GENESIS: MYTHS THAT LINGER

PBS is currently putting heavy promotion into a new, 10-part series titled "Genesis: A Living Conversation." Hosted by Bill Moyers, it brings together small groups of people for hourlong discussions of the first book of the Bible.

More than 100,000 copies of a 177-page PBS guide to the series have been distributed. More than a dozen new books on Genesis, including two fresh translations, are ready to hit the nation's bookstores. Moyers and PBS are promoting the formation of "Genesis study groups" across the nation.

We should be grateful whenever the spotlight shines on any part of the Word of God or on any biblical event or person. Before getting to optimistic about this particular approach to Genesis, however, we should not overlook the limitations and biases that may be built into it.

While the PBS series doesn't offer a view of the Bible as God-breathed literature with authority over us, perhaps it will do great good in simply getting people to reexplore scripture. After all, its message is so powerful that it has always had the ability to achieve results far superior to any teacher's failings.

For example, U.S. News & World Report reviews the series in five pages (Oct. 21, 1996) and then has a one-page article titled "But Did It Happen?" The article speaks of many of the recent confirmations of the historical accuracy of Genesis - around events long called "mythical" or "anachronistic."

In Gen. 13, Lot chose the "well-watered" plain of the Jordan when he and Abraham parted company; archaeologists have indeed found traces of an ancient irrigation system in the plain of the Jordan. Egyptian records show peasants being required to pay a 20 percent tax on crops; Joseph ordered that people "give a fifth to Pharoah" during the years of plenty (Gen. 47).

Nonbiblical records confirm the practices of men having children by slaves when a wife is barren (e.g., Abraham) and firstborn sons selling their birthright (e.g., Esau). The 20 silver shekels for which Joseph's brothers sold him into slavery is identical to the price of adult male slaves recorded in the Code of Hammurabi (1792-1750 B.C.). The magazine quotes Egyptologist Kenneth Kitchen of the University of Liverpool as saying, "The more we learn about customs and conditions in the early second millennium, the more we find that the narratives [of Genesis] reflect them."

Isn't it amazing? Generation after generation, people were willing to deny the historicity of the biblical record because there were no external verifications of its claims. Various sciences have continued to bring in data to discredit the arrogant charges of the destructive critics. Confidence in the biblical record is rock-solid!

Yet the U.S. News article errs in claiming that at least two "slips" got into Genesis with references to "Abraham's sojourning in 'the land of the Philistines,' even though these seafarers from Crete did not invade coastal Canaan until some 400 years after the patriarchal period is thought to have ended. In Gen. 24, Abraham's servant goes to seek a bride for Isaac with a retinue of 10 camels, but these beasts were not introduced to the region until around 1100 B.C. Such slips likely got in because the writers inserted facts of their own times, perhaps a millennium later, into their narratives."

The authors of the magazine article either didn't do their research carefully or - and this is more likely possibility - used as their resource an outdated liberal source for their information. These two cases are additional examples of criticisms once leveled at biblical accuracy that have had recent information come to light in favor of Genesis.

As to the Philistines, at least five of their cities have now been excavated. The earliest level found so far at Ashdod unquestionably goes back to the seventeenth century - no the twelfth. Thus there can be no doubt that these Sea People for whom the area (i.e., Palestine) was later named were established in the land during the patriarchal period.

And Abraham could certainly have known and used camels in his era. In 1961 camel bones were unearthed at Mari that date to ca. 2400 B.C. The same excavation turned up a ceramic jar on which a camel is pictured; it dates from ca. 2000 B.C. A tiny gold camel that appears to have been part of a necklace has been found at Ur and antedates Abraham, and remains of camel bones discovered at Bahrain may well come from 1000 years before Abraham!

The myths that circulate in connection with Genesis are not within the book but are told about it. This important section of Holy Scripture was written by Moses around 1500 B.C. and reflects the places, people, and events that figure into the unfolding of divine activity in human history.

The entire Bible is God's message to us. Yes, its content is historical and true. And it is authoritative over our lives. We are called to put ourselves under its authority and to walk by faith in the One who gave it to us. "Every part of scripture is God-breathed and useful one way or another - showing us truth, exposing our rebellion, correcting our mistakes, training us to live God's way. Through the Word we are put together and shaped up for the tasks God has for us" (II Tim. 3:16-17, The Message).
[by Rubel Shelly from Love Lines, vol. 22, no. 44, Oct. 23, 1996, p. 3]

SURPRISE! YOUR WORDS ARE BEING RECORDED!

Presidents Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon had their White House conversations taped for the sake of writing their memoirs. Little did they know that the courts would declare those tapes to be accessible by the public. In Johnson's case, there were some embarrassments. In Nixon's there was a resignation from office.

Now another humiliating case involving someone's recorded words is making the news. A story broke Monday (Nov. 4, 1996) in The New York Times about senior company executives with Texaco. Quoting from transcripts of a meeting held in August 1994, the conversations appear to have been incredibly racist in tone - referring to African-American employees with disgusting language - and reflect a conspiracy to destroy documents that could be used against the company in a suit that charges it with discrimination against minorities in promotions.

Texaco immediately issued a statement disavowing such conduct, telling of an independent investigation begun into the matter, and promising to discipline and/or terminate anyone involved in such behavior. The company's statement included such adjectives as "outrageous," "deplorable," and "unacceptable" to describe the sorts of things alleged to be on the tapes.

Do you ever say things carelessly? Do you get angry and curse? Do you tell off-color jokes? Do you use racial slurs? Do you use the name of God to express shock or surprise? Do you lie? Do you make promises you don't keep? Do you.... Well, you get the drift of this line of questioning.

Maybe somebody is thinking how grateful he can be that nobody goes around with a tape recorder taking down the too-frequent "slips of the tongue."

First, scripture isn't very high on the idea of "slips" of the tongue. (Matt. 12:33-34).
Second, who says our words aren't on the record? (Matt. 12:36-37).

It's better to know now that your words are being recorded, don't you think, than to be surprised at the Judgment?
[by Rubel Shelly from Love Lines, vol. 22, no. 46, Nov. 6, 1996, p. 3]

CLEARING AWAY SOME CHRISTMAS CONFUSION

If there is life on Mars and someone from there comes to Earth during the next four weeks, he/she/it could get terribly confused. Think about it: What would that creature take the "Christmas message" to be?

* Are these "Holy Days" or Holidays"?
* Is the central character Jesus or Santa?
* Is the story about a stable and shepherds or a sleigh and eight tiny reindeer?
* Did Wise Men come from the east or was it Frosty who came from the north?
* Is the musical message "Fall on your knees" or "Deck the halls"?
* Is the personal goal of the season discipleship or salesmanship?
* Do the headlines shout "Only a short time until Jesus returns" or "Only a few more shopping days left"?
* Did Mary tell the angel "God's will be done" or "Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night"?
* Do Christian families worship at their hearths or roast chestnuts on the open fire?
* Is the more popular Christmas special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer or The Life of Christ?
* Is the key to an authentically "wonderful life" Christian faith and discipleship or watching Jimmy Stewart in black and white rather than color?
* Is the seasonal issue God's love or Wall Street's bounce?

The more I think about it, though, the people most confused by what we have done with this holiday are more likely to be our own non-Christian neighbors. Sadly, some of our own children and grandchildren may have the stories so convoluted in their minds that they are mixed up about the meaning of the season too.

We have no control over the way our culture runs the different themes of Christmas together. (Have you seen the "nativity scene" with Santa bowing at the manger?!) We do have control over the Christmas cards we select for our friends and the decoration motif we emphasize in our homes. We can invite an unchurched neighbor or friend to a Christmas musical or to worship on the Sunday before Christmas. We can pray at our holiday meals - no matter who the guests are - and thank Jesus for coming to the world to save sinners.

For that theoretical Martian or your real-life family and friends, let there be no ambiguity in what they learn from you about this time of year. Let them know it is a birthday bask for Jesus rather than a drunken party for a fat guy who needs a shave.
[by Rubel Shelly from Love Lines, vol. 22, no. 50, Dec. 4, 1996, p. 3]

WHY THE "X" IN XMAS?

You know the name of the holiday celebrated on December 25 every year. It is called Christmas. So why - as on the store window where I saw it again the other day - do people so often write Xmas? There may be at least two reasons.

There is a perfectly innocent explanation that traces back to the Greek form of the word that means Messiah. Spelled out in Greek characters, the name "Christ" comes out like this: XPIETOE or xpiotos. The former is written in all capital letters, as copies of the books of the New Testament were until around the ninth century; the latter is in lower-case, as texts were from the ninth century until the invention of printing in the fifteenth century.

The first letter in the word is the character chi (pronounced "key"). As you can easily see, its closest visual (though not phonetic) equivalent in the English alphabet is the letter X. Years ago, then, people began abbreviating the term Christmas by putting the letter X for the word Christ. Thus Christ-mas frequently became X-mas.

But there may be another answer to our question that is more precise than the one just given. It has less to do with history or the morphology (i.e., form) of Greek and English characters of the alphabet than with a dearth of spirituality in the holiday.

In logic and mathematics, x indicates an unknown. In a simple algebraic equation such as 2x + 1=7, for example, the x stands for an unknown quantity. The student's task on exam day is to know how to derive its value.

My fear is that, for more and more of the general public anyway, the Son of God has become an unknown and expendable character in the Christmas Story.

* Who is more closely identified with Christmas by children? Christ or Santa?
* Who has more songs sung about him in December? Christ or Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer?
* Who is featured in more yard and storefront displays? Christ or Frosty the Snowman?
* What is the commonest scene on Christmas cards? Christ's birth or snowfall on evergreen trees?
* What family event is most identified with Christmas? Worship or eating?

In my own experience, I have heard more fundamentalist preachers than ACLU lawyers condemn the slogan "Keep Christ in Christmas." Shame on both! The story of the Incarnation is what the world most desperately needs to hear.

God knows you by name and cares about you. His love for you explains why the Holy Spirit conceived a baby in the womb of a virgin from Nazareth. And the cross is the redemptive end to which the manger in Bethlehem points.

Have you found the "unknown" for the following equation? X + you = eternal life! When you do, you have not only found the reason for this season but the full meaning of life.
[by Rubel Shelly from Love Lines, vol. 22, no. 51, Dec. 11, 1996, p. 3]

THE GOOD LIFE

When our society speaks of success and "the good life," it most often defines them in terms of what we have and where we are. These concepts rarely point to what we are.

So it is important for us to remain youthful, trim, and well-groomed. These are the keys to a pleasure-seeking lifestyle. Women must be beautiful to be desirable, and men must be athletic and well-heeled to catch them.

Power and popularity are also critical to success in America. All of us know their symbols: titles, office size, salary, and invitations to the right events by the right people. That Banna White is better known to our children than Mother Theresa is a commentary on our values.

Then there is the compulsion to produce, to achieve, to get results. The person who gets ahead is the one whose this-quarter productivity outstrips last quarter-again and again. So the pressure is on to steal an account or to do something unethical to make a profit. Lies are told. Figures are juggled. Friends are betrayed.

Finally, of course, is the real yardstick of "the good life." Money. Or at least the appearance of money. Big house. Fancy car. Expensive clothes. Membership in the right clubs. Vacations to the chic spots.

Please don't misinterpret the biblical message about youth, health, popularity, and money. Not one of them is condemned. Not a single one of them is evil. But to define human worth in terms of any or all of them is evil. To live one's life in pursuit of one or more of them to the neglect of God, relationships, family, or integrity is evil.

To sacrifice the greater things possible for us in this life for a handful of trinkets is foolish. To sell your soul for the fool's gold of this life is to make a poor deal. To look down on, mistreat, or shut your compassion from the people who are at the bottom of the world's "ladder of success" is to compromise your own humanity.

Jesus met a man once who had all the things most people envy. He was young, powerful, and rich. And when that man asked the Lord about eternal life, Jesus told him to sell everything he had and give it to the poor. Talk about getting a shock! And when the man decided his bank accounts and holdings meant more to him than Christ, his fate was sealed.

And so is ours if anything means more to us than Him.
[by Rubel Shelly from Love Lines, vol. 16, no. 31, Aug. 1, 1990]

RELIGION'S "MOST HATED MAN"

Newsweek's cover story was titled "The Most Hated Man in Baseball." It was a piece about George Steinbrenner, the man who presided over the slide on the once-great New York Yankees into baseball infamy.

The title set me thinking about a list of "most hated" characters in other arenas. In international relations, the current honor must go to Saddam Hussein. In Nashville politics, it would be Bill Boner. And in religion, the distinction definitely belongs to Jesus Christ.

Although an insider to the heart of God, Jesus has never gotten along well with religionists. Consider the attitude of both the Pharisees and Sadducees toward him. Though enemies to each other, they were bosom buddies in their hatred of Jesus.

Religion tends to be rigid, self-protective, and vain. Its practitioners have an aptitude for defensiveness, isolation, and passing judgment. Into this stern and cozy world comes Jesus and upsets all the apple carts.

* He tells spit-and-polish church folks to fill up their houses with the homeless, poor, and sick.
* He demands that self-assertive men and women walk by faith, abandon self, and live obediently.
* He bursts the bubble of human pride in achievement and requires that we glory in the first-century equivalent of an electric chair.
* He sends us to prostitutes, society's rejects, men and women in jails, alcoholics, and thankless folk.
* When misunderstood or maligned for taking him seriously and following him into these unlikely arenas, he forbids retaliation and says, "Turn the other cheek."

Religion will always be uncomfortable with Jesus, for he pushes church people too far too fast. He makes us nervous and uncomfortable. And, after all, we don't want our sleep disturbed--either in the assembly or in our daily lives. We want comfort, not challenge. We want the praise of other religionists, not their criticism. We want neat and predictable formulas, not struggles in our faith.

Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Unfortunately, religion is probably invariable, too. So the stalemate is permanent.

Jesus will always be religion's most hated man.
[by Rubel Shelly from Love Lines, vol. 16, no. 33, Aug. 15, 1990]

COMMITTING SEWER-SLIDE

Some people who were outraged by Roseanne Barr's tasteless deed of turning the National Anthem into a comedy routine are apparently oblivious to much more serious things taking place in today's pop culture in the United States.

* Madonna warbles about how girls like to be tied up and spanked.
* Prince has made headlines with a pro-incest song.
* Andrew Dice Clay brings down handsome fees for his brand of woman-bashing comedy.
* 2 Live Crew raps about forcing anal sex and tearing open a woman's vagina during sex.

Various social commentators have spoken in defense of these things. "Artistic freedom!" is the cry. First Amendment rights! Then, of course, there are dire warnings about the evils of censorship.

Balderdash! Jewelle Taylor Gibbs, author of Young, Black and Male in America: An Endangered Species, has spoken about the 2 Live Crew incident and correctly said, "Censorship is a red herring in this case. The real issue is values, the quality of life."

Remember the old story about the frog in a pan of water? The temperature was increased degree by degree until he was finally cooked without ever trying to escape. Over the past few decades, the incremental acceptance of obscenity and violence has elevated our tolerance for evil. Pictures and words affect behavior. Gradually more graphic, bizarre, and corrupt influences have desensitized us.

The real issue is values. Whether we will have any. Or have perverse ones which glorify violence against women. Or even praise as "challenging" and "avant-garde" the celebration of behaviors which are abominable.

I'm afraid many of us have become so concerned about "sophistication" or are so fearful of being criticized for our Bible-based values that we are tolerant when we should be outraged, indulgent when we ought to be indignant.

A society worried about snail darters, acid rain, and the ozone layer would be wise to pay some attention to its erosion of values. There are ethical boundaries beyond which a culture cannot go without committing moral sewer-slide.
[by Rubel Shelly from Love Lines, vol. 16, no. 32, Aug. 8, 1990]

THE MEANING OF A CHESS MATCH

I play chess, although comparing my level of play to Garry Kasparov would be like comparing a weekend duffer to Tiger Woods. Kasparov is the finest chess player in history but, according to the mainstream media commentators, he's the latest poster child for the inferiority of man.

In case you haven't heard, Kasparov, the world chess champion, lost a much-hyped chess match to a $2 million IBM computer called Deep Blue. One day, goes the standard commentary, computers will surpass us and then rule over us.

What garbage. We already can't run as fast as a car, fly like an airplane, or dig a hole as fast as a back hoe. Now we can't play chess as well as a machine.

Deep Blue doesn't prove the inferiority of man but rather the superiority of man's creator. Consider this: Kasparov's supposedly inferior brain was able to nearly keep pace with Deep Blue, which makes 200 million calculations per second. Going into the sixth and final game, he had won a game, lost once and fought Deep Blue to a series of draws. But it doesn't matter how many games any human wins or loses against a pile of microchips. Humans invented the microchip - as well as the game of chess - relying on the brains given us by our creator.

The Bible opens with a description of God as a creative being. We are made in his image. We are also creative beings. We are the only "animal" that improves on the things it builds. Animals build dens or hives or nests, but they build them the same way every time as they have done through history.

Contrast that with man. We lived in caves, then in shacks of scavenged sticks and branches, then a mud-wall/dirt-floor hut, then a house of stone and wood. Eventually we moved into suburban subdivision of 3,000-square-foot, multi-roomed, heated/cooled mansions with indoor plumbing, cable, and digital phone lines for our computer modems.

Likewise, we invented the computer and constantly improve it over time, proving again that we are made in the image of our creative God. Our inventions don't improve themselves. A house never just sprouts a new room or appliance. A computer doesn't write new software for itself. A calculator can't teach math to a TV remote.

Kasparov didn't really lose to a computer - he lost to a team of human computer programmers and chess grand-masters who tweaked Deep Blue's programming between matches. They had to, in order to beat the human brain on the other side of the table - the same model of brain that lets some people play high-level chess, others to design powerful computers, and still others to take wood and carpentry tools and craft handmade, intricately carved chess pieces. The same brain that allows thinking people to do the one thing a computer never will: voluntarily praise its creator.
[by Bill Hobbs from Love Lines, vol. 23, no. 21, May 21, 1997]

Remember that we all stumble - that's why it's a comfort to go hand in hand.
[from Sycamore Chapel bulletin, Sept 29, 1996, p. 4]

Some folks treat God like a lawyer - they only go to Him when they're in trouble.
[from Sycamore Chapel bulletin, Dec. 15, 1996, p. 4]

It's later than we think, and most of us aren't thinking.
[from Greerton, Tauranga bulletin, vol. 31, no. 19, 13 May 1990, p. 6]

It is better to be criticized for doing right than praised for doing wrong.
[Greerton, Tauranga bulletin, vol. 31, no. 18, 6 May 1990, p. 4]

Oh, don't the days seem lank and long,
When all goes right and nothing goes wrong,
And isn't your life extremely flat,
When you've nothing whatever to grumble at?
[by W.S. Gilbert]

Man must choose whether to be rich in things or in the freedom to use them.
[by Harold Ickes]

Life is short but there is always time for courtesy.
[by Emerson]

If problems were assets, we could live off the interest.

A man may build himself a throne of bayonets, but he cannot sit on it.
[by William Ralph Inge]

We can hardly overestimate the unimportance of almost everything.

There are only three events in a man's life: birth, life, and death, he is not conscious of being born, he dies in pain, and he forgets to live.
[by Jean e La Bruyere]

Remember that to change your mind and follow him who sets you right is to be none the less free than you were before.
[by Aurelius Marcus]

I do not know which makes a man more conservative - to know nothing but the present, or nothing but the past.
[by John Keynes]

The first rule in opera is the first rule in life. See to everything yourself.
[by Dame Nellie Melba]

Art is not a mirror to reflect the world, but a hammer with which to shape it.
[by Vladimir Mayakovsky]

Be nice to people on your way up because you'll meet 'em on your way down.
[by Wilson Mizner]

It is one thing to show a man that he is in an error, and another to put him in possession of truth.
[by John Locke]

Until you've lost your reputation, you never realize what a burden it was or what freedom really is.
[by Margaret Mitchell]

When you take the bull by the horns...what happens is a toss up.
[by William Pett Ridge]

Success is a state of mind. If you want success, start thinking of yourself as a success.
[by Joyce Brothers]

A priest sees people at their best, a lawyer at their worst, but a doctor sees them as they really are.

If we had no faults of our own, we would not take so much pleasure in noticing those of others.
[by Francois Rochefoucauld]

Be modest! It is the kind of pride least likely to offend.
[by Jules Renard]

No human being, however great, or powerful was ever so free as a fish.
[by John Ruskin]

If there is a hell upon earth, it is to be found in a melancholy man's heart.
[by Robert Burton]

Unless a man feels he has a good enough memory, he should never venture to lie.
[by Michel de Montaigne]

Patriots always talk of dying for their country, and never of killing for their country.
[by Bertrand Russell]

A radical is a man with both feet firmly planted in air.
[by Franklin Delano Roosevelt]

Ridicule often checks what is absurd, and fully as often smothers that which is noble.
[by Sir Walter Scott]

Pleasure is nothing else but the intermission of pain.
[by John Selden]

For one person who dreams of making fifty thousand pounds, a hundred people dream of being left fifty thousand pounds.
[by Alan Alexander Milne]

To expect a man to retain everything that he has ever read is like expecting him to carry about in his body everything that he has ever eaten.
[by Arthur Schopenhauer]

A man does not write poems about what he knows, but about what he does not know.
[by Robin Skelton]

Only do always in health what you have often promised to do when you are sick.
[by Sigismund]

Curiosity will conquer fear even more than bravery will.
[by James Stephens]

Tolerance is really nothing but putting the golden rule into practice.
[from Sycamore Chapel bulletin, April 14, 1996, p. 3]

An editor is one who separates the wheat from the chaff and prints the chaff.
[from Adlai Ewing Stevenson]

When one person compromises, he loses. When two people compromise, they both win.
[from Sycamore Chapel bulletin, Mar. 24, 1996, p. 4]

We have never learned to support the things we support with the same enthusiasm with which we oppose the things we oppose.
[from Sycamore Chapel bulletin, Mar. 24, 1996, p. 3]

Refinement of means coupled with confusion of goals is a sign of old age.
[by Einstein]

There are two kinds of statistics, the kind you look up and the kind you make up.
[by Rex Todhunter Stout]

When a stupid man is doing something he is ashamed of, he always declares that it is his duty.
[by George Bernard Shaw]

Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one.
[by Thomas Paine]

If your morals make you dreary, depend upon it, they are wrong.
[by Robert Louis Stevenson]

A child becomes an adult when he realizes that he has a right not only to be right but also to be wrong.
[by Thomas Syrus]

Men will always be mad and those who think they can cure them are the maddest of all.
[by Voltaire]

It's a recession when your neighbor loses his job; it's a depression when you lose your own.
[by Harry S. Truman]

A critic is a man who knows the why but can't drive the car.
[by Kenneth Tynan]

Good breeding consists in concealing how much we think of ourselves and how little we think of other people.
[by Mark Twain]

Manners are especially the need of the plain. The pretty can get away with anything.
[by Evelyn Waugh]

When you're at war you think about a better life; when you're at peace you think about a more comfortable one.
[by Thornton Wilder]

To lose a lover or even a husband or two during the course of one's life be vexing. But to lose one's teeth is a catastrophe.
[by Hugh Wheeler]

A good listener is not someone who has nothing to say. A good listener is a good talker with a sore throat.
[by Katherine Whitehorn]

An artist is someone who produces things that people don't need to have but that he - for some reason - thinks it would be a good idea to give them.
[by Andy Warhol]

There is only one cure for gray hair. It was invented by a Frenchman. It is called the guillotine.
[by Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse]

You can be young without money but you can't be old without it.
[by Tennessee Williams]

Give me the luxuries of life and I will willingly do without the necessities.
[by Frank Lloyd Wright]

A hen is the only one that can lay around and still be a producer!
[from Sycamore Chapel bulletin, May 19, 1996, p. 3]

It is not enough to make progress; we must make it in the right direction.
[from Sycamore Chapel bulletin, May 12, 1996, p. 3]

The manner of giving is worth more than the gift.
[by Pierre Corneille from Sycamore Chapel bulletin, April 21, 1996, p. 4]

Happiness is a mystery like religion, and should never be rationalized.
[by Gilbert Keith Chesterton]

The world's great men have not commonly been great scholars, nor great scholars great men.
[by Oliver Wendell Holmes]

It is better to be the widow of a hero than the wife of a coward.
[by Dolores Ibarruri]

You know if you ever find yourself, you're going to be disappointed.
[by Juan Epstein]

Death destroys a man, the idea of death saves him.
[by Edward Morgan Forster]

Why should people go out and pay money to see bad films when they can stay at home and see bad television for nothing?
[by Samual Goldwyn]

An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile - hoping that it will eat him last.
[by Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill]

Perhaps it is better to be responsible and right than to be responsible and wrong.
[by Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill]

Whenever a man's friends begin to compliment him about looking young, he may be sure that they think he is growing old.
[by Washington Irving]

Real generosity toward the future lies in giving all to the present.
[by Albert Camus]

Everything should be made as simple as possible but not simpler.
[by Albert Einstein]

"Stressed" is just desserts spelled backwards!

The majority has the might - more's the pity - but it hasn't right... The minority is always right.
[by Henrik Ibsen]

An injury is much sooner forgotten than an insult.
[by Philip Dormer Stanhope]

What is written without effort is in general read without pleasure.
[by Samuel Johnson]

A tart temper never mellows with age, and a sharp tongue is the only edged tool that grows keener with constant use.
[by Washington Irving]

The world is a comedy to those who think, a tragedy to those who feel.
[by 4th Earl of Oxford, Horace Walpole]

The shortest and best way to make your future is to let people see clearly that it is in their interests to promote yours.
[by Jean de La Bruyere]

It is better that a man should tyrannize over his bank balance than over his fellow citizens.
[by Baron John Maynard Keynes]

Money is like a sixth sense without which you cannot make a complete use of the other five.
[by William Somerset Maugham]

One of the drawbacks of fame is that one can never escape from it.
[by Dame Nellie Melba]

There can be no sickness like hate, no gift like health, no faith like trust, no joy like peace.
[Japanese prayer]

An idealist is one who, on noticing that a rose smells better than a cabbage, concludes that it will also make a better soup.
[by Henry Louis Mencken]

The Englishman, even if he is alone, forms an orderly queue of one.
[by George Mikes]

Better a thousand enemies outside the house than one inside.

A truly great man never puts away the simplicity of a child.

It is more shameful to distrust one's friends than to be deceived by them.
[by Francois Rochefoucauld]

The secret of being miserable is to have leisure to bother about whether you are happy or not.
[by George Bernard Shaw]

A comedian can only last til he either takes himself serious or his audience takes him serious.
[by Will Rogers]

Everyone wishes to have truth on their side, but it is not everyone that sincerely wants to be on the side of truth.
[by Whatley]

One of the sublimest things in the world is plain truth.
[by Bullwer]

An undivided heart which worships God alone and trusts as it should is raised above all anxiety for earthly wants.
[by Geikie]

A man who fears suffering is already suffering from what he fears.
[by Michel de Montaigne]

The man who leaves money to charity in his will is only giving away what no longer belongs to him.
[by Voltaire]

Politics is perhaps the only profession for which no preparation is thought necessary.
[by Robert Louis Stevenson]

Even a mistake may turn out to be the one thing necessary to a worthwhile achievement.
[by Henry Ford]

A stumble may prevent a fall.
[by Thomas Fuller]

Never walk away from failure. On the contrary, study it carefully - and imaginatively - for its hidden assets.
[by Michael Korda]

For one man to murmur against God because he possesses not the riches he has given to another, is the wrath that killed the foolish man, and the envy that slayeth the silly one.
[from Sycamore Chapel Bulletin, June 23, 1996, p. 3]

It is not man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor.
[by Seneca]

A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to let alone.
[by Henry David Thoreau]

There are two ways of being happy; we must either diminish our wants or augment our means.
[by Benjamin Franklin]

Behaviour is the perpetual revealing of us. What a man does, tells us what he is.
[by F.D. Huntingdon]

Luck is being at the right place at the right time, but location and timing are to some extent under our control.
[by Natasha Josefowitz]

Experience is not what happens to a man; it is what a man does with what happens to him.
[by Aldous Huxley]

Good people are good because they've come to wisdom through failure.
[by William Saroyan]

I've never been poor, only broke. Being poor is a frame of mind. Being broke is only a temporary situation.
[by Mike Todd]

No man can be ideally successful until he has found his place. Like a locomotive he is strong on the track, but weak anywhere else.
[by Orison Swett Marden]

What the mind of man can conceive and believe, the mind of a man can achieve.
[by Napolean Hill]

Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.
[by Theodore Roosevelt]

To win without risk is to triumph without glory.
[by Pierre Corneille]

We don't receive wisdom; we must discover it for ourselves after a journey that no one can take for us or spare us.
[by Marcel Proust]

Money can't buy friends, but you can get a better class of enemy.
[by Spike Milligan]

The measure of a man is the way he bears up under misfortune.
[by Plutarch]

No pain, no palm;
no thorns, no throne;
no gall, no glory;
no cross, no crown.
[by William Penn]

Life is something like a trumpet. If you don't put anything in, you won't get anything out.
[by W.C. Handy]

The world is so constructed, that if you wish to enjoy its pleasures, you must also endure its pains. Whether you like it or not, you cannot have one without the other.
[by Swami Brahmananda]

You have succeeded in life when all you really want is only what you really need.
[by Vernon Howard]

The fear of thirst when your cupboard is full is the thirst that is unquenchable.

Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out.
[by John Wooden]

Nature is often hidden, sometimes overcome, seldom extinguished.
[by Francis Bacon]

The price one pays for pursuing any profession or calling is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side.
[by James Arthur Baldwin]

About the problem with success is that it does not teach you how to deal with failure.
[by Tommy Lasorda]

Enjoy your ice cream while it's on your plate - that's my philosophy.
[by Thornton Wilder]

Man is the only animal that can remain on friendly terms with the victims he intends to eat until he eats them.
[by Samuel Butler]

The most wasted of all days is that on which one has not laughed.
[by Nicholas Chamfort]

Pessimism, when you get used to it, is just as agreeable as optimism.
[by Arnold Bennett]

Advice is seldom welcome; and those who want it the most always like it the least.
[by Philip Dormer Stanhope 4th Earl of Chesterfield]

Evil comes at leisure like the disease; good comes in a hurry like the doctor.
[by Gilbert Keith Chesterton]

Do as you would be done by is the surest method that I know of pleasing.
[by Philip Dormer Stanhope 4th Earl of Chesterfield]

How can I take an interest in my work when I don't like it?
[by Francis Bacon]

Most women are not so young as they are painted.
[by Sir Max Beerbohm]

A warm smile is the universal language of kindness.
[by William Arthur Ward, Reward Yourself]

Good painters imitate nature, bad ones spew it up.
[by Miguel de Cervantes]

The best way to pay for a lovely moment is to enjoy it.
[by Richard Bach, The Bridge Across Forever]

An apology is the superglue of life. It can repair just about anything.
[by Lynn Johnson, Universal Poress Syndicate]

Affluence is that brief happy time between the last car payment and the first repair bill.
[by Orben's Current Comedy]

Our lives depend, moment by moment, on a series of tiny miracles.
[by Jerry Adler and Carol Hall in Newsweek June 5, 1995 p. 36]

He who does not enjoy his own company is usually right.
[Coco Chanel, quoted by Joseph Barry in McCall's]

An original writer is not one who imitates nobody, but one whom nobody can imitate.
[by Vicomte Francois-Rene de Chateaubriand]

Success doesn't come to you...you go to it.
[by Marva Collins from Sycamore Chapel bulletin, Aug. 18, 1996, p. 3]

Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrows; it only saps today of its strength.
[from Sycamore Chapel bulletin, Aug. 18, 1996, p. 3]

The price of success is perseverance. The price of failure comes cheaper.
[from Sycamore Chapel bulletin, July 28, 1996, p. 2]

We put career, money, and pleasure all ahead of family. The irony is, if we put family first, the rest will tend to follow a lot more rapidly.
[by Harvey Mackay from Sycamore Chapel bulletin, July 21, 1996, p. 3]

Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils.
[by Hector Berlioz]

Humour is not a trick, not jokes. Humour is a presence in the world - like grace - and shines on everybody.
[by Garrison Keillor]

All you need to be introduced to a big temptation is to give in to a little one.
[from Sycamore Chapel bulletin, July 14, 1996, p. 3]

When you finally go back to your old home town, you find it wasn't the old home you missed but your childhood.
[by Sam Ewing in National Enquirer]

True leadership is not in pleasing people but in challenging them.
[by Mario Grondona in Vision, Mexico]

The prime of life is that fleeting time between green and over-ripe.
[by Cullen Hightower]

Enthusiasm and optimism are life's legs.
[by L.V.M.]

Don't feel bad if somebody calls you mean, feel bad if you are mean.
[by Spanish proverb]

Most of us can forgive and forget; we just don't want the other person to forget that we forgave.
[by Ivern Ball in National Inquirer]

Great opportunities to help others seldom come, but small ones surround us every day.
[by Sally Koch, quoted in Wisconsin]

Poetry is language at its most distilled and most powerful.
[by Rita Dove]

There are two kinds of people...the ones who need to be told and the ones who figure it out all by themselves.
[by Tom Clancy, Without Remorse]

The harder you fall, the higher you bounce.
[American proverb]

Heredity is a splendid phenomenon that relieves us of responsibility for our shortcomings.
[by Doug Larson, United Feature Syndicate]

Everything comes to he who hustles while he waits.
[by Thomas Edison]

The only thing worth stealing is a kiss from a sleeping child.
[by Joe Houldsworth]

Some people can stay longer in an hour than others can in a week.
[by William Dean Howells]

The best birthdays of all are those that haven't arrived yet.
[by Robert Orben]

It's more fun to arrive at a conclusion that to justify it.
[by Malcolm Forbes. The Sayings of Chairman Malcolm]

Adam was the only man who couldn't use the line, "Haven't I met you somewhere before?"
[by Joseph Mathew]

It is more important to know what kind of patient has a disease than what kind of disease a patient has.
[by William Olser]

Car Sticker: Archaeologists do it by trowel and era.
[by 'Peterborough' in Daily Telegraph, London]

Money doesn't make you happy, but it quiets the nerves.
[by Sean O'Casey]

Happiness makes up in height for what it lacks in length.
[by Robert Frost]

Be able to be alone. Lose not the advantage of solitude.
[by Sir Thomas Browne]

Bragging is not an attractive trait, but let's be honest. A man who catches a big fish doesn't go home through an alley.
[by Ann Landers]

Why is it that what you hear is never quite as interesting as what you overhear?
[by Arnold Glascow in The Wall Street Journal]

Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be bent out of shape.
[by M.M.]

One of the funny things about the stock market is that every time one person buys, another sells, and both think they are astute.
[by William Feather, Sr., in The William Feather Magazine]

To teach is to learn twice.
[by Joseph Joubert]

The two most powerful warriors are patience and time.
[by Tolstoy]

He knows not his own strength that hath not met adversity.
[by Ben Jonson]

The history of every country begins in the heart of a man or a woman.
[by Willa Cather]

If opportunity doesn't knock, build a door.
[by Milton Berle, quoted by Arthur Pine with Julie Houston in One Door close Another Door opens]

Apathy is the glove into which evil slips its hand.
[by Bodie Thoene, Munich Signature]

When something important is going on, silence is a lie.
[by A.M. Rosenthal in the New York Times]

Money talks - but credit has an echo.
[by Bob Thaves, Newspaper Enterprise Assn.]

Dreams and dedication are a powerful combination.
[by William Longgood, Voices from the Earth]

Love is a great beautifier.
[by Louisa May Alcott]

To succeed in the world, it is not enough to be stupid, you must also be well-mannered.
[by Voltaire]

Solitude is a good place to visit but a poor place to stay.
[by Josh Billings]

Nothing tends to confirm suspicion more quickly than an official denial.
[by Family Crossword Puzzles]

A gram of don't-say-it is worth a kilo of didn't-mean-it.
[by L. Boyd]

One of the most expensive vehicles of our time is the supermarket trolley.
[by Aldo Cammarota]

A child taught only in school is an uneducated child.
[from Sycamore Chapel Bulletin, Nov. 3, 1996, p. 4]

You live through the darkness from what you learned in the light.
[from Sycamore Chapel Bulletin, Oct. 27, 1996, p. 4]

When we put our best foot forward, the other one had better be good enough to stand on.
[by Cullen Hightower in Quote Magazine]

The enemies of wit are those who have none.
[by Guy de Maupassant]

Do not tell fish stories where the people know you; but particularly, don't tell them where they know the fish.
[by Mark Twain, The Wit and Wisdom and Mark Twain]

Watching the scenery instead of the car ahead is the way to become part of both.
[by Robert Renniessen]

The greatest natural resource that any country can have is its children.
[by Danny Kaye]

God doesn't have to put his name on a label in the corner of a meadow because nobody else makes meadows.
[by Cecil Laird]

To err is human - and to blame it on a computer is even more so.
[by Orben's Current Comedy]

A false smile is like a rubber cheque.
[by Jo Soares in Journal do Brasil, Rio de Janeiro]

Money saved in the bank is like toothpaste easy to take out but very hard to put back.
[by Aldo Cammarota]

One of the best things people can have up their sleeves is a funny bone.
[by Richard L. Weaver II in Vital Speeches of the Day]

Principles are a grand sight when hung out in fine weather but they have to be made of stern cloth to fly in a wind most foul.
[by June Callwood in The Globe and Mail, Toronto]

About the only beneficial thing about smoking is that it repels gnats and mosquitoes. Which only proves you don't have to be big to be smart.
[by Paul Sweeney in The Quarterly]

If people concentrated on the really important things in life, there'd be a shortage of fishing rods.
[by Doug Larson, United Feature Syndicate]

Memories are the key not to the past, but to the future.
[by Corrie ten Boom]

Imagination is a good horse to carry you over the ground - not a flying carpet to set you free from probability.
[by Robertson Davies, The Manticore]

Youth, the more it is wasted the sooner it wears.
[by Shakespeare]

A man has to ignore much to get on with something.
[by Alfred North Whitehead]

A wise man changes his mind; a fool never will.
[a Spanish proverb]

The worst thing in your life may contain seeds of the best. When you can see crisis as an opportunity, your life becomes not easier, but more satisfying.
[by Joe Kogel]

Speak not against anyone whose burden you have not weighed yourself.
[by Marion Bradley, Black Trillium]

The man who is waiting for something to turn up might start on his shirt sleeves.
[by Garth Henrichs]

It's a little bit the fiddle, but lots more who holds the bow.
[by Wilburn Wilson]

Some people talk because they think sound is more manageable than silence.
[by Margaret Halsey in Seasoned to Taste]

You don't need to take a person's advice to make him feel good - just ask for it.
[by Laurence Peter, Peter's Almanac]

In every community there is work to be done. In every nation, there are wounds to heal. In every heart, there is the power to do it.
[by Marianne Williamson, A Return to Love]

Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must undergo the fatigue of supporting it.
[by Thomas Paine]

Establishing goals is all right if you don't let them deprive you of interesting detours.
[by Doug Larson, United Feature Syndicate]

We must accept finite disappointment, but we must never lose infinite hope.
[by Martin Luther King]

You can't be afraid of stepping on toes if you want to go dancing.
[by Lewis Freedman]

Democracy is like a raft, it won't sink, but you'll always have your feet wet.
[by Russell Long]

You don't stop laughing because you grow old, you grow old because you stop laughing.
[by Michael Pritchard]

Good sense is easier to have than use.
[by James Grady]

Everyone journeys through character as well as through time. The person one becomes depends on the person one has been.
[by Dick Francis]

Success has nothing to do with what you gain in life or accomplish for yourself. It's what you do for others.
[by Danny Thomas]

When Grace is joined with wrinkles, it is adorable. There is an unspeakable dawn in happy old age.
[by Victor Hugo]

There is a wonder in reading Braille that the sighted will never know to touch words and have them touch you back.
[by Jim Fiebig, NANA]

The finest inheritance you can give to a child is to allow it to make its own way, completely on its own feet.
[by Isadora Duncan]

The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven.
[by John Milton]

In certain parts of the world, people still pray in the streets. In this country, they're called pedestrians.
[by Gloria Pitzer]

You can buy flattery, but envy must be earned.
[quoted in Philips Calendar]

In the confrontation between the stream and the rock, the stream always wins - not through strength but by perseverance.
[by H. Jackson Brown]

A half truth is a whole lie.
[a Yiddish proverb]

Lots of people know a good thing the minute the other fellow sees it first.
[by Job Hedges]

There are victories of the soul and spirit. Sometimes, even if you lose, you win.
[by Elie Wiesel]

Count no day lost in which you waited your turn, took only your share and sought advantage over no one.
[by Robert Brault]

One of the secrets of life is to make stepping stones out of stumbling blocks.
[by Jack Penn]

Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of liberty.
[by Thomas Jefferson]

The pursuit of perfection often impedes improvement.
[by George Will]

It pays to know the enemy - not least because at some time you may have the opportunity to turn him into a friend.
[by Margaret Thatcher]

Some people change their ways when they see the light, others when they feel the heat.
[by Caroline Schoeder]

Silence is not only golden; it's seldom misquoted.
[by Bob Monkhouse]

The pale leaf falls in pallor, but the green leaf turns to gold;
We that have found it good to be young shall find it good to be old.
[by G.K. Chesterton]

By inflection you can say much more than your words do.
[by Malcolm S. Forbes]

I think of life as a good book. The further you get into it, the more it begins to make sense.
[by Harold S. Kushner]

The older you get, the more important it is not to act your age.
[by Ashleigh Brilliant]

Education is more than a luxury, it is a responsibility that society owes to itself.
[by Robin Cook]

Kindness can become its own motive. We are made kind by being kind.
[by Eric Hoffer]

Every generation finds it hard to hear what its children need - because its own childhood is still ringing in its ears.
[by Ellen Goodman]

Never assume. Assume makes an ass out of u and me.
[by T. Fleming]

While science may help explain how a virus multiplies, it leaves unanswered why a tear is shed.
[by Dr. Bernard Lown]

The computer can do more work faster than a human because it doesn't have to answer the phone.
[by Joey Adams]

Credit Cards. What you use after you learn money can't buy everything.
[from Los Angeles Times syndicate]

One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating.
[by Luciano Pavarotti]

A mother becomes a true grandmother the day she stops noticing the terrible things her children do because she is enchanted with the wonderful things her grandchildren do.
[by Lois Wyse]

By the time you finish paying for the house in the suburbs, it's no longer in the suburbs.
[by Bob Talbert]

If you think you're too old for growing pains, try digging up a garden.
[from selected cryptograms]

Remember when you used to bring your dates home to meet your parents? Now it's time to meet your kids.
[from Orben's current comedy]

Dancing is the art of drawing music.
[by Jose Guerra]

Look out how you use proud words. When you let proud words go, it is not easy to call them back.
[by Carl Sandburg]

When one loves somebody, everything is clear - where to go, what to do - it all takes care of itself and one doesn't have to ask anybody about anything.
[by Maxim Gorky]

Marriage should, I think, always be a little hard and new and strange. It should be breaking your shell and going into another world, and a bigger one.
[by Anne Morrow Lindergh]

In my friend, I find a second self.
[by Isabel Norton]

The human animal needs a freedom seldom mentioned, freedom from intrusion. He needs a little privacy quite as much as he wants understanding or vitamins or exercise or praise.
[by Phylis McGinley]

The fragrance always stays in the hand that gives the rose.
[by Hada Bejar]

Family faces are magic mirrors. Looking at people who belong to us, we see the past, present and future. We make discoveries about ourselves.
[by Gail Lurnet Buckley]

The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page.
[by St. Augustine]

One thing the discovery of the North Pole revealed is that there is nobody sitting on top of the world.
[from Tennessee Farm Bureau News]

Experience is what you get when you don't get what you want.
[by Dan Stanford]

A cliche is only something well said in the first place.
[by Bill Granger]

Years ago, when someone wore sneakers, it often meant that he couldn't afford shoes. Today, if a person is wearing shoes, he probably can't afford sneakers.
[by Selma Lehrer]

The more you know the better your luck.
[a Burmese proverb]

Slogan on a weather bureau T-shirt. Happiness is a warm front.
[from the Guardian]

Two great talkers will not travel far together.
[a Spanish proverb]

All that mankind has done, thought, gained or been, it is lying as in magic preservation in the pages of books.
[by Thomas Carlyle]

They say that garbage can be made into fuel. And why not - it's already being made into movies, books and TV shows.
[by Robert Orben]

Usually, the husband regards himself as the head of the household, and the pedestrian feels he has the right of way. And, usually, both of them are safe until they try to prove it.
[from Smiles]

No man goes before his time. Unless, of course, the boss leaves early.
[by M.B.]

A sign once posted at the entrance to a park in Alberta, Canada, read, "Please do not disturb the birds and their nests. Sanctuary much."
[by Douglas Cone]

If your teenager mows the lawn without being told, don't plan on using the car that night.
[by Debbie Adams]

Even God cannot change the past.
[by Agathon]

I have a fine sense of the ridiculous, but no sense of humour.
[by Edward Albee]

A celebrity is a person who works hard all his life to become known, then wears dark glasses to avoid being recognized.
[by Fred Allen]

It's not that I'm afraid to die, I just don't want to be there when it happens.
[by Woody Allen]

First you take a drink, then the drink takes a drink, then the drink takes you.
[by Francis Scott Fitzgerald]

Exercise is bunk. If you are healthy, you don't need it. If you are sick, you shouldn't take it.
[by Henry Ford]

It's odd how people waiting for you stand out far less clearly than people you are waiting for.
[by Jean Giraudoux]

The trick to selling a house is to make it look as though no one ever lived in it.
[by Erma Bombeck]

What's worse than being on the wrong side of an argument? Being on the right side with nobody listening.
[by F.F.W.]

The really tough thing about true humility is you can't brag about it.
[by Gene Brown]

When you speak to others for their own good, it's advice. When they speak to you for your own good, it's interference.
[from Bits & Pieces]

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it sure beats a blank stare for starting a conversation.
[by Beryl Pfizer]

If you have knowledge, let others light their candles at it.
[by Margaret Fuller]

Sign in an office. He who watches the clock will always remain one of the hands.
[by K. Rowell]

If a man had as many ideas during the day as he does when he has insomnia, he'd make a fortune.
[by Griff Niblack]

Children aren't happy with nothing to ignore. And that's what parents were created for.
[by Ogden Nash]

Fable is more historical than fact, because fact tells us about one man and fable tells us about a million men.
[by G.K. Chesterton]

There is nothing in the world like a persuasive speech to fuddle the mental apparatus.
[by Mark Twain]

Those who agree with us may not be right, but we admire their astuteness.
[by Cullen Hightower]

You must get involved to have an impact. No one is impressed with the won-lost record of a referee.
[by John Holcomb]

When things are bad, we take comfort in the thought that they could always be worse. And when they are, we find hope in the thought that things are so bad they have to get better.
[by Malcolm Forbes]

Fun is like life insurance. The older you get, the more it costs.
[by Kin Hubbard]

A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person.
[by Mignon McLaughlin]

The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitude.
[by William James]

The greatest discovery in our generation is that human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives.
[by William James]

The safest road to hell is the gradual one - the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.
[by C.S. Lewis]

Democracy is a system that gives people a chance to elect rascals of their own choosing.
[by Doug Larson]

The less secure a man is, the more likely he is to have extreme prejudices.
[by Clint Eastwood]

Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.
[by John Steinbeck]

An engagement: a period of urge on the verge of a merge.
[from The Times, London]

A prune is a plum with experience.
[by John Trattner]

Kids have grown up when they stop asking where they came from and refuse to tell you where they are going.
[from Changing Times]

Noah had to be the first bureaucrat. He filed two of everything.
[by Robert Orben]

Anyone who thinks the art of conversation is dead ought to tell a child to go to bed.
[by Robert Gallagher]

The person who agrees with everything you say either isn't paying attention or else plans to sell you something.
[by Bud Holiday]

Watching your diet is easier than following it.
[by Malcolm Forbes]

Anybody who can still do at 60 what he was doing at 20 wasn't doing much at 20.
[by Jimmy Townsend]

Tolerance is based on courtesy, respect and the suspicion that the other fellow may be right.
[from Quote Magazine]

A successful politician is someone who can stand on a fence and make people believe it's a platform.
[quoted in the Optimist Magazine]

A word to the wise is often enough to start an argument.
[from the 1986 Almanac for Farmers and City Folk]

The hand that rocks the cradle is usually attached to someone who isn't getting enough sleep.
[by Jim Fiebig]

A fool and his money are invited places.
[by M.C.]

The advantage of a bad memory is that one enjoys several times the same good things for the first time.
[by Friedrich Nietzsche]

Prejudices are the reasoning of the stupid.
[by Voltaire]

Love cannot be taught, it must be given.
[by Marcello Bernardi]

Nothing happens unless first a dream.
[by Carl Sandburg]

When it comes to staying young, a mind lift beats a face lift any day.
[by Marty Bucella]

We may not imagine how our lives could be more frustrating and complex - but the government can.
[by Cullen Hightower]

Treat a child as though he already is the person he's capable of becoming.
[by Haim Ginott]

In times like these, it helps to recall that there have always been times like these.
[by Paul Harvey]

All things are possible until they are proved impossible - and even the impossible may only be so, as of now.
[by Pearl Buck]

Take your work seriously, but yourself lightly.
[by C.W. Metcalf]

We never know the love of the parent until we become parents ourselves.
[by Henry Ward Beecher]

I would rather live in a world where my life is surrounded by mystery than live in a world so small that my mind could comprehend it.
[by Harry Emerson Fosdick]

What regard for truth has been broken down or even slightly weakened, all things will remain doubtful.
[by St. Augustine]

Always try to keep a patch of sky above your life.
[by Marcel Proust]

If you cannot get people to listen to you any other way, tell them it's confidential.
[F.D.]

You know you've reached maturity when you can walk past a "Wet Paint" sign without stopping to see if it is.
[by Karen McIntosh]

Sometimes the most urgent and vital thing you can possibly do is take a complete rest.
[by Ashleigh Brilliant]

Celebration is more than a happy feeling. Celebration is an experience. It is liking others, accepting others, laughing with others.
[by Douglas Stuva]

In a successful marriage, there is no such thing as one's way. There is only the way of both, only the bumpy, dusty, difficult, but always mutual path.
[by Phyllis McGinley]

A friend hears the song in my heart and sings it to me when my memory fails.
[from Pioneer Girls Leaders' Handbook]

Words are as beautiful as wild horses, and sometimes as difficult to corral.
[by Ted Berkman]

While forbidden fruit is said to taste sweeter, it usually spoils faster.
[by Abigail Van Buren]

The reason people blame things on previous generations is that there's only one other choice.
[by Doug Larson]

What we do during our working hours determines what we have; what we do in our leisure hours determines what we are.
[by George Eastman]

We are free to the degree that we have knowledge; it is the quality of our knowledge that measures the degree of our freedom.
[by Jean-Paul Desbiens]

April 1 is the day upon which we are reminded what we are on the other 364.
[by Mark Twain]

I have nothing against gray hair. I just wish they were the ones that fell out.
[by Daniel Breidegam]

The optimist is the kind of person who believes a housefly is looking for a way out.
[by George Jean Nathan]

Men who are "orthodox" when they are young are in danger of being middle-aged all their lives.
[by Walter Lippmann]

It's not easy taking my problems one at a time when they refuse to get in line.
[by Ashleigh Brilliant]

Few things are more satisfying than seeing your children have teenagers of their own.
[by Doug Larson]

If you cannot win, make the one ahead of you break the record.
[by Jan McKeithen]

Gossip needn't be false to be evil - there's a lot of truth that shouldn't be passed around.
[by Frank Clark]

Question authority, but first raise your hand.
[by Bob Thaves]

You can't expect to make a place in the sun for yourself if you keep taking refuge under the family tree.
[by Claude McDonald]

No one can arrive from being talented alone. God gives talent; work transforms talent into genius.
[by Anna Pavlova]

The longest odds in the world are those against getting even.
[by S.C.]

Ideas are very much like children - your own are wonderful.
[from approved crossword puzzles]

The best time to save money is when you have it.
[by Aldo Cammarota]

All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen.
[from Sycamore Chapel bulletin, Sept. 22, 1996, p. 4]

If you are headed in the wrong direction, God allows U-turns.
[from Sycamore Chapel bulletin, Sept. 15, 1996, p. 4]

We don't fear extinction, we fear extinction without meaning.
[by Thomas Carlyle]

Our youth now love luxuries. They have bad manners, contempt for authority. They show disrespect for elders and they love to chatter instead of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants, of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up their food, and tyrannize their teachers.
[by Socrates]

Many of the things we need can wait. The child cannot....His name is "today."
[by Gabriella Mistral]

The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena.
[by either Theodore Roosevelt or M.K. Gandhi]

A man is never so happy as when his mind, body, and heart are in harmony together.
[by Seneca]

Walking is man's best medicine.
[by Hippocrates]

Worry pulls tomorrow's cloud over today's sunshine.
[from Sycamore Chapel bulletin, Oct. 13, 1996, p. 3]

All wise men share one trait - the ability to listen.
[from Sycamore Chapel bulletin, Oct. 6, 1996, p. 4]

Time is a versatile performer - it flies, marches on, heals all, runs out and will tell.
[from Sycamore Chapel bulletin, Nov. 24, 1996, p. 4]

He who is too quick to speak may say things he hasn't thought of yet!
[from Sycamore Chapel bulletin, Nov. 10, 1996, p. 4]

One woman was asked the benefits of living to the age of 102. After a pause, she answered, "No peer pressure!"
[from The ALC (Abundant Life Centre) Informer newsletter, no. 33, 22 Sept. 1996, p. 3]

God's love is too good to be true, too great to be missed.
[by Max Lucado from The ALC (Abundant Life Centre) Informer newsletter, no. 33, 22 Sept. 1996, p. 4]

We get what we want out of life only by working with and through others.
[from The ALC (Abundant Life Centre) Informer newsletter, no. 21, 30 June 1996, p. 1]

The greatest hunger a person has is to be needed. Help create that feeling in others.
[from The ALC (Abundant Life Centre) Informer newsletter, no. 21, 30 June 1996, p. 1]

Don't try to impress others. Let them have the fun of impressing you.
[from The ALC (Abundant Life Centre) Informer newsletter, no. 21, 30 June 1996, p. 1]

Call person by his or her name and use it often in conversation.
[from The ALC (Abundant Life Centre) Informer newsletter, no. 21, 30 June 1996, p. 1]

Be genuinely interested in others. Get them to talk about themselves.
[from The ALC (Abundant Life Centre) Informer newsletter, no. 21, 30 June 1996, p. 1]

In any human endeavour, once you've exhausted all possibilities and failed, one solution, simple and obvious, will be highly visible to everyone else!
[from Karori Baptist Church newsletter, 20 Oct. 1996, p. 4]

Luck: a loser's excuse for a winner's position.
[from Sycamore Chapel bulletin, Dec. 19, 1996, p. 3]

The greatest possession you have is the 24 hours directly in front of you.
[from Sycamore Chapel bulletin, Dec. 19, 1996, p. 4]

The proper place to start curbing the crime wave is not in the electric chair, but in the high chair.
[from Sycamore Chapel bulletin, Dec. 22, 1996, p. 4]

You have to know the ropes in order to pull the strings.
[from Sycamore Chapel bulletin, Dec. 8, 1996, p. 4]

A critical spirit is like poison ivy - it only takes a little contact to spread its poison.
[from Sycamore Chapel bulletin, Feb. 2, 1997, p. 4]

Authority makes some people grow - and other just swell.
[from Sycamore Chapel bulletin, Jan. 26, 1997, p. 4]

A man is never in worse company than when he flies into a rage and is beside himself.
[from Sycamore Chapel bulletin, Jan. 19, 1997, p. 3]

The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra.
[from Sycamore Chapel bulletin, Jan. 19, 1997, p. 4]

You don't have to lie awake at night to succeed - just stay awake during the day.
[from Sycamore Chapel bulletin, Jan. 5, 1997, p. 4]

The right angle to approach a difficult problem is the "try-angle."
[from Sycamore Chapel church of Christ bulletin, Mar. 16, 1997, p. 4]

Two things are hard on the heart - running upstairs and running down people.
[from Sycamore Chapel church of Christ bulletin, Mar. 2, 1997, p. 4]

The bridge you burn now may be the one you later have to cross.
[from Sycamore Chapel church of Christ bulletin, Feb. 16, 1997, p. 4]

You should never let adversity get you down - except on your knees.
[from Sycamore Chapel church of Christ bulletin, Feb. 9, 1997, p. 4]

Most people, when confronted with a good idea, run screaming in the other direction.
[by Ned Barnett]

Most history is just gossip that has grown old gracefully.
[by Syndey J. Harris]

A rooster isn't unpopular because he wakes up early; it's because he has so much to say about it.
[by M.C.P.]

"I'm a Christian" is not a statement, but a demonstration! (John 13:35)

Even a woodpecker owes his success to the fact that he uses his head.
[from The Church of Christ at Sycamore Chapel [bulletin], Mar. 23, 1997, p. 4]

Children become spoiled when we substitute "presents" for "presence".
[from The Church of Christ at Sycamore Chapel [bulletin], Mar. 30, 1997, p. 4]

Men don't realize how great a revenue economy is.

The way out of trouble is never as simple as the way in.

To be seventy years young is sometimes far more cheerful and hopeful than to be forty years old.

A GOOD QUESTION
If someone were to pay you ten cents for every kind word you ever spoke about people, and collect five cents for every unkind word, would you be rich or poor?
[from Orange Ave. Church of Christ Eustis bulletin, vol. 40, no. 42, Sept 7, 1997, p. 3]

Life is like a cafeteria: One goes through choosing as he goes, but what he chooses must be paid for at the end of the line. Choose wisely, carefully, prayerfully: no refunds, no exchanges!
[from Orange Ave. Church of Christ Eustis bulletin, vol. 40, no. 42, Sept 7, 1997, p. 3]

The person who does not read good books has no advantage over the one who can't read them.
[from The Church of Christ at Sycamore Chapel [bulletin], May 11, 1997, p. 4]

Watch your thoughts; they become words.
Watch your words; they become actions.
Watch your actions; they become habits.
Watch your habits; they become character.
Watch your character; for it becomes your destiny.
[from Sycamore Chapel bulletin, July 28, 1996, p. 3]

Life is like a bicycle - you don't fall off unless you quit pedaling.
[from The Church of Christ at Sycamore Chapel [bulletin], May 25, 1997, p. 4]

Some people succeed because they are destined to, but most succeed because they are determined to.
[from The Church of Christ at Sycamore Chapel [bulletin], Apr. 6, 1997, p. 4]

HOW DO YOU RATE?

The following are the results of the survey conducted here at a recent Sycamore Chapel service. A total of 116 people participated in the survey.
1. Do you normally attend Sy.Chapel.? Yes: 96.6%, No: 3.4%
2. Are you a member of the church of Christ? Yes: 88.8%, No: 7.8%, No answer 3.4%
3. No statistics given.
4. Do you believe the Bible to be the inspired word of God? Yes: 100%, No: 0%
5. How often do you read the Bible at home? Daily: 20.7%, Weekly: 33.6%, Now & then: 45.7%
6. How much of the Bible do you average reading each year? 1/4: 57.8%, 1/2: 20.7%, 3/4: 9.5%, Entire Bible: 2.6%, No answer: 9.5%
7. In your reading do you: (a) start at one place and read: 25.6% (b) read verses here and there: 32.6% (c) little of both: 29.3% (d) do not read much: 8.6%, no answer: 3.4%
8. Do you attend Sunday night service? Yes: 59.5%, No: 38.8%, no answer: 1.7%
9. If not, why? (a) tired: 5.6% (b) don't want to: 7.7% (c) not able to travel at night: 5.6% (d) it's not needed: 1.9% (e) other: 55.7%, no answer: 23.1%
10. Do you pray daily? Yes: 87.1%, No: 8.6%, no answer: 4.3%
11. Do you believe one must be baptized for remission of sins to be saved? Yes: 99.1%, No: 0.9%
12. Have you invited someone to church in the past month? Yes: 39.7%, No: 60.3%
13. What book of the Bible follows Malachi? (a) Zechariah: 15.5% (b) Habakkuk: 7.8% (c) Matthew: 54.3% (d) Hosea: 4.3%, no answer: 18.1%
14. Who is older? (a) Jacob: 6.0% (b) Isaac: 3.4 (c) Esau: 6.9% (d) Abram: 73.3%, No answer: 10.3%
15. When Jesus was transfigured who appeared with him? Moses and Elijah: 20.7%, no answer: 49.1%. Other answers were John, Noah, Angels, Isaiah, Paul, Peter, Abram, Abraham, Mary, Martha, thief, God, the apostles, and a dove.
[from Sycamore Chapel bulletin, April 14, 1996, p. 2-3]

DON'T FORGET THE SCARS

Many years ago, General John B. Gordon waged a campaign for a seat in the United States Senate. A former army comrade was a part of the voting body which was to decide if his name would be placed in nomination. The two men had been fellow officers, and through the years terrible resentment had developed between them. Everyone knew this man would fight Gordon's bid to become a senator.

As the balloting began, General Gordon felt the intense gaze of his enemy. He was staring at the ugly scars which gashed the general's face - marks of his willingness to suffer and bleed for a cause he believed in.

Now it was time for his vote! All eyes were upon the face of the general. The old soldier was stricken with remorse. He said with great emotion, "I cannot be against him; I had forgotten the scars - I had forgotten the scars!"

Dear reader, look at Jesus on that cross! It's not just a picture on an old Sunday school card. It really happened. Look at the scars.

There they are on His head, where the thorns punctured His scalp!
There, see those in His hands, where the nails savagely speared Him?
There, look where the nails were rammed through His feet!
There, look at that one - you'll have to look closely - the one in His heart where our sins gouged and tore Him!
I can't be against Him. I had forgotten the scars - I had forgotten the scars!
[by Joe R. Barnett from Sycamore Chapel bulletin, July 7, 1996, p. 2]

THE TWENTY-THIRD POUND

My appetite is my shepherd: I shall always want. It maketh me to sit down and stuff myself. It leadeth me to my refrigerator repeatedly. It leadeth me in the path of "Burger King" for a whopper. It destroyeth my shape. Yea, though I knoweth I gainest I will not stop eating for the food tasteth so good. The ice cream and cookies, they comfort me. When the table is spread before me, it excites me, for I knoweth I will soon dig in. As I filleth my plate continuously, my clothes runneth smaller. Surely bulges and excess weight shall follow me all the days of my life and I will be fat forever!
[from Sycamore Chapel bulletin, Oct. 6, 1996, p. 4]

Blunders in church bulletins:
"Don't let worry kill you - let the church help."
"The rosebud on the alter this morning is to announce the birth of David Alan Belzer, the sin of Rev. and Mrs. Julius Belzer."
[from Karori Baptist Church newsletter, 20 Oct. 1996, p. 4]

DON'T LET OUR PREACHER GO TO THE ZOO!

A poor preacher, who preached for a small congregation that could not pay him well enough for him to live comfortably, decided to look for extra work. However, every time he applied for work, he was told, "I'm sorry, Sir, but we just don't have a thing for you." Tired and discouraged, he finally came to a zoo and approached the zoo keeper with his plight. After telling the weary seeker that he had nothing for him, and feeling a bit guilty, he studied a moment and then said, "We had a bear that died last month, and we kept his hide. If you want to dress up in the bear's hide and take his place in the cage, acting your best as a bear, we could use you." "Oh, thank you, Sir," said the preacher. "I think I can make a pretty good bear." Actually, he made a very good bear. He did handstands and ate the peanuts the kids gave him and everyone was delighted. But one day when the adrenalin was running high, he did a great handstand and landed in the next cage, which was the lion's cage. Immediately, he and the lion "went at it." He managed to get a firm grip on the lion's head and kept tightening up, thinking to himself, "I'm doing quite well against this lion." Just then a voice came from the lion: "Don't be so rough, man. You're not the only poor preacher in town."
[from Sycamore Chapel church of Christ bulletin, Mar. 2, 1997, p. 3]

FOR WITH GOD NOTHING SHALL BE IMPOSSIBLE

Many years ago, a huge oil refinery caught fire. Flames shot hundreds of feet into the air and the sky filled with grimy smoke. The heat was so intense that firefighters parked a block away, hoping for the heat to die down. Instead, the fire raged ever closer to a nearby row of tanks.

Suddenly, a fire truck came careening down the street. With its brakes screeching, it hit the curb directly in front of the blaze. The firefighters jumped out and began to battle the blaze. Inspired by this act, the other firefighters drove closer and joined in the fight. As a result of their cooperative effort, the fire was brought under control in the nick of time.

Those who witnessed these events decided to honor the man who had driven the lead fire truck to the brink of the blaze. In preparing for the awards ceremony, the mayor said, "Captain, we want to honor you for your fantastic act. You prevented the loss of property, perhaps even the loss of life. Is there something we can give you as a token of our appreciation?" The captain replied without hesitation, "Your honor, a new set of brakes would be dandy!"

Acts of heroism all begin the same way: one person is willing to try when others are not.
[from Sycamore Chapel church of Christ bulletin, Mar. 9, 1997, p. 4]

THE DEATH OF CHRIST

The death of Christ was a VIOLENT death. Crucifixion on a cross was a horrible way to die. The Jews detested that form of execution...(Gal. 3:13). Even the Romans despised this form of death. Cicero said, "Let the very name of the cross be far away, not only from the body of a Roman citizen, but even from his thoughts, his eyes, his ears." Crucifixion was not used because it was the fastest way to die but because it was an agonizing way to die. Crucifixion was a slow, painful, and shameful death which no man deserved.

The death of Christ was a VICARIOUS death. Jesus died for the cause and benefit of others. Jesus lived an innocent life. He did not do anything deserving of death. (I Pet. 3:18). Sin always requires death (Rom. 6:23; Eze. 18:20). Jesus died so that we would not have to die spiritually because of the sins which we have committed. (Rom. 5:6-8). We should thank God every day that He loved us so much that He sent His only begotten Son to die so we might live.

The death of Christ was a VOLUNTARY death. Isaiah predicted long ago that the Christ would pour out His soul unto death (Isa. 53:12). Jesus poured out his blood, it was not spilled. Pouring implies an intentional act whereas spilling implies that which is accidental. Jesus...(Phili. 2:8). The voluntary nature of Jesus' death is clearly seen in His own words, He said...(John 10:17-18). Premillennialism is wrong about Jesus' death when it says that His death was not planned. Jesus predicted His own death on many occasions, and the scriptures teach that His death was part of the eternal plan of God (Eph. 3:11; I Pet. 1:19-20). Jesus' death was preventable, but Jesus and His Father chose not to prevent it. Jesus told Pilate...(John 19:11). Jesus could have prevented His own death by calling for the "twelve legions of angels" which were at His disposal (Matt. 26:53). Yet, Jesus freely laid down His life for us so that we could be saved.

The death of Christ was a VICTORIOUS death. The power of God triumphed over evil (Eph. 1:20-22). The forces of right dealt Satan a death blow at Jesus' resurrection from which Satan will never be able to recover. All of Christianity is based upon the resurrection for...(I Cor. 15:17; I Cor. 15:20).

The death of Christ can be a VAIN death if we do not obey God's will. As far as it concerns us, if we do not obey, Jesus died for nothing! Don't let Jesus' death be for nothing. Obey and keep on obeying all the days of your life.
[by Garry Stanton from Sycamore Chapel church of Christ bulletin, Mar. 2, 1997, p. 2]

LEAD A QUIET LIFE AND MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS

A faculty member at a university once became very distraught over the weaknesses of a particular administrator with whom he had a negative relationship. He allowed himself to think about the man constantly. Hateful, negative thoughts so preoccupied him that it affected the quality of his relationships with his family, his church, and his colleagues. He finally concluded that he needed to leave and accept a teaching appointment elsewhere.

A friend asked him, "Wouldn't you really prefer to teach at this university, if the man were not here?" "Of course," the man responded, "but as long as he is here, then my staying is too disruptive to everything in life. I have to go."

The friend then asked. "Why have you made this administrator the center of your life?" As much as the man tried to deny the truth of this, he finally had to admit that he had allowed one individual and his weaknesses to distort his entire view of life. Still, it was not the administrator's doing. It was his own. From that day forward, he focused on his students and his teaching...and he found new joy in his "old job".

When you concentrate on running down others, usually the only one that gets run down is you.
(Eph. 4:29.)
[from Sycamore Chapel church of Christ bulletin, Mar. 2, 1997, p. 4]

A FAITH THAT NEVER DIES

The victory that overcomes the world is strong and steadfast faith in God (I John 5:4). This trust is based upon confidence in the Lord and the Bible. It is a very powerful tool in defeating Satan and dominating sin. James Gray paid this tribute to scripture.

It fills the world with fragrance
Whose sweetness never dies.
It lifts our eyes to heaven
It heightens human joys,
Yes, dynasties have fallen
And the Bible still stands...

Since faith comes by hearing the word of God (Rom. 10:17), we can draw nearer to spiritual values through daily and diligent study of the sacred text day by day. Let us not rob ourselves of the rich treasure within our grasp! The Bible is compared to a sword, a mirror, a lamp, a hammer and fire. Each of these metaphors tell us of the wholesome power and discernment that emanates from the piercing Word. All we can know for sure about the Savior is revealed in the text of the Bible. Someone has blessed us with these reminders concerning Christ.

IN HIM WE HAVE:
A life that never dies
A love that cannot be fathomed
A beauty that is never marred
A joy that is never diminished
A light that is never darkened
A purity that is never defiled
And resources that can never be exhausted!

Some of those in the Bible whose faith did not waver and whose courage still inspires us are: Gideon, who with God's providence, took 300 men and defeated 135,000. Esther, who put her life on the line to preserve the seed of Abraham. Nathan, who boldly rebuked King David. Ruth, who left home to follow God. David, who defied Goliath against all odds. Peter and John, who obeyed the Lord and not men (Acts 5:29). Paul, who preached the gospel in wicked Corinth. Titus, on the evil island of Crete as he denounced sinful men. Moses, as he challenged Pharaoh. Jeremiah, in the dungeon, often because Truth was worth it! Amos, the fiery and honest prophet who demanded that Israel repent or perish. John the Immerser, a voice crying in the wilderness as he called men back to God. Nicodemus and Joseph, as they begged Pilate for the body of Jesus for burial.

It took tremendous faith, courage, loyalty and dedication for all of these people to take a stand for Truth. We live in an age that calls for full commitment also.

W.H. Bathurst wrote:
"A faith that shines more bright and clear
When tempests rage without;
That when in danger knows no fear,
In darkness feels no doubt."
Let us build within our hearts a faith that never dies!
[by Johnny Ramsey from Sycamore Chapel church of Christ bulletin, Feb. 23, 1997, p. 2]

WHY ARE OUR FAMILIES IN TROUBLE?

Our families are in trouble because too much attention is given to the urgent and not to the important. We haven't been properly taught from God's Word. The average home released or delegated too much if its responsibility to others who are not as crucial to raising good children (Prov. 22:6; Eph. 6:4).

Ben Franklin well said, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." Traits of a healthy home are: communicate and listen; affirm and support; develop trust; have a sense of play and humor; share responsibilities; teach right from wrong; have a balance of interaction; build a strong sense of family; have a shared religious core in the church; respect the privacy of others; value service to others; foster mealtime conversation; share leisure time, and admit to problems and seek help. Is your family in trouble?
[from Christian Messenger via Sycamore Chapel church of Christ bulletin, Feb. 23, 1997, p. 3]

...THOU FOOL, THIS NIGHT THY SOUL SHALL BE REQUIRED OF THEE...

A pompous city man, turned farmer, was showing a young boy over his acreage. As they drove through field after field, the man bragged incessantly about his accomplishments - how he had started from scratch as a young man and worked his way up through the business world. He told how he had earned far more money than had been necessary to purchase the land and how he had invested thousands upon thousands of dollars to transform the formerly worthless farm into the agricultural paradise they were surveying. He told of the amazing yield of crops, and the lushness of the new spring planting.

Finally, he pointed toward the stacked hay, the full granary, and the boxes of produce and declared, "And I grew it all by myself, sonny. Started with nothing, and now look at it."

"From nothing?" echoed the duly impressed lad.
"That's right," said the man. "From nothing."
"Wow," the young boy said, pausing to reflect for a few seconds. "My dad farms, but he needs seed to grow his crops."
(Prov. 18:2).
[from Sycamore Chapel church of Christ bulletin, Feb. 23, 1997, p. 4]

HOW MUCH DO YOU WANT TO KNOW?

Being a good Bible student does not come easily. It is not accidental! The focus should be on the right action. (Col. 3:23) The heart (attitude) and the hand (actions) are both necessary in Bible study.

We must want to know! The scriptures illustrate that desire in several ways:

1. We are to hunger for the Word like a baby hungers for milk. When a baby is hungry, he will let you know it. No toy or trinket will take its place. A baby couldn't care less about the color of the curtains, or carpet, or wallpaper. A baby doesn't care about the booties or gown or other things we want him to have. A baby is single-minded. HE WANTS MILK! And Peter said that's an illustration for the new Christian's desire for the milk of the Word. And how quickly our babies grow on the milk, and before we know it, they're on to more solid food.

2. We are to seek the Word like a miner seeks silver. Solomon said, regarding knowledge and understanding, that it is sought like silver (Prov. 2:4). Men will go to great pains to find silver and gold. And yet very little energy is used to find truth. (Prov. 23:23). Truth is far more valuable than gold. Truth endures and makes us free (John 8:32).

3. We are to treasure the Word as our necessary food. Do you have a passion for the Word? (Job 23:12). Job is saying that if it came down to eating food or feeding on the Word, it would be His word that is treasured above all else. And David expressed a similar attitude when he said...(Psa. 19:10).

Do you desire the Word like a baby desires milk; like a miner seeks precious metal, and do you treasure it above your necessary food? These illustrate the desire that is necessary to be a good Bible student.
[by Clarence DeLoach from Sycamore Chapel church of Christ bulletin, Feb. 16, 1997, p. 2]

HEART TROUBLE

David, despite his unique knowledge and experience of God, apparently did not foresee any grave complications when he committed adultery with Bathsheba. As king he was accustomed to getting what he wanted, and he wanted Bathsheba. But to keep his disobedience to God from being revealed, David finally ordered the death of Uriah, Bathsheba's husband.

The lie we tell may seem an isolated instance. But often we end up having to deny we lied, digging ourselves deeper into a hole. We can even begin implicating others, asking them to lie for us.

If people will steal, they will not balk at lying; it is foolish to look for honor among thieves. A woman who cheats on her husband will not be a trustworthy friend either. We do, indeed, weave "a tangled web" when we first decide to deceive.

King David stands as a prime example not only of sin but also of the reality of forgiveness. The betrayals of godly character seem too numerous to count; the sordid story would seem surely to constitute the end of David's glory.

But what is God's final opinion of David? Years after David's death, God said of him, his heart was "fully devoted to the Lord his God" (I Kings 11:4). What an epitaph! How could this be after all of David's sins?

The answer lies in Psa. 51, David's prayer of repentance.

David's story proves that our sins, no matter how repugnant, need not separate us permanently from God and His plan for us. The path back to Him lies in the complete repentance mirrored in Psa. 51. The restoration to fellowship with God results not from a halfhearted "forgive me", but a broken spirit.

God specializes in miracle cures, and we, as well as David, can be known as those fully devoted to the Lord our God, no matter how serious our character lapses, or sins, may be. God knows how to make clean hearts out of dirty ones. Praise him!
[from Sycamore Chapel church of Christ bulletin, Feb. 16, 1997, p. 3]

LET US THEREFORE FOLLOW AFTER THINGS THAT MAKE FOR PEACE
(Rom. 12:18)

When Abraham Lincoln was campaigning for the presidency, one of his archenemies was Edwin McMasters Stanton. Stanton hated Lincoln, and used every once of his energy to degrade Lincoln in the eyes of the public, often using the bitterest diatribes in an attempt to embarrass him.

In the process of choosing his cabinet after his election, Lincoln selected various members and then faced a decision about the important post of Secretary of War. He chose Stanton! The president's inner circle erupted in an uproar when they heard his choice. Numerous advisors came to Lincoln saying, "Mr. President, you are making a mistake. Are you familiar with all the ugly things he has said about you? He is your enemy. He will sabotage your programs."

Lincoln replied, "Yes, I know Mr. Stanton. But...I find he is the best man for the job."

As Secretary of War Stanton gave invaluable service to his nation and his president. After Lincoln was assassinated, many laudable statements were made about Abraham Lincoln, but the words of Stanton remain among the greatest. Standing near Lincoln's coffin, Stanton called Lincoln one of the greatest men who ever lived and said, "He now belongs to the ages."
[from Sycamore Chapel church of Christ bulletin, Feb. 16, 1997, p. 4]

A traditional Supervisor's Prayer states: Lord, when I am wrong, make me willing to change. When I am right, make me easy to live with. So strengthen me that the power of my example will far exceed the authority of my rank.

A positive attitude may not directly change your circumstances, but it will change the way you respond to your circumstances. The responses of positive people are far more likely to be: active, solution oriented, generous toward others, involving of others, immediate or timely and rooted in dignity and respect.

Positive people are much more likely than are negative people to turn their ideas into positive behavior. Positive behavior, in turn, does change circumstances, and nearly always for the better.

Truly to grab hold of a slippery problem and rise above it, first grab hold of a positive thought!
[from Sycamore Chapel church of Christ bulletin, Feb. 9, 1997, p. 3]

PRAYER

A young soldier fighting in Italy during World War II managed to jump into a foxhole just ahead of a spray of bullets. He immediately attempted to deepen the hole for more protection. As he was frantically scraping at the dirt with his hands, he unearthed a silver crucifix, obviously left by a previous occupant of the foxhole. A moment later, a leaping figure landed beside him as shells screamed overhead. The soldier turned to see that his new companion was an army chaplain. Holding up the crucifix, the soldier cried, "Am I glad to see you! How to you work this thing?"

On a more serious note, Captain Eddie Rickenbacker wrote about his World War II experience. While flying on a special mission to the Pacific Islands, his plane crashed. He and his crew were lost at sea for twenty-one days before being rescued. He said, "In the beginning many of the men were atheists or agnostics, but at the end of the terrible ordeal each, in his own way, had discovered God. Each man found strength in prayer, and a community of feeling developed which created a liveliness of human fellowship and worship, and a sense of gentle peace."

Are you facing a problem today? Start the search for its solution with prayer.
(James 5:13).
[from Sycamore Chapel church of Christ bulletin, Feb. 9, 1997, p. 4]

O come let us worship and bow down
Let us kneel before our maker
It is God that has made us and not we ourselves
We are God's people and the sheep of God's pasture
Let us come in gratitude and in expectation
Let us enter God's presence with praise.
From before the world began and after the end of eternity, You are God.
From the sea bursting from its womb, to the wind ceasing its chase, You are God.
In the vastness of the universe and the forgotten corner of our hearts, You are God.
You are our God and we bless you.
Because the world is beautiful, and beauty is a tender thing and we are stewards of creation, we need you God.
Because human knowledge seems endless, the world is our oyster and because we do not know what we know, we need you God.
Because we can not live without you and are free to go against you and could worship our wisdom alone, we need you God.
Because you came among us, and sat beside us, and heard us speak and saw us ignore you, and healed our pain and let us wound you, and loved us to the end, and triumphed over all our hatred, we need you God.
Because you and not we are God, we need you God.
Listen for the God who created you says:
"Do not be afraid for I have redeemed you. I have called you by name - you are mine. You are precious to me. I love you. I honor you. I am with you."
Listen Lord for your people say:
We are your children, the creatures of your care, the bearers of your image. This day, we will walk by your light, live by your spirit, and follow your Son. This day we will not offer to you offerings that cost us nothing. For this is the day that the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it.

NOW TO HIS TABLE SPREAD
Now to your table spread
we come, each one, in faith
that you alone provide the words of life and death:
in wine and bread,
in promised food
we find your loving heart, O God.
Hands of the world stretch out
your mystery to touch
in longing to believe a truth beyond our reach,
to sing in joy,
to cry in grief,
to know your meaning for our life.
Here is our common wealth
is sharing what is good
as though all humankind around one table stood,
this bread to break,
this wine to taste -
one people in the name of Christ.

The Lord is here. God's spirit is with us.
Lift up your hearts. We lift them to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. It is right to offer thanks and praise.

When the time was right, God sent his Son. Sent him and suckled him, reared him and risked him; filled him with laughter and tears and compassion; filled him with anger and love and devotion. Unwelcome child, refugee and runaway. Christ is God's own son. Skilled carpenter and homeless wayfarer. Feeder and teacher, healer and antagonist. Lover of the unloveable, toucher of the untouchable, forgiver of the unforgivable. Loved by the least, feared by the leaders; befriended by the weak, despised by the strong; deserted by his listeners, denied by his friends; bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh, writing heaven's pardon over earth's mistakes.

The word became flesh. He lived among us, he was one of us.

When the world could wait no longer, the carpenters took up their tools, they made a cross for God's own son, fashioned from wood and skill of human hands, fashioned from hate and will of human minds. He was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. For us he grieved.

He was summoned to the judgment hall, an enemy of the state, a danger to religion. By us he was judged.

He was lashed with tongues and scourged with thongs. By his stripes we are healed.

He was nailed to the cross by human hands. Bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh.

He died, declaring God's forgiveness. He rose on the third day, transforming death. He ascended into heaven, that he might be everywhere on earth. He sent the Holy Spirit as the seal of his intention. He sets before us the bread and wine, and invites us to this table. This is the place where we are made well again. And all will be made well.

For God sent the son into the world not to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved.

As the bread and wine which we now eat and drink, are changed into us, may we be changed into you. Bone of your bone, flesh of your flesh, loving and caring in the world. Look, the body of Christ is broken for the life of the world. Look, the blood of Christ shed for the life of the world. Here is Christ coming to us in bread and wine.

Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, have mercy on us and grant us your peace. The gifts of God for the people of God.

Many grains were gathered together to make this bread, many grapes were mixed to make this wine, so we who are many, and come from many places, are one in Christ. May the peace of Christ be with you. Let us greet one another with a sign of peace.

In the end as in the beginning, God is God. Loved by us, wanted by us.

Praised by us, served by us. Filling the folk with the gifts of the Spirit.

Making them whole for the good of the earth. For bread and wine, this place and this time. For the peace we are promised which the world won't destroy. For the hope of heaven on earth and the final song of joy. Thanks be to God.

May God bless us and keep us in the Spirit's care and lead our lives with love.

May God's warm welcome shine from our hearts and Christ's own peace prevail through this and every day 'til greater life shall call.

THE PLASTIC YEARS
They pass so quickly, the days of youth,
And the children change so fast,
And soon they harden in the mold,
And the plastic years are past.
Then shape their lives while they are young,
This be our prayer, our aim,
That every child we meet shall bear,
The imprint of His name.
[from The Church of Christ at Sycamore Chapel [bulletin], Nov. 11, 1990]

NO EXCEPTIONS

Have you ever been a part of a group that was required to do a certain thing (which you did not want to do) and you desired to make yourself an "exception" to the rule? Have you ever been in a position of authority where you required another to do something that you would not be willing to do yourself if you were in that other persons place?

Wanting to make ourselves "an exception to the rule" seems to be a part of many peoples' attitude. Perhaps this is why special signs are posted that read: "This means you!!!". And, even then, some still consider themselves to be the "exception" to this specific sign!

In the scriptures we learn that the desire to make ourselves exceptions was especially characteristic of the Pharisees. Jesus said concerning these people...(Matt. 23:4).

A young sentry, on guard duty for the first time, had orders not to admit any car unless it had a special identification seal. The first unmarked car the sentry stopped contained a general. When the officer told his driver to go right on through, the sentry politely said, "I'm new at this sir. Who do I shoot first, you or the driver?"

The sentry would make no exception for rank. Either the general had the seal or he didn't. Without it no one would pass. There is a sense in which the same principle hold true in the judgment. God has made certain demands which must be met before we can get into heaven. For instance, Jesus said...(John 8:24). In still another place He said...(Mark 16:16). Fairly clear-cut demands, are they not?

There are many today who seem to think they can disregard one or more of God's commands and still get heaven. Nothing in the Bible indicates that such is the case. As a matter of fact, Jesus plainly refutes that notion when He said...(Matt. 7:21). It won't be our rank, or station in life, that determines where will be eternally. It will be our obedience, or disobedience, to the demands of the Savior that determine the outcome. He will make no exceptions.

If we ever begin to think of ourselves, as exceptions to God's Word, let us remember that the Lord will judge without "respect of persons". (I Pet. 1:7).
[from The Bulletin. Sebring, Fla. via The Church of Christ at Sycamore Chapel [bulletin], Nov. 4, 1990]

THE SPIRIT SPEAKS EXPRESSLY

The "last words" of David were...(II Sam. 23:1-2).

The New Testament acknowledges that. Peter, quoting Psa. 41:9, says...(Acts 1:16). Jesus quoted Psa. 110:1, prefacing it with, "For David himself said by the Holy Spirit" (Mark 12:36). Whether one says, "David himself says by the Spirit," or "The Spirit says by the mouth of David," two facts are affirmed: The words are from the mouth of David; the message is that of the Spirit of God. (II Pet. 1:21).

Jesus dictated seven letters to the seven churches of Asia. The apostle John took down the dictation as part of the vision our Lord gave him on the Isle of Patmos. The letters are a part of the book of Revelation. Each letter ends with the solemn charge, "He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches" (Rev. 2:7, 11, 17, 26; Rev. 3:6, 13, 22).

In each letter, it is our glorified Lord who is identified as the speaker. It is John who obeyed the command to write. The resulting word, however, is "what the Spirit says." This is commensurate with what we are told elsewhere of the Spirit's work. The Spirit is not the originator of revelation, but is the conveyer and guarantor of it. (John 16:13).

The writer of Hebrews, referring to the completeness and finality of our redemption, says, "The Holy Spirit is a witness to us," and quotes his "witness": "For after that he had said before..." What follows is a quotation from scripture, specifically Jer. 31:31, 34. The witness of the Spirit to us is found in the words of scripture.

We must still "hear what the Spirit says." We must not "quench the Spirit" (I Thes. 5:19). We must follow the leading of the Holy Spirit (Rom. 8:14). It is a sad and dangerous mistake, however, to think these admonitions are teaching us to be sensitive to certain urges, influences and inner nudges. "The Spirit speaks expressly" through the words, promises and warnings of the apostles and other men inspired of the Spirit (I Tim. 4:1-4).

God does not leave us in uncertainty, guessing which hunches and inclinations are to be understood as his will for us. He commissioned his Spirit to speak to us clearly and finally in words, in scripture.
[by Cecil May, Jr. from The Church of Christ at Sycamore Chapel [bulletin], Nov. 11, 1990]

STRIVE TO RAISE FAITHFUL CHILDREN
(Eph. 6:4)

One thing that all Christian parents are concerned about is, "How do I raise my children to be faithful?"

(Prov. 22:6.) Training children is a must if our children are to be faithful to the Lord. Even if parents do everything right, there is no guarantee their children will always be faithful.

Once children get out on their own, many things can occur that will cause their faith to be challenged. Such things as professors, new friends, marriage and the work place can all be costly to their faith. What can parents do to help the faith of their children remain strong?

The parent must have a strong value system that is Biblically based and pass these values on to their children. One man said, "The convictions we pass on to our children today will either hold the world together or let it fall apart tomorrow." For many today, suggestions have been substituted in the place of truth. Moses did not give the "Ten Suggestions." He gave the "Ten Commandments."

A Roman scholar named Pliny the Elder said, "What we do to our children, they will do to society." Is it any wonder why our nation is in trouble? Just look at what our children are being taught by their parents, in both word and example.

Our nation has reconstructed the Tower of Babel. It is called the TV antenna. We are letting others who have no values determine our values. Our culture is not simply teaching the wrong values, it is teaching no values at all. "You determine what is right or wrong." "You are your own judge." "If it feels good, do it." These are just a few examples of the lack of values in our time.

If the next generation is to be faithful, parents must have a value system, based on God's word. Our own, individual value system will not work. Jer. 10:23 reminds us.... (Prov. 16:9).

The value system that God gives is one that blesses others. A system that puts yourself first is going to cause greed, covetousness, and self-centered behavior. Gal. 6:10; I Cor. 10:24; Phili. 2:3-4 all teach the value of putting others before yourself.

Parents must also have a value system that deals honestly with sin. Our children must understand the nature of sin. They must understand how it originated, how it can destroy and how it can be forgiven. The world confuses many by calling good things "evil" and evil things "good". Isa. 5:20 gives warning to those who do so.

Parents must teach the importance of eternity. Our children have a problem seeing the "Big Picture" and they get caught up on fads with no lasting credentials. Parents must teach the value of that which lasts, the soul.

Parents must have a value system that puts God first. Matt. 6:33 keeps it simple. There is no other way to interpret this verse. God must come first. If God is not first in the lives of parents, He probably is not going to come first in the lives of the children.

The future of our children and of our nation greatly depends upon the present actions of parents.
[by Eddie Finch from The Church of Christ at Sycamore Chapel [bulletin], Mar. 23, 1997, p. 2]

BUT YOU, KEEP YOUR HEAD IN ALL SITUATIONS...(II Tim. 4:5)

A woman was sitting in her den one day when a small black snake suddenly appeared, slithered across the floor, and made its way under the couch. Being deathly afraid of snakes, the woman promptly ran to the bathroom to get her husband, who was taking a shower. He came running from the shower with only a towel around his waist, grabbed an old broom handle from the closet, and began poking under the couch.

At this point, the sleeping family dog awoke. Curious to see what was happening, he came up behind the husband and touched his cold nose to the back of the man's heel. The man, surmising that the snake had outmaneuvered him and had bitten him on the heel, fainted dead away. The wife concluded that her husband had overexerted and collapsed with a heart attack. She ran from the house to a hospital just one block away. The ambulance drivers promptly returned with her to the house and placed the man on a stretcher. As they were carrying him out of the house, the snake reappeared from beneath the couch. One of the drivers became so excited that he dropped his end of the stretcher and broke the husband's leg. Seeing her husband's twisted leg, the wife collapsed.

Meanwhile the snake slithered quietly away!
[from The Church of Christ at Sycamore Chapel [bulletin], Mar. 23, 1997, p. 4]

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