"Of sloth comes pleasure, of pleasure comes riot, of riot comes disease, of disease comes spending, with spending comes want, of want comes theft, and of theft comes hanging." 
The Imperial Highway. 

Variety in reading

I'm reading a chapter in The Imperial Highway, and this chapters' on reading, and these quotes are encouraging us to vary our diet. 

  "It is still further true that change and variety in study are sometimes quite as beneficial as steady devotion to any single branch of intellectual effort.  
It's not necessary to be always pounding away on one corner of an anvil, in order to be busy. 
A mind that does a great deal of thinking needs to spend some time gathering the raw material for thought; it must ruminate and browse among books, and more than this, it must be turned over occasionally like summer fallow, and allowed to lie exposed to the various fertilizing influences which, like winds, sweep over it from the great worlds of nature and action lying outside." 

Indecision

I found this quote about indecision, the plague of the late teens and early twenties, but we all struggle with it at times, and occasionally, we miss a great opportunity because of our indecisiveness; and there are some, that go all through life revolving from one plan to another. 

"A man so various that he seemed to be
Not one, but all mankind's epitome; 
Stiff in opinions, always in the wrong,
Everything by starts, and nothing long,
But in the course of one revolving moon, 
Was chemist, fiddler, statesman and buffoon." London Spectator. 

Anointed Preaching

  The following piece is about anointed, Spirit filled preaching presented as eloquent as his point. Not an easy read, it took me a number of times through to draw out all the nectar. 

"Come, I will tell thee of a joy, which the parasites of pleasure have not known, Though earth and air and sea have gorged all the appetites of sense.

Behold, what fire is in his eye, what fervor on his cheek!
That glorious burst of winged words! how bound they from his tongue. 

The full expression of the mighty thought, the strong triumphant argument, the rush of native eloquence, resistless as Niagara, The keen demand, the clear reply, the fine poetic image, 
The nice analogy, the clenching fact, the metaphor bold and free,
The grasp of concentrated intellect wielding the omnipotence of truth, The grandeur of his speech in his majesty of mind! 

Champion of the right, -- patriot, or priest, or pleader of the innocent cause, 
Upon whose lips the mystic bee hath dropped the honey of persuasion, Whose heart and tongue have been touched, as of old, by the live coal of the altar, How wide the spreading of thy peace, how deep the draught of thy pleasures!

To hold the multitude as one, breathing in measured cadence, 
A thousand men with flashing eyes, waiting upon thy will; 
A thousand hearts kindled by thee with consecrated fire,
Ten flaming spiritual hecatombs offered on the mount of God; 
And now a pause, a thrilling pause, -- they live but in thy words,--

Thou has broken the bounds of self, as the Nile at its rising, 
Thou art expanded into them, one faith, one hope, one spirit, 
They breathe but in thy breath, their minds are passive unto thine,
Thou turnest the key of their love, bending their affections to they purpose, and all, in sympathy with thee, tremble with tumultuous emotions; 
Verily, O man, with truth for thy theme, eloquence shall throne thee with archangels." Martin F. Tupper.

Tell me about Jesus.

I was chatting with a young woman from the Ukraine today and when we ended our chat, she sent me another message later; it simply said - "Tell me about Jesus." She is a Christian but struggling with her mustard seed faith; this is what I wrote back --

"Tell me about Jesus." Oh I love to tell the story!

You know, the Bible is a strange book, filled with so many wonderful, frightening, mysterious, threatening, intimate, compassionate and loving things. I know some struggle when they read the things that are threatening, and I get that, but I never have. I was not looking for Jesus when He came and found me, when I opened up the Bible and began to read about Him all I heard were His words of love, compassion and as each story unfolded where He would touch someone with His compassion and love I formed my indelible idea of who He is and always will be.

Now I suppose I struggle with the Christian life as much as anyone, but He has never let me go, never ceased to show me mercy; and I have fallen many times, hurt many over my life and gone places I never thought I would, and because of that, at times I found myself miles from Him, and the emptiness was unbearable. But in some way He would always rescue me, draw me back to His breast and hold me and reassure me that He loved me still.

He would direct me to look at the birds of he air, that they do not sow or gather into barns, but He feeds them, and am I now worth much more than they?

Oh I love to tell the story, of Jesus and His love. So when I read a verse or a story in the Bible that makes me fear or unworthy, I just run back to him, and like one of my favorite authors said -

" Oh, what a tender and sympathetic God has come for us. I do not ask you to lay hold of him. Perhaps you are not strong enough for that. I do not ask you to pray. Perhaps you are too bewildered for that. I only ask you to let go and fall back into the arms of everlasting love.” T. DeWitt Talmage

This is the Jesus I know, the Jesus I trust with my soul and the Jesus I never fear will let me go.

WHY IS THERAPY SO IMPORTANT?

This quote from Diane Langberg, PH.D. who specializes in recovery and healing from abuse in all its forms explains why we need help.

 "To experience an atrocity like child abuse is to live the unspeakable. It is unspeakable first because its horrific nature is so staggering that words are woefully inadequate to communicate what has happened. Second, words fail because such an experience silences, isolates, and renders us powerless. How is it possible then, for one who has been shut up, alienated, and made helpless to speak, when the very nature of the monstrous event renders such speech impossible? The paradox, of course, is that in order to heal at all from such violence, one must learn to speak the unspeakable. What is too terrifying to hold for long moments in the mind must be remembered and reflected upon. That which is utterly impossible to put into words must finally be spoken about again and again. Not only must the indescribable be described, but that which so powerfully isolates one human being from others must be uttered within the context of relationship if healing is ever to occur. Why is that? It is because those things that the atrocity crushed: which are, Voice, Connection, and Power. And this is the essence of personhood. If they are not restored, then the one who has been so horribly crushed remains silent, disconnected, and helpless -- a grievous distortion of the image of God in humanity."

Diane M. Langberg,  "Counseling Survivors of Sexual Abuse."   

   "The most practical views in religion are those which awaken the loftiest sentiments and touch the noblest springs of action."
William Ellery Channing.

I was a slow learner and it's taken years to awaken in me the importance of recognizing every opportunity for good. It makes no difference where we are or what we are doing, having a mind like Jesus, seeing every need, no matter how small, spreads His fragrance. 

"There are plenty of people who are ready to talk about, and even attempt to perform some "big thing," some huge, glorious, magnificent enterprise (or ministry), but when they come right down to the small and practical details of the undertaking, they are disgusted with everything that looks like details, and so they turn away." 
God usually prepares us for ministry by working in lowly positions first, and usually in another's vineyard to see if we will be faithful in small things.

Here's the hope of America.... 

"O God, You have taught me from my youth; And to this day I declare Your wondrous works." Ps. 71:17

 Considering all the horrific evil we see online and in the news I take comfort in this verse. Here is a list of some of the things God does to bring justice, repentance and restitution. 

WHAT DOES GOD'S VENGEANCE LOOK LIKE?

Here's a short description of how the Lord works to bring repentance and justice, and He is very effective.

The wicked will walk in the ways of darkness, their paths will be crooked and calamity will come suddenly. The years of the wicked will be shortened. Their dread will come like a storm; they will eat of the fruit of their own way, and a curse is on their house and they will be cut off from the land. They will be robbed of their sleep; drink the wine of violence, the stranger will inherit their hard earned goods, and the hope and expectation of the wicked will perish, and what they fear will come upon them. He will be held with the chords of his own sin; wounds and disgrace he will find, and there will be no healing. They ambush their own lives and ruin is at hand and God will mock them when their calamity comes; they will seek God but He will not answer.

"Forbes" put the costs of dog ownership, including all possible expenses, to be anywhere from $17,650 to a staggering $93,520, depending on size, breed, and services required. Now there are few, if any, commands to care for orphan pets, but every chapter of the Bible tells us to care for humans.

  There are five blessings promised: do you have them? 

1. The Lord rescues them when they are in trouble. 
2. The Lord protects them and keeps them alive.
3. He gives them prosperity in the land.
4. He rescues them from their enemies.
5. The Lord nurses them when they are sick and restores them to health. 

To whom does He promise these blessings too? 

To those who are kind to the poor and helpless. 
Ps. 41:1-3

These two pictures represent the most effective way we influence our children, say whatever words you may. 

"Children learn what they live." 

  "If we were called upon to describe an intellectual devil, with horns, and hoofs, and tail arrayed whose very presence was like blasting mildew upon the mind and heart, whose looks destroyed and whose breath benumbed, we should say his name was Self-Conceit."

"A nameless man, amid a crowd

That thronged the daily mart,

Let fall a word of hope and love,

Unstudied, from the heart.

A whisper on the tumult thrown,

A transitory breath,

It raised a brother from the dust,

It saved a soul from death.

O germ! O fount! O word of love!

O thought at random cast!

Ye were but little at the first,

But mighty at the last."

Charles Mackay.

Sensual needs

  "In times past, the stimulating and sensual texture of life used to be fulfilled on many levels, for example: sailing, weaving, fire-making, woodworking, cooking, the feel of tools, the handling and gentling of animals; travel that was not trajectory in an air-conditioned capsule; reading and real talk. Now in these times, life is so largely a spectator sport that the senses are starved, and it is still true that the devil finds work for idle hands. That is to say, unused energies explode where they can. For many, sex and crime are the only avenues to uniqueness and participation. In our controlled and increasingly homogenized social order, sexual expression is narrowed down to one channel, the erotic, so overloading it that it is becoming a burnt out case. Eroticism, in or out of marriage, cannot endow life with meaning, and sex retains its richness just so long as we bring meaning to it."  Advice to a Young Wife.

Overcoming Hardship

Overcoming Hardship

 "The early life of Andrew Jackson, nick-named "Old Hickory", will be an inspiration to us all. 
His father emigrated to North Carolina in 1765, and died five days after his son's birth. The mother, with her babe and two other children, then moved into a destitute portion of South Carolina, where Andrew's boyhood was passed. Their means was slender. When the Revolution broke out the oldest boy enlisted, and was killed. At he age of thirteen, Andrew, with his brother Robert, joined a corps of volunteers attached to General Sumter's brigade. 
  In the next year, 1781, both boys were captured by mounted soldiers. Andrew was ordered by an enemy officer to clean a pair of muddy boots, but Andrew proudly refused, whereupon the officer aimed a sword stroke at his head, which the boy parried, and thereby received a wound upon his hand which he bore for life. 
His brother was ordered to do the same thing for another officer, and for his refusal actually received a sword-cut upon the head from which he never recovered. The boys were imprisoned in Camden, and the boys suffered severely from their undressed wounds, and also from small-pox which raged among the prisoners. When at length they were exchanged along with five neighbors, and given to their mother, they were little more than mere wrecks. Their home was forty miles from the prison where they were released and there were but two horses for them all. On one, without saddle or bridle, Mrs. Jackson rode, on the other the weak and wounded Robert was borne; young Andrew, barefooted, half naked, and half sick with the small pox, trudging the whole distance on foot. A heavy rain set in, and drenched them to the skin, and drove the disease back again into the systems of the two boys. Two days after, Robert died, and Andrew hung upon the brink of death for two weeks. After his recovery, his mother died, and then, the boy who would become the seventh President of the United States, was left alone upon the earth, penniless and friendless."   

Let your words be few, 
especially when your superiors or strangers are present,
Lest you betray your own weakness, and rob yourself 
of the opportunity which you might otherwise have had
to gain knowledge, wisdom and experience by hearing 
those you silenced by your impertinent talking." 
Sir Matthew Hale.