In a famous Hasidic story, a rabbi asks his disciple: “Do you love me?”
To which the disciple replies: “Of course I love you!”
The rabbi continues. “Do you know what causes me pain?” he asks.
“Rabbi, how can I know what causes you pain?”
To which the rabbi responds: “If you do not know what causes me pain, how can you say that you love me?”
(from Rabbi Jeffrey K. Salkin)
Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten.
~ B.F. Skinner
Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterward.
~ Vernon Law [baseball player] in Sports Legends on Success
My idea of education is to unsettle the minds of the young and inflame their intellects.
~ Robert Maynard Hutchins
It is love that asks, that seeks, that knocks, that finds, and that is faithful to what it finds.
~ St. Augustine
(from Rev. Dr. Kang Na, Westminster College)
"The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him."
~ G.K. Chesterton
"I got 99 problems, but Romans 8:1"
~ Josh Howerton, Lakepointe Church member, Rockwall, Texas
@howertonjosh
May 16, 2021
quoted in May 20, 2021 Church Humor Newsletter <newsletter@e.christianitytoday.com>
(Romans 8:1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,)
"The inside joke about freedom—one that early settlers understood perfectly well and that this man would have found out soon enough—is that you’re always trading obedience to one thing for obedience to another."
The Reality Behind the Dream of Total Freedom
A walking trip with friends reveals the deeply American appeal of independence—and the truth about how much we need one another.
By Sebastian Junger
https://www.wsj.com/amp/articles/the-reality-behind-the-dream-of-total-freedom-11620919592
May 13, 2021 11:26 am ET
—This essay is adapted from Mr. Junger’s new book, “Freedom,” which will be published May 18 by Simon & Schuster.
"Talent is universal, but opportunity is not."
~ Nicholas Kristof,
New York Times, Sunday, May 9, 2021
"Everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about. Be kind. Always."
~ Robin Williams
from Leslie Robison's coaching and consulting blog:
Eight options to say no, with a bit of advice
https://www.masteryconsulting.net/post/yes-because-i-can-t-say-no
Here are eight options to say no, with a bit of advice: only the first four work to your advantage. Notice none of them offer a reason for declining. It’s your choice to explain your decision or not.
1. No.
2. No, thanks.
3. Thank you for asking, but I can’t.
4. Maybe next time.
5. Absolutely not!
6. I would never do that!
7. Are you out of your mind?
8. Not a snowballs’ chance in hell.
Use them carefully, simply, and intentionally and protect your time, money, and peace of mind confidently.
On second thought, I already had plans for that time and money. Ask me another time. And thanks for asking.
Leslie Robison, Coaching and Consulting
Isaiah 25:6–9 NRSV
6 On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples
a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines,
of rich food filled with marrow, of well-aged wines strained clear.
7 And he will destroy on this mountain
the shroud that is cast over all peoples,
the sheet that is spread over all nations;
8 he will swallow up death forever.
Then the Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces,
and the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth,
for the Lord has spoken.
9 It will be said on that day,
Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, so that he might save us.
This is the Lord for whom we have waited;
let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a man who stood for Christ and against not just Hitler but also the Christendom of his day, penned this benediction from prison: “May God in his mercy lead us through these times; but above all, may he lead us to himself.”
Diane Langberg, PhD
@DianeLangberg, https://twitter.com/DianeLangberg, Apr 11, 2021
"Kindness is the language the blind can see and the deaf can hear."
~ Mark Twain
"Some luck lies not in getting what you want but getting what you have, which — once you take a good look — you may realize is what you would’ve wanted if you had only known. I’m not sure that sentence is grammatically correct but it’s true."
~ Garrison Keillor
"Tradition is not the worship of ashes but the preservation of fire."
~ Gustav Mahler
Austro-Bohemian Romantic composer and conductor, 1860-1911
"Admire as much as you can. Most people do not admire enough."
~ Vincent van Gogh, Dutch post-impressionist painter
“Reorganisation, irrespectively of God or king, by the worship of Humanity, systematically adopted. Man’s only right is to do his duty. The Intellect should always be the servant of the Heart, and should never be its slave.“
— Auguste Comte
Title Page A General View of Positivism (1848, 1856)
Source: https://quotepark.com/authors/auguste-comte/
(note: Warren Buffet quoted Comte in in a 1985 Berkshire Hathaway shareholder letter regarding Berkshire’s failing textile businesses: “I ignored Comte’s advice – ‘the intellect should be the servant of the heart, but not its slave’ – and believed what I preferred to believe.”)
“Nothing is destroyed until it is replaced.”
— Auguste Comte
https://www.azquotes.com/author/3165-Auguste_Comte
“But now, I, August Comte, have discovered the truth. Therefore, there is no longer any need for freedom of thought or freedom of the press. I want to rule and to organize the whole country.”
— Auguste Comte
https://www.azquotes.com/author/3165-Auguste_Comte
“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”
~ Eleanor Roosevelt, philanthropist and First Lady of the United States from March 4, 1933, to April 12, 1945, during her husband President Franklin D. Roosevelt's four terms in office
“When the whole world is silent,
even one voice becomes powerful.”
“Do not wait for someone else to come and speak for you.
It’s you who can change the world.”
~ Malala Yousafzai, a Pakistani girl's education advocate who, at the age of 17 in 2014, became the youngest person to win the Nobel Peace Prize after surviving an assassination attempt by the Taliban
“There is nothing the resurrection won’t cure.”
Rev. Dr. Timothy Keller, Hope in Times of Fear
From Antoine de Saint-Exupery's Wind, Sand, and Stars.
Saint-Exupery is best known for his book, The Little Prince.
He flew in the 1920s and 1930s for what later became Air France. In those days,
accidents were frequent. Saint-Exupery writes about the experience of showing
up at the airfield and hearing that one more friend had died.
Bit by bit, nevertheless, it comes over us that we shall
never again hear the laughter of our friend, that this one garden is forever
locked against us. And at that moment begins our true mourning, which, though
it may not be heartrending, is still slightly bitter. For nothing, in truth,
can replace that companion. Old friends cannot be created out of hand. Nothing
can match the treasure of common memories, of trials endured together, of
quarrels and reconciliations and generous emotions. It is idle, having planted
an acorn in the morning, to expect that afternoon to sit in the shade of the
oak.
So life goes on. For years we plant the seed, we feel
ourselves rich; and then come other years when time does its work and our
plantation is made sparse and thin. One by one, our comrades slip away, deprive
us of their shade. 4
4Antoine de Saint-Exupery, Wind, Sand, and Stars (London, UK: The Folio Society, 1990), 26.
Tom Brady reflects on his NFL Combine performance 17 years ago
abc, WCVB NewsCenter 5, FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Updated: 9:24 PM EST Mar 3, 2017
https://www.wcvb.com/article/tom-brady-reflects-on-his-nfl-combine-performance-17-years-ago/9090781
quote:
New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady reflected back on his own Combine experience, and shared his thoughts with the participants.
“This is what they said about me then,” Brady wrote on Facebook. “Poor build, skinny, lacks great physical stature and strength, lacks mobility and ability to avoid the rush, lacks a really strong arm, can’t drive the ball downfield, does not throw a really tight spiral, system-type player who can get exposed if forced to ad lib, gets knocked down easily.”
Brady was selected with the 199th pick in the 2000 NFL Draft by the New England Patriots, and 17 years later, he is a five-time Super Bowl champion, four-time Super Bowl MVP and two-time NFL MVP.
“As Julian Edelman always reminds me… 'You can prove 'em right or you can prove 'em wrong,'" Brady wrote, as he wished the Combine participants the best in their performance.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-53311867
BBC News - US & Canada
Cancel culture: What unites young people against Obama and Trump
Published 7 July 2020
quote:
Obama: 'The world is messy'
Last October [2019], former President Barack Obama challenged cancel culture and the idea of being "woke" - a term describing being alert to injustices and what's going on in the community - saying change was complex.
"I get a sense among certain young people on social media that the way of making change is to be as judgmental as possible about other people," Mr. Obama said.
"The world is messy. There are ambiguities. People who do really good stuff have flaws."
“Never let THEM define YOU‼️” @tb12sports
~ Tom Brady, age 43, Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback, after winning Super Bowl LV held on February 7, 2021, as well as winning Super Bowl MVP
“My daddy was a farmer. He used to say the only difference between an adventure and an ordeal is how you look at it.”
~ Cindy, age 83, Feb. 17, 2021, on surviving the storms, freezing weather, and power outages in Texas
“There is no such thing as good writing, only good rewriting.”
~ Robert Graves, British historical novelist, classicist, and critic
"I hate writing. Perhaps this is because I write so badly.
The tool I use most frequently is the waste paper basket. But I still write. Why I wonder? To be practical, money has something to do with it I imagine.
But for one so far from the bestseller lists there must be many easier ways of staying alive. I think the basic answer is that a writer must write. To write is difficult. Not to write is sheer agony. I don’t like agony, so I write.
And I write in the hope that what I write will be of interest and of help to those who read. I write on biblical topics for these seem to me far and away the most significant. I hope that writing and these topics will bring writer & reader nearer to God."
~ Leon Lamb Morris (1914–2006),
Australian New Testament scholar, Anglican priest, University of Cambridge PhD on The Apostolic Preaching of the Cross
“The pastor should love his people extravagantly.”
~ Robert C. Anderson, The Effective Pastor: A Practical Guide to the Ministry
(Chicago: Moody Publishers, 1985), 365.
"The propitious smiles of heaven cannot be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right that heaven itself has ordained."
~ George Washington
Do not accuse yourself that your tribulation and your woe is all your fault; for I do not want you to be immoderately depressed or sorrowful. For I tell you that whatever you do, you will have woe. . . . The remedy is that our Lord is with us, protecting us and leading us into the fullness of joy.
—Julian of Norwich (1342-1416?), Revelations of Divine Love, Long Text 77
“When the Trinity turns toward the world, the Son and the Spirit become, in Irenaeus’s beautiful image, the two arms of God by which humanity was made and taken into God’s embrace.”
Miroslav Volf, Exclusion and Embrace: A Theological Exploration of Identity, Otherness, and Reconciliation (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1996), 128.
“In his will is our peace.”
― Dante, The Divine Comedy, Paradise
following quote from
https://digitaldante.columbia.edu/dante/divine-comedy/paradiso/paradiso-3/
E ’n la sua volontade è nostra pace:
ell’è quel mare al qual tutto si move
ciò ch’ella cria o che natura face.
(Par. 3.85-87)
And in His will there is our peace: that sea
to which all beings move—the beings He
creates or nature makes—such is His will.
When, like Abraham, you are called to go out, not knowing where you are going:
“You have the reality of the living Christ himself as your north star.
You have the scriptures, which serve you not as maps but as a compass.”
—Thomas W. Gillespie (1928-2011),
President of Princeton Theological Seminary 1983-2004,
June 2, 1986 commencement address
https://commons.ptsem.edu/id/02266
"It is impossible to mentally or socially enslave a Bible-reading people. The principles of the Bible are the groundwork of human freedom."
~ Horace Greeley (1811–1872), American newspaper publisher and politician
“Pilate was cynical; he thought that all truth was relative. To many government officials, truth was whatever the majority of people agreed with or whatever helped advance their own personal power and political goals.
When there is no basis for truth, there is no basis for moral right and wrong. Justice becomes whatever works or whatever helps those in power.
In Jesus and His Word we have a standard for truth and for our moral behavior.”
~ Mark 15 footnotes, Faithlife NIV Study Bible, Zondervan
If We Only Understood
by Anonymous
Could we but draw back the curtains
That surround each other's lives,
See the naked heart and spirit,
Know what spur the action gives,
Often we should find it better
Purer than we judged we should,
We should love each other better,
If we only understood.
If we knew the cares and trials,
Knew the efforts all in vain,
And the bitter disappointment,
Understood the loss and gain—
Would the grim, eternal roughness
Seem—I wonder—just the same?
Should we help where now we hinder?
Should we pity where we blame?
Ah, we judge each other harshly,
Know not life's hidden force:
Knowing not the fount of action
Is less turbid at its source:
Seeing amid the evil
All the golden grain of good:
And we'd love each other better.
If we only understood.
https://www.poetrynook.com/poem/if-only-we-understood
"A friend you have to earn;
enemies you get for nothing."
~ Proverb
"Wear a smile and have friends;
wear a scowl and have wrinkles.
What do we live for if not to
make the world less difficult for each other?"
"Perhaps the most delightful friendships are those in which there is much agreement, much disputation, and yet more personal liking."
~ George Eliot (1819-1880), British woman author
"As a matter of self-preservation,
a man needs good friends or ardent enemies,
for the former instruct him and the latter take him to task."
~ Diogenes
“My only sketch, profile of heaven, is a large blue sky, and larger than the biggest I have seen in June―and in it are my friends―every one of them.”
~ Emily Dickinson (1830-1886), American poet
American journalist and writer Joe Sobran (1946-2010) wrote in The Economics of Liberty (1990);
"In the current political vocabulary, ‘need’ means wanting to get someone else’s money.
‘Greed,’ which used to mean what “need” now means, has come to mean wanting to keep your own.
‘Compassion’ means the politician’s willingness to arrange the transfer.”
This has usually been condensed to:
“‘Need’ now means wanting someone else’s money.
‘Greed’ means wanting to keep your own.
‘Compassion’ is when a politician arranges the transfer.”
https://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/need_now_means_wanting_someone_elses_money/
from Facebook:
Emily Dickinson's use of the common meter enables one to sing pretty much all of her poems to the tune of Gilligan's Island, The Yellow Rose of Texas, etc.
Because I could not stop for Death,
He kindly stopped for me.
The Carriage held but just Ourselves,
And immortality.
~ Kerstin Schwandt
Sept. 24, 2019
From Abraham Kuyper’s speech to open the Free University in 1880 in Amsterdam, which he founded as an expression of this philosophy:
"There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: 'Mine!' "
Abraham Kuyper (1837-1920)
Pastor, theologian, scholar, journalist, educator, and Prime Minister of the Netherlands between 1901 and 1905.
“Don’t feel totally, personally, irrevocably, eternally responsible for everything. That’s my job.”
~ God, as told to Dr. Bernie Siegel
reader comment by James Trott about what we learn by losing in sports:
I have been fortunate enough to help coach some fantastic young female athletes, and the motto has always been "its okay to feel it or think it, but don't show it or say it." Thought this article hits home as we all lose more than we win in everyday life.
https://www.wsj.com accessed 1/14/2021
quote from Pat Conroy's book My Losing Season:
"My acquaintance with loss has sustained me during the stormy passages of my life when the pink slips came through the door, when the checks bounced at the bank, when I told my small children I was leaving their mother, when the despair caught up with me, when the dreams of suicide began feeling like love songs of release. It sustained me when my mother lay dying of leukemia, when my sister heard the ruthless voices inside her, and when my brother Tom sailed out into the starry night in Columbia, South Carolina, sailed from a fourteen story building and plunged screaming to his death, binding all of his family into his nightmare forever. Though I learned some things from the games we won that year, I learned much, much more from loss."
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."
~ Albert Einstein
"You never let a serious crisis go to waste. And what I mean by that it's an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before."
Rahm Emanuel
Wall Street Journal, November 19, 2008.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mzcbXi1Tkk
Winston Churchill quotes:
"Never let a good crisis go to waste."
"You don't make the poor richer by making the rich poorer."
"If you have ten thousand regulations, you destroy all respect for the law."
"We contend that for a nation to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle."
~ Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during WW II
You wanna fly, you got to give up the sh-t that weighs you down.
~ Toni Morrison, Song of Solomon
"The difference between successful people and really successful people is that really successful people say 'No' to almost everything."
~ Warren Buffett
"When we fail to set boundaries and hold people accountable, we feel used and mistreated. This is why we sometimes attack who they are, which is far more hurtful than addressing a behavior or a choice."
~ Brené Brown (2010). The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You're Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are," p.33, Simon and Schuster.
"You best teach people about healthy boundaries by you enforcing your healthy boundaries on them."
~ Bryant McGill, American author and speaker
"Whatever you are willing to put up with, is exactly what you will have."
~ Anonymous
"You get what you tolerate."
~ Henry Cloud
https://www.habitsforwellbeing.com/20-inspirational-quotes-on-boundaries/ as of 1/9/2021
A “toxic loyalty culture” prioritizes the leader's legacy over everything else, preserving the leader's power at the cost of its Christian witness.
Leaders must commit to accountability and total transparency to avoid corporate complicity and a "toxic loyalty culture.”
The Most Famous Chinese Horse Proverb
One of the most famous horse proverbs is 塞翁失馬 (Sāi Wēng Shī Mǎ) or Sāi Wēng lost his horse. The meaning of the proverb is only apparent when one is familiar with the accompanying story of Sāi Wēng, which begins with an old man who lived on the frontier:
Sāi Wēng lived on the border and he raised horses for a living. One day, he lost one of his prized horses. After hearing of the misfortune, his neighbor felt sorry for him and came to comfort him. But Sāi Wēng simply asked, “How could we know it is not a good thing for me?”
After a while, the lost horse returned and with another beautiful horse. The neighbor came over again and congratulated Sāi Wēng on his good fortune. But Sāi Wēng simply asked, “How could we know it is not a bad thing for me?”
One day, his son went out for a ride with the new horse. He was violently thrown from the horse and broke his leg. The neighbors once again expressed their condolences to Sāi Wēng, but Sāi Wēng simply said, “How could we know it is not a good thing for me?”
Later, the Emperor’s army arrived at the village to recruit all able-bodied men to fight in the war. Because of his injury, Sāi Wēng’s son could not go off to war, and was spared from certain death.
"To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you."
~ C. S. Lewis
"Whenever you have truth it must be given with love, or the message and the messenger will be rejected."
~ Mahatma Gandhi,
Indian Political Leader (1869-1948)
https://winstonchurchill.org/resources/quotes/truth-is-incontrovertible/
‘United wishes and good will cannot overcome brute facts,’ Churchill wrote in his War Memoirs. ‘Truth is incontrovertible. Panic may resent it. Ignorance may deride it. Malice may distort it. But there it is.’
~ Winston Churchill, Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 1940-1945 during the Second World War, and again 1951-1955
“The cross is steady while the world turns.”
~ motto since the Middle Ages of the Carthusian monks who make Chartreuse at the Grande Chartreuse monastery in the French Alps
According to legend, in 1605, the order’s monastery near Paris acquired an alchemist’s historical manuscript for a superbly concocted medicinal tonic of about 130 herbs and crops: the “Elixir of Long Life.”
The monks studied and slowly refined the recipe till by 1764 that they had a potent (138-proof) Elixir Végétal. In 1840, they formulated a milder, 55 p.c alcohol model, Green Chartreuse, and a sweeter, 40 p.c Yellow Chartreuse, which have become cocktail components The Elixir continues to be offered medicinally for illnesses akin to indigestion, sore throat and nausea.
"You can't hold a man down without staying down with him."
~ Booker T. Washington
"Prior to the advent of brain, there was no color and no sound in the universe, nor was there any flavor or aroma and probably little sense and no feeling or emotion. Before brains the universe was also free of pain and anxiety."
—Roger Sperry, "Changing Priorities," Annual Review of Neuroscience 4 (1981): 1-15.
Charles Trepany, USA TODAY, Nov. 17, 2020
https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/books/2020/11/17/michael-j-fox-spinal-surgery-no-time-like-future/6191909002/ accessed Nov. 21, 2020
quotes from Trepany's interview with Michael J. Fox about his new book 'No Time Like the Future':
"I was lying on the floor in my kitchen with a shattered arm waiting for the ambulance to show up," Fox tells USA TODAY. "I kind of went, 'What an idiot. All this time you've been telling everybody to be optimistic, chin-up, and you're miserable now. There's nothing but pain and regret. There's no way to put a shine on this.'" . . .
"That was a real breakthrough moment for me, because I realized that I've been selling that optimism to people for so long," he continues. "I believe it's true to my core, but it struck me that at that point I questioned it, and I questioned it really severely. And so the rest of the book is this journey through finding my way back with gratitude. And I think gratitude is what makes optimism sustainable." . . .
Despite the dark situations in his book, Fox never loses his sense of humor, something the actor says he and his wife have used to cope with challenges throughout their marriage.
"We deal with what's funny in the situation at first," Fox says. "We laugh about it and then we deal with it. But always humor. Humor is the filter for everything."
Through his recovery, falling and then needing to recover again, Fox says he realized the importance of being realistic while still optimistic. In fact, the actor says acknowledging bleak realities is the first step to improving your state of mind.
"I think the first thing you have to do is accept if you're faced with a difficult situation," he says. "And once I do that, that doesn't mean I can't ever change it. I can change it, but I have to accept it for what it is first, before I can change it. And I have to be real about it. And once I do that, then it opens all doors." . . .
After all, as Fox learned after his fall, "life gets better the more you decide to take it easy on yourself."
"Just give yourself a break, and, by that token, give the people in your life a break," he adds. "Give your neighbor a break. Give the person who bags your groceries a break. Just give everybody a break. Give them the benefit of the doubt and move on."
"I try to learn from the past, but I plan for the future by focusing exclusively on the present. That's where the fun is."
~ Donald Trump
https://quotes.thefamouspeople.com/donald-trump-3378.php
quote:
Here are the words of Jeeney Ray,(8) a spastic girl who is an orphan and who has had few experiences of intimacy in her life time. Then along comes an adult who cares:
I study him well and receive the kindred of one to another. . . . I reach as far into his eyes as I can to understand the fullness of what he says and the way he looks me over; puzzled back in thinking is how he is, and grinning and frowning, then going way down to pierce darkness. . . . It is when thinking is coming from the other person into yourself and touching the same thinking as the other person; it is quiet then, and words come from their hiding hearts.
8. Iris Domfield, Jeeney Ray (New York: The Viking Press, 1962), pp. 44, 50.
quoted in:
The Intimate Marriage by Howard J. and Charlotte H. Clinebell, Chapter 8: Developing Parent-Child Intimacy, https://www.religion-online.org/book-chapter/chapter-8-developing-parent-child-intimacy/ as of 11/7/2020.
Fired Hillsong Church pastor Carl Lentz: I cheated on my wife
By Hannah Frishberg November 5, 2020
https://nypost.com/2020/11/05/fired-hillsong-pastor-carl-lentz-i-cheated-on-my-wife/
quote:
A day after it was revealed that celebrity pastor Carl Lentz was fired from star-studded Hillsong for “leadership issues and breaches of trust,” the specifics of his “moral failures” have come to light: Lentz cheated on his wife.
“I was unfaithful in my marriage, the most important relationship in my life and held accountable for that,” Lentz wrote of his affair to his 680,000 followers in an Instagram post of his family Thursday, which had already accrued over 43,000 likes as of this writing.
Instagram Post quoted, my underlines added:
carllentz
Our time at HillsongNYC has come to an end. This is a hard ending to what has been the most amazing, impacting and special chapter of our lives. Leading this church has been an honor in every sense of the word and it is impossible to articulate how much we have loved and will always love the amazing people in this church.
When you accept the calling of being a pastor, you must live in such a way that it honors the mandate. That it honors the church, and that it honors God. When that does not happen, a change needs to be made and has been made in this case to ensure that standard is upheld.
Laura and I and our amazing children have given all that we have to serve and build this church and over the years I did not do an adequate job of protecting my own spirit, refilling my own soul and reaching out for the readily available help that is available. When you lead out of an empty place, you make choices that have real and painful consequences. I was unfaithful in my marriage, the most important relationship in my life and held accountable for that. This failure is on me, and me alone and I take full responsibility for my actions.
I now begin a journey of rebuilding trust with my wife, Laura and my children and taking real time to work on and heal my own life and seek out the help that I need. I am deeply sorry for breaking the trust of many people who we have loved serving and understand that this news can be very hard and confusing for people to hear and process. I would have liked to say this with my voice, to you, in person because you are owed that. But that opportunity I will not have. So to those people, I pray you can forgive me and that over time I can live a life where trust is earned again.
To our pastors Brian and Bobbie, thank you for allowing us to lead, allowing us to thrive and giving us room to have a voice that you have never stifled or tried to silence. Thank you for your grace and kindness especially in this season, as you have done so much to protect and love us through this.
We, the Lentz family, don’t know what this next chapter will look like, but we will walk into it together very hopeful and grateful for the grace of God.
"My view is that to get anywhere in life you have to be anti-social.
Otherwise you'll end up being devoured."
~ Sir Sean Connery, who exemplified James Bond
"Once I gave you power,
all that you could be.
Live into that grace
and follow me."
~ Truthful Grace
“Rich People plan for three generations.
Poor people plan for Saturday night.”
~ Gloria Steinem
Misty Copeland quotes
“Start unknown, finish unforgettable.”
― Misty Copeland
“[He] said don't let them take you over. Walk into the room knowing you are the best. Shoulders back, chin up. Their attitudes will totally change.”
― Misty Copeland
“It's time to write our own story.”
― Misty Copeland
“I may not be there yet, but I am closer than I was yesterday”
― Misty Copeland
“Decide what you want. Declare it to the world. See yourself winning. And remember that if you are persistent as well as patient, you can get whatever you seek.”
― Misty Copeland, Ballerina Body: Dancing and Eating Your Way to a Leaner, Stronger, and More Graceful You
“Know that you can start late, look different, be uncertain and still succeed.”
― Misty Copeland
https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/7155409.Misty_Copeland as of 10/21/2020
God's Answers to Your Prayers:
quote, email from Preaching Today of Christianity Today, 10/21/2020
My Dear Shepherds,
Ever since I staggered through a sermon early in my career on Jacob wrestling with the man/angel/God in Genesis 32:22-32, I’ve been drawn to this mysterious, profound story. One of the vexing puzzles was this: The whole struggle came down to Jacob weeping and begging, “I will not let you go until you bless me,” so I’d expect to hear a blessing, but it seems like we never do.
This is not a one-off story. It is archetypal, repeated in the lives of all those blessed by God. In the upside-down world of his grace, God surrenders his blessing only to those whom he defeats. . . .
God will do what he must to bring us to our knees before him. This happens to every believer, perhaps not because of sin, but always to bless us. C. S. Lewis wrote, “We are not necessarily doubting that God will do the best for us; we are wondering how painful the best will turn out to be.”
Every Christian biography, written, told, or only held silently in our hearts—every single one—has a chapter telling the story of the blessed limp. In his autobiography, Love Hunger, my friend and classmate, David Kyle Foster, wrote how after an amazing saving by Christ and a superb theological education, he could find no place to minister. He writes,
One night, I poured out my heart to God, telling Him that I could not take it anymore. Since He had placed this powerful call on my life, He needed to give it an outlet or just take me home. My heart was weighed down with heaviness, as if an elephant were sitting on it. I cried out, “Lord, I’m literally dying inside.” In His still, small voice, He gently replied, “That’s what’s supposed to be happening.” As soon as He said it, I knew that it was not only true—it was wonderfully true. As if I were looking in a mirror for the first time, I saw that I was full of myself—my ardor, my training, my need to be affirmed. Yes, I needed to die. Otherwise, my service for the Kingdom would be polluted with self rather than being a selfless overflowing of my love for Him.
. . .
Pastor Lee Eclov
Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, my beloved brothers and sisters, be steadfast, immovable,
always abounding in the work of the Lord,
knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
~ 1 Corinthians 15:57-58 ESV/NET
This one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.
~ Philippians 3:13b-15 KJV
The most generous vine, if not pruned, runs out into many superfluous stems and grows at last weak and fruitless: so doth the best man if he be not cut short in his desires, and pruned with afflictions.
—Bishop Hall
A Dictionary of Thoughts, Affliction, Rev. Dr. Tryon Edwards, p. 11.
quote:
Pandemic living
Garten also spends time taking care of herself with yoga via Zoom, walking, working in the garden and taking long drives to the beach with her husband, Jeffrey, in their Mini Cooper. They also have socially distanced cocktail parties in their yard with friends, who bring their own snacks and drinks.
"That was the thing I missed the most, seeing my friends," she says. "And being able to see them from 6 feet apart—it didn't really matter that it's 6 feet away. It's not that far."
Garten wants everyone to remember that during these stressful times many people are facing additional serious issues, such as illness, loss of their jobs or struggling to feed their families.
"I think if we can take care of ourselves and the people around us by feeding them well, and giving them things that feel comforting, I think we'll all be so much better off. Just nourishing people—not just feeding them dinner, but kind of nourishing them psychologically—I think it's a really wonderful thing," Garten says. "And I've always said, cooking for people is the best gift you can give them. And it just shows that you love them and you care about them. And so, I think it's particularly important. It's always important, but it's particularly important now."
"Modern Contessa" by Christina Guerrero, Costco Connection, October 2020, p. 40-41
“In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock.”
“If you would have a happy family life, remember two things – in matters of principle, stand like a rock; in matters of taste, swim with the current.”
"In matters of principle, stand like a rock; in matters of taste, swim with the current. Give up money, give up fame, give up science, give up earth itself and all it contains, rather than do an immoral act. And never suppose that in any situation, or under any circumstances, it is best for you to do a dishonorable thing. Whenever you are to do a thing, though it can never be known but to yourself, ask yourself how you would act were all the world looking at you, and act accordingly."
~ attributed to President Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 - July 4, 1826)
https://www.monticello.org/site/research-and-collections/matters-style-swim-currentspurious-quotation
Comments: It is clear that the quotation came into use at least as early as the 19th century, although when it was used, it was not attributed to a particular author and was often referred to as an “old adage.” It is not clear where the phrase originated from, but there is no proof that Jefferson ever uttered these words. It appears that the phrase became connected to Jefferson around 1973, and from then on, it is almost always attributed to him when quoted - usually in the context of homemaking or education.
~ Elizabeth Huff, June 8, 2011
https://www.monticello.org/site/research-and-collections/matters-style-swim-currentspurious-quotation
“In his will is our peace.”
― Dante, The Divine Comedy
Durante degli Alighieri (c. 30 May 1265 – 13 September 1321) better known as Dante, was an Italian Florentine poet. His greatest work, The Divine Comedy (Divina Commedia), is considered as one of the greatest literary statements produced in Europe in the medieval period, and is the basis of the modern Italian language.
"Happy leaders don’t leave friendship up to chance," writes Arthur C. Brooks in The Atlantic.
"It can indeed be lonely at the top. But loneliness is not a necessary condition of success, any more than unpaid taxes are a condition of making a lot of money. It is just a cost one must face honestly, and manage."
https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2020/08/how-make-friends-lonely-boss-workaholic/615709/
ARTHUR C. BROOKS is a contributing writer at The Atlantic, a professor of the practice of public leadership at the Harvard Kennedy School, a senior fellow at the Harvard Business School, and host of the podcast The Art of Happiness With Arthur Brooks.
"The old are the precious gem in the center of the household."
~ Chinese Proverb
"If nothing is going well, call your grandmother."
~ Italian Proverb
"Grandchildren are the crown of the aged,
and the glory of children is their fathers."
~ Proverbs 17:6
"Grandchildren are a grandparent's link to the future.
Grandparents are the child's link to the past."
~ Unknown
“Some men cannot endure to hear the doctrine of election — I suppose they like to choose their own wives; but they are not willing that Christ should select his bride, the Church. Everybody is to have a free will except God. But let them know that God still exercises a sovereign choice among the sons of men. Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you.’ Blessed be his name, the truth still stands.”
~ Charles Spurgeon, Complete Works, vol.44, Sermon No.2590, “Hearing, Seeking, Finding.”
Jesus gives me a good reason to do the right thing
whether people deserve it or not.
~ Truthful Grace
