Contributed by Curry Pikkaart on Dec 26, 2009
"Margaret Waage wrote of an especially important Christmas eve in her life. She got off her job at noon and stood dejectedly in the crowd waiting for the subway train. She had worked by herself all morning since her fellow workers had been given the day off. Now many people around her were talking
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Presbyterian/Reformed
Contributed by Curry Pikkaart on Dec 26, 2009
In France in the 17th century, St. Vincent found a baby abandoned in the cold. He went to the Sister of Charity and asked them to take care of the baby. But the Mother Superior refused abruptly and said that such children were creatures of sin and were destined by God’s will to die. St. Vincent
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Presbyterian/Reformed
Contributed by Curry Pikkaart on Dec 24, 2009
MARCH OF THE PENGUINS: FELLOWSHIP
The documentary The March of the Penguins follows the emperor penguins of Antarctica on their incredible journey through ice and snow to mating grounds up to 70 miles inland. Narrated by Morgan Freeman, this beautiful film captures the drama of these
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Presbyterian/Reformed
Contributed by Curry Pikkaart on Dec 24, 2009
Howard Hendricks once shared how he challenged a class of seminary students to each write down the names of 2-3 people whom, in their judgment, would never come to faith in Christ. Then they covenanted together to pray every day for those individuals. At the end of the semester 36 of those people
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Presbyterian/Reformed
Contributed by Curry Pikkaart on Dec 24, 2009
Steven Jobs was the founder of Apple Computers. There came a point in time when the company was struggling and he approached John Sculley – who was head of one of the divisions of Pepsi Cola – to come on board and help lead them out of difficulty. Sculley kept resisting and Jobs kept persisting.
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Contributed by Curry Pikkaart on Dec 24, 2009
A poem by Ruth Walsh pierces my heart.
I was naked, and you questioned my lack
Of modesty in my appearance.
I was imprisoned, and you debated
The legal aspects of interference.
I was penniless, and you discussed
Tax-deductable donations from your wealth.
I was sick, and you thanked the Lord,
For
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Presbyterian/Reformed
Contributed by Curry Pikkaart on Dec 24, 2009
A man, I’ll call him Ken, once wrote of a ‘chance’ encounter in his life. As a freshman in high school, he saw a boy from his class walking home from school. His name was Kyle. He had an arm full of books. Ken wondered why anyone would carry home so many books on a Friday. He wrote Kyle off as a
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Presbyterian/Reformed
Contributed by Curry Pikkaart on Dec 24, 2009
When I was in seminary, the administration asked me to go on a recruiting trip back to Central College, from which I had graduated. So one of the professors and I flew into DesMoines, Iowa, where the college chaplain picked us up. He started to drive us to Pella, a trip of about an hour. The three
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Presbyterian/Reformed
Contributed by Curry Pikkaart on Dec 24, 2009
In 1986 we moved from Kalamazoo to Grand Rapids. Sometime later we wanted those slides and began to look for them. They were nowhere to be found. We looked in every box and closet in our house; we went back to Kalamazoo and looked in every closet in the parsonage and the church; we ran
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Presbyterian/Reformed
Contributed by Curry Pikkaart on Dec 24, 2009
IF THEY WERE OUR OWN
If you boy or my girl were in darkness –
Were groping alone in the night,
Soul—weary and helplessly seeking
In vain for a glimmer of light,
Thro’ the dangerous depths of a forest,
Bewildered and frightened and lost,
Would I be at home by the fireside
Demurring and counting
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Presbyterian/Reformed
Contributed by Curry Pikkaart on Dec 24, 2009
Think about a mother who just gave birth to her firstborn. Suppose that as she held her baby in her arms, someone came up to her and said, “How much do you want for the child?” Not only would the mother show no interest, but she would be offended at the thought that this precious child could be
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Presbyterian/Reformed
Contributed by Curry Pikkaart on Dec 24, 2009
A story from the book upon which the old movie “The Bridge on the River Quai” was based, is telling. The Irish Republican Army had a ‘buddy’ system called ‘The Mucker System.’ In this system soldiers agreed to ‘muck’ someone else. That meant the other person was more important than ones self –
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Presbyterian/Reformed
Contributed by Curry Pikkaart on Dec 23, 2009
When my parents had me baptized an infant, they were acknowledging that God would be faithful in working in my life. They did not know what shape or form my life would take, but they knew it would be in His hands and under His guidance. When I made my profession of faith I thought I was laying a
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Presbyterian/Reformed
Contributed by Curry Pikkaart on Dec 23, 2009
I guess I’ve always liked good news. When I was a student at Central College in Iowa, I worshiped at our Campus Church. Each week there was a pretty heavy prayer of confession that was usually preceded by recounting some really bad news stories of the previous week. Eventually a group of us
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Presbyterian/Reformed
Contributed by Curry Pikkaart on Dec 23, 2009
Before Nelson Mandela was released from prison, Archbishop Desmond Tutu stood in front of the South African Embassy in Washington D.C. one afternoon and said, “Those of you inside, are you listening? Do you hear me? You have already been defeated. Do you understand that? You have already lost and
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Presbyterian/Reformed
Contributed by Curry Pikkaart on Dec 23, 2009
There is a community here in the United States where a Christian Church had such blaring music and so many mission trips and so many children and families that people in the neighborhood issued a petition to make the church quieter. They went to a Jewish neighbor and asked him to sign the petition.
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Presbyterian/Reformed
Contributed by Curry Pikkaart on Dec 22, 2009
When that mighty ship sank with a loss of over 1500 passengers, it was referred to as an act of God. Yet the reality is that the Titanic was allowed to sail with only 16 lifeboats – enough for only the ship’s crew - instead of the minimum 48 that had been recommended. If there had been 48 lifeboats
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Presbyterian/Reformed
Contributed by Curry Pikkaart on Dec 22, 2009
Consider also this letter found on a dead American Soldier in Italy during one of the great wars: “Look God, I have never spoken to you; but now I want to say ‘How do you do’, You see, God, they told me you didn’t exist, and like a fool I believed all of this; Last night, from a shell hole, I saw
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