Life on Planet Earth on Fame

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A Desire for Fame Rises in Millenials

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In a survey given in 1976, participants were asked to list their life goals. Fame ranked fifteenth out of sixteen. In a recent survey, 51 percent of millenials listed being famous as “one of their top...

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Famous Like God

Author

Thann Bennett

Keywords

Fame

"I won’t be happy until I am famous like God.” Those are the words of the mega-superstar Madonna. They were not uttered at the beginning of her career or even as her fame was beginning to increas...

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The Secret to Happiness Among the Famous

Author

Joseph Gordon-Levitt

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We’ve all seen and loved the movies about the young underdog becoming a star. I won’t claim to be 100 percent immune to it. In fact, I think there’s something natural about wanting to be famous, in te...

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Miserable Elvis

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 12:2, Psalm 119:10, James 1:14-15, Ecclesiastes 5:10, Matthew 6:19-21, Romans 7:19, Ecclesiastes 2:10-11

Like many others who find themselves in the spotlight, Elvis Presley struggled with his fame, as well as the many temptations that befell him during his time as an iconic musician. In 1958, following ...

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To Be One of the Great Ones Is Not What It Seems

Author

C. S. Lewis

Keywords

Scripture

1 Samuel 16:7, Isaiah 53:2, Micah 6:8

For those of us who live in the shadow of self-doubt, who may wonder what meaning a life of relative anonymity may have in a society filled with the cult of celebrity in which likes, reposts, and digi...

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Not the King

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Most of us probably assumed Elvis Presley enjoyed his unofficial moniker of “the king.” As it turns out, Elvis had a rather complicated, if not tortured experience with fame and fortune. One day duri...

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Author

Jim Carrey

Keywords

Scripture

Mark 8:36, Ecclesiastes 5:10, James 1:11, Matthew 6:19-24, 1 Timothy 6:9

I think everybody should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of so they can see that it's not the answer.

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Reducing People to the Madness of a Single Moment

Author

Jonathan K. Dodson

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Scripture

Proverbs 16:18, Proverbs 11:2, James 4:6, 1 Peter 5:5-6, Philippians 2:3-4, Luke 18:9-14, Matthew 23:1-12

In his thoughtful book, Our Good Crisis: Overcoming Moral Chaos with the Beatitudes , Jonathan K. Dodson points out our blind-spots with respect to pride: We rarely think of ourselves as proud. I...

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The Well-Intentioned Couple and the Vagabond

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

When I was in college I sometimes visited Bel Air Presbyterian Church, as did many of my friends. At that time Bel Air was known for being a place celebrities liked to visit. (This was not my favorite...

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The Lost Ticket

Author

Source Unknown

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Albert Einstein, the great physicist, was once traveling from Princeton on a train when the conductor came down the aisle, punching the tickets of every passenger. When he came to the famous professor...

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A Visitor In A Household Of Tranquil Prayer

Author

Jim Forest

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Archbishop Theophilus of Alexandria, one of the principal cities of the ancient world, once traveled to the monastic colony at Skete in the Egyptian desert. The younger monks were distressed that thei...

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Five Thousand Churches

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Fred Allen (1984-1956) was a famous American comedian, writer, and radio star. When fellow comic Jack Parr first met Allen, he burst out, “You are my God!” Allen replied with the characteristic wit of...

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Mrs. Louis Calhern

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

Luke 16:18, Matthew 5:31-32, Romans 7:2, Matthew 5:31-32, 1 Corinthians 7:10-11, Mark 10:11-12, 1 Corinthians 7:15

Ilka Chase (1903-1978) was a celebrated American Actress who performed on stage, in television and radio, and several films, including Fast and Loose (1930) and Oceans 11 (the original, in 1960). In h...

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Author

Thomas Hood

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Fall (Season)

How bravely Autumn paints upon the sky the gorgeous fame of Summer which is fled!

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Author

Ursula K. Le Guin

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 12:1-2, Matthew 5:14-16, Micah 6:8, Isaiah 1:17, James 4:17

If your voice is heard by more people because you've earned some kind of name and fame, your silence on an issue of urgent moral importance is even more of a betrayal. Privilege is obligation.

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Author

Winston S. Churchill

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You have enemies? Why, it is the story of every man who has done a great deed or created a new idea. It is the cloud which thunders around everything that shines. Fame must have enemies, as light must...

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Sour Grapes

Author

Mark Twain

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Remember Aesop’s Fox? Having spied some ripening grapes on a lofty branch, he tried with all his might to jump and take them. Once it dawned on him that he would not—could not—succeed, sulked away, sa...

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Running The (Wrong) Race

Author

Heather Thompson Day

Keywords

We want everyone around us to believe we have it all together—and we don’t. We fear everyone else is living the lives they post and we are the only imposters. And so, the race is on. The race to perfe...

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Not Wanting to Let Go of This Life

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Scripture

Hebrews 2:15, Psalm 16:9–11, 1 Corinthians 15:51–57 , 1 John 11:1–44 , Daniel 12:2–3, 2 Kings 2:1–12

Ted Williams—often called the greatest hitter in Major League Baseball history—has spent the years since 2002 not in a hall of fame or resting beneath a headstone, but inside an unassuming warehouse n...

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Finding Money

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Scripture

Philippians 4:12-13, Matthew 6:19-21, Proverbs 15:16, 2 Corinthians 6:10, Luke 12:13-21, Hebrews 13:5, 1 Timothy 6:10, Matthew 6:24, Luke 12:15

Honoré de Balzac, who would later gain fame as a celebrated writer in post-Napoleonic France, was known for his intricate characters and keenly realistic writing style. Like many young artists, he end...

liturgy

Loving God, please forgive us of the

Author

Austin D. Hill

Keywords

Loving God, please forgive us of the times when we don’t make it our number one priority to follow you. For the times when we focus too much on things that distract us from you, we repent. We are sorr...

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Eeyore and Christians

Author

Andrew M. Davis

Keywords

A sour outlook is pessimistic about the future. Such people are always anxious, fretful, gloomy, negative, seemingly hopeless. How can a Christian be like that? We should be radiant with hope, fully e...

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The Banshees of Inisherin Movie Review

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

Ephesians 4:null

Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, Or. what's a heaven for? " Robert Browning A part of our desire at The Pastor’s Workshop is to help pastors connect the stories in ...

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The Red Cup Controversy

Author

Ed Stetzer

Keywords

Outrage

During his fifteen minutes of fame, Joshua Feuerstein started the 2015 Starbucks Red Cup controversy. Soon people were saying that Christians were upset, though I saw only one person—Joshua Feuerstein...

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The Hurry Sickness Disease

Author

John Mark Comer

Keywords

Psychologists and mental health professionals are now talking about an epidemic of the modern world: “hurry sickness.” As in, they label it a disease. Here’s one definition: A behavior pattern chara...

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A True Prophet

Author

Thann Bennett

Keywords

What if a true prophet—a true follower of the King—is not designed to stand by while all around them falls but instead is created to be the one who walks into the storm to engage—and yes, even confron...

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Thomas Merton Becomes More of Himself

Author

Max Lucado

Keywords

Humanity

This story of Thomas Merton’s dramatic vocational change is illustrative of the life that Jesus offers us. For many of us, we assume discipleship means becoming less “us” and more like “Jesus”. But if...

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Baptized but not Converted

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 13:24-30, Matthew 23:1-36, Acts 5:1-11, Acts 8:9-24, Mark 16:15-16

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, of Sherlock Holmes fame became a zealous spiritualist later in life. He would often give public lectures on the subject. At one such meeting, he gestured enthusiastically while...

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The Cruelty of Crucifixion

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Exposed to public view like slabs of meat hung from a market stall, troublesome slaves were nailed to crosses…past. No death was more excruciating, more contemptible, than crucifixion. To be hung nake...

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Why Can't We Just Quit?

Author

Seth Haines

Keywords

Addiction

In a 1995 edition of The Orange County Register, a professor at McMaster University in Ontario described famed physicist Albert Einstein’s approach to solving the apocalypse: “When Einstein was asked ...

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