Once there was a young minister who kept boring his congregation with sermon after sermon on baptism. Finally church officers instructed him to preach on the subject of the following Sunday. They could see no connection between pills and baptism.

So on Sunday, the young minister announced that would be his topic for the day. "There are big pills and pills," he said, "bitter pills and sweet pills, cheap pills pensive pills. Another pill is the gospill-and that gets my real subject - 'baptism.'

When the day is dark and gloomy

And the fog obscures your view,

And you feel there is no challenge

Waiting anywhere for you;

When it's routine you must follow

Through a dreary weather chart,

And you feel the hand of duty

Like a millstone on your heart;

Face the skies however darkened,

When you ache to turn away

Do the job that lies before you,

Keep your courage one more day.

You can never guess how often

You affect another's life

By the fact you are a doer

Not a quitter in the strife.

Author Unknown

To weep is to risk appearing sentimental.

To reach out for another is to risk involvement.

To expose feelings is to risk exposing our true

self

To place your ideas, your dreams, before the

crowd is to risk loss.

To love is to risk not being loved in return.

To live is to risk dying.

To hope is to risk despair

To try at all is to risk failure.

(Author Unknown)

Napoleon saw Italy; but not the Alps. He had an objective and he knew where he was going. The Alps were simply something to be crossed enroute.

Washington saw the Hessians massed at Trenton. He didn't see the Delaware choked with ice. A frozen river was simply a challenge to be overcome on the way to a victory.

A young man intent on bettering his life and earning a college degree will hold a strong image of "graduation day" in his mind. The exams, long nights of study and hard work that must be done to pay for tuition and room and are simply the price that is paid in exchange for a great reward.

A mother about to give birth has her mind and heart around the baby she will soon hold in her arms. The agony of childbirth is simply something that must be to experience the joy of new life.

Majority of people will always see the obstacles that loom in their path. But the truly successful will see the objectives - the goals, the reason, the hope that lies obstacles.

Those who work through problems reside in the land of success. Those who don't, are lost in oblivion.

Gods' Little Devotional Book for Leaders

After a church service, a little boy told the Pastor, "When I grow up,

I'm going to give you some money."

"Well, thank you," the Pastor replied, "that would be very nice of

you," he smiled, "but why?"

"Because my daddy says you're the poorest preacher we've ever had."

One day Henry Ward Beecher went to purchase a horse. The owner declared, "This horse is perfectly sound. He can go any gait-walk, pace, trot or gallop. He will work anyplace you put him, and he will stand without hitching. He will neither bite nor kick. He, is gentle but full of spirit, goes when you want him to go, and stops when you want him to stop.

Beecher looked the horse up and down with great admiration and then said blissfully, "Ah, if that horse were a member of my church!"

One preacher was known to be an ardent fisherman, but he also was forgetful. He asked the groom, "Do you promise to love, honor and obey this woman?"

"I do," the groom replied meekly.

"Okay," said the preacher, turning to the bride. "Reel him in".

A minister habitually told his congregation that if they needed a pastoral visit, to drop a note in the offering plate. One evening after services he discovered a note that said, "I am one of your loneliest members and heaviest contributors. May I have a visit tomorrow evening?"

(Signed} Your wife

A church member asked a pastor why the preachers from that part of the state were seen gathering at his house the first Monday of every month.

"To tell the truth," answered the sincere pastor, "we exchange sermons."

"Well, don't do it anymore!" warned the lady. 'You're getting stuck every time."

A minister was away on vacation when he learned that one the young women in his church had just been married. He decided to send her a wire of congratulations, and thought immediately of a beautiful Scripture verse. Therefore, he wired simply this message:

PLEASE READ I JOHN 4:18.

The telegraph operator at the other end, however, did not know the difference between I John, the Epistle, and John the Gospel. When she relayed the message, instead of writing, READ I JOHN 4:18, she simply wrote,

READ JOHN 4:18.

When the happy bride received the telegram, she rushed to the Bible to see what message her pastor had sent. Actually I John 4:18 would have been a beautiful message. It reads, "Perfect love casteth out fear." But when she turned to John 4:18, this is what she read: "He whom thou now hast is not thy husband."