Is Your Best Good Enough?

"Before we begin, I have a confession to make. I don’t like Christian bumper stickers. And although I don’t really like them, I feel strangely compelled to read them. One I’ve seen recently said,
'This car is prayer-conditioned!'
Another one read, “God wants spiritual fruit- not religious nuts!”
One of the more interesting ones I’ve seen said,
'Read the Bible, It Will Scare the Hell Out of You!'
I've also noticed that these bumper stickers differ according to areas of the country. As some of you know my husband Derek and I will soon be moving south for the next season of our lives. And although Bill and Margaret Anne insist that the south is not as different as I may think, it was in the south that I saw the sticker,
'Dusty Bibles lead to Dirty Lives.'
You don’t see too many of those in the parking lot of Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church." . . .

"Friends, I want to share with you these words that Gene Bay gave to me at my ordination. He said, “My fear for you is not that you won’t do your best… My fear for you is that you will think your best is not good enough. And I am here to tell you this: it is."

The Rev. Tara Woodard-Lehman
Jesus Loves Mess, This I Know
preached at The Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church
Bryn Mawr, PA
June 5, 2005

Tolerance

"Tolerance in the hands of the left is not an end; it is a means to an end. They use the language of tolerance to marginalize the only religion that is sufficiently influential to play a major, culture-forming role in any given country, and then when that's done, they impose a different order that is far less tolerant than the one they destroyed.
There is no society in the history of the world that fails to hold to a basic religious creed and makes no moral distinctions. Any political propagandist who claims to want to embrace a concept of absolute tolerance is either a deceiver or deceived.
Tolerance is a battering ram to break down one order so that a different order can be built on the rubble."
Jerry Bowyer, www.crosswalk.com, quoted in the Philadelphia Inquirer, June 22, 2005

Negotiating

I'm Baptist. The difference between a Baptist and a terrorist, is that you can negotiate with a terrorist. (laughter)
Dr. Tony Campolo: June 12, 2005: God's Revolution and Your Responsibility (audio)
http://www.bmpc.org/Sermons/Sermon%20Directory.htm

Attributes of a "Beach Read"

"There is a category of books known as "Beach Reads," defined as being superficial yet engrossing. Typically, beach reads incorporate at least four of these five attributes:
a. Espionage and/or Illegal Drug Trade;
b. Sex;
c. Famous, Wealthy, (or at least Astonishingly Good-Looking) People;
d. Murder and mayhem;
e. Exotic Locale.
Nowadays, we've noticed, they also often include descriptions of food.

Breeding Resentment Instead of Fostering Public Sympathy

John Grogan, Philadelphia Inquirer, May 30, 2005:

regarding a mother who took fertility drugs, had six babies she and her husband "could not support," and asked "taxpayers to foot the bill for a Medicaid home nurse to help":

"When I interviewed the mother, she radiated a sense of entitlement and inflexibility, prompting other mothers across the region to scold in surround sound: You made your decision, now live with it.
Many used the same expression: 'Start taking responsibility for your own actions.'
That's all fine and good -- except that six innocent and defenseless children hang in the balance. . . .
[She] is asking [for help] -- admittedly in a clumsy, ham-fisted way that sounds self-serving and breeds resentment instead of compassion -- but asking nonetheless. . . .
Do we punish the . . . children because their parents are not more skilled at fostering public sympathy?
And if something terrible were to happen, what would we say then? Oh, I guess they really did need help. . . .
[Her] request to have Medicaid continue to provide a skilled home nurse for another year is ridiculous. The once-fragile chldren are now robust; they do not need a nurse. Besides, [she] is a registered nurse herself.
But the harried mother definitely needs a helper or two. Or three. . . ."

Props in Your Little Life Play

Carolyn Hax, June 2, 2005:

"the obvious moral/emotional bankruptcy of treating people as props in your little life play"

"Go home and love someone."

Upon receiving the Nobel prize, Mother Teresa was asked:
"What can one ordinary person do to promote world peace?"
She replied: "Go home and love someone."

Love without measure, one day at a time, the one person who is before you at any one moment.

http://www.saintmarkpresby.org/pagepastmeditations.htm

Courage & Sleep

"Where shall I find courage?" asked Frodo, "for that is what I chiefly need now."

"Courage is found in unlikely places," said Gildor. "Be of good hope! and for now get some sleep."

From The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien

Truth wounds, cynicism kills

Quotes from Warren Buffet Speaks by Janet Lowe

"Chains of habit are too light to be felt until they are too heavy to be broken."
Warren Buffet

Frinedship: "I remember asking that question of a woman who had survived Auschwitz. She said her test was, 'would they hide me?'"
Warren Buffet

"Truth wounds, cynicism kills."
Barron's columnist Alan Abelson, p. 139

"The first step to recovery is to stop doing the wrong thing."
Warren Buffet, p. 144