I am Just One!

"I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. What I can do, I should do and, with the help of God, I will do."   Edward Everett Hale

You only need a heart full of grace...

"Everybody can be great...because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love." ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

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The Only Possible Proof

If we are to accept the teaching of Jesus at all, then the only test of the reality of a man's religion is his attitude to his fellow men. The only possible proof that a man loves God is the demonstrated fact that he loves his fellow men.
-- William Barclay

The Power of One

"The power of one man or one woman doing the right thing for the right reason, and at the right time, is the greatest influence in our society."   ~Jack Kemp

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I've Just Got to Find Myself

"I've just got to find myself." Won't ever happen.

We do not "find ourselves, our life" by pursuing it. We find it by losing it to something or someone greater than ourselves. We find our life by losing it to Jesus and the work of his Kingdom. ~Phil Ware

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Room for Doubt

Without somehow destroying me in the process, how could God reveal himself in a way that would leave no room for doubt? If there were no room for doubt, there would be no room for me.  -- John Irving

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Only one way to preach?

There's a quote that floats around out there.

"Preach the Gospel always. If necessary, use words."

I have recently heard it referenced in two different sermons, by two different pastors, at two different churches (yet, on the same day - thanks to podcasts).

Both pastors were not fans of the quote.

Both thought it was, in a word - stupid.

In a sense, they said, "well, duh, you have to use words to preach the Gospel."

But the more I think about it, the more I think they are missing the point of the quote. Are words the only way to preach the Gospel? About Jesus' message?

Can't actions do that as well...at least enough to pique someones interest to ask us?

Not legalistic, church going, Bible thumping action, ...but living in the footsteps of Jesus, action - the tough stuff.

Can, through our actions, even the day to day mundane stuff, the Gospel be preached?

Are words truly the only way to preach?

Or can actions speak as loud (or louder) than words?

A good word to black out.

"Impossible is a word to be found only in the dictionary of fools."

- Unknown

Just One Can!

Do all the good you can,

By all the means you can,

In all the ways you can,

In all the places you can,

At all the times you can,

To all the people you can,

As long as ever you can.

-- John Wesley

First Cup

The most glorious promises of God are generally fulfilled in such a wondrous manner that He steps forth to save us at a time when there is the least appearance of it. -- C. H. Von Bogatzky

Monday Morning Musing

“Life is like topography, Hobbes. There are summits of happiness and success, flat stretches of boring routine, and valleys of frustration and failure.”

Calvin & Hobbes

First Cup

How many observe Christ's birthday!
How few, his precepts!
O! 'tis easier to keep holidays than commandments.
-- Benjamin Franklin

First Cup

The Christian life is not a constant high. I have my moments of deep discouragement. I have to go to God in prayer with tears in my eyes, and say, 'O God, forgive me,' or 'Help me.'
~ Billy Graham

First Cup

A life without cause is a life without effect. ~Unknown

First Cup

"There are those who work all day. Those who dream all day. And those who spend an hour dreaming before setting to work to fulfill those dreams. Go into the third category because there's virtually no competition."
-- Steven J Ross

First Cup

Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.
-- Leo Buscaglia

First Cup

"Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something, and that this thing, at whatever cost, must be attained."
-- Madam Marie Curie

First Cup

There is nothing, indeed, which God will not do for a man who dares to step out upon what seems to be the mist; though as he puts his foot down he finds a rock beneath him. -- F. B. Meyer

First Cup

"The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds. Think big anyway." -- Kent M. Keith

First Cup

"Envy consists in seeing things never in themselves, but only in their relations. If you desire glory, you may envy Napoleon, but Napoleon envied Caesar, Caesar envied Alexander,and Alexander, I daresay, envied Hercules, who never existed." -- Bertrand Russell