Quotes to Ponder

[outdeep]

"We are so close now to achieving a 21st-century version of Martin Luther King's vision for America," said an unnamed ACLU spokesman. "We are speeding up that day when all people -- homosexuals and heterosexuals...singles, couples and small groups...sentient beings and non-sentient beings -- can join hands, paws or flippers in civil matrimony and sing in the words of that old African-American spiritual 'Free at last...Free at last. Thank our lucky stars we are free at last'."

- from www.scrappleface.com, a satire site  .

[delila]

Little crusty nose, a grade two boy, is chewing, opened mouthed and smiling at me.

"You afraid of a man this big?" he says, measuring an inch with his thumb and index finger.

"I am if you're gonna poke it in my eye." I tell him.

Crusty continues to chew, opened mouthed, grinning at me.
"Oh, you're good!" he tells me
drj

[BeckyW]

"End of Construction.  Thank You for Your Patience."

                                Ruth Bell Graham's proposed epitaph,
                   
 from a book about her called
Celebrating An Extraordinary Life
                    by Stephen Griffith

[psalm51]

"Wounded vanity knows when it is mortally hurt; and limps off the field, piteous, all disguises thrown away.  But pride carries its banner to the last; and fast as it is driven from one field unfurls it in another."
           ___Helen Hunt Jackson, American author (1831-1885)

Applied to George and assembly leadership, this quote really comes to life!  

[al Hartman]

     Ansel Adams was a pioneer of black & white scenic photography, illustrating the depth and vastness of nature in ways that had never been done before.  This morning I saw this quote by him:

     To the complaint,
      'There are no people in these photographs,'
      I respond,
      'There are always two people: the photographer and the viewer.'
     --Ansel Adams, photographer (1902-1984)

     I submit this to you because it illustrates a point that the Lord has been teaching me for a long time (because I have a slow learning curve):

     There are always two people:  The Lord, Who is teaching, showing, illustrating, demonstrating; and the one to whom the lesson is directed.  My natural tendency, upon seeing any "new" truth, is to immediately consider who among my acquaintances needs to learn it.  I am ever so anxious to run to them, to see how they will receive this latest revelation the Lord has given me to share with them.
     It somehow doesn't naturally occur to me that if the Lord had wanted to show this truth to them, He could have done so as simply and directly as He did to me.  He doesn't require my go-between...  He is GOD!  He can manage it without my help.
     So, then, there are only two people involved:  The Lord and the one to whom He is speaking.  Me.

     Now, you may wonder, "Why, al, if this is true, are you telling me this?"  An excellent question; I'm glad you asked !
     God does use us as vessels of communication when He so chooses; He simply doesn't need to do so.  He seldom delivers a message through someone who hasn't first learned it himself.  So when someone assays to tell you that God wants you to know something, take a look to see:
     **Is that person an example of the principle he is instructing?
     **Is that person speaking downward, laterally, or upward to you?
         (hint: downward should be a red flag)
     **Are you able to disregard the person who brought you the idea,
         and receive the message as having come from the Lord Himself?

     I think there is not yet any final word on how the Lord may choose to instruct us or by what means we may learn.

al Hartman

[M2]

    Fools make fun of guilt, but the godly
   acknowledge it and seek reconciliation.
      Prov 14:9

[summer007]

"(Lewis was grieving the death of his wife:) Not that I am (I think) in much danger of ceasing to believe in God. The real danger is of coming to believe such dreadful things about Him. The conclusion I dread is not 'So there's no God after all,' but 'So this is what God's really like. Decieve yourself no longer.' " From a Grief Observed. C.S. Lewis.

[summer007]

" If my soldiers began to think, not one of them would remain in the ranks"....Frederick the Great (1712-1786).

[lenore]

Sometime we reap kindness because we sowed a little of it.
I like  the way one poet put it.

I  have wept in the night
For the shortness of sight
That to somebody's need made me blind
But I never have yet
Felt a twinge of regret
For being a little too kind.

From: the tales of the tardy oxcart

[outdeep]

Newspapers are in trouble because the public perceives journalists as being more liberal than the average American.  This view is based on a survey showing that in the 2000 presidential election between Al Gore and George W. Bush, 86 percent of newspaper journalists - a much higher percentage than the general population - voted for Stalin.

-Dave Barry

[summer007]

"Would you reach out your hand, to save a dying man, if you thought he might pull you in ?" from Masked and Anonymous..Bob Dylan.

[M2]

We all want progress, but if you're on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive.

C. S. Lewis

[editor]

We all want progress, but if you're on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive.

C. S. Lewis

This can't be right!

If this quote were true, it would mean that people in a Geftakys-lite assembly shouldn't be there....

They have repented I tell ya!  How much more do they have to repent?

Why shouldn't ex-leaders be able to lead a "new work?"  They've repented, I tell ya.

C.S. Lewis must be wrong.

Brent

[al Hartman]

The Providence of God is our fortress, our shield and our very great reward.  It is what provides courage and perseverance for His saints.  If we understand the providence of God and love the God of providence, we are able to worship Him with the sacrifice of praise He inherently deserves when things occur that bring pain, sorrow, and affliction into our lives.

--R.C.Sproul

[Mark Kisla]

"I have to realize that whatever I do has meaning only if I ask that it serves His purpose, I believe that in my present undertaking, whatever the outcome, it will be His doing. I will pray for understanding of what it is He would have me do."

RONALD REAGAN 1976