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    Uncovering & Recovering

    Author
    Sheila Wise Rowe
    Keywords
    Scripture
    Proverbs 3:5-6, Ephesians 4:22-24, Romans 12:2, Psalm 139:14, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Jeremiah 29:11
    Famed Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe wrote in ‘The Art of Fiction No. 139’ for The Paris Review, ‘If you don’t like someone’s story, write your own.’ I believe this is a call to uncover and recover f...

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    A Walking Sermon

    Author
    Roy T. Lloyd
    Keywords
    Scripture
    Romans 12:10, Isaiah 58:10, Proverbs 3:34, Galatians 5:13, Mark 10:43-45, Philippians 2:3-4
    One of the best stories of humility is that of a man who arrived in 1953 at the Chicago railroad station to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. He stepped off the train, a tall man with bushy hair and a bi...

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    Holding on to Everything

    Author
    W. Tamra Chandler
    Keywords
    Scripture
    Psalm 55:22, Proverbs 3:5-6, Isaiah 43:18-19, Ephesians 4:31-32, 1 Peter 5:7
    Poet Donald Hall told the story of a hermit in New Hampshire, a man who passed away leaving behind sheds full of hoarded stuff. In one of the sheds was a box labeled, “string too short to be saved.” ...

  • illustration

    Let us Trust Our Own Moments of Vision

    Author
    Prince
    Keywords
    Scripture
    1 Peter 1:8-9, Romans 8:24-25, John 20:29, Proverbs 3:5-6, Isaiah 40:31, Hebrews 11:1, 2 Corinthians 5:7
    I remember once near Interlaken waiting for days to see the Jungfrau which was hidden in mists. People told me it was there, and I should have been a fool to doubt their word, for those who told me li...

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    Sticks & Stones in Your Bed

    Author
    Timothy Keller
    Keywords
    Scripture
    Hebrews 12:6-7, James 1:2-4, Psalm 94:12-13, Proverbs 3:11-12, Romans 5:3-5
    Years ago, I read an old fairy tale about a wicked witch who lived in a remote cottage in the deep forest. When travelers came through looking for lodging, she offered them a meal and a bed. It was th...

  • illustration

    Leaving the Letters up to God

    Author
    Ronald Rohlheiser
    Keywords
    Scripture
    Psalm 51:17, John 4:23-24, Proverbs 3:5-6, Luke 18:13-14, 1 Samuel 16:7
    There is a story told about a Jewish farmer, who ended up stuck in his field for the Sabbath. As the sun went down, the farmer realized he would have to remain in the field until sunset the next day, ...

  • illustration

    A Map & Our Beliefs

    Author
    Gregory Koukl
    Keywords
    Scripture
    Proverbs 3:5-6, Micah 6:8, Matthew 7:13-14, James 1:5, Romans 12:2, Jeremiah 6:16, Psalm 119:105
    A few years ago I was with my family in Washington, D.C., a wildly complex city laid out like a square wheel with broken spokes making an angular maze that is a nightmare to navigate. However, my fami...

  • illustration

    Healing with Words

    Author
    Eugene H. Peterson
    Keywords
    Scripture
    Isaiah 58:11, Romans 8:28, Psalm 119:105, John 14:6, Isaiah 30:21, Psalm 32:8, Proverbs 3:5-6
    Walker Percy wrote six novels in which he made us insiders to the spiritual disease of alienation that he found pervasive in American culture. His name for the condition is “lost in the cosmos.” We do...

  • illustration

    Faith Like a Journey

    Author
    Samuel Rodriguez
    Keywords
    Scripture
    Isaiah 40:31, Acts 20:24, Hebrews 12:1-2, James 1:2-4, Proverbs 3:5-6, Psalm 37:23-24, Philippians 3:13-14
    While global flights and online booking have made travel easier in many ways, other aspects, often related to safety and security, still create challenges. As often as I fly, I could tell you plenty o...

  • illustration

    Settling Accounts

    Author
    William E. Brown
    Keywords
    Scripture
    Isaiah 55:8-9, Matthew 6:33-34, Proverbs 3:5-6, Psalm 37:25-26, Ecclesiastes 3:1, Galatians 6:9
    The story is told of a farmer in a Midwestern state who had a strong disdain for “religious” things. As he plowed his field on Sunday morning, he would shake his fist at the church people who passed b...

  • illustration

    Not Heeding the Call

    Author
    Jeff Volkmer
    Keywords
    Scripture
    Micah 6:8, Hebrews 13:16, Galatians 6:9-10, Proverbs 3:27, 1 John 3:17-18, James 2:14-17
    Just the other day, I was out on a bike ride for some exercise. Because I work for a high-end cycling company, I had the opportunity to test ride one the bikes we make – a bike that comes with a price...

  • illustration

    Be a Catalyst for Change

    Author
    David Peterson
    Keywords
    Scripture
    Exodus 3:7-8, James 2:15-17, Luke 10:25-37, Proverbs 3:27, Micah 6:8, Matthew 5:16
    At the 5-mile mark in the Old Kent Riverbank Run a guy passing me said, “Hey buddy, you dropped your key.” There was no getting home without my key. Like a salmon swimming upstream I headed back into ...

  • illustration

    The Blue Pill or the Red Pill

    Author
    Mark Batterson
    Keywords
    Scripture
    Philippians 3:14, John 20:29, James 1:5-6, Romans 10:17, Matthew 17:20, 2 Corinthians 5:7, Proverbs 3:5-6
    There is an iconic scene in the cult classic The Matrix that makes for a great metaphor. Morpheus gives Neo a choice between two pills: You can take the blue pill and the story ends. You wake up in y...

  • illustration

    A Surprise in the Offering Plate

    Author
    J. D. Greear
    Keywords
    Scripture
    Acts 3:6, Mark 12:43-44, Proverbs 3:9, Luke 16:10
    One Sunday, an usher brought to me an offering plate holding a bacon biscuit that a college student had deposited in the morning offering. A little note attached said, “Silver and gold have I none, bu...

  • illustration

    Following Jesus Requires Real Commitment

    Author
    Bradley Long
    Keywords
    Scripture
    Proverbs 3:5-8, Matthew 22:37, Romans 12:1-2, Luke 14:26-27, Deuteronomy 6:5, Luke 16:13, Mark 12:30, John 14:15, Matthew 16:24-26, Luke 9:59-62, Matthew 6:24, Hebrews 11:13-16, Hebrews 10:38-39, Matthew 6:33-34, Matthew 10:37-39
    What are you willing to do for love? An instructor for the Perspectives on the World Christian Movement course shared with a class the major hang-up he had to get over before asking his wife to ma...

  • illustration

    Kreisler’s Violin

    Author
    Our Daily Bread
    Keywords
    Scripture
    2 Corinthians 9:6-7, Romans 12:6-8, Matthew 25:21, 1 Peter 4:10, James 1:17, Colossians 3:23-24, Proverbs 3:9
    Fritz Kreisler (1875-1962), the world-famous violinist, earned a fortune with his concerts and compositions, but he generously gave most of it away. So, when he discovered an exquisite violin on one o...

  • illustration

    The Generosity of Oseola McCarty

    Author
    Jen Wilkin
    Keywords
    Scripture
    Acts 20:35, Luke 21:1-4, 2 Corinthians 8:12, Matthew 25:40, Proverbs 3:9-10
    Generosity is not strictly for those who have material abundance. Because Oseola McCarty recognized this truth, the world is a better place. Born in 1908 in rural Mississippi, she quit school after si...

  • illustration

    Within Four Days of Seeing Jesus

    Author
    James S. Stewart
    Keywords
    Scripture
    Philippians 1:21, 2 Corinthians 4:17-18, Romans 8:38-39, Isaiah 41:10, Proverbs 3:5-6, Psalm 56:3
    In December 1666, Hugh MacHale, the youngest and most gallant of the Covenanters (a 17th century pro-Presbyterian group in Scotland), was brought to his trial in Edinburgh. He was given four days to l...

  • illustration

    Guard Dogs and False Suspicions

    Author
    Ryan Bundrick
    Keywords
    Scripture
    Matthew 6:34, Philippians 4:6-7, 1 Peter 5:7, Isaiah 26:3, Matthew 8:26, Luke 12:25-26, Proverbs 3:5-6, Jeremiah 17:7-8
    One day, a house-dog, standing at the window, was barking his head off at a passing mailman. The dog's owner, irritated, asks the dog, "Why do you always bark at that poor mailman?" The ...

  • illustration

    Jumping Without a Parachute

    Author
    Source Unknown
    Keywords
    Scripture
    John 14:1, Ephesians 6:16, Psalm 46:1, Isaiah 26:3-4, Psalm 18:2, Proverbs 3:5-6
    In April 1988 the evening news reported on a photographer who was a skydiver. He had jumped from a plane along with numerous other skydivers and filmed the group as they fell and opened their parachut...

  • illustration

    God's Will Through Circumstance: He Opens and Closes Doors

    Author
    David Peterson
    Keywords
    Scripture
    Proverbs 16:9, Proverbs 3:5-6, Isaiah 30:21, Genesis 24:27, Isaiah 48:17
    Not long ago, I had a young couple come to me and say, “Pastor, we’re looking at buying a house. We’ve looked at this one house, and we really like it, but we want to make sure it’s God’s will. Would ...

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    God’s Decided To Heal Me Some Other Place

    Author
    William H. Willimon
    Keywords
    Scripture
    Proverbs 3:5-6, Hebrews 11:1, Psalm 27:14, James 1:2-4, 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, Jeremiah 29:11
    I know a woman who, after her diagnosis of cancer, prayed twice every day for God to heal her. A year later, as she entered her third round of chemotherapy, she said, “Well, it looks like once again, ...

  • illustration

    Fighting Sleep

    Author
    John Koessler
    Keywords
    Scripture
    Psalm 4:8, Psalm 127:2, Proverbs 3:24, Job 11:18-19, Deuteronomy 33:12, Proverbs 3:5
    When my eldest son, Drew, was a toddler, bedtime was a battleground in our house. I think he felt cheated by the prospect of sleep. He hated the thought of going to bed while the rest of the world con...

  • illustration

    A Faulty Compass

    Author
    James K. A. Smith
    Keywords
    Scripture
    Psalm 119:105, Proverbs 3:5-6, Isaiah 30:21, James 1:5, John 14:6
    In 1914, not long after the sinking of the Titanic, Congress convened a hearing to discern what happened in another nautical tragedy. In January of that year, in thick fog off the Virginia Coast, the ...

  • illustration

    The God I Want

    Author
    Graham Tomlin
    Keywords
    Scripture
    Ecclesiastes 3:11, Romans 11:33-34, Proverbs 3:5-6, Psalm 46:10, 1 Corinthians 1:18, Isaiah 55:8-9
    Some while ago, I picked up a book in a second hand bookshop. It was an old, slightly faded paperback with what looked like an intriguing title: The God I Want. Published in the late 1960s, it was a c...

  • illustration

    Pearls of Great Price

    Author
    Jacob Traeger
    Keywords
    Scripture
    Matthew 13:45-46, Proverbs 3:13-15, Isaiah 55:1-2
    Pearls were of much greater value in Jesus’ time than they are today. Queen Cleopatra is reputed to have had two pearls which together were worth around 15 million denarii. A denari was roughly a day’...

  • illustration

    Flying into a Headwind

    Author
    Cody Sandahl
    Keywords
    Scripture
    Psalm 46:1-2, 2 Timothy 4:7, Galatians 6:9, James 1:12, Proverbs 3:5-6, Philippians 3:13-14
    I started flying small Cessna planes when I was in high school, and I vividly remember one flight between McGregor, TX and Austin. We had an incredibly strong tail wind down to Austin, so we got there...

  • illustration

    Listen to your Life

    Author
    Frederick Buechner
    Keywords
    Scripture
    Psalm 118:24, Colossians 3:17, Matthew 6:34, 1 Corinthians 10:31, Proverbs 3:6, James 1:17
    Listen to your life. All moments are key moments. I discovered that if you really keep your eye peeled to it and your ears open, if you really pay attention to it…Taking your children to school and ki...

  • Quote

    Author
    Alexander Pope
    Keywords
    Scripture
    Philippians 2:3, Proverbs 3:5-6, Galatians 6:3, James 3:17, 1 Corinthians 4:5, Matthew 7:1-2
    ’Tis with our judgments as our watches, none Go just alike, yet each believes his own.

  • illustration

    One False Assumption

    Author
    Simon Sinek
    Keywords
    Scripture
    Exodus 32:null, 1 Timothy 4:16, 1 John 4:1-4, 2 Corinthians 11:14-15, Proverbs 3:5-6, Matthew 7:1-2, James 1:19
    On a cold January day, a forty-three-year-old man was sworn in as the chief executive of his country. By his side stood his predecessor, a famous general who, fifteen years earlier, had commanded his ...
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