Weekend Edition, October 1-3, 2010

"We are products of our past, but we don't have to be prisoners of it.  God's purpose is not limited by your past.  He turned a murderer named Moses into a leader and a coward named Gideon into a courageous hero, and he can do amazing things with the rest of your life, too." ---Rick Warren in The Purpose Driven Life

"We were to sail, the wind being fair; but as we were going aboard, it turned full east.  I find it of great use to be in suspense: It is an excellent means of breaking our will.  May we be ready either to stay longer on this shore, or to launch into eternity!" ---John Wesley, Sunday, August 8, 1756

"It is a great thing to be on the mount with God, but a man only gets there in order that afterwards he may get down among the devil-possessed and lift them up.  We are not built for the mountains and the dawns and aesthetic affinities, those are for moments of inspiration, that is all.  We are built for the valley, for the ordinary stuff we are in, and that is where we have to prove our mettle." ---Oswald Chambers

"You say, 'there are people in my life whom I cannot love.' Granted, but you must distinguish between love and the emotion or feeling of love. You may not be able to feel love at the outset, but you can be willing to be the channel of Christ's love. I cannot love, but Christ is in me, and He can." ---F. B. Meyer

"The last fruit of holy obedience is the simplicity of the trusting child, the simplicity of the children of God.  It is the simplicity which lies beyond complexity.  It is the naivete which is the yonder side of sophistication.  It is the beginning of spiritual maturity, which comes after the awkward age of religious busyness for the Kingdom of God—yet how many are caught, and arrested in development, within this adolescent development of the soul's growth!  The mark of this simplified life is radiant joy.  It lives in the Fellowship of the Transfigured Face.  Knowing sorrow to the depths it does not agonize and fret and strain, but in serene, unhurried calm it walks in time with the joy and assurance of Eternity." ---Thomas Kelly in A Testament of Devotion

"You've been far more than forgiven.  God has removed your heart of stone.  You've been delivered of what held you back from what you were meant to be.  You've been rescued from the part of you that sabotages even your best intentions.  Your heart has been circumcised to God.  Your heart has been set free.  And there is even more." ---John Eldredge in Waking the Dead: The Glory of a Heart Fully Alive

 

“Suppose the flood had never come—Noah would have been the biggest laughingstock on earth.  Having faith often means doing what others see as crazy.  Something is wrong when our lives make sense to unbelievers.” ---Francis Chan in Crazy Love

"Einstein said we need to be reminded that even God always takes the simplest ways.  While we live in a complex world, it doesn't mean we have to lead complicated lives.  But we often do just that because we spend too much of our time struggling with life's complexities while ignoring its simplicities." ---Hal Urban in Life's Greatest Lessons: 20 Things That Matter

"Relationship is eternal; 'things' are temporal. Intimacy with [Jesus] is not a passing issue, but will endure forever. This is His focus regarding you. He values you more than He values 'things.' Every 'thing' was sacrificed for the sake of embracing you. Even His own life was not protected that He might embrace you. He held on to no position, even to the highest power as God in order to know you (Philippians 2:6, 7). To a scribe Jesus said, 'Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head,' (Matthew 8:20). No 'thing' has greater importance to Him than you and me." ---Stephen Manley, the Jesus Pusher