I have read that when Leonardo de Vinci was forty-three years old, the Duke Ludovinco of Milan asked him to paint the dramatic scene of Jesus' last supper with his disciples.Working slowly and giving meticulous care to details, he spent three years on the assignment....
"He replied, 'If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, "Be uprooted and planted in the sea," and it will obey you.'" -- Jesus (Luke 17:6, NIV)Some time ago I recall having read in the "Reader's Digest" about a company who mailed...
"Keep on sowing your seed, for you never know which will grow - perhaps it all will" (Ecclesiastes 11:6, TLB).When Robert Moffat, Scottish missionary to South Africa, came home to recruit helpers in his homeland, he was greeted by the fury of a cold British winter....
"Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." -- Jesus (Luke 12:15, NIV)Many years ago Sadhu Sundar Singh (1889-1929) said: "While sitting on the bank of a river one day, I picked up a...
"For the Lord disciplines him whom he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives" (Hebrews 12:6, RSV).Noticing that a shepherd in Syria was carrying food to a sheep that had a broken leg, a traveler asked how it happened. "Did it fall into a hole or did some...
"Let us not become weary in doing good: for in due season we will reap, if we don't faint." St. Paul (Galatians 6:9)Had Thomas Edison not been a man of faith, perseverance and determination, we may still be working by gaslight or at least, it may have been many years...
"Then [King] Agrippa said to Paul, 'Almost you persuade me to be a Christian.'" Acts 26:28Years ago Walter took his friend Arthur to see some land in open country where cattle were idly grazing. Walter explained about his dream for developing this area. He told his...