Hot Water
After yet another loss, the bewildered football coach for the Hull City Tigers said, “I don’t know if this is a mentality thing, but our accumulation of points against the lower-down teams is crazy. Whether it’s mentality or complacency, I don’t know.” The Tigers should have been winning games. Instead, they were losing to lower-ranked clubs, causing their coach to wonder if his players cared.
Clear View
As I drove home, night had begun to settle with an added veil of heavy fog. When the fog suddenly lifted, I found myself off the road and headed toward a patch of trees. I quickly slammed on my brakes. The low-lying branches of a large pine tree scraped against the hood of my car like hands reaching out to warn me of the ominous trunks just beyond. The dense fog had changed my perception: I had mistaken someone’s back porch-light for the streetlight I knew to be near the curve of the road.
Climb On!
George Mallory was an English mountaineer who was last seen heading toward the summit of Mount Everest in June 1924. It’s possible he actually reached its peak but succumbed to the weather on the way down. We’ll never know what happened, for the details passed with the great explorer. Mallory was once asked why he wanted to climb Everest. His answer was simply, “Because it’s there!” This may make no sense to most people, but to a mountaineer it is perfectly logical. Climbing the mountain is something to strive toward that’s an end in itself. The impressive peak is all the fuel Mallory and countless other mountaineers have ever needed.
Love in Action
Heather is a graduate from the esteemed Yale University who lives in a trailer park in a rural part of the US. How did someone like her end up living there? Well, it’s not because she’s fallen on hard economic times.
Not Coming Back
To paraphrase pastor and writer A. W. Tozer: “One thing you knew about a man walking out of town with a cross on his back: He wasn’t coming back!”
Valid!
Australian native Nick Vujicic understands a magnificent truth: We do not find our value in our capabilities. Born without arms or legs, Nick has learned not merely to cope with his challenges, but to permit God to use them for unimaginable good. He says, “God has given me the strength to surmount what others might call impossible.” As Nick likes to say, “God can use a life without limbs to show the world how to live a life without limits.”
Ten Years
What will you be like as a Christian 10 years from now?” asked Billy Graham of the Urbana conference attendees in 1984. “Many will be walking with Christ and serving Him in various capacities in the world, but for others there will be tragedy because 10 years from now they will have lost their burning zeal and love for Christ. Not necessarily because they wanted to or because they set their hearts in rebellion against God’s will, but because they set their life by the world’s agenda.”
Oddly Honest
Do you have a problem with spicy food?” the owner asked as we entered his small neighborhood restaurant.
Purpose
T he Purpose Driven Life has been on the New York Times advice book bestseller list for one of the longest periods in history. With more than 30 million copies sold, it’s obvious many readers have turned to it as a source for living with meaning.
Next Gen
In 1993, Bill and Susie Mosca founded an essay contest. The winner received the couple’s bed and breakfast facility. Janice Sage’s entry took first place and she acquired the Center Lovell Inn and Restaurant. After 22 years of hosting guests, maintaining buildings, and managing finances, Janice wanted to retire. Because, as she said, “There are a lot of talented people that . . . . just can’t go out and buy an inn like this,” she also decided to give it away to a worthy person through an essay contest.
A Clam & A Gray-Haired Man
Ming lived for more than 500 years before her demise in 2006. The quahog (large clam) had been nestled near Iceland when researchers plucked her from the ocean floor. After prying the creature open—ending her existence—they initially thought she was a record-breaking 402 years old. But further research revealed that she began life in 1499 and made it to the ripe old age of 507! Fortunately, scientists learned much from Ming, including data on changing sea temperatures over the last half-millennium.
no lazy river
One of our favorite family vacation sites is a beautiful beach community located in an adjoining state. We like to go there during the “off season” when few tourists are around. Though the ocean water is a little chilly, we enjoy swimming in an indoor pool. Also, there’s a lazy river that surrounds the pool and holds a special appeal for our kids. They’ve tried to swim against its current over the years, only to be carried in the opposite direction.
carrying your cross
My wife was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in October 2012. I shared with a friend about the challenges this situation had posed for me. As we talked, he gently told me that this is the cross I have to carry. “Carrying your cross” means living with sickness or a child with a disability, or financial problems, or any difficult circumstance of life. But when Jesus tells us to carry our own crosses, is He referring to life’s burdens?
connected
Assigned with keeping up my mom’s garden while she was out of town, my kids and I headed into her backyard to see the anticipated jungle. Walking out from the patio, we were greeted by a messy bed of veggies as some of the string-bean tendrils stood out like cowlicks in an otherwise orderly row. As we worked, my son explained the necessity of coaxing the wayward tendrils onto the runners: Left unsupported, the weight of the growing beans would pull the vine to the ground where it would become more vulnerable to pests and its produce would be damaged.
gift of your smile
The late film director Krzysztof Kieslowski was once interviewing actors for a film. During an interview, a young actress described to him how she’d go out and walk the streets of Paris when she felt sad.
