Illustrations Archives

• Love, Sacrifice  (November 1, 2007)
  According to a recent news story, a man in Bakersfield, Calif. began walking 150 miles to Los Angeles to prove his love...
• Hope  (November 1, 2007)
  The New Book of Lists claims that the Cape of Good Hope is a misnomer. When Portuguese explorer Bartholomeu Dias came around the southern tip of Africa, he found the sea so rough that he called it the Cape of Storms...
• Eternal Life  (November 1, 2007)
  Sir William Russell was sentenced to death and while on the scaffold, he handed his watch to a friend and said, ?I shall not need this any longer. From now on I shall be dealing with eternity.? The truth is that all of us, every day, are dealing with eternity.
• Compassion  (November 1, 2007)
  Senator and presidential candidate John McCain tells of an experience he had as a POW in North Vietnam. At the infamous prison called the Hanoi Hilton, McCain had been tied up in a way to create maximum pain...
• Christmas, Gifts  (November 1, 2007)
  An African boy listened carefully as his teacher explained why Christians give presents to each other on Christmas day. ?The gift is an expression of our joy over the birth of Jesus and our friendship for each other,? she said...
• Christmas  (November 1, 2007)
  A little girl, dressed as an angel in a Christmas pageant was told to come down the center aisle. The child asked, ?Do you want me to walk or fly?? You feel as though she almost could have flown. Don?t ever lose the wonder and mystery of Christmas...
• Baptism  (October 30, 2007)
  A mother looked out a window and saw Johnny playing church with their three kittens. He had them lined up and was preaching to them. The mother turned around to do some work, but soon she heard meowing and scratching on the door...
• Work  (October 29, 2007)
  There is an old fable from Aesop about a man who called his sons to his sick bed. "I am about to die," he said. "In my vineyard lies a treasure. Dig and you will find it." Not long after that, the man dies. The sons busily went to work digging in the vineyard. After they finished their repeated digging, they concluded there was no ...
• Spiritual Growth  (October 27, 2007)
  "The devil will let a preacher prepare a sermon if it will keep him from preparing himself."
• Assumptions, Confusion  (October 23, 2007)
  It was the first day of school. As the principal made his rounds, he heard a terrible commotion coming from one of the classrooms. He rushed in and spotted one boy, taller than the others, who seemed to be making the most noise...
• Recognition  (October 18, 2007)
  One day the great Italian Renaissance artist Michelangelo happened to overhear a group of people admiring his Pietą, a statue of Christ on His mother's knees after His death on the cross. One man attributed the work to another sculptor, much to the chagrin of Michelangelo, who took particular pride in the Pietą. Returning to the sculpture after dark that evening, Michelangelo carved his name on it so that no similar mistake would occur in the future...
• Reading, Learning  (October 14, 2007)
  "He who no longer reads should get out of the ministry."
• Gullibility, Cleverness  (October 10, 2007)
  A fisherman from the city was out fishing on a lake in a small boat. He noticed another man in a small boat open his tackle box and take out a mirror. Being curious the man rowed over and asked, "What is the mirror for...
• Proverbs, Humor  (October 7, 2007)
  A first grade school teacher in Virginia presented each child in her classroom the first half of a well-known proverb and asked them to come up with the remainder of the proverb...
• Tolerance  (October 4, 2007)
  Tolerance is the virtue of people who don?t believe in anything anymore.? (G.K. Chesterton)
• Improvement, Pessimism  (October 1, 2007)
  Pastor Joe shocked the congregation when he announced his resignation from the church and a planned move to another church...
• Vacation, Rest  (September 28, 2007)
  According to the book Work to Live,if you live in the following nations, a certain num­ber of vacation days are mandated by law: Spain: 30 France: 30 Ireland: 28 Japan: 25 Belgium: 24 Norway: 21 United Kingdom: 20 Germany: 18 Canada: 10 United States: 0
• Self-esteem  (September 1, 2007)
  According to a recent ?Ripley?s Believe it or Not? column, a man named Nicael Holt of Australia sold himself for $5,875...
• Promises  (September 1, 2007)
  In the latter days of the Vietnam War, an American Colonel named Earl Woods made a promise...
• Priorities  (September 1, 2007)
  In Reed, North Carolina, you will find the Reed gold mine. It was first excavated in 1799 when Conrad Reed discovered a strange rock on the Reed farm...