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It is only through labor and painful effort, by grim energy and resolute courage, that we move on to better things. -
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When we’re chasing our dreams, all the turbulence we face shouldn’t scare us into pulling back, though. The shaking, jerking, and rattling in our lives are telling us we’re getting close to the breakt... -
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Will It Float?
David Letterman’s old late-night segment “Will It Float?” once inspired our staff to fill a huge water tank, place it at the front of an auditorium, and ask three thousand people to vote which of a se... -
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Resilience is the virtue that enables people to move through hardship and become better. No one escapes pain, fear, and suffering. Yet from pain can come wisdom, from fear can come courage, from suffe... -
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ONE MORE LAP!
I recently heard a story about a race in which one runner had a significant lead over the rest of the field. As the man rounded the final turn, the crowd roared as he inched closer and closer to the f... -
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One Mark of Resilience
Many of life’s annoyances just have to be ignored. That doesn’t mean that we suppress, ignore, or deny every pain. Serious pain has to be confronted. But one mark of resilience is learning to tell whi... -
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People are usually better in adversity, than prosperity. A prosperous condition is not always so safe. True, it is more pleasing to the flesh - but it is not always best. In a prosperous state, there ... -
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The human capacity for burden is like bamboo – far more flexible than you’d ever believe at first glance. -
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The Importance of Becoming Antifragile
Nassim Nicholas Taleb, a best-selling statistician, argues that it is not even mere resilience we need, but what he calls antifragility . He groups things into three categories. First, fragile... -
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Hardships Force our Roots to Go Deep
A. Parnell Bailey visited an orange grove where an irrigation pump had broken down. The season was unusually dry and some of the trees were beginning to die for lack of water. The man giving the tour ... -
scripture guide
Scripture Guide, 2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1
Notes on the Passage Besieged from All Angles: The context of this passage is best summed up with the words recorded throughout the letter: Trouble, Distress, Suffering, Hardship, Death at work, Ja... -
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A clay pot sitting in the sun will always be a clay pot. It has to go through the white heat of the furnace to become porcelain. -
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These periods of struggling to overcome challenges are what people find to be the most enjoyable times of their lives. A person who has achieved control over psychic energy and has invested it in cons... -
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In spite of everything I shall rise again: I will take up my pencil, which I have forsaken in my great discouragement, and I will go on with my drawing. -
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The dangers and hardships for the faithful are real indeed. Truth is tested and faith is confirmed not in idle speculation but in the crucible of adversity. Those who wish to find a more vibrant relig... -
lectionary
Second Sunday after Pentecost
Preaching Commentary Besieged from All Angles The context of this passage is best summed up with the words recorded throughout the letter: Trouble, Distress, Suffering, Hardship, Death at work, Jar... -
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A friend cannot be known in prosperity. An enemy cannot be hidden in adversity. -
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Most people can bear adversity. But if you wish to know what a man really is, give him power. This is the supreme test. -
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Relational congruence is the ability to be fundamentally the same person with the same values in every relationship, in every circumstance and especially amidst crisis. It is the internal capacity to ... -
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The Stockdale Paradox
James Stockdale and what is now known as the Stockdale Paradox comes from his experience as a prisoner of war for seven years during the Vietnam War. The Stockdale Paradox, made famous in Jim Collins’... -
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The Love of God Wrapped About Him
The sense of Presence! I have spoken of it as stealing on one unawares. It is recorded of John Wilhelm Rowntree that as he left a great physician’s office, where he had just been told that his advanci... -
scripture guide
Scripture Guide Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16
Ancient Lens What can we learn from the historical context? From Noah to Abraham Last week, we looked at the story of Noah and how God became angry with the wickedness of the people, but decided ... -
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Adversity is always unexpected and unwelcome. It is an intruder and a thief, and yet in the hands of God, adversity becomes the means through which His supernatural power is demonstrated. -
scripture guide
Scripture Guide, Galatians 6:1-16
A Tough Way to Start Ministry You don’t have to spend much time on Twitter or Facebook to be reminded that schadenfreude (taking joy from another's misfortune) is alive and well. Depending on w... -
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You know the adage “People resist change.” It is not really true. People are not stupid. People love change when they know it is a good thing. No one gives back a winning lottery ticket. What people r... -
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One sees great things from the valley; only small things from the peak. -
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Who Didn't Make it Out?
Jim Collins, the author of Good to Great , interviewed Admiral Jim Stockdale, the highest-ranking officer in the Hanoi Hilton prisoner of war camp during the height of the Vietnam War. Regarding the ... -
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Life asks not merely what you can do; it asks how much can you endure and not be spoiled. -
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Our faith, trust, and love are proved and revealed in adversities. -
lectionary
24th Sunday after Pentecost
Preaching Commentary Jesus, Not Nero, is Supreme To understand any written document one must understand the purpose for which it was written. Sometimes this is stated overtly, as in the Preamble t...
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