The Life You Save...

Inspection stickers used to have printed on the back, “Drive carefully: the life you save may be your own.” That is the wisdom of men in a nutshell. What God says, on the other hand, is, “The life you save is the life you lose.” In other words, the life you clutch, hoard, guard, and play safe with is in the end a life worth little to anybody, including yourself; and only a life given away for love’s sake is a life worth living. To bring this point home, God shows us a man who gave his life away to the extent of dying a national disgrace without a penny in the bank or a friend to his name. In terms of men’s wisdom, he was a perfect fool, and anybody who thinks he can follow him without making something like the same kind of fool of himself is laboring not under a cross but a delusion

- Frederick Buechner -

Advice from History

Be more zealous than you are now. Learn to understand the times. Expect him to come who is above time, the timeless one, the invisible one who became visible for our sake, the untouched one, the one beyond suffering who came to suffer for us, who in every way endured for our sake.
Toil together, fight, run, suffer, rest, and rise up together as God’s stewards, companions of his table, and his servants! Please him who is your warlord, him from whom you will also receive your soldier’s pay. Let none of you desert the flag! Let your baptism remain your armour, faith your helmet, love your spear, patience your weapon

- Ignatius, Letter to Polycarp, c. AD 120 -

Children's Book Character Carries His "Sadness Shield"

We all seem to need a strategy for coping with the experience of grief. In the screen adaptation of Maurice Sendak's classic children's book Where the Wild Things Are (2009), we follow the adventures of Max, an imaginative child who feels neglected by his mother and older sister. He escapes into a fantastical world of hairy, monstrous creatures. Once these "wild things" threaten to devour him, Max pretends to possess magical powers and manages to convince the monsters to make him their king.
The creatures come to believe that Max has been sent to abolish suffering in their world and to establish permanent peace and happiness. And so they ask him: "Will you keep out all the sadness?" Still playacting his role as king and miracle worker, Max declares: "I have a sadness shield that keeps out all the sadness, and it's big enough for all of us."
Wouldn't we all like to have a sadness shield to chase away all our grief and sorrow?

Joseph Laconte, The Searchers (Thomas Nelson, 2012), pp. 35-36

Musician Gregg Allman Can't Forgive Himself

In his 2012 memoir titled My Cross to Bear, Gregg Allman, the lead singer for the Allman Brothers Band, recounts the regret he still carries about his brother's sudden death. For most of their lives, the two brothers were best friends. Duane, who was a year older than Gregg, called him "baybrah," a contraction of "baby brother." After the tragic murder of their father, the two brothers stuck together, attending military school and then learning to play the guitar. But Duane was especially gifted. In 2003 Rolling Stone magazine voted him the second-best guitarist of all time, after only Jimi Hendrix. Gregg wrote, "We were like Lewis and Clark, man—we were musical adventurers, explorers. We were one for all and all for one."
But in 1971, all of that unraveled when the two brothers had a nasty argument. Gregg explains that he'd given Duane money to buy drugs. When Duane failed to deliver the drugs, Gregg stormed into his brother's house, stealing the drugs and then lying to his brother about it. Shortly after their quarrel, Duane died in a motorcycle accident.
To this day, Greg Allman can't forget the incident or find forgiveness. Allman said,
The last thing I ever said to my brother was a lie …. I have thought of that lie every day of my life, and I just keep recrucifying myself for it. I know that's not what he would want—well, not for long anyway …. But the thing is, I never got the chance to tell him the truth.

Dwight Garner, Sex, Drugs and Southern Rock, in Success and Excess," The New York Times (27 May 2012);

Gregg Allman, My Cross to Bear (William Morrow, 2012), pp. 192-193

Young Boy Underestimates His Father's Generosity

One time, my dad wanted to congratulate me on something I had accomplished in the sixth grade. He took me to K-Mart and made a wide sweeping gesture with his hand toward the whole store from the entrance. He said, "To congratulate you, I'll buy you anything in this whole store tonight." My eyes widened as I thought of the possibilities.
At the time, I didn't have a full grasp on how money worked or how much money Dad had. So I sort of limited things in my mind. I didn't even look at the huge stereo systems, expensive bikes, or anything that cost more than one hundred dollars. Instead, I chose a cassette tape case that was less than fifty dollars. I was content with just that case. It was more than I could afford myself, for sure, so I chose that one. It was nice. Only many years later did I find out from Dad that he had one thousand dollars cash in his pocket that night. What's more, he brought his cheque book just in case that wasn't enough. In my selection, I limited his blessing in my life.
Imagine how much God has in his pocket for you. You don't ask God for all the spiritual power you could because you forget that you are his child. Like me and my earthly father, you don't realize all he could do for you, in you, and through you.

Steve DeNeff and David Drury, Soul Shift (Wesleyan Publishing House, 2011), p. 55

U.S. Olympian Is Saving Sex until Marriage

Lolo Jones is an Olympic track and field star gunning for gold at the London Games this summer. But you know what's really hard for Jones? Keeping her virginity intact for her future husband, whoever he may be.
On HBO's Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, Jones talked about her struggles:
It's just something, a gift that I want to give to my husband. But please understand this journey has been hard. If there are virgins out there, I just want to let them know, the hardest thing I've ever done in my life—harder than training for the Olympics, harder than graduating from college—has been to stay a virgin before marriage. Jones adds, "I've been tempted. I've had guys tell me, they're like, 'Hey you know if you have sex it will help you run faster.'" She joked that her response has been: "If you marry me, then yeah."

source unknown

Statistics about the Unfinished Task of World Evangelism

The following statistics represent some of the challenges facing the church in the unfinished task of world evangelism:
* As of April 2012, there were approximately 7 billion people on Earth.
* Approximately 750 million (or about 11 percent) of those are willing to claim Jesus as personal Lord and Saviour.
* About 2.6 billion people (or 38 percent of the world's population) have heard the gospel but have not accepted Christ yet.
* At present, just over 50 percent of the world's population (or 3.5 billion people) have not heard the gospel and most of them do not have a realistic opportunity to hear the gospel.
* Here's another way to look at the challenge of world evangelism: Of the 11,646 distinct people groups on the planet, 6,734 people groups (roughly 60 percent) contain between zero and two percent evangelical Christians. Many of these 6,734 people groups have no churches, no Bibles, no Christian literature, and no mission agencies who are seeking to share the gospel with them.

Ronnie Floyd, Our Last Great Hope (Thomas Nelson, 2011), pp. 62-64

NFL Star Junior Seau Searched for Peace

Junior Seau was well-known as a passionate, fist-pumping, emotional leader and superstar for the NFL's San Diego Chargers. In his 13-year pro football career, Seau made the Pro Bowl 12 times. He was also selected to the NFL 1990s All-Decade Team. Sadly, on May 2, 2012, at the age of 43, Seau took his own life.
Seau's death in northern San Diego County stunned the community who adored him for his service and outgoing personality. In an interview with Sports Illustrated, his former teammate and friend, Rodney Harrison, explains that in Seau's last days he was desperately searching for peace. Harrison said:
He would tell me that the only time he truly felt at peace was when he was with his children or in the surf. He would say, "When I'm on those waves, it's the greatest feeling. I have no worries, no stress, no problems. I just forget about everything." Junior was always searching for peace.

Jim Trotter, "Why?" Sports Illustrated (14 May 2012)

Suffering Exposes Our Life's True Foundation

According to author and pastor Tullian Tchividjian, "Suffering exposes the foundation of your life." In other words, suffering will reveal the true source of our joy and identity. Tullian offers the following personal story to illustrate this truth:
Seven years ago, after 41 years of marriage, my parents got divorced. It wasn't because of infidelity or abuse, physically or emotionally. My family and I still scratch our heads and wonder exactly what happened. Was it really a case of irreconcilable differences? I don't think that's possible for Christians because of the power of the gospel. It was an incredibly painful time for my siblings and me. We experienced a happy, healthy, loving home growing up. We had remarkable parents, and they provided the stability we needed as children. I don't know what it's like for a mum and dad to go through a divorce while their children are young. All I know is that it's weird to watch your parents' divorce in the stage of life where you have to explain it to your own kids.
The Bible states clearly that God hates divorce. It grieves his heart. There was nothing about my parents' divorce that seemed redemptive. I couldn't understand why God allowed it to happen. I was struggling with the whole situation, not simply because I was sad that my mum and dad apparently could not keep the promises they made to one another 41 years earlier, but because part of my identity was wrapped up in being the son of my parents. I felt important because of their standing in society. My mum and dad were remarkable citizens and church people. Their reputation made me feel significant. I realised years later that much of the devastation I had experienced was due to the fact that I had idolised my parents and their reputation.
Tullian concludes: "If the foundation of your happiness is your vocation, your relationships, or your money, then suffering takes your source of joy away from you. But if your ultimate value in life is God, then suffering drives you closer to your source of joy—God."

Tullian Tchividjian, "Job: Center Stage"

Expert Claims Loneliness Seeps into Our Whole Body

John Cacioppo, the director of the Center for Cognitive and Social Neuroscience at the University of Chicago, is the world's leading expert on loneliness. In his landmark book, Loneliness, released in 2008, he revealed just how profoundly the epidemic of loneliness is affecting the basic functions of human physiology. Cacioppo writes: "When we drew blood from our older adults and analysed their white cells, we found that loneliness somehow penetrated the deepest recesses of the cell to alter the way genes were being expressed."
[In other words], when you are lonely, your whole body is lonely.

Stephen Marche, "Is Facebook Making Us Lonely?" The Atlantic (May 2012)

Chuck Colson: God Used My Greatest Defeat

The great paradox [of my life] is that every time I walk into a prison and see the faces of men or women who have been transformed by the power of the living God, I realise that the thing God has chosen to use in my life … is none of the successes, achievements, degrees, awards, honours, or cases I won before the Supreme Court. That's not what God's using in my life. What God is using in my life to touch the lives of literally thousands of other people is the fact that I was a convict and went to prison. That was my great defeat, the only thing in my life I didn't succeed in.

Chuck Colson, Sermon "The Gravy Train Gospel"

Neighbour Helps Rescue an Uncooperative Cat

A year or two ago my friend Linda's cat escaped. It was cold and rainy, and that cat would not come home. Not for three days! The cat wasn't exactly lost; Linda knew where it was—a good 20 feet up a tree right outside the back of the house. But that little critter would not come down. So another friend named Jim took a long extension ladder over to help, and he called me for my unique expertise—ladder-holding in the rain. That cat probably hadn't eaten in three days. It was cold and scared, but when Jim finally got up there, that cat was not glad to see him. It was downright hostile. In fact, the only way Jim got the cat down was to put a towel over its head and pry its claws out of the tree. Jim did all the rescuing. All the cat did was finally let go of the tree.
Salvation is often a lot like that—it is when we finally let go. None of us can look to Jesus, remembering our rescue, and say, "We made a good team, didn't we!"

source unknown

Research Suggests We Want What Others Have

Researcher Robert Cialdini once demonstrated with a fascinating experiment the persuasive power of desiring the possessions or experiences of others. Several hundred volunteers took their seats in a room, purportedly to fill out a survey. But that was only a distraction from the real purpose of the experiment, which had to do with how our behaviour is swayed by those around us. A large glass jar of cookies stood prominently on a nearby desk.
"Would you like a cookie?" one of the researchers asked the survey takers. Approximately one fifth of the volunteers took him up on his offer. In the second stage of the experiment, the research team secretly removed most of the cookies from the jar, so that it looked as though others had already taken one. Still, only about one fifth of respondents reached for a cookie.
In the final stage of the experiment, however, a researcher sat behind a desk beside a large glass cookie jar. But this time, before the researcher could ask volunteers if they wanted a cookie or not, a stranger ambled into the room, removed the glass lid, took a cookie in front of everyone in the room, and walked out again. This time, when the survey takers were asked if anyone wanted a cookie, nearly every single person took one.
This experiment suggests something that advertisers and marketers have long been instinctively aware of: humans want what other humans want. And the more visible other people's demand is, the more we want what they are having. In the cookie jar experiment, people didn't want more cookies when they thought that others might have taken a cookie. But when they actually saw another person take a cookie, their brains said, Gimme!

Martin Lindstrom, Brandwashed (Crown Business, 2011), p. 109

Atheist Flabbergasted by a Church's Love

Patrick Greene of San Antonio, Texas, has had a long history of disliking and combating Christians. At one point Greene, an outspoken local atheist, threatened to sue Henderson County about the yearly manger display at the courthouse. "My wife and I had never had a Christian do anything nice for us," Greene said in a local newspaper interview.
But all of that changed in March of 2012 when the 63-year-old Greene learned that he needed surgery for a detached retina. Greene didn't have money to pay for the surgery, and he had to give up his cab driving job. When Jessica Crye, a member of Sand Springs Baptist Church, heard about Greene's situation, she told her pastor, Eric Graham, who then called Greene. Greene said, "If you really want to contribute something, we need groceries."
Greene thought that if anything, he'd see $50, or at most $100. But a few days later, the church sent a check for $400. More checks soon followed. The flabbergasted Greene said, "I thought I was in the Twilight Zone. These people are acting like what the Bible says a Christian does."
Now, rather than try to remove the manger display, Greene said he would like to add his contribution—a star for the top of the Nativity scene. However, Greene added, "You people can figure out how to plug it in."

Rich Flowers, "Atheist 'flabbergasted' by Christians' assistance," Athens Review 20 March 2012

The Atheist on the Plane

An atheist was seated next to a little girl on an airplane and he turned to her and said, "Do you want to talk? Flights go quicker if you strike up a conversation with your fellow passenger."
The little girl, who had just started to read her book, replied to the total stranger, "What would you want to talk about?"
"Oh, I don't know," said the atheist. "How about why there is no God, or no Heaven or Hell, or no life after death?" as he smiled smugly.
"Okay," she said. "Those could be interesting topics but let me ask you a question first. A horse, a cow, and a deer all eat the same stuff - grass. Yet a deer excretes little pellets, while a cow turns out a flat patty, but a horse produces clumps. Why do you suppose that is?"
The atheist, visibly surprised by the little girl's intelligence, thinks about it and says, "Hmmm, I have no idea." To which the little girl replies, "Do you really feel qualified to discuss God, Heaven and Hell, or life after death, when you don't know shit?"
And then she went back to reading her book.

Most People Have Thought about Killing Someone

Following the murder of 16 Afghanistan civilians by an American soldier in March 2012, David Brooks writes that terrible crimes such as this should not surprise us:
Even people who contain reservoirs of compassion and neighbourliness also possess a latent potential to commit murder.
David Buss of the University of Texas asked his students if they had ever thought seriously about killing someone, and if so, to write out their homicidal fantasies in an essay. He was astonished to find that 91 per cent of the men and 84 per cent of the women had detailed, vivid homicidal fantasies. He was even more astonished to learn how many steps some of his students had taken toward carrying them out.
One woman invited an abusive ex-boyfriend to dinner with thoughts of stabbing him in the chest. A young man in a fit of road rage pulled a baseball bat out of his trunk and would have pummelled his opponent if he hadn't run away. Another young man planned the progression of his murder — crushing a former friend's fingers, puncturing his lungs, then killing him.

David Brooks, "When the Good Do Bad," New York Times (March 19, 2012)

The Power of Christ's Resurrection Bursts through Obstacles

Tim Keller tells the following story about the power of Christ's resurrection:
A minister was in Italy, and there he saw the grave of a man who had died centuries before who was an unbeliever and completely against Christianity, but a little afraid of it too. So the man had a huge stone slab put over his grave so he would not have to be raised from the dead in case there is a resurrection from the dead. He had insignias put all over the slab saying, "I do not want to be raised from the dead. I don't believe in it." Evidently, when he was buried, an acorn must have fallen into the grave. So a hundred years later the acorn had grown up through the grave and split that slab. It was now a tall towering oak tree. The minister looked at it and asked, "If an acorn, which has power of biological life in it, can split a slab of that magnitude, what can the acorn of God's resurrection power do in a person's life?"
Keller comments:
The minute you decide to receive Jesus as Saviour and Lord, the power of the Holy Spirit comes into your life. It's the power of the resurrection—the same thing that raised Jesus from the dead …. Think of the things you see as immovable slabs in your life—your bitterness, your insecurity, your fears, your self-doubts. Those things can be split and rolled off. The more you know him, the more you grow into the power of the resurrection.

Nancy Guthrie, editor, Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross (Crossway, 2009), p. 13

Research Points to Belief in an "Ordinary God"

Several years ago in Britain, researchers went door-to-door asking persons about their belief in God. One of their questions: "Do you believe in a God who intervenes in human history, who changes the course of affairs, who performs miracles, etc.?" When published, their study took its title from the response of one man who was seen as rather typical of those who responded. He answered, "No, I don't believe in that God; I believe in the ordinary God." How many of our friends and neighbours believe in "just the ordinary God"?

Al Mohler, Words from the Fire (Moody Publishers, 2009), p. 38

A Six-Year-Old Gives Up Consequences for Lent

At the beginning of Lent, my wife and I sat at the dinner table with our three daughters, ages 6, 8, and 11, and attempted to explain the meaning of the period and some of the practices that go with it.
"Lent is a time to do what the Bible calls 'repent.' This means that we walk toward God, not away from him. We say that we are sorry for the things we do that are not right. Lent is also a time when many Christians think about how they are living as they get ready to celebrate what Jesus did on the cross and through his resurrection."
So far, so good. The girls' eyes were locked on me and hadn't glazed over.
"So, some people like to show they are thinking about what Jesus gave up for us by giving up something they think has become too important to them, like their computers or coffee or dessert or meat or television. It doesn't make God love us more; it just makes us more open to God and less cluttered with our own junk."
The girls were still with me.
"We would like to do the same as a family. We want to show God that we are thinking of him in a special way. Your mom and I are going to give up all desserts until Easter. We want you girls to think of what you could give up, something that means a lot to you."
Our oldest daughter followed our leading. She said, "I will give up sweets."
"Me, too," our middle daughter chimed in. Our youngest daughter pondered the question a little longer, her six-year-old mind working the angles. I figured she was letting my deep teaching sink in, that she was pondering what really meant a lot to her. She finally nodded with satisfaction at her thoughtful conclusion and said confidently, "I want to give up consequences!"

source unknown

Kids Playing Mud Football Realise They're Playing in Sewage

In his book Glorious Mess, Mike Howerton tells the following story about a childhood experience playing "mud football." After a huge downpour, he and his neighbourhood buddies found a gully filled with two inches of standing water. Howerton describes what happened next:
We had a blast. Every tackle would send you sliding for yards and yards. The ball was like a greased pig, which meant tons of fumbles and gang tackles and laughter.
I remember tackling one of [my friends] and watching him skim across the surface of the water for something like four miles and thinking, "I might be in heaven." When he got up, I noticed something stuck on his shoulder. I peered closer, wondering, "What is that?" Now, there was a huge, concrete sewage runoff drain right next to the gully. And apparently during heavy rains, all sorts of things got backed up, and I don't know if the apartment complex immediately next to the school burst a pipe or what, but I do know we didn't really pay attention to the flotsam in the gully until I noticed that something on Craig's shoulder. I peered closer and suddenly realized it was a soaking piece of toilet paper. In that same instant I realized the smell surrounding me was a bit more pungent than a typical mud football game ought to smell. I yelled out, "We're playing in POOP WATER!" and we bolted for home as fast as we could.
Talk about an instant of mental transformation …. Sometimes in life we need our thinking transformed. Sometimes we think we're having fun until we realise we're rolling around in sewage.

Mike Howerton, Glorious Mess (Baker, 2012), pp. 101-102

Sixty Years Later, Man Wants to Return Stolen Cap

In the fall of 2011, Pete Richeson walked into the sheriff's office to turn himself in for something he did nearly six decades ago.
While attending the Iron Bowl, the annual college football game between rivals Auburn and Alabama, the Auburn student stole a "rat cap," a fraternity beanie, off the head of an Alabama freshman. Pete said he and his brother were walking to Legion Field with stealing a hat in mind. "That was one of the objectives, to go to the ballgame, but look for a suitable victim that you could attack," he said. Richeson said his plan worked perfectly as his brother blocked the Alabama freshman while he ran off with the hat.
"We took it back to Auburn and passed it around the dormitory at that time, and we nailed it to the wall, and it stayed there."
Now, sixty years later, Richeson tried to return the cap, but the local sheriff told him the statute of limitations had expired. But Pete would still like to return the rat cap to its rightful owner and make amends. He even provided a personal email for anyone who wants to claim the cap.
Richeson said, "It's stayed with me for over sixty years, and I would like to give it back to the man it belongs to. I'm sure he had some consequences he had to face …. I must do something soon, because we're both close to 80-years-old, and I'm hoping he's still alive."

Auburn alum in his late 70s trying to return rat cap stolen off Bama student at 1949 Iron Bowl, The War Eagle Reader (November 23, 2011)

The American Church Looks Too Much Like Disneyland

The predicament of the American church is that we live in a kind of Magic Kingdom. Like going to Disneyland, you buy your ticket, and once you are inside the gates, everything you experience is controlled. The rides, the food, the shows are all there to entertain and amuse you. All you have to do is be there and observe.
Yet just beyond the walls of Disneyland is Anaheim and the rest of Los Angeles, including the streets of Compton. This is the real world with real problems: pollution and congestion, drugs and violence, islands of upscale neighborhoods surrounded by slums. Inside the Magic Kingdom, the outside world is almost inconceivable.
As Christians, we too are tempted to see our world that way. We can start thinking that our job is to invite a few fortunate others into the theme park, away from the troubles outside. But our job is not to increase the attendance at Disneyland; it's to tear down the walls and transform the world outside.

Richard Stearns, "Shedding Lethargy," Leadership Journal (Winter, 2012)

Heaven

There was a man who spent his life longing to go to heaven. He spent hours every day deep in meditation, contemplating heaven. When he died an angel took him on a conducted tour. The angel showed him majestic, snow-capped mountains. He gazed, transfixed at the sheer beauty of evening mists rising above tranquil lakes. He walked across lush, green water meadows covered with king-cups and stood on the banks of crystal clear streams. He skirted deep green woods, walked across miles of golden, sandy beaches, and listened to the gentle music of the waves. One beautiful sight after another was revealed to him. The man was so overcome by the loveliness of it all that he turned to the angel and whispered breathlessly,
“How wonderful! So this is heaven!”
“No, came the reply, this is the world in which you lived but never saw.”

(as told by Daphne Richards)

78-year-old Christian Leader Renews His Commitment to Christ

Soon after the publication of John Stott's 1971 revised edition of Basic Christianity, he received a letter that read:
Dear John,
Thank you for writing Basic Christianity. It led me to make a new commitment of my life to Christ. I am old now—nearly 78—but not too old to make a new beginning.
I rejoice in all the grand work you are doing.
Yours sincerely,
Leslie Weatherhead
Leslie Weatherhead was one of the most respected and influential Christian leaders in the United Kingdom. Thousands heard him preach at City Temple, his books were read widely, he pioneered in the field of pastoral counseling, and he was president of the Methodist Conference. Yet at 78-years-old he was not too proud or too worn out to make a fresh commitment of his life.

Adapted from Roger Steer, Basic Christian (IVP Books, 2010), p. 153

Comedian Stephen Colbert on the Gift of Suffering

An interviewer for the New York Times Magazine ran the following story about the faith of talk show host and comedian Stephen Colbert:
In 1974, when Colbert was 10, his father, a doctor, and his brothers Peter and Paul, the two closest to him in age, died in a plane crash while flying to a prep school in New England. "There's a common explanation that profound sadness leads to someone's becoming a comedian, but I'm not sure that's a proven equation in my case," he told me. "I'm not bitter about what happened to me as a child, and my mother was instrumental in keeping me from being so." He added, in a tone so humble and sincere that his character would never have used it: "She taught me to be grateful for my life regardless of what that entailed, and that's directly related to the image of Christ on the cross and the example of sacrifice that he gave us. What she taught me is that the deliverance God offers you from pain is not no pain— it's that the pain is actually a gift. What's the option? God doesn't really give you another choice."

Charles McGrath, "How Many Stephen Colberts Are There?" The New York Times Magazine (4 January 2012)

Stray Cannonball Rips Through Suburban Neighbourhood

A crew from the TV show Mythbusters was staging an "experiment" in the town of Dublin, California. They were trying to fire a cannonball into some large water containers at a bomb disposal range. Unfortunately, the Mythbusters crew seriously underestimated the dangerous power of a stray cannonball.
According to a newspaper report, "The cantaloupe-sized cannonball missed the water, tore through a cinder-block wall, skipped off a hillside and flew some 700 yards east." But that didn't end the damage. The cannonball "bounced in front of home on [a quiet street], ripped through the front door, raced up the stairs and blasted through a bedroom …. [Then] it exited the house, leaving a perfectly round hole in the stucco, crossed six-lane Tassajara Road, took out several tiles from the roof of a home on Bellevue Circle and finally slammed into [a family's] beige Toyota minivan in a driveway on Springdale Drive."
Regarding the power of the stray cannonball, the owner of the minivan said, "It's shocking—anything could have happened." A spokesmen for the local sheriff's department also commented, "Crazy, crazy, crazy, crazy. You wouldn't think it was possible."
Stray words also have tremendous power to rip through communities and lives. Like a cannonball, they create "crazy" damage that you wouldn't think was possible.

Demian Bulwa & Henry K. Lee, "Mythbusters cannonball hits Dublin home, minivan," SFGate.com (7 December 2011)

Former Basketball Star Jerry West Admits Struggle with Anxiety

In October 2011, hall of fame basketball player Jerry West released a book called West by West: My Charmed, Tormented Life. Instead of using this platform to catalogue his various achievements (of which there were many), West decided to write about his struggles with anxiety and depression. It turns out the man who earned the nickname "Mr. Clutch" because of his outstanding performances under pressure and who inspired the official NBA logo was also debilitated by such high levels of game-day tension that life became almost unbearable for him. One of his biographers, Roland Lazenby describes West's early days on the court:
As he gained more confidence and took on more responsibility, West became wracked by incredible game-day tension. He would become a pacing nervous animal each game day, with the tension building moment by moment until he was absolutely beside himself with anxiety over his coming performance. It was a condition that threatened to take down his legacy before it ever got started. "I've always been a nervous person," West admitted many times.

Jerry West, West by West: My Charmed, Tormented Life, (Little, Brown and Company, 2011);

and Roland Lazenby, Jerry West: The Life and Legend of a Basketball Icon, (ESPN Books, 2009), p. 139.

Violinist Scans the Audience for His Master Teacher

In his book What God Thinks When We Fail, Steven C. Roy tells a fictional story about a young violinist who lived in London many years ago. Although he was a superb musician, he was deathly afraid of large crowds, so he avoided giving concerts. But after enduring criticism for his unwillingness to give concerts, he finally agreed to perform in the largest concert hall in London.
The young violinist came onto the stage and sat alone on a stool. He put his violin under his chin and played for an hour and a half. No music in front of him, no orchestra behind him, no breaks—just an hour and a half of absolutely beautiful violin music. After ten minutes or so, many critics put down their pads and listened, like the rest …. After the performance, the crowd rose to its feet and began applauding wildly—and they wouldn't stop.
But the young violinist didn't acknowledge the applause. He just peered out into the audience as if he were looking for something—or someone. Finally he found what he was looking for. Relief came over his face, and he began to acknowledge the cheers.
After the concert, the critics met the young violinist backstage …. They said, "You were wonderful. But one question: Why did it take you so long to acknowledge the applause of the audience?"
The young violinist took a deep breath and answered, "You know I was really afraid of playing here. Yet this was something I knew I needed to do. Tonight, just before I came on stage, I received word that my master teacher was to be in the audience. Throughout the concert, I tried to look for him, but I could never find him. So after I finished playing, I started to look more intently. I was so eager to find my teacher that I couldn't even hear the applause. I just had to know what he thought of my playing. That was all that mattered. Finally, I found him high in the balcony. He was standing and applauding, with a big smile on his face. After seeing him, I was finally able to relax. I said to myself, 'If the master is pleased with what I have done, then everything else is okay.'"

Steven C. Roy, What God Thinks When We Fail (IVP Books, 2011), pp. 11-1

The Variety of Food Points to God's Goodness

Think of your favourite food. Steak perhaps. Or Thai green curry. Or ice cream. Or homemade apple pie. God could have just made fuel. He could have made us to be sustained by some kind of savoury biscuit. Instead he gave a vast and wonderful array of foods.
Food is a central experience of God's goodness …. The world is more delicious than it needs to be. We have a superabundance of divine goodness and generosity. God went over the top. We don't need the variety we enjoy, but he gave it to us out of sheer exuberant joy and grace.

Tim Chester, A Meal with Jesus (Crossway, 2011), pp. 67-68

An Umpire Claims, "I Wrote the Rulebook"

A number of years ago, when I was playing in a friendly men's softball game, the umpire made a call that incensed our coach. My coach didn't agree with the ump's interpretation of a specific league rule. The game stopped, and a heated discussion ensued. Finally, the ump sighed as he pulled a rulebook from his back pocket and proceeded to read page 27, paragraph 3b, section 1.
"As you can clearly see," he concluded, "this rule means that my call must stand." Unconvinced, my coach yelled, "But you're not interpreting that rule correctly." To which the ump replied, "Uh, excuse me, I think I should know: I wrote the rulebook." After an awkward silence, my coach walked back to the bench, shaking his head and pointing to the ref as he told us, "Get ahold of that guy. He wrote the rulebook!"
Throughout his ministry, Jesus didn't just affirm and endorse the words of Scripture; he talked and acted like he had authoured the Scriptures. He lived with the authority of the One who wrote the "rulebook."

Matt Woodley, The Gospel of Matthew: God With Us (InterVarsity Press, 2011), pp. 68-69

Father Takes a Needle for His Fearful Son

Recently I was sitting in a doctor's office with one of my young sons, and the nurse wanted to draw blood from him for a test. As you can imagine, he did not want to have blood taken from him. Who does? So he told me, "Dad, I can't do it. I just can't do it."
The nurse said, "Here's the deal, buddy. We've got this numbing spray. We'll spray the numbing spray on you, and then we'll stick the needle in you, and you won't even feel it."
But my son kept saying, "I can't do it. I can't do it."
Finally I said to the nurse, "Ma'am, I know what I'm about to ask you may be out of bounds, but can you stick me first? Can you do it without the numbing spray? I just need to show my son."
She said, "Yes, I'll do it. We'll keep this between us."
So I put my son on my lap, and I said, "Watch Daddy." I rolled up my sleeve and stuck my arm out. Then the nurse stuck me and drew blood. A smile came over my son's face. Yes, he was still a little nervous, but when he saw that Daddy already went through what he was about to go through, with no numbing spray, he stuck his arm out. It gave him courage.
In the same way, when you find yourself in the midst of hard times, look to the place where they drew Jesus' blood. Look to the cross, and there you will find rest for your souls.

Bryan Loritts, from a sermon entitled, "The Great Exchange"