Winston Churchhill: A speech at a Royal Albert Hall Concert in Celebration of American Thanksgiving Day. November 23, 1944

We have come here tonight to add our celebration to those which are going forward all over the world, wherever allied troops are fighting in bivouacs and dugouts, on battlefields, on the high seas, and the highest air. Always this annual festival has been dear to the hearts of the American people. Always there has been that desire for thanksgiving, and never, I think, has there been more justification, more compulsive need than now.

It is your Day of Thanksgiving, and when we feel the truth of the facts which are before us, that in three or four years the peaceful, peace-loving people of the United States, with all the variety and freedom of their life in su…

Imagine what the game of bowling would be like if you couldn't see the pins you were trying to hit. Bill Knox did just that and bowled a perfect game. In Philadelphia's Olney Alleys, Bill had a screen placed just above the foul line to obscure his view of the lane. His purpose was to demonstrate the technique of spot bowling, which involves throwing the ball at a selected floor mark on the near end of the lane. L…

I want to share a little essay that one inspired author wrote about his cat. It’s titled “Of Cats and People” and it was shared via a website called www.laughandlift.com. It’s by Michael Newnham:

“Lord, this cat you gave me . . . she just doesn’t listen. I told her the rains were coming . . . she goes out anyway and comes back soaked. I told her not to lie in weeds . . . yet every day she comes in and expects me to pull all the stickers out of her fur . . . from lying in the weeds. I told her that as much as it’s up to her to be at peace with all cats . . . yet she expects me to tend to her wounds from the fights she…

Saying "goodbye" is often hard to do. It always elicits feelings of finality. So we say other things like, "See you!" or "Hope to see you sometime." Most of the time we like quick goodbyes. However, when a loved one leaves there are no formalities. We embrace, sometimes through tears. It is no…

The word "amen" is a most remarkable word. It was transliterated directly from the Hebrew into the Koine Greek of the New Testament, then into Latin and into English and many other languages, so that it is practically a universal word. It has been called the best-known word in human speech. The word is directly related in fact, almost identical to the Hebrew word for "believe" (aman), or "faithful." Thus, it came to mean "sure" or truly," an expression of absolute trust and confidence. When one believes God, he indicates his faith by an "amen." When God makes a prom…

There's an interesting story behind Jimmy Reed records. In placing the phonograph needle again and again in the grooves of Jimmy Reed's records, you began to notice something curious. If one listened very carefully, there could sometimes be heard, ever so faintly in the background, a soft woman's voice murmuring in advance the next verse of the song. The story that grew up around this -- and perhaps it is true -- was that Jimmy Reed was so absorbed in the bluesy beat and the throbbing guitar riffs of his music that he simply could not remember the words of his own songs. He needed help with the lyrics, and the…

Sam Duncan lay in the semi-darkness of his nursing home room performing the only two activities of which he still considered himself capable: watching and waiting. Although his eyesight was dim, he could still make out the steady brightening of the light of dawn through the window next to his bed. And although his hearing was too far gone to catch the rumble of the medicine cart, as it worked its way up the hall toward his room, he could sense that the time for his morning pills was near. He waited for the nurse to push open the door and greet him and his roommate Arthur, who was still snoring loudly in the bed next to his.

Most of the accepted measures of quality of human existence no longer affected Sam. While time, in terms of years, seemed to slip away unnoticed, the hours of the day …

Keith Wagner shares the following story:

While in college I never intended to enter the military. The war in Vietnam and the military draft changed all that. Being separated from family and putting my career on hold for 4 years was a real set back. Because of all the noise of jet aircraft I have since lost about 75% of my hearing. But, I managed to survive and looking back I am convinced that my faith got me through it. There …

Most people are loathe to admit that they are just generally bent toward the bad, inclined to do it wrong. So when the Christian tradition declares to any and all, "You are a sinner," most people these days reply, "What did I do?" If sin exists at all, it is merely episodic, an occasional (and inexplicable) "lapse" from our better nature, which is at bottom "pretty good."

How foreign is the notion articulated by theologian Emil Brunner. Brunner once noted that we can, in principle, avoid any particular sin. And we often do. Few if any people give in to every dark impulse. The average person, whether or not he is particularly religious, resists many temptations tha…

In the northern Portuguese town of Sobrado, a lady has a dog name Preta. Preta leaves her owner's home every Sunday morning at 5:00 a.m. and walks 16 miles to a Roman Catholic church in time to take her usual place next to the altar for mass. The dog stands and sits whenever worshippers do the same. She usually walks back home, though some of the parishioners will give her a ride. W…

Dr. H. A. Ironside in his book In the Heavenlies (Neptune, N.J.: Loizeau Bros., Inc.) tells the story of an attempted assassination of the first Queen Elizabeth of England. The woman who sought to do so dressed as a male page and secreted herself in the queen’s boudoir, awaiting the convenient moment to stab the queen to death. She did not realize that the queen’s attendants would be very careful to search the rooms before Her Majesty was permitted to retire. They found the woman hidden there among the gowns and brought her into the presence …

At times we wonder if our prayers get above the ceiling, if we have any Christian influence, if the church makes any real difference in the community, if faith is anything more than wishful thinking. A herd of buffalo was grazing on the range where the deer and the antelope play. Suddenly, a cowboy came riding up, jumped off his horse, got right up in the face of a buffalo and said, "You are the sorriest excuse for a buffalo I ever saw. Your eyes are bloodshot, your fur is dirty and matted, and you stink." with that he jumped back on his horse and rode away. The buffalo turned to his neighbor and said, "You know, I think I just heard a d…

How revealing is that story of the old missionary couple who had been working in Africa for years in the days when Teddy Roosevelt was President of the United States. They were returning from Africa to New York City to retire. They had no pension for they belonged to no missionary board. Their health was broken, they were defeated, discouraged, and afraid. When they went down to the wharf to board the ship they discovered to their amazement that they were booked on the same ship with Teddy Roosevelt, who was returning from one of his big game hunting expeditions. They went aboard the ship and no one paid any attention to them. They watched all the tremendous fanfare that accompanied the President's arrival, how the band played as he came aboard, and everyone was agog over the thought of tr…

Death is no respecter of persons, or families. There is an Eastern legend about a Hindu woman whose only child had died. She went to a prophet to ask for her child back. The prophet told her to go and obtain a handful of rice from a house into which death had not come. If…

Jana Childers, Professor of Homiletics at San Francisco Theological Seminary says, "Faithful servants of the Son of Man are known not only by their freedom from anxiety but also by the length of their sleeves. Faithful servants are ones whose sleeves are always pushed up. They are the kind of people whose powder is always dry, whose bags are always packed, whose pil…

Legend has it that the eleventh-century German king and Roman emperor, King Henry III, who, having grown tired of court life and the pressures of being a monarch, applied to a monastery to be accepted for a life of contemplation. The religious superior of the monastery, Prior Richard, is reported to have said, “Your Majesty, do you understand that the pledge here is one of obedience?…

In his book Finding God in Unexpected Places, author Philip Yancey describes the time he and his wife visited Old Faithful Geyser in Yellowstone Park.  They were having lunch in the lodge, watching the digital clock ticking down the minutes until the next big splash.  When the clock reached 30 seconds, diners left their tables and rushed over to the windows overlooking the geyser.  When Old Faithful erupted, and all the tourists were ooohing and aahing, Yancey looked over his shoulder and saw that the waitresses and busboys were using this time to clear tables of their…

Christian Resolutions for the New Year:

Like Paul, forget those things which are behind and press forward.

Like David, lift up my eyes to the hills from which my help comes.

Like Abra…

There is a beautiful story about the courtship of Moses Mendelssohn, the grandfather of the great German composer. Moses Mendelssohn was a small man with a misshapen, humped back. One day he visited a merchant in Hamburg who had a lovely daughter. Though Mendelssohn admired her greatly, she avoided him, seemingly afraid of his grotesque hump. 

On the last day of his visit he went to tell her goodbye. Her face seemed to beam with beauty but when he entered, she cast her eyes to the floor. Mendelssohn's heart ached for her.…

A few years ago Congress passed a law which entitles any deceased U.S.veteran to have two uniformed military personal present to fold and present a flag, and to have "Taps" played on the bugle at the end of the service.

Who could argue with such a simple honor? There is one little problem. There are very few bugle players around these days. This dearth of brass musicians has caused the Congressional mandate to be mitigated: veterans still have the right to "Taps," but "T…

It is hardly possible to read the stories of the Bible without seeing yourself reflected in them. We can see ourselves in uninvolved Jonah ... when Jonah hears: "Arise, go to Nineveh," he sprints for Joppa to catch a ship heading in the opposite direction for Tarshish.

Jonah’s determination not to get involved still has a lot of appeal among today’s Christians. Family frictions, an unchurched community, billions of bellies exploding with the pain of hunger - all Ninevehs. How we wish we could climb into a boat’s hold, go to sleep, and avoid them. But God calls us to care, and caring takes time! Caring takes preparation and hard work. Caring takes giving. Caring demands involvement in a world without guarantees - …

Said the great red one, "I am a mighty chief, and I want my son to follow in my footsteps and rule a great people. I want my son to be mighty and strong like me."

Said the young chief, "I do not want to be like my father. He is cruel and selfish and he brags over victories he has not won. He makes himself great by stepping on little ones. There is no greatness for the hunter who shoots chipmunks."

It is true in ou…

Now, let me close with the story of the man with two umbrellas. Dr. Gordon Targerson, a Baptist pastor in Worcester, Massachusetts, was crossing the Atlantic by ship some years ago. He noticed on several occasions a dark-skinned man sitting in a deck chair reading a Bible. One day Dr. Targerson sat down beside him and said, "Forgive my curiosity. I'm a Baptist minister. I notice you are a faithful Bible reader. I'd like to meet you." After introductions, the dark-skinned man said, "I am Filipino. I was born into a good Catholic home. I went to the United States as a young man to study in one of your fine universities, intending to become a lawyer. On my first day on campus, a student dropped by to visit. He welcomed me and offered to help in any way he could. Then he asked me where I went …

There was once a blacksmith who worked hard at his trade. The day came for him to die. God sent his angel to the smith, but to the angel's surprise, the smith refused to go. He pleaded with the angel that he was the only blacksmith in the village and it was time for all his neighbors to begin their planting and sowing. He would be needed. The blacksmith did not want to appear to be ungrateful and was looking forward to having a place in God's kingdom, but could he put it of for a while? The angel went and made t…

Who was United States Senator Edmund G. Ross of Kansas? I suppose you could call him a "Mr. Nobody." No law bears his name. Not a single list of Senate "greats" mentions his service. Yet when Ross entered the Senate in 1866, he was considered the man to watch. He seemed destined to surpass his colleagues, but he tossed it all away by one courageous act of conscience.

Let's set the stage.

Conflict was dividing our government in the wake of the Civil War. President Andrew Johnson was determined to follow Lincoln's policy of reconciliation toward the defeated South. Congress, however, wanted to rule the downtrodden Confederate states with an iron hand.

Congress decided to strike first. Shortly after Senator Ross was seated, the Senate introduced impeachment proceedings against the hated Pr…

Ted Stallard undoubtedly qualifies as the one of "the least." Turned off by school. Very sloppy in appearance. Expressionless. Unattractive. Even his teacher, Miss Thompson, enjoyed bearing down her red pen as she placed Xs beside his many wrong answers.

If only she had studied his records more carefully. They read:

1st grade: Ted shows promise with his work and attitude, but (has) poor home situation.

2nd grade: Ted could do better. Mother seriously ill. Receives little help from home.

3rd grade: Ted is good boy but too serious. He is a slow learner. His mother died this year.

4th grade: Ted is very slow, but well-behaved. His father shows no interest whatsoever.

Christmas arrived. The children piled elaborately wrapped gifts on their teacher's desk. Ted brought one too. It was wrap…

In the Union Tribune there was an article about Martin Luther King, Jr., which included an interview with Vincent Harding, a professor at the Iliff School of Theology in Denver, a Methodist seminary.

Harding said that King's detractors like to point out that he was a human being, that he had faults, human foibles. He was certainly not a saint, Harding points out. He made mistakes in judgment. He put his marriage to the test. He also suffered from human …

Although we do not possess the original manuscripts of the New Testament, we do have over 99.9 percent of the original text, and this is because of the faithful work of manuscript copyists over the centuries. Yet the copying of the New Testament was a long and arduous process. Though it seems strange to us today, in antiquity, it was not customary to sit at a table or a desk while writing. Rather, it was customary for scribes to stand while making brief notes or to…

Rebecca Manley Pippert, in her book Out of the Salt Shaker and into the World, gives an example of that kind of bond. She tells about a brilliant college student called Bill who became a Christian. He was part of that generation who dressed differently from their parents. For instance, he never wore shoes, no matter what the weather, and no matter where he went, he dressed in a t-shirt and jeans. In fact, even when he visited the campus church he was always dressed that way, in a t-shirt and jeans and, of course, without shoes. One Sunday during the summer, however, he decided to visit a local church near the campus. He came a little late and since the church was full, Bill walked down the aisle looking for a seat. Because of his less-th…

We live in an age where incredible scientific advancements take place everyday. Take GRIN, the acronym for (G) genetic engineering, (R) robotics, (I) information technology and (N) nanotechnology. The human genome has been mapped. Nanotechnology is constructing miniscule machines that can deliver inter-cellular messages or make molecular level repairs. Astrophysicists have mapped the curvature of the universe, delved into black holes, listened to the echoes of the Big Bang. Scientific inquiry and experiment have revealed the "hows" and "whys" and "whats" never before known.

We think we're so smart. We think we have a handle on how the universe works.

So why did the builders of the new Yankee Stadium spend five hours and $50,000 digging through two feet of concrete? They did this to extra…

The sure antidote to temptation is to be focused on Christ, to be so filled with his power, his salvation, his life and service, that there is no room for temptation. Shortly after the Reformation, some young followers of Martin Luther wrote him (kind of like an original Ann…

In his commentary William Barclay notes the significance of Jesus' move from Nazareth to Capernaum. He says, "There was a kind of symbolic finality in that move. In that moment Jesus left his home ne…

His shoulders are a little bent,
His youthful force a trifle spent,
But he's the finest man I know,
With heart of gold and hair of snow.

He's seldom cross and never mean;
He's always been so good and clean;
I only hope I'll always be
As kind to him as h…

An anonymous writer has said, "My small son and I were taking a walk. In the far corner of the field we found a small patch of beautiful and fragrant flowers. They were in the middle of weeds, almost completely hidden and unnoticed, yet these flowers were bloo…

What anxious people need more than anything is peace, especially peace of mind. On Black Friday I went into one of those fancy stores that sells watches. The store was crowded and I could barely make my way to the counter. I was on a mission. I had a watch that needed a battery. I was certain that the last thing any clerk wanted to do on the busiest shopping day of the year was to install a new battery in a watch. Much to my surprise the man said he would be glad to pu…

Becoming good at the things that build inner confidence and calm takes practice and a dash of creativity! The following list might provide some cloudseeding for a brainstorm or two of your own:

1. Pay off your credit cards.
2. Take off ten pounds or accept where you are without any more complaints.
3. Eat dinner together as a family for seven days in a row.
4. Take your wife on a dialogue date (no movie, guys).
5. Read your kids a classic book (Twain's a good start).
6. Memorize the Twenty-third Psalm as a family.
7. Give each family member a hug for twenty-one days in a row (that's how long the experts say it takes to develop a habit).
8. Pick a night of the week in which the television will remain unplugged.
9. Go out for a non-fast food dinner as a family.
10. Pray for your spouse and children every day.…

At the village church in Kalonovka, Russia, attendance at Sunday school picked up after the priest started handing out candy to the peasant children. One of the most faithful was a pug-nosed, pugnacious lad who recited his Scriptures with proper piety, pocketed his reward, then fled into the fields to munch on it. The priest took a liking to the boy, persuaded him to attend church school. This was preferable to doing household chores…

United Church has a tradition. They were known for supporting their pastors very well. Any pastor who has ever served at United will verify the truth of this tradition. Pastors, for example, consider it a privilege to serve in this congregation deep in the heart of Texas. Pastor Mike Snyder surely did. Pastor Mike, as everyone called him, had had a kind of love affair with this congregation throughout his nine years of service at United. The feeling was mutual. The people of United felt uniquely blessed by him as well.

It was not much of a surprise, therefore, when the church board at United decided to hold a special evening meeting to honor and celebrate the ministry of Pastor Mike Snyder. Someone on the board had found out that this year was the 25th anniversary of Pastor Snyder's ordin…

Professor John Killinger in his book "Letting God Bless You" relates the story of a beautiful woman who is ninety years old and has always been extremely generous with everything she has. He says, "She helps foreign students who want to come to this country to study. She sends flowers and food to people who hav…

If only I could move to a new town and make a new start, then I would be happy. If only I could change jobs, buy a new home, find the right man, get through college, have enough to retire, then I would be happy. If only I had this...if only I could find that.... Looking for happiness in all the wrong places.

Will Rogers said that n…

Television personality Willard Scott said, "A good marriage is like an incredible retirement fund. You put everything you have into it during your productive life, and over the years it turns from silver to gold to platinum." That's why a long marriage has always seemed to be such a good idea to the Church. Divorce is like put…

I WAS HUNGRY and you circled the moon.
I WAS HUNGRY and you told me to wait.
I WAS HUNGRY and you set up a commission.
I WAS HUNGRY and you talked about bootstraps.
I WAS HUNGRY and you told me I shouldn't be.
I WAS HUNGRY and you had napalm bills to pay.
I WAS HUNGRY and you said, "Machines do that kind of work now."
I WAS HUNGRY and you said, "The poor are always with us…

A farmer was entertaining some visitors to his farm. His spread included some twenty-five hundred acres. They asked him how he planted the seed. He reached in a bin and pulled out an ear of corn. Then he proceeded to pop out the kernels one by one as he walked along, demonstrating the planting process. The farmer then said, "Do you believe that?"

No, sir! was the reply.

Why not? the farmer asked.

"Well for one thing," one of the visitors said, "there's that big machine sitting ov…

A youth choir at a church was in rehearsal preparing a pageant which included some upbeat songs and choreography. One of the regulars in the group, Melissa, had brought a friend who was not catching on to the rhythm or the words. As sometimes happens, the regular had become focused on her own preparation and had forgotten about shepherding her friend. Also in the group was a boy named Cash Box because he always seemed to have money in his pocket, which won him favor with some. His social awkwardness and offensive bante…

God also works through other people to assure us in the midst of difficult times. A young man applied for a job as a farmhand. When the farmer asked for his qualifications, he said, "I can sleep when the wind blows." This puzzled the farmer. But he liked the young man, and hired him. A few days later, the farmer and his wife were awakened in the night by a violent storm. They quickly began to ch…

Today is Father's Day.  A day of cologne.  A day of hugs, new neckties, long-distance phone calls, and Hallmark cards.

Today is my first Father's Day without a father.  For thirty-one years I had one.  I had one of the best.  But now he's gone.  He's buried under an oak tree in a west Texas cemetery.  Even though he's gone, his presence is very near--especially today.

It seems strange that he isn't here.  I guess that's because he was never gone.  He was always close by.  Always available.  Always present.  His words were nothing novel.  His achievements, though admirable, were nothing extraordinary.

But his presence was.

Like a warm fireplace in a large house, he was a source of comfort.  Like a sturdy porch swing or a big-branched elm in the backyard, he could always be found...and l…

I read about one of the fastest growing churches in the world, with branches in 32 countries already. It is called the Winners Church, and according to its leaders, it lives by a motto that comes from America's religious …