluog]

Sounds like a Solomon story! And people thought they had Jesus in a puzzle trap a number of times.

"Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers." (Luk2:47 NIV)

I pray hard to become like that some day, and stay that away from then on.