The Week In Words

Posted on July 11, 2011 by Barbara Harper

Welcome to The Week In Words, where we share quotes from the last week’s reading. If something you read this past week inspired you, caused you to laugh, cry, think, dream, or just resonated with you in some way, please share it with us, attributing it to its source, which can be a book, newspaper, blog, Facebook — anything that you read. More information is here.

I hope you’ll forgive the length of some of these: I cut them down but didn’t want to cut too much.

The following is an excerpt from from the Day 12 reading titled “Sanctification by Satisfaction” of Gospel Meditations For Women:

Scripture describes the Christian life as the source of such great joy that temptations lose their appeal. Like the feeling we have after Thanksgiving dinner, we should be so full of Christ that we don’t have room for sin!…Does obeying Christ mean saying no to sinful pleasures? Sure. However, saying no to sin in favor of Christ is like saying no to a scooter in favor of a sports car, or no to peanuts in favor of filet mignon. Life with Christ is a feast, not a famine.” ~ Chris Anderson

I never thought of “fullness” in that way — what a great illustration.

This is an excerpt from an Elisabeth Elliot e-mail devotional taken from a chapter titled “How to Be Free” from All That Was Ever Ours.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a man who epitomized true freedom in his acceptance, for God’s sake, of the prison cell and death, wrote: “If you set out to seek freedom, then learn above all things to govern your soul and your senses. . . . Only through discipline may a man learn to be free.”

Freedom and discipline have come to be regarded as mutually exclusive, when in fact freedom is not at all the opposite, but the final reward, of discipline. It is to be bought with a high price, not merely claimed. The world thrills to watch the grace of Peggy Fleming on the ice, or the marvelously controlled speed and strength of a racehorse. But the skater and horse are free to perform as they do only because they have been subjected to countless hours of grueling work, rigidly prescribed, faithfully carried out. Men are free to soar into space because they have willingly confined themselves in a tiny capsule designed and produced by highly trained scientists and craftsmen, have meticulously followed instructions and submitted themselves to rules which others defined.

This was from a post at ivman:

“We give to God to show Him we think He’s valuable, not because He’s poor..” — Drew Conley

God doesn’t “need” what we have to give, but we need to give it.

I hope you’ll visit some of the other participants as well and glean some great thoughts to ponder. And don’t forget to leave a comment here, even if you don’t have any quotes to share!

The Week In Words: Fourth of July Edition

Posted on July 4, 2011 by Barbara Harper

I wasn’t sure if anyone would be here for the Week In Words or not today, but I figured I’d go ahead and have it for whoever might be here.

I’ve posted this before, but it is one of my favorite Independence Day quotes:

From John Adams’ famous letter of July 3, 1776, in which he wrote to his wife Abigail what his thoughts were about celebrating the Independence Day, with his original spellings:

The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.

You will think me transported with Enthusiasm but I am not. I am well aware of the Toil and Blood and Treasure, that it will cost Us to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States. Yet through all the Gloom I can see the Rays of ravishing Light and Glory. I can see that the End is more than worth all the Means. And that Posterity will tryumph in that Days Transaction, even altho We should rue it, which I trust in God We shall not.

Enjoy your “Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations” today!

Also, a stanza from “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee” stood out to me yesterday as we sang it at church:

Our fathers’ God, to Thee,
Author of liberty,
To Thee we sing;
Long may our land be bright
With freedom’s holy light;
Protect us by Thy might,
Great God, our King.

If you’ve read anything that particularly spoke to you that you’d like to share, please either list it in the comments below or write a post on your blog and then put the link to that post (not your general blog link) in Mr. Linky below. I do ask that only family-friendly quotes be included.

I hope you’ll visit some of the other participants as well and glean some great thoughts to ponder. And don’t forget to leave a comment here, even if you don’t have any quotes to share!

Why Go To Church?

Posted on June 29, 2011 by Barbara Harper

Many people have become disillusioned with organized religion over the years. Some accusations against church are that it seems all form, busyness and programs with little substance or real spirituality, or the people seem cliquish. With the availability of sermons and Bible study aids online, is there any real need to go to a building to hear a man preach? Since Jesus has promised He will be in the midst of two or three gathered together in His name, is it church if those three meet at a coffee shop? Why go to church, anyway? Is it outdated?

I don’t believe so, and here are a few reasons why.

1. Biblical instruction. Hebrews 10:25 admonishes “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.” In some way or another, Christians are supposed to gather together regularly. While Christian fellowship can occur at Starbucks, that can’t really supplant “church” as I hope we’ll see when we consider the other points.

2. Bible “one anothers.” The Bible instructs believers to love one another, forbear one another, bear one another’s burdens, etc. Sure, much of that can take place outside the church walls, but if you are not part of a church you likely won’t know many people with whom to exercise these. And since many of these instructions were written to churches, it seems obvious that’s the main context in which they are to be exercised.

3. Jesus’ example. The Son of God attended the worship services of His day while on earth even though they were far from perfect.

4. God’s gifts to the church. “And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ” (Ephesians 4:11-12). These people, the pastor-teacher especially, exercise their gifts mostly at church: to neglect their ministry is to neglect God’s gift to you. Every believer has gifts God wants to use in ministry, and though ministry can take place outside the walls of church, it’s clear that is one major setting in which they are meant to be used.

5. Consideration. The pastor, if he is a man worth his salt, has spent time studying for the message he will bring to the people. In Acts 6:1-6, the apostles placed importance on their being able to spend most of their time in prayer and the ministry of the Word. For me to lightly esteem his study, preparation, and preaching would be similar to grabbing a granola bar on the way out of the house while ignoring the meal someone has taken time and effort to prepare for me at home. And though I can listen to his messages online, I’m sure he prefers preaching to real live people.

6. The importance the Bible places on church. Search for the word “church” in a Bible search engine and see what you come up with. Sure, some of those verses refer to the church “universal,” or the entire body of Christ, but that entire body won’t meet until Christ returns again. In the meantime, segments of it meet together locally. It is obvious many of these passages refer to local assemblies. Here are just a few verses:

I Timothy 3:15: But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.

Ephesians 5:25-27: Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.

7. To be fed. I Peter 3:1-4intructs church leaders to “feed the flock.” Yes, we should feed ourselves in the Word during the week, but we shouldn’t neglect the “family dinner” available to us every week at church.

8. The church is a testimony. Paul says in Ephesians 3:9-10 that part of his purpose is “to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God.” Somehow God’s interactions with the church display God’s wisdom and power even unto “the principalities and powers in heavenly places.” The church, for better or worse, is also a testimony to the world.

9. Not to miss anything. Every nutritional meal benefits us whether it is particularly tasty or not, but there are some meals that really stand out in our memories. So, too, though I might not remember every single message at church, they all benefit me if they are Scripturally sound. Even so, there are some where God did a very special work in my heart that I would have missed if I just hadn’t felt like going that day and gave in to my flesh. And yes, even though these days I can hear many messages online and God has worked in my heart through those, particularly at times when I could not attend church, there are still those times when God had especially prepared my heart for that particular time and message.

There are some churches that should not be attended: Churches that do not preach the gospel or the whole counsel of God. Unfortunately there are some churches whose foundations are based on truth but whose emphasis has been sidetracked or whose people handle the truth harshly. But there are many good, gospel-preaching churches throughout the country, though none will be perfect because they are all made up of imperfect people. If there are none in your area, perhaps God will use your longings and prayers to begin one.

And what about those cliquish people? Most of the time there aren’t really groups of people who decide they are going to be fast friends and not let anyone else “in.” But many of them have had relationships for years and it will take some time to build up your own relationships with them. Some churches are better at welcoming new people than others (and on a side note, I have to say our current church excels at this), but even if they are not very welcoming, take the initiative. “A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly” (Proverbs 18:24). You’re obviously not going to make friends if you’re not there. And when you are there, don’t sit on the sidelines and wait for people to come to you: mingle, introduce yourself, get involved in some of the ministries, come to some of the fellowships and other events, and talk to people.

When I was in college and attended Mission Prayer Band, I usually prayed for Slavic countries then behind the Iron Curtain. There were so many stories of Christians there and in other countries without true freedom of religion who assembled together despite great risk, because they not only wanted to, they needed to. When I first became a Christian living in an unsaved household, I had that same sense of deep need to be with God’s people. It’s not that we need it any less now: it’s just that we don’t realize because of all of life’s distractions.

I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the LORD.
Psalm 122:1

He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. Revelation 3:22.

I love Thy kingdom, Lord,
The house of Thine abode,
The church our blessed Redeemer saved
With His own precious blood.

I love Thy church, O God.
Her walls before Thee stand,
Dear as the apple of Thine eye,
And written on Thy hand.

If e’er to bless Thy sons
My voice or hands deny,
These hands let useful skills forsake,
This voice in silence die.

Should I with scoffers join
Her altars to abuse?
No! Better far my tongue were dumb,
My hand its skill should lose.

For her my tears shall fall
For her my prayers ascend,
To her my cares and toils be given
Till toils and cares shall end.

Beyond my highest joy
I prize her heavenly ways,
Her sweet communion, solemn vows,
Her hymns of love and praise.

Jesus, Thou Friend divine,
Our Savior and our King,
Thy hand from every snare and foe
Shall great deliverance bring.

Sure as Thy truth shall last,
To Zion shall be given
The brightest glories earth can yield
And brighter bliss of Heaven.

~ Timothy Dwight, 1800

See also The Community of Believers on this blog and Lisa’s 7 reasons why I still go to church.

(Photo courtesy of the morgueFiles.)

This post will be linked to “Works For Me Wednesday,” where you can find a plethora of helpful hints each week at We Are THAT family on Wednesdays, as well as Women Living Well.

The Week In Words

Posted on June 27, 2011 by Barbara Harper

I just have a few this week, but they packed a pretty big punch for me.

Seen on Adam Blumer‘s Facebook status:

“Take care that you do not waste your sorrows; that you do not let the precious gifts of disappointment, pain, loss, loneliness, or similar afflictions … mar you instead of mending you…. There is no failure of life so terrible as to have the pain without the lesson, the sorrow without the softening.” (Hugh Black, early 20th-century pastor)

There is so much there: that our troubles can mar instead of mend us if we let them, that we can endure them without getting what we’re supposed to out of them and thereby “waste” them.

And seen on David McGuire‘s Facebook:

“Winning is great, sure, but if you are really going to do something in life, the secret is learning how to lose. Nobody goes undefeated all the time. If you can pick up after a crushing defeat, and go on to win again, you are going to be a champion someday.” — Wilma Rudolph

One of the most heartening and enlightening sermons I ever heard was in college on the topic of how to deal with failure. I wasn’t failing classes, but I was doing worse than I ever had academically, and that was a serious blow that felt like failure.

Finally, this sobering thought from the June 22 reading of The Invitation by Derick Bingham:

The message that proclaims life to those who believe it is the same message which proclaims judgment to those who disobey it. At the end of the day it is what you do with the Saviour’s word that matters.

I hope you’ll visit some of the other participants as well and glean some great thoughts to ponder. And don’t forget to leave a comment here, even if you don’t have any quotes to share!

The Week In Words

Posted on June 20, 2011 by Barbara Harper

Here are some great thoughts gleaned during the past week:

Seen at Challies:

Did God not sometimes withhold in mercy what we ask, we should be ruined at our own request. —Hannah More

This echoes Psalm 106:15. I am thankful God sometimes says, “No,” though it is hard to hear at the time.

Seen in You Are Responsible For Your Own Actions at the True Woman site:

At the end of the day, we have to leave it to God to right the wrongs in the universe and to deal with others about their issues. They are not our responsibility. Our responsibility is to respond in faith and in obedience to His Word, through the power of His Spirit. That’s what He will hold us accountable for. ~ Nancy Leigh DeMoss

This one really spoke to me because I can tend to fume about “the wrongs in the universe” and other people’s issues. This doesn’t mean we don’t ever speak to someone about something they need to get right or we don’t ever take a stand against injustice, etc. But we don’t need to speak out or take a stand in every little personal disagreement with someone else’s opinion or way of doing something. Sometimes we just have to let it go and let God deal with it in His time.

Quoted in Mine Is the Night by Liz Curtis Higgs, p. 312:

A day of worry is more exhausting than a day or work. ~ John Lubbock, Lord Avebury

Isn’t that the truth?!

And finally, this was from this post at Wrestling With the Angel:

“Everyone matters to God, so everyone matters.”

That takes care of just about everything, doesn’t it? And kind of prejudice, any kind of difference, every kind of person matters to God and therefore should to us as well. We never have the right to treat anyone as a lesser human being.

I hope you’ll visit some of the other participants as well and glean some great thoughts to ponder. And don’t forget to leave a comment here, even if you don’t have any quotes to share! 🙂

The Week In Words and a Giveaway Winner

Posted on June 13, 2011 by Barbara Harper

Here are a few that spoke to me this past week:

Seen at Semicolon:

“When the storytelling goes bad in society, the result is decadence..” ~ Aristotle

That seems a very true development in our society.

From a friend’s Facebook:

“Your children need a relationship with Christ more than they need comforts, sports, education or popularity. You are their primary source for knowing Him.” ~ J Kenney

From the May 30 reading of The Invitation by Derick Bingham concerning John 12:28:

Christ was willing t0 suffer whatever was necessary if only the glory of God would be promoted. If people were to think better of His Father through what they saw in Him, that was what really mattered.

The second sentence struck me as the essence of what it means to glorify God.

From Mine Is the Night by Liz Curtis Higgs, p. 33:

However grim Reverend Brown’s countenance, however dour his sermons, this was where she would spend each Sabbath, finding a secret joy in the holy words themselves.

This was both an encouragement and rebuke to me. I’ve admitted to getting frustrated and discouraged with particular types of preaching that are the speaker’s “take” or thoughts about the text rather than a drawing out and a giving the sense of the text itself, or preaching that is a ranting and raving style. But if I have “ears to hear,” I can take great joy in the Word of God itself that is being presented.

And finally the winner of the giveaway of Warren Wiersbe’s With the Word and a couple of other little surprises from last week’s WIW is Katrina at Callapidder Days! Thanks so much to all who entered!

Don’t forget to leave a comment, even if you don’t have any quotes to share! 🙂

Wednesday Hodgepodge

Posted on June 8, 2011 by Barbara Harper

Joyce From This Side of the Pond hosts a weekly Wednesday Hodgepodge of questions for fun and for getting to know each other.

Here are the questions for this week:

1. Do you and your family enjoy camping? What do you enjoy most/like the least when it comes to family camping? When was the last time you camped?

We camped a good bit when the boys were younger. I think my last camping trip was when I was expecting Jesse. After TM (and now middle age) I would have a hard time getting up from sleeping in a sleeping bag on the ground and would not enjoy hiking in the dark with a flashlight to the bathrooms in the middle of the night. Things I liked: family togetherness without distraction, letting the boys feed bread crumbs to the ducks in the lake, my husband’s camp cooking, the taste of food outdoors, sitting around the campfire at night making s’mores. What I didn’t like: all the preparation beforehand and cleanup and putting things away when you get back home, waking up damp from dew, bugs, not being an outdoorsy sort of girl in the first place, the aforementioned nighttime bathroom hikes, sleeping on the ground. And this might sound irrational, but I also felt a little exposed and unprotected in a tent. Unprotected from what, I don’t know. Bears or crazy people wandering in the woods at night. I like actual walls and doors with locks. Multiple locks. 🙂 Jim took the boys on a yearly father-sons camping trip for a number of years, and they enjoyed that. One year I went out with them for the evening while we ate and visited for a while and then I drove home while they slept at the campsite. We’ve talked about the possibility of RV camping (at least the bathroom would be right there!), but those are expensive and pretty cramped from what I have seen. I could see maybe occasionally renting a little cabin in the mountains or on a beach, but that’s probably way expensive, too.

2. Did you attend a summer camp when you were a kid? Is that a happy or not so happy memory?

I attended Girl Scout camps a few times as a child and then church camps a couple of times as a teen. They were overall happy memories.

3. Over the course of your life, what have you probably spent more time pondering than anything else?

I spent years wrestling with assurance of my salvation.

4. Which of the seven natural wonders of the world would you most like to see? There are many lists of ‘wonders’ but this is the standard natural wonder list-Mount Everest, The Great Barrier Reef, The Grand Canyon, Victoria Falls, The Harbor of Rio de Janerio, Paricutan Volcano and The Northern Lights.

Hmm. I don’t know. Maybe the Northern Lights?

5. What was your first real job?

I think baby-sitting is a real job, and I had a very short stint at a fast food place and a longer one at the bakery department of a grocery store. But my first jobs as a grown-up was at the library at college and then one summer at the bookkeeping department in a bank where my mom was assistant head bookkeeper.

6. Lemonade or Sweet tea…which do you prefer on a hot summer day?

Unsweetened tea. No lemon.

7. What is something that always brings a smile to your face?

Malapropisms, especially in church. There are times when the pastor will unintentionally confuse words with a funny effect, and I just can’t look at my husband when that happens because I know he will probably have caught it, too, and if I look at him and see him smile, I’ll probably laugh at loud. And of course now I can’t think of a good example of one…

8. Insert your own random thought here.

I’ve been thinking we should probably eat more fish, but I don’t eat it often enough to remember which kind I like, and I only know one way to cook it: baked with a little butter, salt, pepper, onion, and garlic powder. That’s fine but I’d like to learn some other ways of making it. What’s your favorite fish, and how do you prepare it?

The Ideal House

Posted on June 7, 2011 by Barbara Harper

(The House Graphic is from Graphic Garden.)

Thirteen years ago our family lived just west of Atlanta when my husband accepted a transfer with his company to western South Carolina. If I remember correctly, we had one long weekend as a family to visit our new town, interview at Christian schools we were considering for the boys, and look for a home. After a flurry of house-hunting, we decided on a home that, at least to me, wasn’t a favorite, but it was the only one that had the rooms we needed for the price we wanted.

I had only seen the house that one time before we moved in, and the first few days in our new place revealed a multitude of flaws I hadn’t seen before and accentuated the characteristics I knew I didn’t like from the start.

We had just come from a newly-remodeled home, but our new house hadn’t been updated in nearly 30 years.

The driveway from our old house led to the side of the house which opened into the kitchen, but in our new house we had to drag groceries from the car through two rooms and up seven steps to get to the kitchen.

We came from a house that had three bathrooms to a house that had 1 1/2 baths, which made morning showers more complicated. Plus the old house had a master bathroom: the new house didn’t.

The old house had a carport: the new house didn’t.

The tinkering of the former owner which we had admired turned out to be not the best quality work.

The living room had a wallpaper mural on one wall which my sons loved but I hated.

The kitchen linoleum had a blue and pink design, which I loved, but blue and orangey-peach flowers on the wallpaper. Peach and orange are some of my least favorite colors. Just the presence of that color dismayed me, but the pairing of orangeish wallpaper flowers with pink floor design jarred me.

Red is another of my least favorite colors, and the family room carpet was a red and black plaid (with burn holes from the fireplace), which definitely did not go with my blue and pink plaid furniture.

Every house we had lived in before had either an open space or woods behind us, but this house was surrounded on all sides by other houses.

Certain times of the year when the tress were less leafy, from my kitchen window I could see straight into the family room of the house behind us where the neighbor sat in his recliner.

The kitchen was very small with inadequate storage: my husband had to put shelves in the living room coat closet to handle the overflow from the kitchen, and it was very difficult for more than one person to be in the kitchen at a time.

The dining area that seemed cozy when we looked at the house was actually cramped with our table and chairs.

It may not sound so bad to others, but, honestly, the first or second day on our new home, I shut myself in the bathroom and just cried, overwhelmed and dismayed. My husband and I had discussed some of the work that needed to be done, but I tried not to let him know the depth of my discouragement at the time because I didn’t want to discourage him and because we were committed to the house for the time being anyway.

We ended up living in that house for twelve years. Gradually we repainted, replaced wallpaper and carpet, and got the house cosmetically more to our liking. We could never do anything about the crowded subdivision or the small kitchen and dining area: even if we could have afforded a major remodel to enlarge those rooms, that side of the house was nearly up to the property line as it was: there was no room to expand. And for years I planned my grocery shopping to coincide with picking the boys up from school so they could help cart all the groceries upstairs.

As we prepared to move from this least favorite of houses, once again due to my husband’s work, I reflected that most of my children’s growing-up years took place in that house. The boys were almost 14, 11, and 5 when we moved in there; they were 26, 23, and almost 17 when we left. Among their memories will be Jeremy and Jason finally having their own bedrooms, playing on the trampoline with friends, the “bamboo forest” nearby, riding mattresses down the stairs, helping with the house projects, celebrating high school and college graduations of the oldest two, the first serious girlfriend, engagement, and marriage of one, twelve years of birthdays and Christmases and board games and pizza and movie nights, visits from friends and relatives. I think once we had as many as ten people crowded around the table. They likely won’t remember as much about the particulars of the house as they will the time spent there. Many of their “remember when” stories will have occurred at that house. They won’t remember the house as much as they remember the home.

I did have to wrestle with contentment with my home often and remind myself that we were very fortunate to have such a home. But we did learn from our earlier house-hunting experience when it came time to move again. We took our time, made multiple trips to our new town, visited many houses and took multitudes of pictures to remind ourselves what the houses looked like. Our realtor was very patient with us! We did learn that there really is no ideal home: we liked the bathrooms in some, the kitchen in others, the view of others, but no one had all the best features we wanted. But we found one that we love that we’re settling into very cozily. We won’t have quite the same memories of boys growing up here that we did there, but we’ll have memories of young men coming back home to visit, and, Lord willing, bringing their expanding families with them. We have a couple of years of savoring the youngest’s last years at home before getting adjusted to an empty nest. But I trust whatever house we live in, our family will always have fond memories of home.

This post will be linked to “Works For Me Wednesday,” where you can find a plethora of helpful hints each week at We Are THAT family on Wednesdays, as well as Women Living Well.

The Week In Words…and a Giveaway!

Posted on June 6, 2011 by Barbara Harper

Here are a few that spoke to me this past week:

I saw this on Lisa‘s sidebar of her Twitter feed:

If you understand that God is using all the difficulties you face to perfect you, you’ll be at peace. It’s not all for nothing. ~ John MacArthur

That does help to know God has a purpose in everything He allows, and this is at least one of them.

The next few are from The Invitation by Derick Bingham, all concerning John 12.

From the May 30th reading about Martha serving as many as seventeen people:

[Formerly] Martha was distracted by her serving. Now, she isn’t. She is now serving as wholeheartedly as ever but not to the detriment of ignoring what God wants to say to her.

May it be true of all of God’s Marthas.

From the May 31 reading concerning Mary’s anointing Christ’s feet with a costly ointment:

If we have not what the Bible calls “first love” for Christ we will do more harm than good by the defence of the Christian faith. People have risen in the history of the church with a zeal for truth but because there is no first love for Christ behind it, their zeal narrow into hate. All service for Christ that is not the outgrowth of love for Him is worthless. Activity in the King’s service will not make up for neglect of the King.

There’s a lot in that one, but what particularly grabbed me was the thought of zeal for truth with no love doing more harm than good. I’ve seen people like that, and I believe that’s true. And then the last statement convicts as well: how easy it is to be busy in service and drift away from that first love.

From the June 1 reading commenting on Judas’s disparaging remarks concerning Mary’s act:

If you wait until everybody commends and praises you, then you will never do any good in this world.

True: there will always be naysayers.

Now, as for the giveaway I mentioned in the title. 🙂 I just realized last week that I missed the one year anniversary of hosting The Week In Words. It was begun by Melissa at Breath of Life, and when she had to set it aside I asked if I could take it over, and in May I had been hosting it for a year. And an anniversary is a nice time for a giveaway. One source I’ve shared many quotes from is Warren Wiersbe’s With the Word, a book of short commentary on every chapter in the Bible, so I would like to give away one copy of that book…and I may include a couple of other little surprises as well. If you’d like to be included in the giveaway, just leave a comment on this post, and I’ll announce the winner at the next Week In Words next Monday morning. (You don’t have to leave a quote to enter, but if you have one, please do share it as well! All comments will be entered in the drawing, so if you comment but you are not interested in the book, please let me know. If you already have a copy, this might make a nice gift for someone else.)

Don’t forget to leave a comment, even if you don’t have any quotes to share! 🙂

The Week In Words

Posted on May 30, 2011 by Barbara Harper

In honor of Memorial Day:

Posterity: you will never know how much it has cost my generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make good use of it. ~ John Quincy Adams

Seen at Semicolon:

“I know now, Lord, why you utter no answer. You are yourself the answer. Before your face questions die away. What other answer would suffice?” ~ C.S. Lewis, Till We Have Faces

This reminds me of Job’s response to God’s questions.

From a friend’s Facebook:

“Lose your cool, lose your cause; before you speak, take a pause.” – Matheny

Wise advice!

Seen at Challies:

Satan, like a fisher, baits his hook according to the appetite of the fish. ~ Thomas Adams

From an Elisabeth Elliot e-mail devotional:

It is the mark of a mature man that his sense of responsibility takes precedence over his own feelings. It is a mark of godliness that he acknowledges God’s care of all men, not only of himself.