August 11, 1999 Dr. Bailey,

Seven years ago I wrote to share with you some of

my favorite Our Daily Bread columns which I had clipped over the years. I think a lot about the column you write and what it means in my personal life. I would like to share with you some of these thoughts. I started reading your column in 1958 ( or there abouts ), my last two years of high school. Some columns touched me in a special way, and I clipped these and put them in a folder. I find that my folder now totals 134 columns, which translates to about 3 columns per year. I can assure you that more than that number have touched me, but these were the special ones that I put away with the thought that I would read them again someday. Well, as in most of our lives, that day just never came. Even when I took the time seven years ago to send you " copies of my favorites " , I failed to read them. About two years ago I decided to put some order to these clippings so that I might use them as a part of my daily devotions. About two months after I started on this, I read in your column where you and your wife were creating a publication (and a more recent column noted that you are now working on a second ) that would do just that. My first thought was to write you for your publication, as I am

anxious to learn which ones you selected. Nevertheless, I felt that I really wanted to follow up on what I had set out to do --- have something that would be special just to me-- something that reflects on my entire adult life. In putting together this for myself, I have indeed now reread each one; and there is no doubt in my mind why I selected each. I could almost turn back the clock of time and remember where I was and why I was so moved. I also noted some things which I would like to share with you. There is one theme that has rung true time and time again in your column -- and that is to be sure to share with others what they mean to you. It is this thought that motivates me to send you a copy of what I have put together -- to make sure that you know what your years of devotion to the writing of Our Daily Bread has meant to me. I know their are thousands who have been so moved; nevertheless, I want to make sure you know that your column is a special part of my daily life. I have taken your advice and gone out of my way to tell certain family members and friends that they are special to me -- sending cards -- giving hugs -- writing a special note -- sometimes it's not easy, as I'm not the hugging type; but it does make a difference --- and it is catching. Family is an important part of your writing. As I reread your columns, I noticed that you mentioned over

and over again your parents, grandparents, wife, children, and grandchildren. You value education as well as educators and mention fondly teachers from elementary and high school, Randolph Macon College, Duke University, and Union Theological Seminary. As a teacher myself I appreciate this fact. You have never forgotten your early roots and those who formed your thinking -- former pastorates, church members, and clergymen and women. Your mention of hymns brings back special memories -- most of the ones you name can be found in a hymnal I have, a 1927 edition of the New Cokesbury Hymnal . I guess this made such an impression on me, because it was the hymn Where He Leads Me I Will Follow which had such an impact on me back in 1963. You speak so often of your days in World War II and of the men you were with. I like hearing of those times and of the men and women you have kept up with in the years since. Many times you write of nature -- birds in the neighborhood as well as the outdoor life you had as a boy and the more recent years of fishing with your family. Above all you point out the importance of prayer in our daily lives --- if I were to guess -- that is what Our Daily Bread is all about. The other day I was in a Hallmark store and I read a verse which reminded me of what you have been saying through the years.

The Difference I got up early one morning and rushed right into the day. I had so much to accomplish that I didn't have time to pray. Problems just tumbled about me, and heavier came each task. " Why doesn't God help me?" I wondered. He answered, " You didn't ask." I wanted to see joy and beauty, but the day toiled gray and bleak; I wondered why God didn't show me? He said, " But you didn't seek." I tried to come into God's presence; I used all my keys at the lock. God gently and lovingly chided, " My child, you didn't knock." I woke early this morning, and paused before entering the day; I had so much to accomplish that I had to take time to pray. Something you once said changed my own prayer life -- it was more or less the fact that God already knows our needs -- it was then that I learned that it was better to listen to God than to talk to him . My own Dad told me years ago that when you talk, you only know what you know; but when you listen, you know what the other man knows as well. So it is with God. Thus I listen each night as I fall asleep ---what peace it brings to just be still and listen.

I certainly have enjoyed the scripture selection at the end of each column.... I always read it first. I have learned that if you want to use the Bible to learn of history, you might want to read it a Book at a time; but if you want it to affect your daily life, read it a Verse at a time. The fact that Our Daily Bread appears on the second or third pages of the metro section of our local paper , The Richmond Times~Dispatch, I find quite interesting, for it is here that we find the obituaries as well as the stories of local crimes that have occurred, What a beacon this is to an otherwise morbid page. As a mathematics teacher, I considered an article you wrote on the anniversary of fifty years of writing Our Daily Bread. I began to count and even incorporated all of the leap years and found that July 7, 2000 will mark your 20,000 th column. ( See Our Daily Bread No. 124 ) Well -- enough of this rambling. I just wanted to share this with you... talk is cheap. I wanted you to see, in a tangible way, that your work has made a difference. Now perhaps I will find out from you how I might get a copy of the devotional book(s) you mentioned that you and your wife have put together. Sincerely, G. Wesley Childress 9316 Groundhog drive Richmond, VA 23235: email: wchildre@pen.k12.va.us

OUR DAILY

BREAD

134 of My Favorite

Columns Written by

A.Purnell Bailey

From 1958 – 1999

Faces of A. P. Bailey

1960‘s 1970‘s

1980‘s Today

In our ministry to people in prison we try to

remember that what we are dealing with is the best and the worst. The death cells in Athens had in them the scum of Attica, but also Socrates, the wisest man in Greece. The jail in Philippi had in it the scoundrels of the country, but also Paul, the apostle of our Lord. Bedford jail was filled with carousers, but in one of those cells John Bunyan dreamed "The Pilgrim's Progress." Worcester jail contained the dregs of the country, but don't forget that it held George Fox, the father of the Quakers and a man of peace. We must not generalize when we walk by a jail. When we were in Jerusalem and saw where Calvary may have been, we were instructed to remember that three crosses stood at that place of history. On two of the crosses were thieves, but on the other one was one of whom it was said, "The government shall be upon his shoulders." Don't generalize about prisoners. I was in prison, and ye came unto me. (Matthew 25:36)

One cannot saunter into God's presence at any

time, in any mood, with any sort of life behind him, and at once perceive God is there. There are conditions for prayer. Remember the frivolous American who walked into the Rembrandt room of the Amsterdam Gallery, looked around casually and asked: "I wonder if there is anything here worth seeing?" There is a spiritual qualification for every experience of insight. "Mr. Turner," a man once said to the English landscape artist, "I never see any sunsets like yours." Turner answered courteously, "Don't you wish you could?" The practice of God's presence in prayer is not so simple as words sometimes make it seem. Isaiah recognized the need of repentance when he said, "Your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you." (Isaiah 59:2) The humble and contrite heart finds access to God in prayer. God . . . giveth grace to the humble. (James 4:6)

The world personalities that are chiefly

remembered are those who have been successful in the "flood and fire'' rather than those who lived lives of ease. Freedom from suffering is not always an indication of God's favor. Washington Irving said that in every true human heart there is a spark of heavenly fire which may be invisible in the broad daylight of prosperity but which kindles up and beams and blazes in the dark hour of adversity. The best hours of my parents were during the years of the great Depression when they struggled to clothe us, put food on the table and keep us in school. Later they knew far better days, but their light for four children shone best in their adversity. If you are suffering and struggling, be comforted by one fact: a radiant faith in the time of distress will be like a lighthouse to those who are about to give up. Trouble is a touchstone which not only tests the quality of human character but gives the light of direction to others! In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world. (John 16:33)

Only God knows us. He is invisible, and in

many ways so are we. The outward image and fleshly features of our friends we have seen, but do we know them- the consciousness, love, purpose and character? Upon these no eye has looked. Much of us is invisible. No mirror has been adequate to reveal us to ourselves. Like God we are invisible to a disturbing degree. Within the invisible person is memory-that power given to humans alone. Nearly 16 centuries ago Augustine marveled at the gift of memory: "Great is the power of memory. Amazement overcomes me when I think of it. And yet men go down to gaze upon the mountains, the broad rivers, the wide ocean, the courses of the stars, and pass themselves, the crowning wonder by." Know the memories of your loved ones, if you would penetrate the invisible. Take time to share memories. They are important to the understanding of any person. Remember what happened long ago. (Isaiah 46:9)

In the country school I attended, my playmate

and friend, Irvin Lewis, made slow progress in his studies. After muddling through lower grades, a teacher helped him make a new start. Her encouragement led him to be a better student. At the closing examinations that year, he passed with good grades to the great joy of his parents. Irvin's heart sank when the copybooks used all year were put on display. He knew the work before his change of heart would look terrible to his parents and friends. He watched his mother looking over the books, and he feared the look on her face. To his surprise she seemed pleased. Afterward Irvin discovered that the teacher had torn out the bad part so it began where he started to do better. As an adult he gave his heart to the Lord. He told me that what the teacher had done, his Heavenly Father had also performed. God had promised to blot out his sin and make the record begin with the new start. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though may be red like crimson, they shall- be as wool. (Isaiah 1:18).

Frank B. Dunford Jr. was my dear and trusted

friend. One Sunday when I visited his family he had a surprised look on his face. "You know," he said, "it was my claim that I had one original idea. This afternoon I was reading in the Harvard Classic Books, and discovered that my idea had been expressed by someone in the 1400s. So much for my original thought!" We live in community. No person is an island. We share thoughts and ideas like we share bread. The bread is always better when we break it together, so with our ideas. So interwoven are our lives that claiming originality is precarious We copyright our thoughts and writings , yet find that we live in such a community that we say in a different way what others have expressed before. The Bible's message has permeated our language and laws. A judge I knew some years ago told me that he thought the Ten Commandments were basic to most American laws. Our legislatures come up with few original ideas. The memory of Frank B. Dunford Jr., and his original idea is before me every time I sit at the typewriter. We are members one of another. (Ephesians 4:25)

A woman once confided to George W. Crane, a

psychologist, that she hated her husband and intended to divorce him. She said, through clenched teeth: "I want to hurt him all I can." "In that case," said Dr. Crane, "I advise you to start showering him with compliments. When you have become indispensable to him, when he thinks you love him devotedly, then start the divorce action. That's the way to hurt him." A little over a year later the wife returned to say that she had followed the suggested course. She had gone out of her way to understand and compliment her husband for his care and achievements. "Good," said Crane. "Now's the time to file for the divorce." "Divorce," said the woman with a new light in her eye; "Never! I've fallen in love with him." Overcome evil with good. (Romans 12:21)

LeConte du Nouy, one of the world's great

scientists, was in Paris at the time of the Nazi invasion and later escaped. With the help of friends he came to the United States. Once here, he reflected much about the cause of war and the problems of peace, and exclaimed: "Peace must be established by transforming man from the interior and not by erecting external structures. We have already said it: The source of all war, the source of all evil, lies in us." Teachers work directly on this problem and are one of the greatest assets of any nation. The transformation of a child or an adult is no small thing. The work of a good teacher is ultimately the work of peace and security-though seldom recognized. The work of righteousness shall be peace. (Isaiah 32:17)

If one will read three chapters each day, and

five chapters each Sunday, he can read the en tire Bible in one year. The message of the Bible in creating values for life speaks for itself. Like every printed book, its contents can be broken down in many ways. One man did it this way The Bible contains 3,566,480 letters; 773,692 words, 31,173 verses 1,189 chapters, and 66 books. The middle verse he says is Psalm 118:18. The longest verse is Esther 8:9 and the shortest verse is John 11:35. One evening I read the gospel of Matthew in one sitting. The joy of that evening stands out in my mind over the years. Try it for yourself. Ye do err, not knowing the scripture, nor the power of God. (Matt. 22:29)

Some years ago a Presbyterian minister, Dr.

Louis Evans, reported on a trip he took where he observed a medical missionary perform an operation for several hours in a tent. Later, Dr. Evans asked the surgeon what he was paid for an operation like that. The physician showed a small copper coin the patient had given him. The doctor had assured the patient the bent coin would be sufficient pay. "But," said the surgeon, "what I really got from that operation was the joy of knowing that for the last seven hours my 10 fingers have been Jesus Christ performing his healing ministry." Evans rightly commented that, like the surgeon, each of us has opportunities to be the Master's healing hands daily. He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds. (Psalm 147:3)

A wealthy friend taught me the power of

endorsement. He had a check for a huge sum from the secretary of the U.S. Treasury and remarked: "This is useless as it is. It is signed by a member of the president's Cabinet, and it is backed by the U.S. Treasury. Yet it is not worth a penny until I endorse it myself." God is willing to "write us a check" for more than we've ever asked or even thought, but his gifts aren't worth a penny until endorsed and accepted by us. He has granted us the right to rule over this creation. We are richer than our minds have ever grasped, but in faith we must give the essential endorsement and personal signature. His rich and gracious promises are waiting for our personal endorsement! He that cometh to me shall never hunger. (John 6:35)

An experienced nurse shared these thoughts

with me about her duty with patients in the last moments of life: "It has always seemed to me a major tragedy that so many people go through life haunted by the fear of death-only to find that when it comes it is as natural as life itself. For very few are afraid to die when they get to the very end. In all my experience only one seemed to feel any terror-a woman who had done her sister a wrong that it was too late to right." "Something strange and beautiful happens to men and women when they come to the end of the road. All fear, all horror disappears. I have often watched a look of happy wonder in their eyes when they realized this was true. It is all part of the goodness of nature and, I believe, of the illimitable goodness of God." Yea, though I walk though the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou are with me. (Psalm 23:4)

In the Revolutionary War a non commissioned

officer sent his troops to fell trees for an urgently needed bridge. The work proceeded slowly because of a shortage of workers. After a time, an officer of high rank came and spoke to him. "You haven't enough men?" he asked. "No, sir!" "Why don't you lend a hand yourself?" the officer inquired. "Me, sir? Why I'm a corporal, sir." "I see," said the officer, and getting off his horse he went and worked with the men until the bridge was built. As he left, he turned and said, "Corporal, next time you have a job to put through and have too few men, you had better send for the commander in chief to come again." It was George Washington speaking. Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it untie thy might. (Ecclesiastes 9:10)

Henry Drummond was a man of science and

faith. He reminded his comrades of a law of nature that can be applied to human influence. "Every atom," he said, "in the universe acts on every other atom, but only through the atom next to it. And if a man would act on every other man he can do best by acting, one at a time, upon those beside him." We are led to believe that we could be better persons under improved circumstances, around different people Seldom is it true. We are what we have inside us-not what gathers around us. The person who would influence for good begins with the strength desired by the Psalmist: "Who can understand his errors? Cleanse thou me from secret faults." If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. (II Corinthians 5:17)

We drove the narrow road up the granite slope

of Mount Kear in southern New Hampshire to visit Freedom Acres, just above the small town of Wilmot Flat. Freedom Acres has been described as "a supply of old fashioned gumption with a taste for the wild and a zest for life." Prominently displayed in the main building were the words of Abraham Lincoln: "You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift. You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. You cannot help the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer. You cannot further the brotherhood of man by encouraging class hatred. You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich. You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than you earn. You cannot build character and courage by talking away man's initiative and independence. You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves." Establish thou the work of our hands upon us. (Psalm 90:17)

This prayer blessed our lives in England recently

on a sleepless night resulting from overseas jet lag. It is taken from page 91 in "A Diary of Private Prayer" by John Baillie-a thumb-worn copy we take on trips with us: "Yet let me never think, O eternal Father, that I am here to stay. Let me still remember that I am a stranger and pilgrim on the earth. FOR HERE WE HAVE NO CONTINUING CITY, BUT WE SEEK ONE TO COME. Preserve me by Thy grace, good Lord, from so losing myself in the joys of earth that I may have no longing left for the purer joys of heaven. Let not the happiness of this day become a snare to my too worldly heart. And if, instead of happiness, I have today suffered any disappointment or defeat, if there has been any sorrow where I had hoped for joy, or sickness where I had looked for health give me grace to accept it from Thy hand as a loving reminder that this is not my home." He who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. (Galatians 6:8)

John Erskine, the well-known teacher of

Columbia University and author of "The Delight of Great Books," said that when he was a young boy his piano teacher, Carl Walter, asked him how long he practiced for his lesson. He responded that he practiced three or four hours a day. "Do you practice in long stretches an hour at the time?" Erskine said he tried to do so. "Well don't!," Walter exclaimed "When you grow up, time won't come in long stretches. Practice in minutes whenever you can find them-five or 10 before school, after lunch, between chores. Spread the practice through the day, and piano-playing will become a part of your life." This is a genuine insight for prayer too. Gather the little moments that life offers to pray unceasingly. Seek the Lord and His strength seek His face continually. (I Chronicles 16:11)

Bronson Alcott stubbornly insisted that it was

never the "bad boy" or the dullard who was to blame but those who lacked the patience and the care to probe beneath the surface for what was good, however discouraging or unfriendly that surface might be. Give a child time to grow. We must remember that there was a time when wheat was considered a weed, quite useless to mankind. Its bright fields rippled in the wind and the heavy grain toppled to the ground unharvested. Tomatoes were once considered poisonous fruit and people were advised to avoid them by medical authorities. How times have changed. There were no "weeds" in Bronson Alcott's schoolroom. He reminds us to be slow to pass judgment, remembering that the "weeds" in the dirt of the roadway may, with care and understanding, provide tomorrow's bread. It is not for you to call profane what God counts clean. (Acts 10:15)

Dr. Smiley Blanton, one of the wisest

psychiatrists I have known, often quoted the works of Abraham Lincoln: "The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate for the stormy present. We must think anew and act anew." The rigidity of our past, often shackled by old habits of thought and rules and opinions of another time, keeps us from acting wisely with new problems. "We must think anew and act anew." Dr. Blanton said many who came to him for help were shackled by a blind adherence to old patterns of acting and thinking. They found it so difficult to bend that sometimes they broke. Does that mean one must give up eternal truths? No, we need to apply them faithfully to changing conditions. Prayer will help us find God's guidance. Send out Thy light and Thy truth: let them lead me. (Psalm 43:3)

David Livingstone made a vow to God that left

a trail of blessing across Africa and the world. It reads: "I will place no value on anything I have or may possess, except in relation to the kingdom of Christ. If anything will advance the interest of that kingdom, it shall most promote the glory of him to whom I owe all my hopes in time or eternity. May grace be given to me to adhere to his." An eye single to his glory! There is no end of influence for the person who is willing to pay the price. Somewhere among those who read this column today will be a person who will take Livingstone's vow as his own. He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it. (Matthew 10:39)

In a seminar I posed the question, "What would

happen to our behavior if we lived each day as though it were our last?" A delightful response came from an elderly lady who had the opposite approach. "For 25 years," she said, "I have been using a different approach. My philosophy is this: Treat all the people you meet each day as though it were THEIR last day on earth." What letters would be written, telephone calls made, gifts prepared if we knew this was the last day of cherished friends. Or what forgive asked of those we have wronged! Frank E. Brown reminded me of a similar thought: "This is the first day of the rest of your life." Today if you will hear his voice Harden not your heart. (Psalm 95:7, 8)

The French aviation pioneer and author, Antoine

de Saint, once wrote: "I have no right to say or do anything that diminishes a man in his own eyes. What matters is not what I think of him but what he thinks of himself. Hurting a man in his dignity is a crime." Years ago the General Electric Co. had genius Charles Steinmetz as the administrative head of its calculating department. He was a flop as an administrator, but someone in that company was smart enough to know that he was invaluable to the company. Steinmetz was promoted to consulting Engineer of General Electric, and someone else was put in charge of administration - and two people were happy. "Hurting a man in his dignity is a crime." Perhaps there is no nation where this principle is applied so well as in Japan, the present marvel of industrial production. Evil men understand not judgment. (Proverbs 28:5)

I have a friend who will not discuss the deeds of

another person unless he is present to defend himself. Why all this concern? Shakespeare perceived the reason. He understood slander as a most vicious form of stealing, and he said of it: "He that filches from me my good name robs me of that which not enriches him and makes me poor indeed." Before repeating something detrimental about another person, ask yourself these three questions: Is it true? Is it necessary for me to tell it? Is it kind to tell it? In her tongue is the law of kindness. (Proverbs 31:26)

Santi Raphael was considered the greatest

painter of the Italian Renaissance. It is recorded that an admirer asked him one day "Which is your greatest painting?" His brief reply: "My next one!" If we would remain young in spirit and creative through the more mature years of life-as well as the younger ones- we would capture that spirit of reaching out "to the next one." Such is my prayer for DAILY BREAD, that the next column may be the best one-in the sense that it will meet human need, and heal hurts. Forty-three years have passed since I wrote the first column of DAILY BREAD in Tokyo. I believe I am more eager to write "the next one" now than the day I began-and that's writing seven columns each week. I invite your prayers that I may be God's writer to your need, and others. Thy word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. (Psalm 119:105)

I never look at the depressed areas of

Washington without thinking of Jacob Riis, the Danish - American journalist and philanthropist. He and Theodore Roosevelt did much to awaken the United States to the wretched conditions of those living in the slums. Riis wrote, How the Other Half Lives. He wrote for two New York newspapers and used his pen and influence to tell the people of New York of the misery they were harboring. It took a lot of telling, yet when discouraged, he said, "When nothing seems to help I go and look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock perhaps 10 times without as I much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the 101st blow it will split in two, and I know that it is not that blow that did it, but all that had gone before." Repeated concerns are needed for the ills at our doorstep! We are members one of another. (Ephesians 4:25)

Publius Lentulus, procurator of Judea, wrote to

the Senate of the Roman government, the only recorded word-picture we have of Jesus: "In these, our days, there appeared a man of great virtue, named Jesus Christ, who is yet living amongst us, and of the Gentiles is accepted as the prophet of truth. He raises the dead and cures all manner of diseases. A man of stature somewhat tall and comely, such as the beholder may both love and fear. "His hair of the color of a chestnut, full ripe; plain to his ears, whence downward it is more orient and curling, and waving about his shoulders. In the midst of his head is a seam, a partition in his hair, after the manner of the Nazarites. His forehead plain and very wrinkled; his face without spot or wrinkle, beautiful with a lovely red. His nose and mouth so formed that nothing can be reprehended. His beard is in color like his hair, not very long but forked; his look innocent and mature. His eyes gray, clear and quick and luminous. "In reproving he is terrible, his eyes piercing-as with a two-edged sword-the greedy, the selfish and the oppressor, but look with tenderest pity on the weak and erring and sinful. Courteous and fair spoken; pleasant in conversation, mixed with gravity. Many have seen him weep . . ." I am the light of the world. (John 8:12)

A list of questions I have had before me as a

pastor helped to prepare my messages each week. Let me share them with you: 1. Do I use boring phrases over and over again? 2. Will my next message have lasting value for my listeners? 3. Are things I have to say worth hearing? 4. Does any "personal unpleasantness" affect the things I am to say? If so, am I justified? 5. Is what I am to say worth the time of those who listen? 6. Have the opinions of others altered the things that I have wanted to say? 7. Have I been honest with my own convictions? 8. Have I spent adequate time in preparation? 9. Have I prayed for God's help and direction? Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. (II Timothy 2:15)

A letter came to me giving a deplorable family

situation, and then asked, "Shall I get a divorce?" There were many problems and hardships, and the advantages of the home life had been pushed to the back of the mind. Since I was too far away to give specific advice, I wrote back: "Remember the Chinese saying: 'In a broken nest there are no whole eggs.' Do all you can to save a home for your children. It won't be easy, but for the children's sake it is worth every effort. A public school superintendent told me that the greatest problems in his schools were those children who had from three to seven parents, and simply did not know which should receive their loyalty and obedience." "In a broken nest there are no whole eggs." He shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children. (Malachi 4:6)

One of the precepts I have followed in

university teaching is that given to us by Galileo, the great Italian astronomer and physicist, who lived 400 years ago. He said: "You cannot teach a man anything; you can only help him to find it within himself." A friend of mine who teaches at Princeton University says the same thing in different words. When I asked him if it were difficult to communicate with the youth of today, he responded: "Not if you know the secret word! That word is meaningfulness. Students will follow you to your office, your home-anywhere, if they can understand that what you are saying is real to them." By these things men live. (Isaiah 38:16)

Harry Holmes tells of a Persian who explained

to an Englishman how Persian rugs were made. He described how the frames were set up; how boys on one side placed the threads at the exact spots directed by the artist from the opposite side. At that point the Englishman inquired, "What happens if a boy makes a mistake?" "Oh," said the Persian, "often he never knows about it. For the artist quickly changes the design to compensate for the error. When the rug is finished, no one can tell where the mistake was made." God can do that with our mistakes. He is the great physician, the noble healer. He can even make good out of our errors. In everything he works together for good with them that love him with them that are the called according to his purposes. (Romans 8:28)

Some years ago, I was a graduate student of

Ernest Trice Thompson. I stood in awe of his scholarship and his ability to get so many things done each day in a spirit of spiritual calm. Finally, my curiosity could not restrain the desire to ask him: "What system do you use to complete so many tasks each day?" He responded with this: "I have one I have used for years, and I will share it with you." Imagine how I awaited the revelation! He took a small slip of paper on which were listed the figures from one to twenty. "Each morning," he said, "I simply write down the chores suggested to me in my meditation. The next day, I cross off the ones I have done, and complete the ones left undone." That simple influence by a great spiritual leader led me to develop my own "Do This Sheet" for each day. Cause me to hear thy loving kindness in the morning. (Psalm 143:8)

When I was a student at Duke University, I used

to walk across the campus to the harmony of one of the best sets of chimes in the world. The music would float across the Duke campus as the chimes were rung in the chapel's tower. One day, I had the opportunity to ascend to the top of the chapel's tower and watch the chime master play on the keyboard. He was a master at it, to be sure, but I was so disappointed. I was almost deafened by the crash and clatter of the bells. Instead of music, I heard an all-pervading and all-disturbing noise. Sometimes our own grief is like that because we are standing too close to it at the moment. In a few years-"farther across the campus" -we discover an unusual harmony in all the past, and we learn that in His love "all things have been working together for our good." All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep His covenant. (Psalm 25:10)

In the old legend of Greek mythology the sirens

sang so sweetly that all who sailed near their home in the sea were fascinated and drawn to their shore only to be destroyed. Some sailors put wax in their ears to get safely past the enchanted spot, so that they would not hear the luring, bewitching strains. But Orpheus, when he sailed that part of the sea found a better way. He made music on his own ship which excelled in sweetness that of the sirens and thus their strains had no power over his men. The best way to break the charms of evil is to have within us God's sweeter music. It is the power of a new affection. Not wax in the ears, but the love of the Lord in our hearts! Thus, let us seek the company of those who love Him. He that hath the Son hath life. (I John 5:12)

The old shepherd who offered prayer in a Welsh

revival meeting told the truth when he lamented his backsliding in these words: "Lord, I got among the thorns and briars and was scratched and torn and bleeding; but, Lord, it is only fair to say that it was not on Thy ground: I had wondered out of Thy pasture." How those words tug at the heart and bring pictures to the mind: young people, and some older ones, with so much to offer wandering out of His pasture and ending up with broken lives; men and women who wanted to "know more about life," and the experience led them into another field. When God gave us freedom, He gave us the possibility of jumping pasture. With the old shepherd many of us can say of our scars and hurts: "Lord, it is only fair to say that it was not on thy ground; I had wandered out of thy pasture!" A man's pride shall bring him low. (Proverbs 29:23)

One day Phillips Brooks, the noted New

England divine, was pacing the floor of his study when a friend entered. Noting that Brooks seemed irritable, the friend asked, "What's the trouble?" "The trouble is," answered Dr. Brooks, "that I'm in a hurry-but God isn't."' It is the nature of a child to demand that his wants be satisfied instantly. Our little grandchild says, "Take me to the park, Grandpa." And I often respond, "Tim, I will take you a little later." His response to "later" is like my praying, "But Grandpa, I want to go right now, not later." Yet it is often for his welfare that I determine to-go "a little later." Some of God'' important answers are, "Wait!" In everything God works together for good with them that love him. (Romans 8:28)

Some city workers in Washington were cutting

away cement to plant a tree by the sidewalk. Around the tree they placed an iron grate to allow the water to get in as well as to keep the roots protected. A cage was put around the tree to support it. Suppose that tree should say, as some of our youth demand, "Take that external curb away." What it would discover is that the freedom it seeks is the very freedom that allows the tree to blow over in a storm. Not until that tree has sunk deep roots to support it can the externals be removed safely. Freedom for anyone is not tearing externals away until inward self-control is prepared to take over. Even the Russians learned that you can shoot the czar and get Lenin and Trotsky in his place! No good thing will be withheld from them that walk uprightly. (Psalm 84:11)

A mother took her son, Henry, to market with

her. At one of the fruit stalls, Henry was invited to take a handful of cherries, but was hesitant. "Don't you like cherries?" asked the grocer. "Oh yes," Henry replied excitedly. The grocer put his big hand in the basket, came forth with a generous portion and dumped them into the boy's cup. Later, his mother asked him why he was hesitant to take the cherries, waiting until the grocer gave them to him. "Because his hand is bigger than mine," responded Henry. That's a lesson for me. When I "wait on the Lord," I learn that he wants to give me more than I ever asked or even thought. O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever. (I Chronicles 16:34)

As many tributes were paid at a testimonial

dinner for H.B. Swope, he commented-, "I cannot give you the formula for success, but I can give you the formula for failure-try to please everybody!" Know the Word of God and take it for direction. It is a guide in every storm, and when so-called friends fall by the wayside, we will have the wisdom of ages to direct our way. William Penn said, "Men must be governed by God, or they will be, ruled by tyrants." He knew whereof he spoke. Forget God's Commandments, and try to please everybody. Keep His Commandments and have God's priority in our lives. Only then can we love our neighbors as ourselves- though not always pleasing them. Come close to God. and He will come close to you. (James 4:8)

A thorough study of the elements that prolong

life with more than usual contentment was released by a scientific expert in the field. His research among more than 400 people gave these reasons: 1. They did not allow themselves to become idle. 2. They practiced moderation. 3. They refrained from overeating and contented themselves with simple foods. 4. They looked for-and found- plenty of fun in life. 5. They went to bed early and got up early. 6. Their energies were not depleted by fear and worry, especially the fear of death. 7. They had faith in God. The more we research people, the more we learn that God's Word knows "our works." Keep that which is committed to thy trust. ( I Timothy 6:20)

We saw a beautiful robin in distress. He was

young and trying to fly. Somehow he had landed in a little enclosure around a flower plant that had wire about a foot high. We noticed our little feathered friend dash himself against the wire frantically, looking for a hole through which he could escape. "Foolish bird, I wanted to say, "why don't you use your wings and fly over that little fence?" Then I applied the thought to myself and an inner voice whispered: "Foolish little me! How anxiously have I looked for a way out of my, problems, when at the very time God has provided me with wings of faith and inner strength to rise above them!" They that wait upon the Lord . . . shalt mount up with wings as eagles. (Isaiah 40:31)

One of the most Effective schoolrooms was my

grandfather's fishing boat. He would take me with him on different occasions, and I would watch him take a fish from a twisted net and marvel at his patience. I would have thrown the whole net away-it was such a tangled mess! Yet, for a half-hour, sometimes, he'd pull at first one part of the net and then another, and soon the net would be free of its tangles. Then he'd set the fragile net for the next catch. I think of my grandfather when I see people get "in tangles." Patience, a little tug here, and one there-and soon harmony and peace fall into place. When I retell the story to my grandchildren, the nets get more tangled and the fish get bigger. But the children know the essential thing is "a little tug here, a little pull there," and soon tangled people find harmony through the positive attitude of patience. After he had patiently endured he obtained the promise. ( Hebrews 6:15)

Edgar DeWitt Jones said he had a friend who

lived by three rules of conduct. "Who can say whether I live up to them," said the man. "But this is the discipline I lay before my life:

(1) I cannot be discouraged; that is, I will keep my mind active and my ideals dominant. (2) I will let other people have their opinions, finding stimulation in differences rather than fighting opposition. (3) I will make Jesus Christ my example and test every sense of victory or defeat by trying to decide how He would have met a similar situation."

The simple guidance of God's Word can plant our feet on a straight path. We are someone's model for living, and humble though our existence may be, we have our influence. God uses every life in His plan. Seek the Lord and His strength, seek His face continually. (I Chronicles 16:11)

Most generations do not reap the reward of

their own way of living. We receive the heritage of our parents; then we may pass on the benefit or ruin of our behavior to the next generation. The urgent words of Dr. J. Greshem Machen to the parents of America should be heard as a warning bell. "America," he said, "is today running on the momentum of a godly ancestry. When that momentum goes, God help America." Our neglect of the religious life in the home robs the next generation of advantages related to life's values inherited from the past. We need to meditate on this: What spiritual heritage will our children and grandchildren possess? Thou hast given me the heritage of those that fear thy name. (Psalm 61:5)

Consider the words of Socrates who once said

"Could I climb to the highest place in Athens, I would lift my voice and proclaim - fellow citizens, why do you turn and scrape every stone to gather wealth and take so little care of your children, to whom one day you must relinquish it all?" Samuel Wesley on one occasion said to Susannah, his wife: "That is the 19th time I have heard you say the same thing to that child. Why do you repeat yourself so many times?" She replied, "Because the 20th time caps the whole." Susannah had a nursery of her own- 19 children! Not all of them lived but John and Charles, two of her sons, left their mark on history. John Wesley was the founder of Methodism, and one can hardly go to church today without singing a hymn of Charles Wesley. Susannah invested herself wisely in her children! Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it. (Proverbs 22:6)

A foreman for an East Coast utility told how he

was saved from death. "Sometimes," he said, "new poles are green and water-soaked and will conduct electricity. A short time ago, my gang was hoisting a new pole up through the wires to a place where it could be dropped in the hole dug for it. I had thoughtfully seized the butt end of the green pole as it swung clear of the ground and was guiding it into place when one of the boys made a run for me and knocked me sprawling on the wet pavement. "I arose from the street ready for a fight. The man who hit me pointed aloft to show that had he not knocked me clear of the pole, I would have been a 'gonner'." God would do no less for us than such a friend, and it may be that some of the misunderstood "knocks" in life are really life-saving blows. It is good for me that I have been afflicted. (Psalm 119:71)

In one of the stormy periods of the Civil War,

someone said to President Lincoln, "I do hope the Lord is on our side." "I am not afraid, not at all concerned about that," replied Mr. Lincoln, "For I know that the Lord is always on the side of right. But it is my constant anxiety and prayer that this nation and I should be on the Lord's side." What a guide for our own lives! Bible study helps us to learn God's commandments and understand how they apply to living. We, then, must decide to be on the Lord's side rather than hoping he is on ours! Lead me in the way everlasting. (Psalm 139:24)

Many of us have heard of the violinist who

was giving a concert when the A string on his violin broke. Without hesitating, he transposed the music and skillfully finished the concert on three strings. Consider what a violinist of lesser ability might have done. He would have stopped and moaned about his luck. It takes a determined violinist to say, "If I can't play on four strings, I will play on three." So it is with us. Who of us has what he really needs? We have at least two choices: Complain about our bad luck or go ahead and make melody from the "three strings" we have. Faith in God does not tell us what tomorrow will bring, but it assures us of WHO is in control. That is why God's children are optimistic! O taste and see that the Lord is good. (Psalm 34:8)

Thomas Henry Huxley, the English biologist, did

research on the soils of England and found tropical seed in bewildering variety. How did they get there? By winds, birds and many agencies. But they lay there many years waiting for what? For a tropical climate. Huxley said that if England could have tropical heat for 12 months people would be amazed to find their gardens blooming with tropical luxuriance! Just so, I believe that "seeds" we have never surmised lie buried in your life and mine. Waiting for what? For the right climate! Create a pure heart in me, O God, and put a new and loyal spirit in me. (Psalm 51:10)

There is a little book on the shelves of my study

that I turn to often. It is a classic, In His Steps, by Charles M. Sheldon. More than 20 million copies of the book have been sold since it was written in 1896, and it continues to have demand. It is the story of a group of persons who pledge to follow "in His steps" for a year, to ask themselves before each action, "What would Jesus do." Their efforts to apply the basic teachings of Christianity to the complexities of the modern world, with its problems of personal gain, business ethics, of poverty and unemployment, make not only an absorbing novel, but one which profoundly stirs the soul, carrying a rare spiritual message. The little book has been translated into 21 languages, including a Russian publication which has been banned by the Soviets. Christ liveth in me. (Galatians 2:20)

Calvin Coolidge's Northampton home had these

words over the fireplace: A wise old owl lived in an oak The more he saw, the less he spoke; The less he spoke, the more he heard. Why can't we be like that wise old bird? We have a stewardship with our tongues. Remember one who said so wisely: "A word fitly spoke is like apples of gold in pictures of silver." ''The tongue is but three inches long," says a Japanese proverb, "yet it can kill a man six feet tall." Here's speech therapy: "If wisdom's ways you wisely seek, five things observe with care: of whom you speak, to whom you speak, and how, and when, and where!" Death and life are in the power of the torque. (Proverbs 18.21)

Some of the most creative persons I have known

have passed 80 years of age. In fact, many of the great names of history still were growing and creating at 80. At 80, Tennyson wrote "Crossing the Bar." Gen. William Booth began his African tour at 80. Stradivari made some of his best violins at 80. Goethe wrote his greatest drama 'Faust," at 83. Verdi created one of the greatest operas at 85. Wesley delivered his famous orations at 88. And Tintoretto, the Italian painter, accepted a commission at 60 to paint a mural 74 feet by 30 feet, and he lived to finish it. Robert Browning wrote: "Grow old and along with me! The best is yet to be, The last of life, for which the first was made." The hoary head is a crown of glory, if it be found in the way of righteousness. (Proverbs 16:31)

In her latter years, my mother could not call my

name. Memory was passing from her but she could recall some of the songs I would sing to her and hum them with me. Her eyes would light up as I called the names of her other three children. In some ways she would remind me of Ralph Waldo Emerson in his latter years. His great spirit seemed to cling to the beautiful. One day, in the company of a friend, he walked to the cemetery and stood by the grave of Longfellow. It brought to his mind a happy memory, and he said, "The gentleman who lies here was a beautiful soul, but I have forgotten his name." We thank God for the memories that linger beyond the recall of names! The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. (Psalm 23:1)

A lady from my native Virginia went to the

ophthalmologist because her eyes were hurting. After examination, he said: "Your eyes are tired from much reading. Rest them. Have you any wide views from your home?" "Oh, yes," she replied, "I can see the peaks of the Blue Ridge Mountains from one porch, and from another I can see the foothills of the Alleghenies." "Very well he replied, "when your eyes are tired, look at the mountains for 10 minutes 20 would be better. The far look will rest your eyes." There are many of us with "tired souls." Burdened with the steady cares of this life, we need to take the far look, and as Walter C. Gum was fond of saying, "think of the peaks of heaven." Take 10 minutes; even 20 would be better! My times are in thy hand. (Psalm 31:15)

A man showed me a check from the secretary of

the U.S. Treasury-and said: "This check is useless as it is. It is signed by a member of the president'" Cabinet, and it is backed by millions in the U.S. Treasury. Yet it is not worth a penny until I endorse it." Life is something like that. God is willing to give us more than we have ever asked or even thought, but his gifts are useless until they are accepted and endorsed by us. He has given us the right to rule over creation. In fact, we are richer than our minds have ever grasped, but in faith we must give the essential signature. Endorse your "check." His rich and gracious promises are awaiting us! He that cometh to me shall never hunger. (John 6:35)

I found this prayer of Francis of Assisi pasted

at the top of a cash register in a store: "Lord, Make me a channel of thy peace, where there is hatred I may bring love; where there is wrong I may bring the spirit of forgiveness; where there is discord I may bring harmony; where there is error I may bring truth; where there is doubt I may bring faith; where there is despair I may bring hope; where there are shadows I may bring Thy light; where there is sadness I may bring joy. "Lord, grant that I may seek rather to comfort than to be comforted; to understand than to be understood; to love than to be loved; for it is by giving that one receives; it is by self forgetting that one finds; it is by forgiving that one is forgiven; it is by dying that one awakens to eternal life" Lord, teach us to pray! (Luke 11:1)

At a wedding I attended I saw a couple I had

known for many years. At almost 70 years of age they were active and interested in others. Their marriage reminded me of these words "I love you not only for what you are, but for what I am when I am with you. I love you not only for what you have made of yourself, but for what you are making of me. I love you for that part of me you bring out. I love you for putting your hand into my heaped up heart and passing over all the foolish, weak things you can't help seeing there and for drawing out into the light all the beautiful longings no one else had looked quite long enough to find. I love you because you are helping me to make out of the lumber of my life not a tavern, but a temple." There is no fear in love . (I John 4:18)

A college president was criticized because he

did not supervise the personal lives of his students on campus more closely. He explained in his first yearly address to the student body, attempting to help them see the responsibility of maturity. "Men," he said, "your first duty is to your afterself, that the man you ought to be may be possible and actual. Out there in the years he is waiting for you; his body, his brain, and his soul are in your hands today. He cannot help himself; he is like the man in the critical lap of a relay race; he mast wait there until you arrive and place the token of the race.. in his hands before he can run. What will you bring to him? Will it be a brain unspoiled by the lust of dissipation? Will it be a mind trained to act and think? , "You are on this campus to prepare for the future, that the man you ought to be may be possible and actual. You alone, must direct this matter ." Stir up the gift of Go which is in thee. (II Timothy 1 :6)

For many years Aldous Huxley , author of

Brave New World, was an agnostic. Later, he took a look back and asked: "Why was I so insistent on a naturalistic explanation of everything?" He answered: "Because I wanted my freedom-especially my sexual freedom-and I knew that with a materialistic explanation of life I had it. Whereas once I admitted that the spiritual was present in life, I had to listen to something- someone beyond myself-who would put a curb, a demand, upon me that I dared not face." In large degree, Huxley declared, what you see in life depends on who and what you are. "Two men looked out from prison bars, The one saw mud, the other stars!" Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people. (Jer. 7:23)

The little business that employed Bruce Barton

when he was 22 years of age suddenly went broke and he was out of a job. His friend, Charles S. Funk of Chicago, called and said, "You are a very fortunate young man." "Fortunate," exclaimed Barton. "I've lost 2 years of my life and $1,600 in unpaid salary! " "Any man is fortunate," Funk continued, "who gets his disappointments early in life. He learns to start over again. He learns not to be afraid. The man to be pitied is the one who, at 45 or 50, after getting all the breaks, has disaster suddenly descend on him. He has never learned how to make a fresh start, and he is too old to learn." We must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God. (Acts 14:22)

One of our readers sent me a little thought that I

have had , before me for several years. Let me share it with you for today: "If any little word of mine may make a life the brighter, if any little song of mine may make a heart the lighter, God help me speak that little word land take my bit of singing, and drop it in some lonely vale to set the echoes ringing. If any little love of mine may make a life the sweeter, if any little care of mine may make a friend's the fleeter, if any little lift may ease the burden of another, God give me love, and care, and strength to help my toiling brother." Every now and then I heard someone say, "No one needs me ! " How contrary to the facts. Within a short distance of each of us there are those who need us desperately. Let's find them and help them! By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. (John 13:35)

Sometime ago a man visited our church and with

a puzzled look asked, "How do you get people to attend your church for four services a week in warm weather? Many churches have only one service weekly, and some close all services during summer months." My reply was that we had discovered persons had spiritual needs in the summer as well as winter, and then I told him about the old farmer who attended a church conference once. The farmer said, "You amuse me, for you have papers and discussions on how to get people to come to your meetings. I have never heard a single address at a farmer's meeting on how to get cattle to come to the rack. We spend our time on the preparation of the feed! " Spiritual hunger exists in all seasons! Watch ye, stand fast in the faith. (I Cor. 16:13)

Do you find it difficult to say, "Thy will be

done," as you I pray to God? One mother in a seminar recently said that it had always been a task for her to pray, "Thy will be done." Her own will seemed more attractive, and God's will might mean suffering and boredom. One who knew her replied "Suppose your 5-year-old boy came running to you and said, 'I am always going to obey you, and I want you to do JUST whatever you think best with me. I will trust your love.' "Would you say to yourself, 'Now I have a chance to make Elmer miserable. I will compel him to do all of the most difficult tasks and will give him all sorts of impossible commands. " "Oh, no," replied the mother. "You know I would hasten to fill his life with every good thing I possessed." "Are you more tender and more loving than God?" asked her friend. He that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. (I John 2:17)

A lady bought her eggs and butter from a farmer

who had a fine reputation not only for tile quality of his products, but also for his promptness of delivery. Then one day when a special occasion was occurring in her home, the farmer did not come for his regular delivery. It was the very day that the lady most needed the eggs and butter. On the next delivery she spoke harshly to the man for the inconvenience he had caused her. At the end of her tirade, the farmer tried to explain. "I'm sorry lady," he said, "I regret the inconvenience I caused you, but I had the misfortune of burying my mother yesterday!" In one sentence, and with the sorrow of his loss written on his face, he had taught the lady the folly of her impatience. She determined never to speak Harshly again to anyone until she fully understood the cause of their delay. She discovered that many times our impatience is but the expression of our own selfishness. For ye have need of patience. (Heb. 10:36.)

I have discovered 12 recommendations from an

unknown author that will help any marriage. The man who gave it to me said that he used them in his church with all brides and bridegrooms. Never stop courting. Marriage only gives you a chance to court without interruption. Never let romance wane. The benediction at the wedding doesn't end romance. It only gives you a chance to be permanently romantic. Never allow both of you to get angry at the same time. Never talk AT one another, either alone or in company. Never speak loudly to one another, unless the house is on fire. Never find fault unless it is perfectly certain that a fault has been committed, and always speak lovingly. Never taunt with a mistake. Never make a remark at the expense of each other--it is meanness. Never part for a day without loving words to think of during absence. Never meet without loving welcome. Never let the sun go down upon any anger or grievance. Never sigh over what might have been, but make the best of what is. Let us search and try our ways and turn again to the Lord. (Lamentations 3:40)

A man imprisoned in a tower tried to get the

attention of passerby, so that he might send a message to his family. He had two coins and he determined to drop them to get attention. He dropped the silver coin, and a man hurriedly picked it up, and went rejoicing down the street. He tried again with the other, a gold coin, and had the same result. In desperation he dropped a small stone, and it struck a man who was passing. He immediately looked up to see who had thrown it, and then the prisoner was able to get the message through to his family. This may be seen as a parable of God's dealings with us. When His blessings fall upon us, we take them for granted and go on without giving attention to the Source. Then, in His wisdom, He allows trouble to visit us. In that instant, many men look up to God and ask, "Why?" Thus it is that God can oft reach us in trouble far better than in what we call success! God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. (Psalm 46:1).

Meek as Moses is a term I have carried with

me since childhood. The idea came from the Old Testament, Numbers 12:3. Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth. When we were traveling through the wilderness of the Sinai with our friends George and Martha Waggoner, we observed the desolate, desert area, and I pondered the thought: Would a meek leader choose this terrain? We may need to revise our term for Moses. Some of the new Bible translations use the word humble. Moses lived in the day of a proud Pharaoh. But Moses did not believe in Pharaoh, or his ways. Moses believed in a small enslaved people in desperate circumstances, and dreamed of what might be done to lead them out of slavery. He heard God calling him to service, and in an ever remembered moment obeyed the command to take the shoes off his feet because the place whereon he stood was holy ground. He listened and obeyed. Meek Moses, humbled and listening, became the changer of history by God's grace. Before honor is humility. (Proverbs 15:33)

Our sufferings often drive us to higher grounds.

There are plains in South America where great herds have been known to become very weak in the hot and humid seasons. The herds would die there but for a balance found in nature. Soon a swarm of stinging insects arrive and fiercely attack the herd. They pursue them higher and higher to cooler levels of health and life. One looks in amazement to see this bleeding, panting, and tormented herd. But they have by their very trouble been driven to save their own lives. This may happen in our neglected spiritual lives. The loss of health, friends and money sometimes reacts favorably. By the mercy of God, and in our fleeing we find the enemy has actually driven us to higher levels of God's love. Our sufferings may drive us to higher ground. Do not be vexed because of evildoers or envy those who do wrong. (Psalm 37:1)

Service as a chaplain during the war taught me

at least one thing: the forces which may defeat us are not giants, but pygmies. Life is forever breaking down in the area of the commonplace, the casual, and the trivial. It is in the place of seeming safety, not the places of great peril, that persons fail. Just so, you may have seen persons fall apart while successful when they struggled nobly under adversity and persecution. Colton once observed how dangerous and trivial success can be under some conditions when he remarked: "He that has never known adversity, is but half acquainted with others, or with himself. Constant success shows us but one side of the world. For, as it surrounds us with friends, who will tell us only our merits, so it silences those enemies from whom we can learn our defects." The heartbreaking griefs of life have their place in God's weaving of noble character. Keep thy heart with all diligence. (Proverbs 4:23)

Walt Whitman once said of himself, "I was

simmering, really simmering; Emerson brought me to a boil." How fortunate to encounter a teacher or friend who fires our enthusiasm. John Newton Thomas did that for me. Sir Edward V. Appleton the Scottish physicist whose discoveries made possible worldwide broadcasting and won him a Nobel Prize, was asked for the source of his amazing achievements. "It was enthusiasm," he said, "I rate enthusiasm even above professional skill." What is enthusiasm? The word itself comes from "in God"-to inspire. It is the motivating force that keeps one constantly working toward his goal. Charles A. Swabb once said, "A man can succeed at almost anything for which he has unlimited enthusiasm." Prayer, for me, is the source of enthusiasm. Whatever your work is, put your heart into it as if it were for the Lord and not for men. (Colossians 3:23)

One of our daughters tells me how deeply she

was moved by a Mother's Day card which had written under some beautiful words this handwritten note: "I love you, Mom, even though I can't always express it as I would like." The words sent a warm glow of affection and appreciation in the heart of that mother. Not only parents, but every human being responds to what the learned William James of Harvard said, "The deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated." Think of the power we have to make for happiness: for the teachers who have blessed our lives, the parents who have nurtured us, the associates who have strengthened us. We can't always express it as we would like, but a genuine note of appreciation today could work miracles! Praise comes well from upright hearts. (Psalm 33:1)

A beautiful Chinese Christian girl was being

put to death at , the stake during the Boxer Rebellion in China for failure to compromise principles. Her relatives and friends gathered around weeping for her. In the midst of flaming fagots that would soon reach her body she asked a question of her relatives which will always be prophetic. In a clear voice she said: "Do not weep for me. I am dying for a great cause. What are you living for ?" Are we living for something so worthwhile that we would be ready to die for it ? Does today have a clear purpose in our living? Weep not for those who die for a great cause; weep for those who have nothing to do but weep! I will not fail thee nor for sake thee. (Joshua 1:5.)

J. B. Priestly, during a trip in Scotland, told

how infuriated he was with these "nothing but" people in science. "I don't call myself a very religious man," he said, "but I almost became one after reading all these books of popular science. I don't mean books by the great scientists like Einstein, Max Plank, and Neils Bohr; they are too humble, too reverent, too aware of the mystery at the heart of things to be dogmatic. "But the little men-not the creative originators but the hack- journalists of science- how dogmatic they are! "Life for them is 'Nothing but this' and 'Nothing but that.' And I know in my bones that they are wrong!" It is so in the area of religion . The great leaders are willing to look at all aspects of the truth. Religion that is not humble before truth is almost as bad as no religion at all! Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. (I Thess. 5:21)

A friend who lived in a rural area had to order

clothing on a form supplied by the store At the bottom of the printed form was this question: "If we have not the article you order in stock, may we substitute?" Once, when the article was needed urgently, my friend put "yes" after the question. In a few days, the company replied to the order and said 'We are sorry that we do not have the article you ordered, but we are substituting." The store sent something worth almost double the price of what he had ordered. The store's policy was to send something of greater value when substitution was necessary. On every order after that, my friend answered the substitute question with a big "YES." When we pray to God, we need to say, "Yes, Lord, you may substitute." He is ever willing to give us more than we know how to ask! Ye ask, and ye receive not, because ye ask amiss. (James 4:3)

St. Augustine was walking by the seashore,

looking at the great ocean and pondering the biblical teaching of the Trinity about which he was greatly perplexed. As he meditated, he observed a small lad with a seashell, running to the incoming waves, filling his shell, and then pouring it into a hole which he had dug in the sand. "What are you doing, my little man?" asked Augustine. "Oh," replied the boy, "I'm trying to put the ocean in this hole." The similarity impressed Augustine as he moved on down the seashore and remarked: "That is what I am trying to do; I see it now. Standing on the shores of time, I am trying to get into this little finite mind things which are infinite." The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him; and he will show them his covenant. (Psalm 25:14)

Don't give up on the power of truth. Some of us

may remember the life of Emile Zola as portrayed on the screen by Paul Muni. There is a scene in the courtroom where the judge has decreed that Dreyfus' case was closed, and no additional testimony would be heard. At this point Zola's counsel rises, points to the picture of Christ on the wall, and exclaims, "That, too, was once regarded a closed case." Those who looked at the pitiful figure of the Master on the cross must have felt that his life was a closed case, but the cross was followed by the resurrection, defeat by victory, and death by life. A lie never closes any case permanently. Truth may be buried by the careless, but it will rise with even greater power. No lie can close a case; only the truth is eternal. I have chosen the way of truth. (Psalm 119:30)

We were in Zurich, Switzerland, once ready to

fly from the airport when dark skies told of a storm near. The plane halted its takeoff end the pilot said we would be delayed an hour until the weather cleared. I asked Ruth if she were scared. "Not when I am with you!" she replied in a wonderful voice of confidence. She loved to travel. Then the pilot said something I often recall. "We shall move the plane to face the storm. You will be safe. We will fly on to Rome when the winds subside. All storms ultimately pass, you know." I've faced some turbulence since that day and found indeed, as the pilot advised, "All storms ultimately pass." The joy of the Lord is your strength. (Nehemiah 8:10)

Etched in my memory is a near fatal accident

that happened to a friend many years ago. He lives today as an able leader and businessman of his state. In the awful accident he was Iaying near death on the roadside. A person of our own race drove up, saw how profusely he was bleeding and refused to let those gathered at the accident put my friend in his car for a trip to the hospital. His comment: "He will get blood all over my new car!" By chance a man of another race stopped, in a new Cadillac, and offered to help. Once stung by rebuke the man wanting help for my friend said' "But he will get blood all over your new car!" "Matters not" came the reply. `'We must save his life. I will buy new upholstery if I have to do so." A life was saved, racial barriers destroyed worth thousands of Cadillacs, and grateful hearts will live for generations. We that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak. (Romans 15:1)

If God would let me pick a special moment in

time, I would choose to have been present when Dwight L. Moody heard Spurgeon in London say, "The world has yet to see what God can do with a man wholly given up to him." ' Under the conviction of the Spirit, Moody responded, "With the help of God, that man will be me." The history of America and the world was made different because of the changed life of Dwight L. Moody following that great moment of spiritual change. He became a disciple himself before he tried to lead others so to be. He walked in the steps of one who said, "I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me." (John 5:30) Spurgeon has a word for us today: "The world has yet to see what God can do with a person wholly given up to him!" And whosoever cloth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple. (Luke 14:27)

A young mother told me about her dismay when

her daughter came home late from school. When she asked Kay why she was late she explained that her friend had dropped a china doll on the sidewalk and it had broken into many pieces. The girl's mother inquired anxiously, "Did you stop to help her fix the doll?" "No, Mommy," Kay replied, "we knew we couldn't fix it. I stopped to help her cry." Out of the mouth of babes! Sometime our wisest act is to show compassion. We may not be able to fix the hurt, but sharing the pain is an act of deepest friendship and caring. When someone asks you to pray for a special concern, the person is placing you within a circle of care! Thou feedest them with the bread of tears. (Psalm 80:5)

That tour director in Rome who shrugged off my

compliment for her unusual service to an elderly tourist by saying, "Someday, I'll be there," was saying that she wanted others to be patient with her someday over declining powers that age brings. The truth is all of us grudgingly submit to limitations, and few experience the joy of Rabbi Ben Ezra's mellow and radiant spirit: "Grow old along with me, The best is yet to be; The last of life for which the first was made!" Yet I am blessed to know persons beyond their "three-score and ten or perchance four-score" who are reaping from second-mile living souls deep and rich and fruitful as the music in old violins with the stored-up melodies of the years. They enrich my life! Gray hair is a crown of glory, which is won by a

My grandfather, when we were on his sloop in

the Chesapeake Bay, would suggest parallels of the sea to his religious experience. When we came to harbor and used the boat hook to pull the vessel into the harboring place, that was suggestive to him of prayer. He said that prayer was like that boat hook. The sailor does not pull the shore to the boat. So in prayer, he concluded, we should endeavor to draw ourselves to God, and not pull God down to us. Grandfather was a man of the sea but he had seen the mountains and they had left a lasting effect on him. Those lofty peaks spoke volumes and he passed to me their influence. In this rich heritage from my grandparents, it dawned on me that whether we were on the sea, or looking at the beauty of the mountains, they experienced God because he was the mainstay of their existence. The eternal God is thy refuge; and underneath are the everlasting arms. (Deuteronomy 33:27)

P. Bliss and Fanny Crosby are two American hymn-

writers who influenced the early years of my life. My mother taught me to sing his hymn: "I Am So Glad That Our Father in Heaven." I am so glad that our Father in heaven Tells of his love in the Book he has given; Wonderful things in the Bible, I see; This is the dearest, that Jesus loves me. P. Bliss' father taught him religion by his singing, praying, and Bible reading. He had almost no schooling except the lessons his mother gave him at home. The poor, barefoot boy was 10 years old before he heard his first piano. He was born in Pennsylvania July 9,1838. At a revival he made a public profession of his faith and became a Baptist at 12 years of age. He married a Presbyterian, and later he became a member of that church. Bliss became an evangelist. While he was on an evangelistic tour he and his wife were killed in a railroad disaster at Ashtabula, Ohio, when he was 38. The hymns he wrote live on, such as "Let the Lower Lights Be Burning," "Almost Persuaded" and "I Will Sing of My Redeemer." They are loved around the world. My servants shall sing for joy of heart. (Isaiah 65:14)

Rachel Lindsay wrote the poem General

William Booth Enters Heaven. It is a description of the tumultuous welcome which Booth received in heaven from the criminals, fornicators, drunkards and prostitutes who had been saved through the influence of the Salvation Army. An Anglican clergyman who was editing an evangelical paper published the poem. A frightful criticism followed, and the perplexed and surprised clergyman was nearly thrown out of his editorial chair. The evangelical readers of his paper evidently did not like to think that heaven was inhabited by saved sots and converted harlots. They thought it was a respectable colony of the blameless and well-to-do. When we reach heaven we may be shocked to see who are the redeemed. None of us, by our own right, will be there. Only by the grace of the Lord will we be saved-as William Booth knew so well Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift. (2 Corinthians 9:15)

Grandfather used to take me riding in a horse

and cart from his home to the railroad station some five or six miles away. When my questions came too often, he would relax a bit by suggesting that I count the telephone poles from one area to another, about a mile in distance. He was a detail-man and already knew! He would check each time to see if I had been accurate in my counting. Soon he changed to an automobile, and suggested the same procedure. The fact was not lost on him, however, that we were passing the poles rather quickly for a small boy. One day, in a philosophical mood, he said to me: "Son, you'll live a lot longer and a lot better if you always drive so that you can see-and count, if necessary, the signs along life's highway. Slow down and live! Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life. (Matthew 7:14)

On a beautiful Sunday last month we worshiped

at Second Presbyterian Church in Petersburg with friends Herbert and Helen Holden. How great is my debt to the Presbyterians and their emphasis on the providence of God. Graduate studies at Union Theological Seminary in Richmond under Ernest Thrice Thompson and John Newton Thomas gave me a wonderful foundation to be a pastor. They helped me to see in the Bible that no person ever sank under the burden of the day. It is when tomorrow's burden is added to the burden of the day that the weight is more than we can bear. God pleads with us to leave tomorrow to him. His compassions fail not. (Lamentations 3:22) The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms. (Deuteronomy 33:27)

When I lived in Japan I was appreciative of the

courtesy that was natural to the populace. One of our missionaries would tell of the joy that tea time brought to people who wanted to socialize. There was a Japanese woman who could speak no English, and a missionary who had not learned enough to converse in Japanese. Yet they had a special relationship, and they seemed to profit from each other The Japanese lady used the same phrase when she departed. The missionary memorized the phrase and sought its interpretation. She said it was the best compliment she ever received. Bowing courteously, the Japanese woman said, "I shall come again for I like myself when I am with you." What a gift of influence' All the law is fulfilled . . . even in this: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. (Galatians 5:14)

As a pastor I was sometimes asked, "What is the

correct length of time that one should grieve for a loved one?" How long after the funeral service should one grieve? The answer is an individual one. When losing a loved one, give way to as much grief as you feel, and do not extend what you do not feel. Grief should not be suppressed-nor extended beyond what is felt. We need to come face to face with our own mortality as we experience the loss of a loved one. A human being is not free in life unless he is also free from the fear of death. My experience as a pastor, in standing by many at the time of death, is that death usually is not a difficult experience. As the family physician, Sir William Osler, put it: "In my wide clinical experience, most human beings die really without pain or fear. There is as much oblivion about the last hours as about the first." Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with me. (Psalm 23:4)

The miracle of spiritual rebirth was often

pondered by Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-82). He attempted to get the idea of being born again into a painting. First he made frequent sketches, oil, and watercolors, trying to depict the wonders of spiritual rebirth. Finally, the concept that was growing in his mind developed into a pen-and-ink drawing titled: The Conversion of Mary Magdalene. He places the scene in the street outside the house of Simon, the Pharisee. Mary, bedecked with flowers and accompanied by her lover and their favored companions, are passing down the street in careless pleasure. Suddenly through the open door she catches sight of the Master's face, and their eyes meet. The tender, searching eyes of Jesus penetrate beyond the woman that she is to the woman she might become. In that instant the soul awakes, reborn! Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, and among them I stand first. (1 Timothy 1:15)

I agree with Pascal that we seek God because

we have already found him; that is, it is our limited experience of God which makes us want to know him more. Thus Paul cried, "Oh that I may know him and the power of his Resurrection." The Bible says God takes the initiative in his relationship to human beings. God IS not an aloof being waiting to be discovered. There is a word which appears many times in Scripture. It is hearken, which is a stronger word than "listen." O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is thy name in all the earth. (Psalm 8:9)

When our readers have written to ask how God

guides, I have often shared Henry Drummond's thoughts for God's direction: 1) Pray. 2) Think. 3) Talk to wise people but do not regard their decision as final. 4) Beware of the bias of your own will but do not be too much afraid of it.... 5) Meanwhile do the next best thing, for doing God's will in small things is the best preparation for doing it in great things. 6) When decision and action are necessary, go ahead. 7) Never reconsider the decision when it is finally acted upon. 8) You will probably not find out till afterward, perhaps long afterward, that you have been led at all. To every purpose there is time and judgment. (Ecclesiastes 8:6)

A boy in Scotland was keeping his sheep one

Sunday morning in a cove near enough to the church to hear the bells ringing. He realized that he couldn't attend church and watch the sheep, too, so he decided to pray. But what could he say? He had never learned a prayer to say, or how to pray without help. Finally, he knelt down, folded his hands and began to pray, "Dear God, A, B, C, D, E . . ." A passerby heard the boy praying there by the sheep and asked him why on earth he was saying the alphabet. "Why, sir," he replied, "I don't know any prayer. So I figured if I told God all I knew, he would know that I love him, and he would help me." The lad talked to God about what he knew. Genuine simplicity is the beginning of any meaningful prayer life. Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 18:3)

Mr. Ben Lacy of Union Theological Seminary

in Virginia spoke the truth with humor in a preaching class when he recommended the three "ups" - stand up, speak up, and shut up. He recommended Mark Twain's insight: "The preacher's voice was beautiful. He told us about the suffering of the natives, and he pleaded for help with such moving simplicity that I mentally doubled the 50 cents I had intended to put in the plate. He described the pitiful misery of those savages so vividly that the $1 I had in mind gradually rose to $5. "Then that preacher continued and I felt that the cash I had on me would be insufficient, and I decided to write a large check. And he went on and I abandoned the idea of the check. Then he went on, and I got back to $5. And he went on and I got back to four, two, one. And he still went on. And when the plate came around, I took 10 cents out of it." Remember how short my time is. (Psalm 89:47 )

The tradition of the lamplighter comes from those

early days when streets were not lighted by electric lights. They were illuminated by flickering gas lights which sputtered away and sent shadows dashing to and fro about the lamppost. As night would fall the lamplighter would take up the task of lighting these lamps one by one. Once lit, those gas lights would leave a path of light behind him. You have the opportunity to be a lamplighter. A word of cheer, a deed of helpfulness, some encouragement to one with a heavy load-all these shed the light needed from the smallest villages to the largest cities. The lamplighter reveals the spirit of true living. The source of the flame is as Shakespeare said: "God shall be my hope, my stay, my guide and lantern to my feet." One thinks of such lamplighters as Phillips Brooks, whose very appearance on the streets of Boston is reported to have expelled gloom and brought a new ray of hope to those who knew him. Or Fanny Crosby who was blind from infancy, yet wrote hymns which bless us to this day: Close to Thee, To God Be the Glory and Blessed Assurance. You can be a lamplighter! I will make darkness light before them. (Isaiah 42:16 )

Every day I look at these simple words on the

wall of our home: "If you love something set it free.... If it comes back to you it is yours, if it doesn't, it never was." It has taken years for those words to come home to me in fullness of truth. Such was the nature of the love of our Lord. He never forces anyone to follow him. Yet once his love is experienced we know indeed that he came that we may have life and have it more abundantly. Consider George Matheson (1842-1906), blind after his 18th year, a noted pastor in the Church of Scotland, and prolific author. He will be remembered more for a hymn he wrote than for all his books. It is called O Love That Will Not Let Me Go. Remember the line: "O love that will not let me go, I rest my weary soul in thee; I give thee back the life I owe, that in shine Ocean depths its flow May richer fuller be." If it comes back to you, it is yours! We love him, because he first loved us. (1 John 4:19)

We lived near the Jordan River and the Dead

Sea for several months when we were at the Ecumenical Institute in Jerusalem. In fact, on a clear morning one could stand on the flat roof of our building and view the Dead Sea. How different are two recipients of the Jordan River. The Dead Sea is dead indeed-salty, no fish live within it; while the Sea of Galilee to the north of the Jordan is alive with fish and marine life. Both receive water from the Jordan. Note the contrast: the Sea of Galilee takes in water from the Jordan and gives it back as an extended Jordan River in the south; the Dead Sea takes in the water of the Jordan and holds on to all of it-nothing is given back! One supports life; the other destroys it. Without faith it is impossible to please Him. (Hebrews 11:6)

When the Princeton astronomer Henry Norris

Russell concluded a lecture on the Milky Way, a woman asked him, "If our world is so little and the universe is so great, can we really believe God pays any attention to us?" "Well, madam, that depends entirely on how big a God you believe in," Russell said. Consider the Psalmist and how he marveled in the greatness of God: ' Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable." (Psalm 145:3). And because the Lord God was sovereign the Psalmist declared: "The Lord reigneth; let the earth rejoice." (Psalm 97:1). A friend once said to Tennyson, "My dearest hope is to leave the world a little better than I found it" "Mine is to have a clearer vision of God," Tennyson said. Mine eyes have seen thy salvation. (Luke 2:30)

Wilbur Chapman tells how the prayers of one

man helped to change the spiritual atmosphere of an audience in England where he was preaching. Fifty persons rededicated their lives to the Master on that occasion. As he was leaving the service he turned to the man who had prayed for him and said, "Mr. Hyde, I want you to pray for me. ' "He came to my room," said Dr. Chapman, "and dropped on his knees, and waited five minutes without a single syllable coming from his lips. I could hear my own heart thumping, and his beating. I felt hot tears running down my face. I knew I was with God. Then, with upturned face, down which the tears were streaming, he said 'O, God.' Then for five minutes at least he was still again; and then when he knew he was talking with God there came from the depths of his heart such petitions for me as I had never heard before. I rose from my knees to know what real prayer was!" As he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered. (Luke 9:29)

Not long ago I met a man from the U.S. State

Department at our church who was different. It was coming out in his face! I had known this man for some time so I was surprised by his joy. "Why that smile all over your face?" I asked him. "What's happened to you." He told me how a desired spiritual change had taken place in his life. "It was like I had swallowed sunshine, ' he said. Every relationship of life had taken on new color for him. His face was radiant. Make no mistake about this: The way we live shows on our face. The "swallowed sunshine" cannot remain within. When God wants to use person for great influence he puts a smile on his face and a love in hilt heart. Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us. ( Psalm 90:17 )

Some years ago while traveling in an African

country, I was told how peasants caught monkeys with a gourd attached to a tree. The natives make an opening in the gourd large enough for the monkey's open hand and place some nuts or ice inside. During the night the monkey finds his treat, thrusts his hand into the gourd and grabs the delicacy, but cannot withdraw his clenched hand. As he will not let go his prize, he remains until easily captured. Are people smarter than monkeys? Hardly a day passes but the news headlines bring us stories of persons "with their hands in the gourd." How fortunate are children who have parents who teach them values that endure in life-teaching them what is worth holding onto, and what to share, and that the tithing principle is the answer to greed. The measure you use for others is the one God will use for you. (Luke 6:38)

I am a lover of trees! In the spring trees bring us

the message of new life, and in the summer, with all their foliage and fruit, they teach us of the impartiality of God. They never ask one who seeks shade or refreshment whether he is rich or poor, educated or ignorant, good or bad. As the sunshine and rain are given to all, the tree without partiality blesses all in its domain. The tree teaches me about approaching winter. The cruel cold is coming and it must put up a fight for its existence. So trees strip themselves like a prize-fighter who does not want an excess of clothing. When I climbed Fujiyama in Japan, I noted how the timberline trees fought hard battles. Many of them have branches left only on the opposite side of the trunk from the prevailing winds. They teach us courage and persistence. They cry out, in season and out of season: "Continue the fight. Don't quit!" He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water. ( Psalm 1:3 )

When Napoleon invaded Italy he took Milan

and Bergano and collected many of the art treasures there and sent them to the Louvre in Paris. To save Raphael's "Virgin and the Child", some artist swiftly painted a coarse landscape over the original canvas. It looked worthless so Napoleon left it behind. In the awful times that followed the picture was lost. No one recognized its true nature. In 1868, however, the hastily applied colors began to peel off and the real painting was discovered underneath to the great delight of all art lovers. It is now in the art gallery at Bergano. I've seen that happen in life. There are precious things beneath commonplace appearances. They often go undiscovered until someone has the "eye" to see them. Such are the eyes of a good teacher! With the well advised is wisdom. (Proverbs 13:10)

I was well along in life before I learned the

difference between possession and ownership. Collections have to do with possession. Ownership of books, pictures, and much of the beauty of the world belong to those who view and study them-not always to those who possess them. Some of our family recently visited the Metropolitan Museum in New York and came back with a new joy of ownership-they will be the richer in memories of the beauty they beheld. The museum possesses precious works of art; they came teach with "heart rights" to them. My grandmother never had a college course on the Bible, but she had an ownership of it for eternity. She truly "read, marked, learned arid inwardly digested the word of God." This word is the good news that was proclaimed to you. (1 Peter 1:25)

A friend of our column shared with me these

"Beatitudes for Friends of the Aging": 1. Blessed are they who understand my faltering steps and shaking hands. 2. Blessed are they who know that my ears today must strain to catch the things they say. 3. Blessed are they who seem to know that my eyes are dim and my wits are slow. 4. Blessed are they who looked away when coffee spilled at the table today. 5. Blessed are they with a cheery smile who stop to chat for a little’ 6. Blessed are they who never say, "You've old that story twice today." 7. Blessed are they who know the ways to bring back memories of yesterdays. 8. Blessed are those who make it known that I'm loved, respected and not alone. 9. Blessed are they who know I'm at a loss to find the strength to carry the cross. 10. Blessed are they who ease the days on my journey home with loving ways.

(Author unknown)

Cast me not off in the time of old age. (Psalm 71:9

Over the years I have been asked for

"something small" that could be put in the hands of a person who had lost a loved one. I usually respond that a personal letter in your own words brings the most comfort, but secondly, I unfailingly recommend a small booklet, When Sorrow Comes by E. Stanley Jones. When my dear Ruth was "promoted to glory" I received this little booklet from friends. It may be put aside for a moment, but then our need will cause us to take it to heart. What wonderful guidance from E. Stanley Jones, world religious leader, who has been promoted to glory himself. Copies of it can be secured at a very reasonable cost from: The Upper Room, P.O.. Box 189, Nashville, Tenn. 37202. When Sorrow Comes can be included with a short letter of one ounce weight. It can be a blessing to one in grief. Their soul shall be as a watered garden. (Jeremiah 31:12)

The telephone rang. A very pleasant voice came

on the line saying, "I haven't spoken with you in 57 years-since the youth assembly at Randolph-Macon Woman's College in Lynchburg. I'm Sue James Farmer." What a fine memory came to mind of Sue and her brother, so active in youth work. She reminded me that she read Daily Bread and had called a mutual friend, Joye Parker, to get my telephone number. Sue continued, "I'm the person who lost your Randolph-Macon College class ring, while you were playing in a ball game. It slipped off my small finger, and I spent part of the ball game searching in the tall grass for the ring." "I'm looking at the ring," I said. "I never knew it was lost." "Oh," she said, "but I did. I was the one who lost it." Rings are such symbolic things. I have found the piece which I had lost. (Luke 15:9)

There is much that all religions have in common.

I meet monthly with Jewish, Muslim and Christian leaders. We share common concerns in our metropolitan Washington area. Yet I am in agreement with Albert C. Outler who said: "A Christian theologian need not apologize about Jesus Christ for, as a matter of fact, he hasn't anything else really distinctive to talk about. Christianity shares much else with the other religions and philosophies of life-but not Jesus Christ. "Augustine tells us how, in his quest for wisdom, he found much in Platonism that later he discovered in a new context in Christianity. (Augustine wrote) 'But the word was made flesh and dwelt among us-I found this nowhere else.' " In our dismaying world we need all the unity of good people we can get. But in the ecumenical spirit we are not called upon to surrender the One who is central to our faith, who gives us abundant life, and is the source of our strength. God forbid that I should boast of anything but the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Galatians 6:14)

A young man at our church, in the midst of

many problems, said to me, "I'm going through hell but keeping my eyes on heaven. We sing his favorite hymn to encourage him. "Because He lives, I can face tomorrow/ Because He lives, all fear is gone/ Because I know, He holds the future/ Then life is worth the living just because He lives." One of our noble poets once said, "Many people live in quiet desperation." If only we knew-in every group there is one or more struggling in "quiet desperation." That hymn by Gloria and William J. Gaither has a stanza for those facing final battles, too: And then one day I'll cross the river I'll fight life's final war with pain And then as death gives way to victory I'll see the lights of glory and I'll know He reigns. Because He lives I can face tomorrow Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (I Cor. 15:57)

How often stories I heard in church during early

childhood return to me. They were indeed parables to live by. Many of them were told by pastors whose names are forgotten, yet their words live on. One I can remember from Rev. Hastings was the story about a little lad who was lamenting his lack of popularity. He complained to the cow that people were always talking about "bossy's" gentleness and kind eyes. He admitted that cows gave milk and cream, but maintained that pigs gave more. He declared that pigs gave bacon and ham and bristles, and that even their ears and feet were pickled. He demanded the reason for such lack of appreciation for pigs. The cow chewed her cud, thought awhile, and then said, "Maybe it's because I give while I am still living! " The little boy in me remembers! Always be open-handed with your brother, and with anyone in your country who is in need and poor. (Deuteronomy 15:11)

The Archbishop of Canterbury was addressing a

body of university students during World War II. "The world," he said, "as we live in it, is like a shop window in which some mischievous person has gotten in overnight and shifted all the price labels around, so that the cheap things have the high-price labels on them and the really precious things are marked low." Then he added, "We let ourselves be taken in." He spoke the truth. How true are his words to the drug and alcohol cultures of today. "We let ourselves be taken in." Let us ask ourselves: "Am I being taken in? Am I putting a high price on cheap goods and a low price on eternal values?" Ask it now, tomorrow may be too late. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. (Matthew 6:33)

Someone went to a Midwestern orphanage years

ago and saw "a 10-year-old girl, a hunchback, sickly, ill-tempered, ugly to look at, called Mercy Goodfaith." What will they ever make of her? they asked. A woman came to that orphanage, and upon learning that no one would take Mercy Goodfaith, declared, "That's the child I'm looking for." Thirty-five years later The Survey tells about an inspection in a county orphans' home in another state. It said the house was unusually clean and the children very happy. After supper one girl played the organ while the rest sang. Children crowded around the matron's chair. It was evident that the children adored her! She was a hunchback, ugly in feature, but with eyes that sparkled in her service. Her name was Mercy Goodfaith. She portrayed what Thornton Wilder wrote in one of his plays, "In Love's service only the wounded soldiers can serve." By this shall all men know you are my disciples, if you have love one to another. (John 13:35)

One of the keen disappointments of my

childhood was a birthday party for me that had to be canceled. I never had a birthday party until I was 21. You see, I was a child of the Depression. There were four children in the family. Dad was ill much of the time from an accident, and mother's low income from teaching music was mostly how we survived. A birthday was something special. I was invited to the parties of fortunate friends, but that in some ways only increased my hurt the more intensely. I usually didn't talk much about May 2 being a special day for me. The only thing worse than the hurt of a canceled birthday party for a lad who never had one, must be to have almost everyone shopping for gifts for your birthday and then forgetting about you-Dec. 25! He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. (John 1:11-12)

Helen Keller (1880-1968), blind and deaf from

the age of 2 and known for overcoming great handicaps, once said: "I believe human experience teaches that if we cannot succeed in our present position, we could not succeed in any other. Unless, like the lily, we can rise pure and strong above sordid surroundings, we would probably be moral weaklings in any situation. Unless we can help the world where we are, we could not help it if we were somewhere else." History teaches us that in many cases individuals from the poor cottages have excelled over those favored with the life of the castles. The will and discipline to obey God's commandments is given to those who hunger for it; it is not a gift to the unfocused. Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people. (Jeremiah 7:23)

In the counseling center where we had a fine

physician participate, a man acknowledged that he had lost all faith in God. He could not understand why he had such a void in his life. After listening to the man's problem, the physician said, "Suppose you stopped eating for three weeks. Your body would begin to waste away. "Yet many people think it strange that they have lost their faith after they have starved themselves spiritually, not just for three weeks, but for years. "One cannot put prayer, the reading of the Bible aside, and attend church only at his convenience without bringing upon himself spiritual starvation." Faith has to be fed to keep it alive. Commit thy way unto the Lord. ( Psalm 37:5 )

Most of the summers of my youth were spent

with my grandfather on the Chesapeake Bay. We entered the bay from the Pocomoke River and sound. On one occasion I heard a man say to my grandfather, "Capt. Bill, I suppose you, know every sandbank in this area?" To my surprise my grandfather replied, "No, I don't. It would be a waste of time." I thought my grandfather knew everything about the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries, and his answer floored me. "Why a waste of time?" exclaimed the inquirer. "If you don't know where the sandbanks are, how can you pilot the boat?" "A waste of time," granddad replied. "Why should I go kicking about among the sandbanks? I know where the deep waters are!" My granddad emphasized the positive. Look for the deep waters, and the sandbanks of life will not appear half so large. Launch out into the deep. (Luke 5:4)

Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834), an

English poet and major literary influence of his day, had a visitor one day who argued against the religious instruction of the young, and declared his own determination not to "prejudice" his children in favor of any form of religion. Coleridge heard him out, asking questions here and there in the discussion. Then he offered his own argument, pertinent and sound enough: "Why prejudice a garden in favor of flowers and fruit? Why not let the clods choose for themselves between cockleberries and strawberries?" How thankful I am for those early years to have teachers whose "walk and talk were one." As the years give me cause for evaluation, I see so clearly how my young life was molded by people of faith-something that cannot be bought. When President Theodore Roosevelt entered Harvard University he went to a local church and offered his service as a Sunday school teacher, and taught faithfully for four years. I will teach you the good and the right way. (1 Samuel 12:23)

Lou Holtz, football coach at Notre Dame,

explains the nature of a team in a story about a man whose car veered into a ditch. He went to a nearby house for help, but the farmer had only an old blind mule, named Dusty. The farmer agreed to hitch the mule to the car. He snapped his whip and yelled, "Pull, Sammy pull." Dusty didn't move. He then called out "Pull, Charlie, pull." Nothing happened. Again he yelled, "Pull, Phillip, pull." Still nothing. Finally the farmer yelled, "Pull, Dusty, pull." Dusty jerked forward and freed the car from the ditch. After thanking and paying him, the car driver asked the farmer why he had called the mule by three wrong names. "Dusty, blind," the farmer replied. "If Dusty thought he had to do all the work by himself, he wouldn't even try!" Every congregation is a team. Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. (Matthew 18:20)

Once, when I was a teenager, I ran away from

home. I wanted independence and freedom from discipline. "Where shall I go with my freedom?" I thought, while out on the road. I decided to visit a favorite aunt and uncle, about 60 miles away. They received me with love and heard my story. They saw I was tired and hungry; they fed me and gave me the comforts of home. Then they said, "You may use the telephone to call your mother and dad, for they are worried about you." It was an early reminder that freedom has responsibilities. That jaunt of three days away from home was an educational venture for me. I was welcomed back home with love and understanding. I had made my point, only to discover another: Every freedom has a responsibility. Flight from discipline imposes inner accountability. I could not run away from myself. Every one of us, then, shall give account of himself to God. (Romans 14:12*

How I remember coming home to my mother

from elementary school one day crying because my teacher had punished me, because I could not spell the word breakfast . Through my tears I said to Mother, "The teacher punished me because I couldn't spell the word, but I was unable to spell it any better after she rebuked me than I could before the punishment." How different was my history teacher who changed my whole outlook about past events. First she gained my admiration, then she applied the facts. To this day one cannot mention some matters of government without my response, " Miss Downing made that whole subject interesting for me." The world does not change. Punishment is a slow motivator. Once you get the love and admiration of a child, or adult, then there is an "open door." Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it. (Song of Solomon 8:7 )

What does the Bible mean when it instructs us

to fear God? The usual meaning is that of reverence. We are to stand in awe and reverence of the majesty and power of God. He is the Creator, and the Ruler of all things. The fear of man, on the other hand, is the anxiety of impending danger. Of all the memorials in Westminster Abbey in London, there is not one that gives a nobler thought than that found on the monument of Lord Lawrence. The inscription simply bears his name, with the date of his death, and these descriptive words: He feared man so little, because he feared God so much. Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. (Ecclesiastes 12.13)

Bus Smethie used to say to me as his pastor,

"Tell young people how short life is." This man invested his life in our youth, and he cared. Shortly after his suggestion I heard a speaker give the measure of a person's years by reducing a lifetime of 70 years to the waking hours from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. If you are: 15 years old, the time is 10:25 a.m. 20, the time is 11:34 a.m. 25, the time is 12:42 p.m. 30, the time is 1:51 p.m. 35, the time is 3 p.m. 40, the time is 4:08 p.m. 45, the time is 5:16 p.m. 50, the time is 6:25 p. m. 55, the time is 7:34 p.m. 60, the time is 8:42 p.m. 65, the time is 9:51 p.m. 70, the time is 11 p.m. So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. ( Psalm 90:12 )

One of my theology teachers thought Margaret

Mitchell had great personal insights in her Gone With the Wind. He referred one day to her statement: "He could be licked from the inside, I mean to say what the whole world could not do, his own heart could." She then had this same character say, "There ain't anything from the outside that can lick any of us." Some of us have experienced such! Like the great storms that only made the towering tree bow, but the little decay inside its trunk eventually brought its downfall. Discerning persons recall someone who used a little untruth here, some deception there, disobedience to the law, and seemed to get away with it. Sure, a person or a company may get away with it for a while, yet the decay has begun. "He could be licked from the inside, I mean to say what the whole world could not do, his own heart could." Prove all things; holdfast that which is good. (1 Thessalonians 5:21)

Officials at the Flight Control Center near

Moscow reported on Feb. 4 that Russian scientists had successfully deployed a "space reflector ". The cosmonauts in the space station Mir had used an aluminum covered disk to reflect light from the sun to the dark side of the Earth. They took a 25 foot disk in space and produced a two-mile circle of light on our planet! They could be flashing some "light" to our places of worship! How many have been encouraged to produce some light, when all the time the Bible tells us to reflect His light! In our worship, our work, our witness, we are not to produce the light ourselves; we are to simply mirror the Lord who gives abundantly to all who follow Him. Faultless children of God in a warped and crooked generation, in which you shine like stars in a dark world, and project the word of life. (Philippians 2:15-16)

On Oct. 4, 1945 I began the first column of

Daily Bread. In a few months I will have completed 50 years. Our syndicate once estimated that we had four million readers each day-a few more than I had my church on Sunday! To write a column each day, seven days a week, means that by the time I have completed this year, there will have been more than 18,200 columns written. 1 I am grateful to God for the privilege, and to the open doors newspapers have given me internationally. John Ruskin once said, "The greatest reward we receive from our toil is what we become from it." Research and insight from our readers, have enriched my spiritual life. Recently a person who first read Daily Bread in the Stars & Stripes in Tokyo sent me a yellow clipping to remind me of "the years that have passed," and to give a word of continuing encouragement. May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14 ) 1 Column 20,000 will occur on July 7, 2000 .

Mark Twain had an interesting comment about

reaching his three score and 10 years: "When I passed the 70th milestone 10 months ago, I instantly realized that I had entered a new country and a new atmosphere. To all the public I was become recognizably old, undeniably old; and from that moment everybody assumed a new attitude to me-a reverent attitude, granted by custom to age-and straightway the stream of generous new privileges began to flow in upon me, and refresh my life. Since then I have lived an ideal existence, and now I believe what Choate said last March, and which at the time I did not credit: that the best of life begins at 70; for then your work is done; you know you have done your best, let the quality of the work be what it may; that you have earned your holiday-a holiday of peace and contentment-and that thenceforth to the setting of your sun nothing will break it, nothing interrupt it." The hoary head is a crown of glory, if it be found in the way of righteousness. (Proverbs 16:31)

The Bible was an anchor for the faith of John

Wesley, and he made this interesting comment about it: "The Bible must be the invention of good men or angels, bad men or devils, or of God. It could not be the invention of good men or angels, for they neither would nor could make a book and tell lies all the time they were writing it, saying, 'Thus saith the Lord,' when it was their own invention. "It could not be the invention of bad men or devils, for they could not make a book that commands all duty, forbids all sin, and condemns their own soul to hell for all eternity. Therefore, draw the conclusion that the Bible must be given by divine inspiration." You do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God . (Matthew 22:29) *

When I was in the Pacific, I heard about a man

who was taking a large number sheep on a transport to Australia. As the ship neared land, a blanket of fog descended ; and under the conditions at that time, the captain had to stop the ship. On the second day the rancher came to the captain and said, "I don't know what to do, for the sheep will not touch the hay." The fog remained for the third day, and the rancher said, "If we don't make land they will all die, for my sheep won't eat." Late that day the fog lifted, and there in sight of the ship, lay wide green fields. The sheep with their keen scent had known the grass was there, and the hay had no attraction. The hope of eternity with the heavenly father will see us through earthly fogs; there is a spirit that saves us from ruin. Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul , both secure and steadfast. (Hebrews 6:19)

I heard about a young man who made a list of

the things he wanted in life. On his list he put health, love, beauty, talent, power, riches and fame. He showed his list to a man of much experience. After reading the list, the older and wiser man replied: "It is an excellent list, well digested in content and set down in not-unreasonable order. But it appears, my young friend, that you have forgotten the most important element of all. You have forgotten the one ingredient lacking without which, each possession becomes a hideous torment, and your list, as a whole, an intolerable burden." The young man asked, "And what is that missing ingredient?" The old man crossed out the young man's entire list. Then underneath he wrote down three words- "peace of mind." The young man was Joshua Liehman, who later wrote the book, Peace of Mind. A divided mind fights against itself and cannot be at peace. No man can serve two masters. (Matthew 6:24).

No news is good news. I've heard that from

childhood and never thought too much about it until we were reading a theme on it in Day By Day, one of the devotional guides we read each morning. Bad news catches the eye more readily in TV and newspapers. I remember a blind editor in Goldsboro, N.C., who attended a service where I was speaking. I quoted Dr. J. Manning Potts, editor of the Upper Room, on his hobby of keeping the front pages of newspapers that had an item of good news in it. The Goldsboro editor reviewed some of his papers and wrote me that his newspaper had five times as much good news as compared to bad news. I called him and asked how much of the good news was on the front page. He replied abruptly, "I have to sell the newspaper." People are attracted to bad news. Why? No news is good news. Why is that idea accepted so readily? Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good (Romans 12:9)

Last year Betty Lou and I took a cruise that

went through the Panama Canal. We knew that our ship had to ascend from the lower waters of the Pacific to the higher waters of the Atlantic Ocean. The ship did not propel itself once we came to the locks. Nearly 100 years old, those locks lifted our ship, until by its own power that cruise ship sailed out into the Atlantic. Prayer is like that. God lifts us with answered prayer. I have given away many volumes of Dr. Frank C. Laubach's Prayer, the Mightiest Force in the World. It contains only 95 pages, and one can read it in a short time. But you may never be the same after reading it. Laubach believed that prayer could bring a religious revival to the world. Prayer can transform a cold, lifeless church into a powerhouse. Prayer can change human lives. We are the clay, and thou our potter; and we are all the work of thy hand. (Isaiah 64:8)

On the desk of one of my commanders overseas

were these simple words: "This, too, shall pass." He was a good man. He told me that the meaning of these words had saved him and his command many times. No matter how bad the storm, if you are sure that one day it will blow over and the sun will shine again, you will never give up. Staying power is with the one who believes that God is in control, and God is love. Henry Drummond who wrote the greatest sermon I have read on 1 Corinthians 13-the great love chapter, once said about the phrase love envieth not-"This is love in competition with others." Envy leads to hate and hate destroys the soul. Love always congratulates! Love bears its burdens with dignity, continues to believe, never loses hope, and endures to the end. It knows that no matter how bad the storm, "This, too, shall pass." Love never gives up; its faith, hope and patience never fail. (I Corinthians 13:7).

When someone asked Sir Joshua Reynolds how

long it had taken him to paint one of his well known pictures, he replied, "All my life." When Rubenstein was asked a similar question, he responded, If l omit one day's practice I know it the next day, the critics know it the day after, and the public the day after that." A poet put it this way: The heights by great men reached and kept Were not attained by sudden But they, while their companions slept Were toiling upward in the night. Albert Schweitzer said, "I don't know what your destiny will be, but one thing I know: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve." Theodore Reik, known for his insight into the human mind, said, "Work and love-these are the basics. Without them there is neurosis." We are laborers together with God. (I Corinthians 3:9)

Phillips Brooks once wrote a few words to

young people that all of us should ponder: "To keep clear of concealment, to keep clear of the need of concealment, to do nothing which he might not do out in the middle of Boston Commons at noonday-I cannot say how much more and more that seems to me to be the glory of a young man's life. "It is an awful hour when the first necessity of hiding anything comes. The whole life is different thenceforth. When there are questions to be feared and eyes to be avoided and subjects which must not be touched, then the bloom of life is gone. Put off that day as long as possible. Put it off forever if you can." In chess I am told that when a person has once played his opening, he is not so free thereafter. His moves must conform to the plan he has adopted. The consequence of his opening closes in on him until at last when checkmate is called he realizes that his first move decided the end. Lead me in the way everlasting. (Psalm 13.9:24 )

A soldier in our 1st Cavalry Division in the Pacific in

World War II was wounded and brought to our division medical squadron hospital. He asked me to keep the things he treasured until he recovered. Among them was a card entitled "The Ship". It read: "I am standing upon the seashore. A ship at my side spreads her white sails to the morning breeze and starts for the blue ocean. She is the object of beauty and strength, and I stand and watch her until at length she is only a ribbon of white cloud just where the sea and sky come to mingle with each other. Then someone at my side, says, 'There! She's gone!' "Gone where? Gone from my sight-that is all. She is just as large in mast and hull and spar as she was when she left my side, and just as able to bear her load of living freight-to the place of destination. Her diminished size is in me, not in her, and just at the moment when someone at my side says, 'There! She's gone!' there are other voices ready to take up the glad shout 'There! She comes!' And that is dying. Some days later the soldier died and I mailed "The Ship" and his other little treasures to his parents in Kentucky. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with me. (Psalm 23:4)

Peter Marshall was fond of telling about a boy

with an incurable illness, who learned that he could not live. One day he said to his mother, "Mother, what IS it like to die? Mother, does it hurt?" She breathed a prayer, "Lord, tell me how to answer him." "Kenneth," she said, "You remember when you were a tiny boy you used to play so hard, when night came you would be too tired even to undress, and you would tumble into mother's bed and fall asleep? That was not your bed- it was not where you belonged. "In the morning you would wake up and find yourself in your own bed in your own room. Your father had come-with big strong arms-and carried you away, and changed your clothes. Kenneth, death is just like that. We just wake up some morning and find ourselves in the other room where we belong - because the Lord Jesus loved us." Whosoever livith and believeth in me shall never die . (John 11:26). Correspondence to Dr. A.P. Bailey should he addressed to P.O. Box 41296, Fredericksburg VA 22404 or e-mail BL7815@aol.com