Bible-Inerrancy

"A wealthy woman who was traveling overseas saw a bracelet she thought was irresistible, so she sent her husband this cable: "Have found wonderful bracelet. Price $75,000. May I buy it?" Her husband promptly wired back this response: "No, price too high." But the cable operator omitted the comma, so the woman received this message: "No price too high." Elated, she purchased the bracelet. Needless to say, at her return her husband was dismayed. It was just a little thing--a comma--but what a difference it made!" Leslie B. Flynn ******* "Maria Fedorovna, wife of Czar Alexander III and empress of Russia, once used a comma to save a prisoner from Siberian exile. Alexander's warrant had read, "Pardon impossible, to be sent to Siberia." Maria intervened and moved the comma so that the note read, "Pardon, impossible to be sent to Siberia." The prisoner was subsequently released!" Source Unknown *******

Dangers

"A former park ranger at Yellowstone National Park tells the story of a ranger leading a group of hikers to a fire lookout. The ranger was so intent on telling the hikers about the flowers and animals that he considered the messages on his two-way radio distracting, so he switched it off. Nearing the tower, the ranger was met by a nearly breathless lookout, who asked why he hadn't responded to the messages on his radio. A grizzly bear had been seen stalking the group, and the authorities were trying to warn them of the danger." *******

Death
	Death

Exercise

"Percentage of American's who own running shoes but don't run: 87%." ******* "On Saturday, December 23, 1972, Richard Knecht of Prospect, Oregon, set out to shatter the existing world sit-up record. For the past six months a Marine Corps captain had held the record, with an amazing 17,007. Knecht was determined to capture the title for his family team, which tours the nation demonstrating the utmost in physical fitness. He began the grueling attempt in Idaho Falls, Idaho, and 11 hours and 14 minutes later had shattered the record with 25,222 sit-ups. How many years of training had gone into preparing for this Herculean feat? Not as many as you might think. When he set the record, Richard Knecht was 8 years old." Reported in Campus Life   ******* "A retired couple decided that they should walk two miles a day to stay in shape. They chose to walk a mile out on a lonely country road so they would have no choice but to walk back. At the one-mile mark on their first venture, the man asked his wife, "Do you think you can make it back all right, or are you too tired?" "Oh, no," she said. "I'm not tired. I can make it fine." "Good," he replied. "I'll wait here. You go back, get the car and come get me."  Joyce Redding in Reader's Digest, February 1980 ******* "Regular exercise toughens the mind as well as the body. After working out three times a week for six months, one group was found to be 20% fitter. Bonus: they also scored 70% better in a test of complex decision making." American Health, quoted in Homemade, November 1985 *******

Faithfulness

If we would only be as faithful in our religious life as many are in their earthly and business life, fewer souls would be stranded on the reefs of eternity. One night the keeper of the lighthouse on a rocky coast was taken ill and was unable to attend the light. The machinery became disordered and the light failed to revolve. A storm swept the dangerous coast and the keeper's boy, a mere lad, climbed up to the lamp and during all the long hours of the stormy night turned with his own hands the lantern. In the morning, it was learned that two vessels with seven hundred souls on board had been able to make the harbor by the aid of the revolving light that had been kept in motion by the often tired, but ever vigilant boy. Unconsciously, the faithful boy had been the means of saving hundreds of lives, and all because he kept the light where it could be seen. --Topical Illustrations *******

Giving
	Giving

God's Makeup

A Hindu trader in India once asked a missionary, "What do you put on your face to make it shine?" With surprise the man of God answered, "I don't put anything on it!" His questioner began to lose patience and said emphatically, "Yes, you do!" All of you who believe in Jesus seem to have it. I've seen it in the towns of Agra and Surat, and even in the city of Bombay." Suddenly the Christian understood, and his face glowed even more as he said, "Now I know what you mean, and I will tell you the secret. It's not something we put on from the outside but something that comes from within. It's the reflection of the light of God in our hearts. *******

Is Your Light Burning?

Be sure, when you rush to the need of a brother, that you have the answer to his cry. You may arrive and yet be powerless and useless in the critical hour. When thinking of this, one remembers the story of the flagman in Colorado. Two swift passenger trains were to meet at a siding in the mountains. When the first train arrived, it found a long freight already occupying the siding. And when the passenger train ran in on the siding, four or five coaches were still left out on the main track. The flagman was swiftly sent out that he might flag the oncoming train, which could then turn slowly in by the siding and release the freight behind it at one end of the siding, that the other passenger train might clear the main track thereby. Swiftly up the track the flagman went, his lantern in hand. Dusk settled quickly in the shadow of the great mountains. He heard the shrill whistle of the oncoming passenger train. He saw its headlight swing around the curve of the track before him. He lifted his lantern to give the signal when, with sickening horror, he suddenly discovered that his light had gone out! -- Selected. William Moses Tidwell *******

Just Enough Light

A boy was walking with his father along a lonely road at night carrying a lantern. He told his father he was afraid because the lantern showed such a little way ahead. The Father answered, "That is so, but if you walk straight on you will find that the light will reach to the end of the journey." God often gives us light for only a little way ahead, but He always gives at least that, and so He always gives us light enough for the whole journey. Christian Endeavor World *******

More Light
	A poor little boy once heard his Sunday School teacher say Jesus was the light of the world. He took her remark quite literally. After class, the boy said to his teacher, "If Jesus really is the light of the world, I wish He'd come hang out in my alley. It's awful dark where I live." *******

Send the Light

"G. Campbell Morgan, in his book "How to Live," told about a conversation he had after he finished preaching one evening. A man approached Morgan to tell him he had invited a fellow employee, one with whom he had worked for 5 years, to attend the service. He then said, "My suggestion came as quite a surprise to my friend. He responded to my invitation by saying, 'Are you a Christian?' And when I answered, 'Yes, I am,' he replied, 'Well, I am too!' Here we had worked beside each other for years, and we never knew that we were both believers in Christ. Wasn't that funny?" To the man's surprise, Morgan retorted, "Funny? No, it isn't funny at all! You both need to be born again." It was inconceivable to Morgan that two men could be truly saved and work side-by-side for 5 years and not be aware of their kinship as brothers in Christ." *******

Spiritual Growth

"Soren Kierkegaard, the Danish philosopher, once told a story about a flock of barnyard geese in Denmark. Every Sunday the geese would gather in the barnyard near the feeding trough. One of their number, a "preaching goose," would struggle up on the top rail of the fence and exhort the geese about the glories of goosedom. He would them how wonderful it was to be a goose, rather than a chicken or a turkey. He would remind them of their great heritage and tell them of the marvelous possibilities in the future. Occasionally while he was preaching, a flock of wild geese, winging their way south from Sweden across the Baltic Sea on their way to sunny France would fly overhead in a marvelous V formation... thousands of feet in the air. When that happened all the geese would excitedly look and say to one another. "That's who we really are. We are not destined to spend our lives in this stinking barnyard. Our destiny is to fly." But then the wild geese would disappear from sight their honking echoing across the horizon. The barnyard geese would look around at their comfortable surroundings, sigh, and return to the mud and filth of the barn. They never did fly. Sadly, there are a number of people in the Kingdom of God who remain in the barn yard rather than spread their winds to fly." ******* More Spiritual Growth