Posts by Jim Elliff (Page 29)
What Does Luck Have to Do with It?
Joni Eareckson Tada is one of the most gracious and effective Christians in the world. She has lived with the results of a diving accident that broke her neck during her teen years. At 50 she continues to radiate Christ to a listening world. Joni is known by thousands of Christians, perhaps millions, through her books, radio program, and conference speaking. Once my brother asked Joni how she made it through the difficult battle with her paraplegia. I later heard…
21 Days With God.
A personalized journal through the Gospel of John, available to download and print, Consider using this resource in discipling or for your personal Bible reading. Please note that this file prints front and back on three sheets of paper, folded in half to form a booklet of six pages. Click here to download.
A Valentine Form Jimmy
Valentine’s Day brings back some strange memories for me. I’m especially haunted by the fact that after signing my batch of Valentines on the night before the classroom exchange I would invariably inscribe some with "Form Jimmy." I hated that. I knew the difference between "Form" and "From," but my hand seemed destined to make this mistake at least some of the time. This was alright if the card went to someone with "cooties," but heart wrenching if it went…
Game Turned Shame: I Actually Bought It!
Many moons ago, when I was in college, I went with a few friends to the neighboring city of Hot Springs, Arkansas. At one time there were more millionaires in Hot Springs than anywhere in the country. I was not one of them. We ambled along the streets, ate some food very much improved over our cafeteria fare at college, messed around in the park, went into some stores, and laughed a lot—nothing planned. As usual, I thought of myself…
Destroying the Future
The opposite sex—like any high school or university student, I had dreams of finding just the right one of that variety to spend my life with. In my dreams the standards were reasonable enough—brains, wit, stunning beauty, winning personality, the blindness to think I was great, and an exciting walk with God. But for many of my friends, the dreams turned to nightmares. Sex prior to marriage took them on a helicopter ride that eventually smashed them on the hard…
Dialogue On Christianity
INTRODUCTION John stood staring out the window at the blowing rain as Bryan made coffee. Light glinted off the racing drops like frightened cat’s eyes. “So what brings you out in a storm like this, John?” “My storm,” he said too abruptly. “And what is that supposed to mean?” “It’s something you said.” This seemed melodramatic. He knew he appeared to be foolish, as if he were not strong enough to sort out his feelings, to make logical categories for…
Guidelines for Children
RULE # 1 WE ALWAYS TELL THE TRUTH. "Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who deal truthfully are His delight." Proverbs 12:22 "A lying tongue hates those who are crushed by it, and a flattering mouth works ruin." Proverbs 26:28 (New Jerusalem) "But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life." Revelation 21:27 RULE…
Invincible?
When I was caught for eating a bit of icing from one of the cupcakes planned for the Fifth Grade party, my principal was incensed. "What’s that on your shoulders?" she demanded. I didn’t have a clue what "that" was. She asked again, but finally had to inform me that it was a head with a brain inside. She was sure that any one with a brain encased in a head resting on his shoulders would have better sense than…
October 31st, 1517 Wittenburg, Germany
It was October 31st, 1517 in Wittenburg, Germany. Martin grasped a hammer and a long piece of paper covered with his writing. He walked out into the street and straight over to the castle church door. It was here that community messages were often posted. Martin nailed his 95 points of discussion on the door. He only wanted to lay out his newly discovered views of the Bible to other church leaders in the Medieval Catholic church. He thought he…
The Change of Mind
The young man was dying—without Christ. “I have a habit,” he said, as he looked up from the bed that had been moved into the living room for his last few weeks on earth. “I know that it is sin and that God does not permit it. I want to continue my habit, however, and I honestly don’t intend to stop it. On the other hand, I desperately want to go to heaven. May I become a Christian?” How would…
‘Tis the Season to Be Jolly?
"’Tis the Season to be jolly?" Well, maybe. The business of Christmas, that is, the hard and cold commercial trade of the Thanksgiving to Christmas sales window, is a measure of how well America is doing. It’s the thermometer in our corporate mouths. Needs are created through the media in order to entice the buyer into purchasing more this year than last. No one is to be disappointed at Christmas, after all. The manipulation is as blatant toward children as…
Writing Down Our Thoughts
It is a well-known fact that the spiritually facile New England pastor and revival leader, Jonathan Edwards, was taught by his father to write down almost every new thought he had, a method he practiced throughout his life. His “Miscellanies” are now an invaluable source of wisdom. In his written out thoughts are found the embryonic form for many of his sermons and books. I keep a “Commonplace Book” as well, as so many did in the past. And though…