2.1.9 – A Contagious Message

I thought about starting off a little tricky. I was going to ask you if it’s possible to make someone love someone else. Can we “force” love? Can we command love? Our gut-answer to all these questions is “no”.

But wait a minute.

John 15:12
This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

People who know me have become aware that I have love of quotes. Not insurance quotes, but “Quotable Quotes”, to borrow a phrase from Reader’s Digest. I love the pithy little sayings that make me laugh, or cry or—if I can’t avoid it—think.

For instance, Mother Theresa once said, “When I pray, coincidences happen; when I stop, they don’t.” Great line! Most people read it and nod knowingly, seeing the irony therein.

1.25.9 – Telling a Contagious Story

Back in the 1700s, there was a guy named John. He was a sea captain. Captain of a slave ship, in fact. He lived hard, he worked hard, and he drank hard. Hard was probably one of the nicer words people use about him. He trafficked in slaves because there was good money and you didn’t have to take care of the cargo very much. After all, there were plenty more slaves to be had, and they did a fair job of taking care of themselves. Not that he thought of them as human, mind you …

[Inspired by a sermon by Bill Hybels, in conjunction with his study “Becoming a Contagious Christian”.]

For those of us who are fans of college football, this time of the year has a strange sort of anxiousness to it. Sure, the games are over, but we’re wondering if our favorite players are going to declare for the NFL draft.

I just wanted to stand up here and tell you something...
Just between you and me....
It's not what you think.

Seriously. It really isn't.

I mean, I don't know what you are thinking right now, but you can rest assured that it can't possibly be what you think....

Because it isn't about what you think at all.

I heard this on the news this week...
More people need to donate their brains to medical research if cures for diseases like dementia are to be found, UK scientists say.

1.11.9 – A Contagious Heart

Lee Strobel, co-author of the series we’re going through on Wednesday nights (“Becoming a Contagious Christian”) relates a story about a friend of his named John. John had just bought some sunglasses and was walking out of the store when he thought he felt a nudging from God to go back in and talk to the guy behind the counter. He wondered how, and why. After all, he’d already bought what he came for.