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Rusty Russell • Illustration • • 8 views
Well, you can really increase your desire for God in the same way you increase your hunger for “real” food. I remember my first encounter with weight watchers in my twenties. I had put on a little “wedding weight.” You know, you get married and in the first five years of marriage you gain about 20 pounds.…
Rusty Russell • Illustration • • 17 views
Joey Lee was in the race of his life—the 150-mile Marathon Des Sables, across the Moroccan Sahara Desert. On day four, Lee was still running, though other runners had already been airlifted out after surrendering to the heat or to physical exhaustion. About 80 miles into the race, the air pockets in…
Rusty Russell • Illustration • • 31 views
Let me show you how this works. This whole connection between pride and joy comes into play when a believer is confronted with some opportunity of obedience to God. A couple of weeks ago, those of you who were in the first service when I preached on guilt heard me talk about the top ten ways to know…
Rusty Russell • Illustration • • 2 views
One modern philosopher admitted, “I want atheism to be true … It isn't just that I don't believe in God, and, naturally, hope that I'm right about my belief. It's that I hope there is no God! I don't want there to be a God; I don't want the universe to be like that."”
Rusty Russell • Illustration • • 2 views
The story of General George Washington is quite an amazing one. He was, hands down, the most important figure in the revolution and independence of this country. He stuck it out when things were bleak. In fact, there was a period of time when Washington was the Head General of a group of states which…
Rusty Russell • Illustration • • 5 views
A preacher and a soap maker went for a walk together. The soap maker said, “What good is religion? Look at all the trouble and misery of the world! Still there, even after years—thousands of years—of teaching about goodness and truth and peace. Still there, after all the prayers and sermons and teachings.…
Rusty Russell • Illustration • • 19 views
In an article for The Wall Street Journal, writer Leonard Mlodinow shares a funny story from the life of baseball great Joe DiMaggio: It was the summer of 1945, and World War II had ended. Former soldiers, including famous baseball stars, streamed back into America and American life. Yankee slugger Joe…
Rusty Russell • Illustration • • 25 views
In the fifth century, a monk named Telemachus wanted to live his life in pursuit of God, so he lived alone in the desert praying, fasting, and meditating. That was the custom, of his day. Truly spiritual people went out to be totally alone in the desert so that they could give themselves fully to God.…
Rusty Russell • Illustration • • 5 views
I’D RATHER DIE WHILE I’M LIVING THAN LIVE WHILE I’M DEAD I WANT TO LIVE HAPPILY EVER AFTER EVERY NOW AND THEN.. THE WEATHER IS HERE, WISH YOU WERE BEAUTIFUL. All of these truisms were the creation of that “dock-of-the-bay” philosopher, Jimmy Buffet. While I surely there are better sources of truth, I…
Rusty Russell • Illustration • • 255 views
You see, finally and at last, it is this decision to focus our worship upon God alone which restores our perspective. Failing that, you begin to view your world through the lens of circumstance which will ultimately disappoint you. Most of you have heard the legend of the Taj Mahal. In fact I’ve told…
Rusty Russell • Illustration • • 216 views
Worship songwriter, Brian Doerksen writes, The gathering of the church is meant to be a number of things: a hospital to heal the sick and wounded; a family where everyone is accepted; a school where we are taught the Word of God; and an army that engages and defeats the Enemy to see the kingdom of God…
Rusty Russell • Illustration • • 153 views
In his book Humilitas, pastor John Dickson illustrates the beauty of humility in the life of Sir Edmund Hillary. In 1953 Hillary conquered Mount Everest with his Sherpa friend and guide, Tenzin Norgay. Consequently, in that same year Hillary was knighted; in 1985 he was made New Zealand's highest commissioner…
Rusty Russell • Illustration • • 5 views
May Tuohy, a seventy-year-old known for her general grouchiness, called the police about her neighbor who was sunbathing in the nude. “I don’t see anything,” said the police officer, looking out her window. “Of course not,” said the woman. “You have to stand on this chair.”
Rusty Russell • Illustration • • 223 views
One missionary writes that while he was serving in Paraguay, a Maka Indian by the name of Rafael would come and sit on his porch. He was inside eating, so he went out to see what Rafael wanted. When he asked, Rafael just said, “Ham, henek, met.” He didn’t get a lot out of that, even though he understood…
Rusty Russell • Illustration • • 26 views
My grandson’s birthday was July 10. He was two, and yes, sometimes he’s terrible, but I love him. I call him “fast and furious!” Well, he came in late on Friday night and we played all day on Saturday, part of Sunday (when I wasn’t at the church) and then on Monday. All too quickly, Monday afternoon…
Rusty Russell • Illustration • • 12 views
A college-aged Christian named Angie wrote of her encounter with an international student just before Christmas, 2006: I had a divine appointment on the flight from Chicago to Lincoln sitting next to a 19-year-old Saudi Arabian guy, Ali, who was on his way to begin at the University here in Lincoln….…
Rusty Russell • Illustration • • 20 views
I must confess that God is still growing me in this area and I have a long long way to go. I have, however, met other pastors who seemed to really “be in step.” When I was a little kid living in Jacksonville, N.C., my dad pastored the “First Church” in that town. We would often go out in the country,…
Rusty Russell • Illustration • • 48 views
Though it has not been scientifically proven, feats of what psychologists call “hysterical” strength do occur. In 2006 in Tucson, Ariz., Tim Boyle watched as a Chevrolet Camaro hit 18-year-old Kyle Holtrust. The car pinned Holtrust, still alive, underneath. Boyle ran to the scene of the accident and…
Rusty Russell • Illustration • • 15 views
Pat Novak was a hospital chaplain intern who discovered the great power of God’s forgiving grace. He was making his rounds one summer morning when he was called to visit a patient admitted with an undiagnosed ailment. John was a man in his sixties who was not responding to treatment at all. His tests…
Rusty Russell • Illustration • • 10 views
Gordon MacDonald spoke of this in his chapter in the book, Mastering Personal Growth. He wrote that the older he became the more he realized his condition as a barbarian loved by his Father. He said that this may be the most important insight that comes with aging. Almost all old people who are growing…
Rusty Russell • Illustration • • 8 views
[Dr.] Leon Bender became frustrated when he took a South Seas cruise and observed that the crew was more diligent about hand-washing than the staff at his own hospital. Frequent hand-washing by doctors and nurses is one of the best ways to prevent patient infections, and studies estimate that thousands…
Rusty Russell • Illustration • • 18 views
One runner learned this when he was competing at the Pennsylvania Relays. He was running a relay and was the lead-off man in the second lane. In the first lane was record holder for the 100-meter dash for prep school runners at the time. This guy also held a record for arrogance because when he got to…
Rusty Russell • Illustration • • 4 views
Some of you may not know that my undergraduate and one of my graduate degrees was in the field of music. I had a lot of training in music education because them that can do and them that can’t teach. I was never a great performer, so I hoped to perpetuate my mediocrity by teaching others! I always admired…
Rusty Russell • Illustration • • 104 views
There are so many good ones. Lottie Moon was a Southern Baptist missionary in the late 1800's and early 1900's. When she returned to China as a missionary after her second furlough in 1904, her area of China was impoverished and undergoing a famine. She begged for more money to help, but the mission…
Rusty Russell • Illustration • • 9 views
If you had been reading the July 22, 1776 edition of the Boston Gazette, you would have come across a notice that read: Deserted from my company, in Col. Craft’s battalion of colony train of artillery, Michael Carrick, 31 years of age, about 5 foot 8 inches high, with a cut over his right eye brow, well…