THE RIPPLE EFFECT

Do you want to be a positive influence in the world? First, get your own life in order. Ground yourself in the single principle so that your behavior is wholesome and effective. If you do that, you will earn respect and be a powerful influence. Your behavior influences others through a ripple effect. A ripple effect works because everyone influences everyone else. Powerful people are powerful influences. If your life works, you influence your family. If your family works, your family influences the community. If your community works, your community influences the nation. If your nation works, your nation influences the world. Remember that your influence begins with you and ripples outward. So be sure that your influence is both potent and wholesome. How do I know that this works? All growth spreads outward from a fertile and potent nucleus. You are a nucleus. 

-- John Heider


#3040

INVESTING YOUR LIFE

Baseball is temporary. All this stuff, putting up numbers and such is temporary. If you invest your life into worldly things, you’re going to be left unhappy. As good as yesterday’s game was -- two home runs and you’re on top of the world -- three days later you might strike out three times and the game’s over. It’s a roller coaster. But God’s love is everlasting. That’s what... I try to tell kids. That can never be taken away from you.

You better invest your life into those kind of things if you truly want happiness, because you’re not going to find happiness in baseball or your job or anything else. God is the only One who will never let you down.

-- Jeff Francoeur, MLB player, in Sports Spectrum


#3039

BOW, ARROW AND BIBLE

"Praise be to the Lord my Rock, who trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle." (Psalm 144:1)

Olympic archer, Jennifer Nichols, 28, of Cheyenne, Wyoming, is a devout Christian from Texas who is intent on winning a Gold medal in the upcoming games in London.

"I take comfort in knowing that I'm here because the Lord brought me here and…I'm glad to be able to do offer whatever I can to be able to glorify the Lord in what I do," said Nichols.

"I memorize a lot of Scripture to recite while I'm shooting," she adds. "I carry a little book in my quiver that has Bible verses in it that I memorize as I'm walking back and forth to the target. And sometimes I'll recite them while I'm on the line shooting. It plays a large part."

-- Teresa Neumann


#3038

OLYMPIC DISCIPLINE

Which athlete would you say is more likely to win a medal at the Olympics: One who practices once a week, doesn't think he needs a coach, and has all the training equipment that is needed, but in unused, pristine shape, or one who has a daily discipline, relies on her coach, and has well-worn equipment? The answer is obvious. But when we apply the example to the spiritual life I'm afraid that too many of us think that once-a-week spiritual exercise is enough and that the Bible must be kept in pristine shape and left on the bookshelf where it won't get worn out. What if we sought Christ the way the Olympians seek gold. We would have a daily spiritual discipline of prayer and Bible study, a spiritual coach that we trust and rely on to help us over the hurdles of life, and a regular place where we can practice our faith in witness and mission to others.

-- Rev. David T. Wilkinson


#3037

THE GOD WHO IS THERE

In saying God is there, we are saying God exists, and not just talking about the word God, or the idea God. We are speaking of the proper relationship to the living God who exists.  In order to understand the problems of our generation, we should be very alive to this distinction.  Semantics (linguistic analysis) makes up the heart of modern philosophical study in the Anglo-Saxon world.  Though the Christian cannot accept this study as a total philosophy, there is no reason why he should not be glad for the concept that words need to be defined before they can be used in communication.  As Christians, we must understand that there is no word so meaningless as the word "god" until it is defined. No word has been used to reach absolutely opposite concepts as much as the word "god".  Consequently, let us not be confused. There is much "spirituality" about us today that would relate itself to the word god or to the idea god; but this is not what we are talking about.  Biblical truth and spirituality is not a relationship to the word god, or to the idea god.  It is a relationship to the One who is there, which is an entirely different concept.

-- Francis A. Schaeffer in The God Who is There


#3036