Archive - March 2016

The scene: The “F” train of the
subway line in New York City.

I was commuting from the Borough of Queens to my job in Manhattan. I’d finished
reading the morning paper and was saving it to bring to friends on the job. How
do you save a newspaper on the subway? You sit on it.

A new commuter came in, saw the newspaper under my rear, and asked the second
most stupid question I’ve ever heard (someday I may tell of the first):
“Are you reading that paper?”

I stood up, turned the page, sat down on the paper, and answered,
“Yes.”

Received from GCFL

You can destroy your now by worrying about tomorrow. 

— Janis Joplin

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When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.

— Jimi Hendrix

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[Editor’s observation] It’s just amazing to think how close Janis & Jimi were to the truth and still missed it. They left out the one thing – rather, person – that would put everything into focus & make sense of this thing we call life: Jesus.

Jesus says
to a doubting Thomas in John 20:29, “Thomas, because you have seen me you have
believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” When God
entered time and became a man, he who was boundless became bound. Imprisoned in
flesh. With a wave of his hand he could have boomeranged the spit of his
accusers back into their faces. With an arch of his brow, paralyzed the
hand of the soldier braiding the crown of thorns. But he didn’t. He
stood silent as a million guilty verdicts echoed in the tribunal of heaven.

After three days in a dark grave, he stepped into the Easter
sunrise with a smile and a question for lowly Lucifer. “Is that your best
punch?” He gave up the crown of heaven for a crown of thorns. He did
it for you, my friend. Just for you.

From

On Calvary’s Hill

Why did the chicken cross the road halfway?
She wanted to lay it on the line.

Why did the chicken cross the basketball court?
He heard the referee calling fowls.

Why did the chicken cross the playground?
To get to the other slide.

Why did the chicken scientist cross the road?
To invent the other side.

What do you get when you cross a chicken and a pit bull?
Just the pit bull.

Received from GCFL

I rejected the church for a
time because I found so little grace there. I returned because I
found grace nowhere else.

—Philip Yancey

For we wrestle not against flesh and
blood, but against principalities, against
powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual
wickedness in high places. (Ephesians 6:12)

Billy Graham tells a story of a boxer
who was engaged in a boxing match and was being
badly beaten.  Battered and bruised,he leaned over the ropes and
said to his trainer, “Please throw in the towel!  This guy is killing me!” The trainer
said, “Oh, no, he’s not.  He’s not even hitting you.  He hasn’t laid a glove on you!"  And the boxer looked at him
through swollen eyes and said, "Well then, I wish you’d watch that
referee – somebody is sure hitting me!”

The danger in Spiritual Warfare is not
when you are being beat up. You know you’re in a
battle when you’re battered. You may not know exactly who or
where the blows are coming from; but you know you’re in a
fight.

No, the danger in Spiritual Warfare is
when the devil is leaving you alone; when you
are not having struggles, when temptations are few.  It’s then, when life seems to be going good, that the devil has you right
where he wants you. Either you are spiritually dull and not
aware of what the Devil is doing, or you are being set up for a big fall.

Just ask David about it. After years of
running from Saul and struggling to form a new
nation, it was when things seemed to be really good that David saw
another man’s wife bathing on the roof. In a matter of days, the
devil had David just were he wanted him,knee deep in sin and sliding
down quickly.

Never take off your armor.  Never let down your guard. We’re in a war that will last a
lifetime.

– Author Unknown

as seen in Cup O’ Cheer

Never bend your head. Hold it high. Look the world straight in the eye.
                   — 
Helen Keller

The culture doesn’t dictate truth; the Gospel dictates truth.

–Vodie Baucham

You were not saved that you might go to heaven alone; you were saved that you might take others there with you.

–Charles Spurgeon

Whenever my aunt went to the doctor, she would complain to me about the long delay she always endured.

One day, when my aunt’s name was finally called, she was asked to step on the scale. “I need to get your weight today,” said the nurse.

Without a moment’s hesitation, my aunt replied, “One hour and 45 minutes!”

Received from GCFL

[Editor’s note: There were just too many good ones; I couldn’t decide which to post, so here are all of them.]

He that rose from the clods we expect from the clouds. –Thomas Adams

He who loves the coming of the Lord is not he who affirms it is far off, nor is it he who says it is near. It is he who, whether it be far or near, awaits it with sincere faith, stead-fast hope and fervent love. –Augustine

The certainty of the Second Coming of Christ should touch and tincture every part of our daily behavior. –John Blanchard

The only remedy for all this mass of misery is the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. Why do we not plead for it every time we hear the clock strike? –Anthony Ashley Cooper

The subject of the second coming of Christ has never been popular to any but the true believer. –Billy Graham

Christ will come when He pleases, to show His sovereignty, and will not let us know when, to teach us our duty. –Matthew Henry

(The Timothy Report, www.timothyreport.com) and seen in Cup O’Cheer

Nathaniel Hawthorne came home heartbroken. He’d just been fired from his job in the customhouse. His wife, rather than responding with anxiety, surprised him with joy. “Now you can write your book!” she said. He wasn’t so positive. “And what shall we live on while I’m writing it?” he asked. To his amazement she opened a drawer and revealed a wad of money she’d saved out of her housekeeping budget. “I always knew you were a man of genius,” she told him, and “I always knew you’d write a masterpiece.”

She believed in her husband. And because she did, he wrote. And because he wrote, every library in America has a copy of The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Proverbs 18:21 says, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue.” You have the power to change someone’s life simply by the words you speak.

From A Love Worth Giving

It’s morning, Jesus.  It’s morning, and here’s that light and sound all over again.

I’ve got to move fast … get into the bathroom, wash up, grab a bite to eat and run some more.

I just don’t feel like it, Lord.  What I really want to do is get back into bed, pull up the covers, and sleep.  All I seem to want today is the big sleep, and here I’ve got to run all over again.

Where am I running?  You know these things I can’t understand.  It’s not that I need to have you tell me.  What counts most is just that somebody knows, and it’s you.  That helps a lot.

So I’ll follow along okay?  But lead, Lord.  Now I’ve got to run.  Are you running with me, Jesus?

by Malcolm Boyd – Seen In Cup O’Cheer