Jay McCarl
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No Spoilers Here
Sometimes I skip to the end of a book to see how things turn out, and occasionally, instead of a spoiler, I find a game changer. Here’s one. “Your real, new self (which is Christ’s and also yours, and yours just because it is His) will not come as long as you are looking for it. It will come when…
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Food and Happiness
I like food (one look at me and you know) and I like happiness. Apparently, so did C.S. Lewis… “God designed the human machine to run on Himself. He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. There is no other. That is…
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The One-Word Telegram
The following account may or may not be historical. Either way, it’s true. It was Christmas Eve, 1910. General William Booth, the founder of The Salvation Army was an invalid and near the end of his life—it was impossible for him to attend the Army’s annual convention. Someone near the General suggested that Booth send a…
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Do This Twice
Another marvelous prayer. “I am no longer my own, but Yours. Put me to what You will, rank me with whom You will; Put me to doing, put me to suffering; Let me be employed for You or laid aside for You; Let me be exalted for You, or brought low for You; Let me be full, let me be…
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Thank You, Mr. Kimball
In 1858, a Sunday School teacher named Mr. Kimball led a Boston shoe clerk to give his life to Jesus Christ. The Clerk, Dwight L. Moody, became an evangelist. In England of 1879, he awakened the evangelistic zeal in the heart of Fredrick B. Meyer, the pastor of a small church. F.B. Meyer, preaching at…
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Stronger than Coffee
Oruel, a fictional pagan in C.S. Lewis’ book, Till We Have Faces, lashed out at the gods for their fickleness… “I say the gods deal very un-rightly with us. For they will neither…go away and leave us to live our own short days to ourselves, nor will they show themselves openly and tell us what they would have…
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An Incredible Brightness
The world is in trouble, but fret not—the church isn’t. The pressure is on, but it’s been on before. The world even tried to kill Jesus, and look what happened… “Nothing can extinguish it. To the end of time it shall be there and shall always manifest itself, and men must never lose heart because of that.…
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Tribute to the Wise
Holocaust survivor and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Elie Wiesel made a profound observation… “The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it’s indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it’s indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it’s indifference… To remain silent and indifferent is…
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May God Bring Us to This
This man had a way with words… “Oh Sirs, it seems to me that since the foundation of God was laid in agony and bloody sweat, and since God himself became incarnate that he might lay the foundation of holiness in the world, we ought to take heed how and what we build thereon… True godliness…
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How to Be Miserable (and Not)
How to be miserable: “Think about yourself. Talk about yourself. Use “I” as often as possible. Mirror yourself continually in the opinion of others. Listen greedily to what people say about you. Expect to be appreciated. Be suspicious. Be sensitive to slights. Never forgive a criticism. Trust nobody but yourself. Insist on consideration and respect. Demand agreement with your own views on everything. Sulk if people are…
Jay McCarl 