"The glory of God is man fully alive."
-- Irenaeus

"I remember one lunch date with Gordon Cosby (co-founder and pastor of the Church of the Saviour, Washington, D.C.). "Forty years of servant ministry had instilled in my lunch companion a profound pastoral wisdom. Together we were reflecting upon the challenges of preaching within the contemporary urban context. 'Never forget,' he said thoughtfully, 'each time you stand up to preach, each person in your congregation is sitting next to a pool of tears.' "
-- Trevor Hudson, from Signposts to Spirituality

"The biblical fact is that there are no successful churches. There are, instead, communities of sinners, gathered before God week after week in towns and villages all over the world. The Holy Spirit gathers them and does his work in them. In these communities of sinners, one of the sinners is called pastor and given a designated responsibility in the community. The pastor’s responsibility is to keep the community attentive to God."
-- Eugene Peterson, from the introduction of "Working the Angles"

“The greatest source of atheism in the world today is Christians, who acknowledge Jesus with their lips but deny him by their lifestyles. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.”

– Brennan Manning

CANCER IS SO LIMITED

It cannot cripple LOVE
It cannot shatter HOPE
It cannot corrode FAITH
It cannot destroy CONFIDENCE
It cannot kill FRIENDSHIP
It cannot shut out MEMORIES
It cannot silence COURAGE
It cannot invade the SOUL
It cannot destroy PEACE
It cannot quench the SPIRIT
It cannot lessen the POWER OF THE RESURRECTION
IT CANNOT STEAL ETERNAL LIFE!

Our greatest enemy is not disease, but despair. Keep trusting God's love so your spirit will remain strong. If cancer has invaded your life, refuse to let it touch your spirit. Your body can be severely afflicted and you may have great struggle, but if you keep trusting in God's love, your spirit will remain strong!

-- Author Unknown

“The problem with a living sacrifice is that it can crawl off the altar.”
-- Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Life

"When a man has lost his hair and is bald, he is clean."
-- Leviticus 13:40

One of my favorite verses in the Bible. (Not really!) But this is comforting to those of us who are follically challenged.

"Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee ..."
-- Isaiah 26:3 (KJV)

I managed to burn this one into my memory a long time ago (I happened to learn it in the King James Version). It has seen me through many a dark day; many a challenging or anxious time. It's one that bears repeating!

"If lovin' the Lord is wrong, I don't wanna be right."
-- Rev. Brown, in 'Coming to America'

"World Wildlife Fund is a good cause, I support them, and am proud to lend my music to this effort. Early on, animals were the only ones who liked my music. Now it's pay back time."
-- Bob Dylan, on the occasion of giving one of his classic songs, "Shelter from the Storm," to World Wildlife Fund for use in a public service announcement.

"We can do no great things; only small things with great love."
-- Mother Teresa

"Top 12 John Wesley Quotes"

From Huhns.org (Howard Huhn blog) . . . Note substitution for Quote #10, which turned out not to be from Mr. Wesley after all. . . . There's some good stuff here, but I would have included another Wesley quote that didn't make Howard's cut: "The world is my parish." To see Howard's Top 12, click on link below:

http://huhns.org/2009/06/30/top-12-john-wesley-quotes/

"With God all things are possible."
-- Matthew 19:26b

"My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it. Therefore I will trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone."
-- Thomas Merton, from "Thoughts in Solitude"

"You can accomplish more in one hour with God than one lifetime without Him."
-- Unknown

"Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."
-- Matthew 11:28

"Live each day so that you will neither be afraid of tomorrow, nor ashamed of yesterday."
-- Unknown

"Since Christ is Lord of Heaven and Earth, how can I keep from singing?"
-- from a Quaker Hymn

"Traveling in the middle of the road soon became a bore so I headed for the ditch. A rougher ride but I saw more interesting people there."
-- Neil Young

“Those whom you laid in the grave with many tears are in good keeping: you will yet see them again with joy. Believe it, think it, rest on it. It is all true.”
-- Bishop J.P. Ryle

"Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your Faithful and kindle in them the fire of Your Love. Send forth Your Spirit and they shall be created. And you shall renew the face of the earth. O God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit did instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and ever enjoy your consolations. Through Christ our Lord. Amen."
-- Prayer to the Holy Spirit

"May those who love us, love us
And those that don't love us,
May God turn their hearts;
And if He doesn't turn their hearts
May he turn their ankles
So we'll know them by their limping."
-- An Old Gaelic Blessing

Referencing Mark 16:6-7, Eugene Peterson writes that he has learned to apply these words to every aspect of his work as a pastor. He writes: "In every visit, every meeting I attend, every appointment I keep, I have been anticipated. The risen Christ got there ahead of me. The risen Christ is in that room already. What is he doing? What is he saying? What is going on? In order to fix the implications of that text in my vocation, I have taken to quoting it before every visit or meeting: 'He is risen ... he is going before you to 1020 Emmorton Road; there you will see him, as he told you.' Later in the day it will be, 'He is risen ... he is going before you to St. Joseph's Hospital; there you will see him, as he told you.' When I arrive and enter the room I am not so much wondering what I am going to do or say that will be pastoral as I am alert and observant for what the risen Christ has been doing or saying that is making a gospel story out of this life. . . . always we are dealing with what the risen Christ has already set in motion."
-- Eugene Peterson, from "Under the Unpredictable Plant"

Mark 16:6-7 -- http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark%2016:6-7;&version=31;

"To set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace."
-- Romans 8:6b (ESV)

"Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually."
--Psalm 105:4 (NRSV)

"The most important aspect of Christianity is not the work we do, but the relationship we maintain and the surrounding influence and qualities produced by that relationship. That is all God asks us to give our attention to, and it is the one thing that is continually under attack."
-- Oswald Chambers (My Utmost For His Highest, 8/4)

"Sin arises when things that are a minor good are pursued as though they were the most important goals in life. If money or affection or power are sought in disproportionate, obsessive ways, then sin occurs. And that sin is magnified when, for these lesser goals, we fail to pursue the highest good and finest goals.”
-- Augustine

"We tend to look for something in our life to fill the void deep in our hearts....(The) highs are only a temporary distraction from our emotional emptiness. ... True contentment comes from God filling the void in our lives."
-- Lisa Goding, Agape Counseling Center, Dayton

"Whether you like it or no, read and pray daily. It is for your life; there is no other way ... Do justice to your soul; give it time and means to grow. Do not starve yourself any longer."
-- John Wesley

"It's so wrong to worry so much about everybody's opinions. It's wrong to make that the sole reason for your decisions. When that happens, you're obviously not being obedient to what God wants."
-- Steven Curtis Chapman

"Invariably throughout the course of history, God has appeared to people on the fringes. It's nice to find theological justification for your quirks."
-- Rich Mullins

"What a great experience when you see someone recognize Christ's mercy and move towards it. It is a gift to the soul."
-- Margaret Becker, Oct. 7, 1999

"He needs no candles, no special music. He needs only a heart that is ready for Him."
-- Margaret Becker

“The Bible is not a book for the faint of heart -- it is a book full of all the greed and glory and violence and tenderness and sex and betrayal that befits mankind. It is not the collection of pretty little anecdotes mouthed by pious little church mice -- it does not so much nibble at our shoe leather as it cuts to the heart and splits the marrow from the bone. It does not give us answers fitted to our small-minded questions, but truth that goes beyond what we even know to ask.”
-- Rich Mullins (quoted in “Rich Mullins - His Life and Legacy - An Arrow Pointing to Heaven”)

"Don't give up on God, because He sure ain't gonna give up on you."
– Anonymous

"People here don't quite know what to do with me when I tell them I believe in the one true God. . . . Christianity isn't very popular."
-- Carolyn Arends.

"The longer I live on this planet, the more I realize that everything -- the questions I have, the deepest yearnings of my heart -- come down to the person of Jesus."
-- Carolyn Arends

“The more I surrender, the more I’m fed.”
– Rev. Bryan Lauzau (2009)

``Give up your good Christian life, and follow Christ!''
-- Garrison Keillor.

On the Bible as "literal truth" without error: "I, too, have at times struggled with the Bible as ``literal truth.'' However, I do believe it to be the inspired word of God from cover to cover. If life lessons can be learned from the story of Jonah or Noah or countless others, then I see them as valuable insights into what God expects of his people ...whether they be parables or historically accurate accounts. The official line the Church of God takes is that the entire Bible is the inspired word of God. Beyond that, you'll find a diversity of opinion. No, not everyone considers it 'literal' . . . The common link is a faith in Christ and a commitment to reflect and serve him in all things."
-- Ken Palen, Dayton, Ohio, January 1991. (Member: Church of God, Anderson, Ind.)

"Religion has it's own hassles, but if you don't go to some church somewhere, your life fills up with everything else, and the next thing you know you've stopped trying to even think about God. Then push comes to shove, and you're out there all lonely and spiritually empty and you're ashamed and too proud to turn to God because you waited until you were in trouble."
-- Anonymous

"Earth's crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God;
But only he who sees, takes off his shoes,
The rest sit around it and pluck blackberries."
-- Elizabeth Barrett Browning

"Faith has to work twenty-four hours a day in and through us, or we perish."
-- Bill Wilson

"If you have to be in a rock group, it might as well be the Beatles."
-- George Harrison

"You don't live in Cleveland!"
-- Sam Wyche

"In God's heart there is a place that only YOU can fill."
-- Maxie Dunnam

"They're the Bengals. They always find the banana peel."
-- Dan Patrick

“People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within."
-- Elizabeth Kubler-Ross

``Moses said to the Lord, `O Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.' ``The Lord said to him, `Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the Lord? `` `Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.' ''
-- The Bible

"No sermon is ready for preaching until we can express its theme in a short, pregnant sentence. I find getting that sentence the hardest, the most exacting, and the most fruitful labor in my study. This is surely one of the most vital factors in the making of a sermon; and I do not think any sermon ought to be preached or even written until that sentence has emerged, clear and lucid as a cloudless moon."
-- John Henry Jowett. Leadership, Vol. 11, no. 2

``My main concern as a pastor was to share the truth of the Bible and the meaning of the Bible with people whose lives were wrecked, and that were needy, and that needed the message of the Bible and the Savior of the Bible -- rather than controversy about whether it was true or not. For me, it's a foregone conclusion (that it's true)."
-- Rev. Don McMurry: (Southern Baptist, Dayton, Ohio)

``Always be able to vision, 'What is the spirit of God saying to us in this, and what would he have us say to the community at large?' To always seek the voice of God in all these issues and concerns. ... I think we really need to sincerely consult the Holy Spirit, and when we hear him, obey him.''
-- Gloria Leigh, on preaching: (Roman Catholic, Dayton, Ohio)

"People need fewer 'ought-to' sermons and more 'how-to' sermons. The deepest kind of teaching is that which makes a difference in people's day-to-day lives. Jesus spoke to the crowd with an interesting style. When God's Word is taught in an uninteresting way, people don't just think the pastor is boring, they think God is boring!"
-- Rick Warren

"I keep drinkin' malted milk -- tryin' to drive my blues away."
-- Robert Johnson

"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you might miss it."
-- Ferris Bueller.

"The enemy of love is self-consciousness."
-- Tom Jackson

"Every time I've done something that doesn't feel right, it's ended up not being right."
-- Mario Cuomo

"Deep down there is a need for shallowness."
-- Tom Mullen III

"If one person calls you an ass or a donkey, pay no attention to him. But if five people call you one, go out and buy yourself a saddle."
-- Arabian Proverb

"Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we often might win, by fearing to attempt."
-- William Shakespeare

"Life is hard – at least our coffee can be sweet."
-- Filipino saying

“Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.”
-- Albert Einstein

"Remember, as far as anyone knows, we're a nice, normal family."
-- Homer Simpson.

“When the train hits you, it ain’t the caboose that kills you.”
-- Anon.

"The torpid artist seeks inspiration at any cost, by virtue or by vice, by friend or by fiend, by prayer or by wine."
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"An incurable itch for scribbling takes possession of many and grows inveterate in their insane hearts."
-- Juvenal

"The writer, like the priest, must be exempted from secular labor. His work needs a frolic health; he must be at the top of his condition."
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"You shall know the truth, and it shall make you odd."
-- Flannery O'Connor