I love the story Gordon MacDonald tells. Among the legends is the tale of a medieval sidewalk superintendent who asked three stone masons on a construction project what they were doing. The first repl...
In a book by Paul Boller, the author tells a story about Woodrow Wilson. One of his cabinet members praised him for his short speeches. He then asked Wilson how long it took him to write a speech. ...
Preaching through books of the Bible can be difficult, but pastors must embrace that challenge....
Philip Nation
We’ve just finished up our message series in Jonah, and I am always devastated by what I learn in the fourth chapter. Here are my preaching notes on the subject of how we learn to take on God’s heart ...
Sometime after Bernie died, his widow, Rachel, was finally able to speak about what a thoughtful, considerate, and wonderful man her late husband had been. "My Bernie thought of everything", she told ...
Harold Sherman quite awhile ago, wrote a book entitled How to Turn Failure Into Success. In it he gives a "Code of Persistence." If you give up too easily, write this down and read it daily. 1. I will...
Three women die and all three reach Heaven at the same time. There they meet St. Peter. He tells them he has some other important business to transact and asks them to wait outside. Finally he returns...
In his message the Sunday after 9/11, John Huffman said, “Accept the fact that life is not easy and that there are wicked people in this world."...
What do you do when your fears seem to be winning the day? What if you pray and God still hasn’t come through for you? If you are like most people, you begin to lose hope, and you wonder why you bothe...
Be Yourself I read the other day about the American musician George Gershwin. He idolized Irving Berlin. Gershwin was a struggling composer, getting about $35 a week in New York City's tin-pan-alley, ...
David Jeremiah points out that in November 2002, "Detroit Schools Chief Executive Kenneth Burnley showed up at Southeastern High School with an announcement. Showing the students $100, he read a lette...
One More Time In a manufacturing town in Scotland, a young lady began teaching a Sunday school class of poverty-stricken boys. The most unpromising youngster was a boy named Bob. After the first two...
The late Erma Bombeck made these New Year's resolutions: 1. I'm going to clean this dump just as soon as the kids grow up. 2. I will go to no doctor whose office... ...
A friend told me about being in a boat hunting Canadian Geese in the dead of winter on a freezing lake. Bone cold the three of them in a 16-foot aluminum boat hold out for a few more minutes o...
H. Stephen Shoemaker shares this story: Andy Catlett, a character in a Wendell Berry novel, has lost his right hand in a farm accident....
Two elderly women were out driving in a large car - both could barely see over the dashboard. As they were cruising along they came to an intersection. The stoplight was red, but they just went on thr...