A mighty river does not flow wherever it wants; rather, its course and its shape are determined by its banks. A river without banks is a puddle, a stagnant mass of water with no power to move; a river that jumps its banks is a flood.

As it now stands, students have powerful images of what a perfect body is and pursue it incessantly. But deprived of literary guidance, they no longer have any image of a perfect soul, and hence do not long to have one. They do not even imagine that there is such a thing.

Destiny is not a matter of chance; it is a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for; it is a thing to be achieved.

Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan "Press On" has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.

The heights by great men reached and kept were not attained by sudden flight, But they, while their companions slept, were toiling upward in the night.

Millions long for immortality who do not know what to do with themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon.

A simple rule, to be followed whether one is in the light or not, gives backbone to one's spiritual life, as nothing else can.

Perhaps I would have been more success as a long-distance runner if I had gone into training, and given up smoking and drinking, and kept regular hours.

Lack of will power has caused more failure than lack of intelligence or ability.

The actual experience of God will never really be possible if we are constantly busy with the cultivation of our own personalities by a spurious spirituality.

If someone had told me I would be Pope one day, I would have studied harder.

The harder you work, the luckier you get.

We promise according to our hopes and perform according to our fears.

God may give you seeds but he won't plant them for you.

A couple of months in the laboratory can frequently save a couple of hours in the library.

Bum: Could you spare a couple of bucks? Man: Will you buy booze? Bum: No. Man: Will you gamble it away? Bum: No. Man: Okay, but you gotta come home with me so my wife can see what happens to a man who doesn't drink or gamble…

The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.

In my intellect, I may divide [faith and works], just as in the candle I know there is both light and heat; yet put out the candle, and both are gone.

Avoid idleness, and fill up all the spaces of thy time with severe and useful employment: for lust easily creeps in at those emptinesses where the soul is unemployed and the body is at ease; no easy, healthful, idle person was ever chaste if he could be tempted; but of all employments, bodily labour is the most useful, and of the greatest benefit for driving away the Devil.

The primary paradigm of [time management] is one of control—plan it, schedule it, manage it. Take it a step at a time. Don’t let anything fall through the cracks. Most of us feel it would be great to be “in control” of our lives. But the fact is, we’re not in control; principles are. We can control our choices, but we cannot control the consequences of those choices. When we pick up one end of the stick, we pick up the other. To think we’re in control is an illusion. It puts us in the position of trying to manage consequences. In addition, we can’t control other people. And because the basic paradigm is one of control, time management essentially ignores the reality that most of our time is spent living and working with other people who cannot be controlled.

One can say: "I will, but my body does not obey me"; but not: "My will does not obey me".

"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work."

MY APPETITE IS MY SHEPHERD (POUND 23) My appetite is my shepherd; I always want. It maketh me sit down and stuff myself. It leadeth me to my refrigerator repeatedly. It leadeth me in the path of Burger King for a Whopper. It destroyeth my shape. Yea, though I knoweth I gaineth, I will not stop eating For the food tasteth so good. The ice cream and the cookies, they comfort me. When the table is spread before me, it exciteth me For I knoweth that I sooneth shall dig in. As I filleth my plate continuously, My clothes runneth smaller. Surely bulges and pudgies shall follow me all the days of my life And I shall be "pleasingly plump" forever.

"Every game ever invented by mankind is a way of making things hard for the fun of it."

Unless a man has trained himself for his chance, the chance will only make him ridiculous.

During his 1960 presidential campaign, John F. Kennedy often closed his speeches with the story of Colonel Davenport, the Speaker of the Connecticut House of Representatives: On May 19th, 1780 the sky of Hartford darkened ominously, and some of the representatives, glancing out the windows, feared the end was at hand. Quelling a clamor for immediate adjournment, Davenport rose and said, "The Day of Judgment is either approaching or it is not. If it is not, there is no cause for adjournment. If it is, I choose to be found doing my duty. Therefore, I wish that candles be brought."

The story is told about the baptism of King Aengus by St. Patrick in the middle of the fifth century. Sometime during the rite, St. Patrick leaned on his sharp-pointed staff and inadvertently stabbed the king's foot. After the baptism was over, St. Patrick looked down at all the blood, realized what he had done, and begged the king's forgiveness. Why did you suffer this pain in silence, the Saint wanted to know. The king replied, "I thought it was part of the ritual."

When he was in his mid-eighties, the great cellist Pablo Casals kept practicing his instrument for four or five hours each day. Someone once asked him why, at his age, he still worked so hard. "Because," he said, "I have a notion that I am making some progress."

"Seek freedom and become captive of your desires. Seek discipline and find your liberty."

"Men acquire a particular quality by constantly acting a particular way...you become just by performing just actions, temperate by performing temperate actions, brave by performing brave actions."

"One half of knowing what you want is knowing what you must give up before you get it."

"In order to excel, you must be completely dedicated to your chosen sport. You must also be prepared to work hard and be willing to accept destructive criticism. Without 100 percent dedication, you won't be able to do this."

A new MBA grad was very ineffective in his first job. He just couldn't seem to make any sales One day his boss walks in and says, "I'm giving you a raise." The MBA grad is stunned. "When does it become effective?" "As soon as you do. That's what I want to talk to you about today. Hold out your hands." The boss dumped ten marbles into the man's open hands. "I want you to start every day and put these ten marbles in your right coat pocket. Whenever you visit a prospective client, move one marble to your left coat pocket whether the meeting went well or not. Whenever you have all ten in your left pocket, come back to the office to do your paperwork, and then go home even if it's just 3pm. You know a lot of stuff, but you're neglecting the basics. Move the marbles from one pocket to the other and you'll get your raise soon enough."

· Virginity Pledges Work...For A While: A study published in the American Journal of Sociology reports that teenagers who publicly pledge to remain virgins until marriage delay having sex by about 18 months in comparison with their non-pledging peers. Among those who make such promises, about 50% remained virgins until age 20. Among non-pledgers, 50% were no longer virgins at age 17. While the study admits many factors play into decisions of when to have sex, the study shows that the pledge did in fact add to the delay. At age 15 82% of non-pledgers are virgins, compared with 90% of pledgers. By 18, 32% of non-pledgers remained virgins, while 54% of those who had made pledges had still not had sex. Columbia University sociologist, Peter Bearman says it is "pure pledge effect." The study does point out that when pledgers break their promises and do have sex, they most often do so without any form of contraceptive, since it would be illogical for a student to both pledge abstinence and carry a contraceptive. (AP, January 4, 2001).

Physical exercise is good for you. I have worked out this program of strenuous activities that that will keep you fit as a fiddle. Do each of these at least once daily, with meals. * Beating around the bush * Pushing my luck * Climbing the walls * Swallowing my pride * Passing the buck * Throwing my weight around * Dragging my heels * Jumping to conclusions * Making mountains out of molehills * Running around in circles * Eating crow * Tooting my own horn * Putting my foot in my mouth * Picking up the pieces What a workout! I think I'll exercise some caution now, and sit down.

If you were to rise early every morning, as an instance of self-denial, as a method of renouncing indulgence, as a means of redeeming your time and of fitting your spirit for prayer, you would find mighty advantages from it. This method, though it seem such a small circumstance of life, would in all probability be a means [toward] great piety. It would keep it constantly in your head that softness and idleness were to be avoided and that self-denial was a part of Christianity... It would teach you to exercise power over yourself, and make you able by degrees to renounce other pleasures and tempers that war against the soul.

Only those who try to live near God and have formed the habit of faithfulness to Him in the small things of our daily life, can hope in times of need for that special light which shows us our path. To do as well as we can the job immediately before us, is the way to learn what we ought to do next.

Anyone can lead a "prayer-life" -- that is, the sort of reasonable devotional life to which each is called by God. This only involves making a suitable rule and making up your mind to keep it however boring this may be.

The man who has never had religion before, no more grows religious when he is sick, than a man who has never learned figures can count when he has need of calculation.

There are days when it takes all you've got just to keep up with the losers.

Friday June 14, 2002 I received our digital camera in the mail, and I realized that I had forgotten to order a case with it, so I went case shopping. So Saturday I found one that I liked at the Battlefield Mall in Springfield, MO and picked it up. I took it home and put the camera in it, but it didn't fit. Aagh! So I brought the camera with me, and returned to the mall to exchange the bag. I returned the bag no problem, but couldn't find one that I liked, so I began walking back to my car with the camera around my neck. I heard a funny noise, like someone had just dropped a package that they bought. I was between two vans and I couldn't see anything from where I was, and then I saw this 15 or 16 year old blond kid walking quickly along in front of me. He was looking around and saw me, and so he took off running. My brain wasn't working too quickly that day, so it wasn't until I saw the van across the aisle with the shattered driver side window that it all came together. I looked back at the kid, and he had a purse or something in his hads. By this time he was about a hundred feet away from me. I began fumbling with my camera, trying to turn in on, but I couldn't remember how! The kid got away (he had a friend driving a getaway car), so I called 911 and gave them a complete description of the kid and escape vehicle. I went home thinking. I had everything I needed to stop that kid with me. I didn't know how to use it. I wasn't expecting anything to go wrong. Make spiritual application.

"2 Laws that govern my life: The law of cognition: I am what I think. The law of exposure: My mind will think most about what it is most exposed to."

Sow a thought, reap an action; sow an action, reap a habit; sow a habit, reap a character; sow a character and reap a destiny.

In particular, I had learned that that intensity is crucial for any progress in spiritual perception and understanding. To dribble a few verses or chapters of Scripture on oneself through the week, in church or out, will not reorder one's mind and spirit--just as one drop of water every five minutes will not get you a shower, no matter how long you keep it up. You need a lot of water at once, and for a sufficiently long time. Similarly for the written Word. (I use this as an illustration of worship in the church as well)

In his Turning Point daily devotional on January 24, 2003, David Jeremiah observes, "New York's Joel Sherman is the world's new Scrabble Champion. Using words like vug and helicoid, he beat out Nigel Richards of New Zealand to take first place (and $25,000 in prize money) in last August's international competition. When asked the secret of his success, he simply replied, 'This is all I do.' Sherman, who hasn't held a regular job in ten years, spends all his time playing Scrabble. His life revolves around the board game, and he lives off the prize money he wins. "What does your life revolve around? Or, to put it differently, 'What is the chief and highest end of man?' The Westminster Larger Catechism answers: 'Man's chief and highest end is to glorify God, and fully to enjoy Him forever"

A father noticed that his son was spending way too much time playing computer games. In an effort to motivate the boy into focusing more attention on his schoolwork, the father said to his son, "When Abe Lincoln was your age, he was studying books by the light of the fireplace." The son replied, "Well, when Lincoln was your age, he was The President of The United States."

In the spiritual Iife, the word discipline means 'the effort to create some space in which God can act.' Discipline means to prevent everything in your life from being filled up. Discipline means that somewhere you're not occupied, and certainly not preoccupied. In the spiritual life, discipline means to create that space in which something can happen that you hadn't planned on or counted on.

The great wall of China was built to keep out invading armies. It was huge! In fact, it's one of the seven wonders of the world. The Chinese were successfully invaded three times in the first 100 years of the wall's existence. In none of those instances did the enemy climb the wall, dig under it, or knock a hole in it. Each time they bribed the guards. True strength must flow from within.

Roy L. Smith pointed out, "Discipline is the refining fire by which talent becomes ability."

James Merritt tells the story of Robert Eaglen, who was a deacon in his church in Colchester, England. "He woke up one Sunday morning in January. The ground was blanketed with a foot of snow. He started to turn over and go back to sleep, but he thought to himself, "I'm one of the deacons in my church. If the deacons don't go, who will go?" He put on his boots, hat, and coat and walked six miles to church. He was right. Most of the members did stay home. As a matter of fact, even the pastor didn't show up. Only thirteen people were at church — twelve members and a thirteen-year-old boy he had never seen before. "Somebody said 'Why don't we just sing a little bit and go home. We don't have a preacher.' But Robert Eaglen said 'It's foolish for us to come all this way and not have a worship service.' 'Who's going to preach?' they asked. Impulsively, Robert said, 'I'll preach.' He'd never preached in his life. He got up and did not know what he was going to preach. I'm sure that's happened to some of us on Sunday nights, as well, but he didn't have a clue what he was going to be preaching. In his quiet time the day before he had been reading in Isaiah, so he turned to Isaiah 45:22, "Look to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth.' Later he recalled, 'I preached maybe twelve minutes, and I must have said fifty times 'Look to Jesus.'' It was all he knew to say. 'Look to Jesus.' He got through with saying, 'Look to Jesus' about fifty times. He looked at that little thirteen-year-old boy and said 'Young man, if you'll look to Jesus you'll be saved.' And they had prayer and left. "That boy, years later, wrote these words: 'I did look, and then and there the cloud on my heart lifted, the darkness rolled away. At that moment I saw the sun, I accepted Christ into my heart, and I was born again.' That thirteen-year-old boy was Charles Haddon Spurgeon.

One of the great psychological discoveries of the past century is that your thoughts control your actions. If you want to change the way you act, you must first change how you think. Actually, thousands of years ago, Solomon pointed this out when he wrote, "Be careful how you think; your life is shaped by your thoughts." (Prov.4:23, GN) The Bible says our thoughts influence six areas of our lives: MY INTERPRETATION INFLUENCES MY SITUATION It's not what happens to me that matters as much as how I choose to see it. The way I react will determine whether the circumstance makes me better or bitter. I can view everything as an obstacle or an opportunity for growth - a stumbling block or a stepping stone. "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." (James 1:2-4, NIV) MY IMPRESSIONS INFLUENCE MY DEPRESSIONS In other words, my mind affects my moods, my thinking determines my feelings. If I'm feeling depressed, it's because I'm choosing to think depressing thoughts - about my work, family, or anything else. While you cannot always control a feeling, you CAN choose what you think about - which will control how you feel. "Hear me and answer me. My thoughts trouble me and I am distraught..." (Psalm 55:2, NIV) MY BELIEFS INFLUENCE MY BEHAVIOR We always act according to our beliefs - even when those ideas are false. For instance, as a child, if you believed a shadow in your bedroom at night was a monster, your body reacted in fear (adrenaline, sweat, etc.) even though it wasn't true. That's why it's so important to make sure you are operating on true information! Your convictions about yourself, about life, and about God influence your conduct. "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples." (John 8:31, NIV) MY SELF-TALK INFLUENCES MY SELF-ESTEEM You are constantly talking to yourself unconsciously. When you walk into a room full of strangers, what do you tend to think about yourself? To develop more confidence you're going to have to stop running yourself down! "As he thinks in his heart, so is he." (Proverbs 23:7, NKJV) MY ATTITUDE INFLUENCES MY ABILITY Winners expect to win. Your perception controls your performance. Mohammed Ali only lost two fights in his career. Before both of them, he said something that he hadn't said before other fights: "If I should lose this fight ...." "All things are possible to him who believes." (Mark 9:23, NKJV) MY IMAGINATION INFLUENCES MY ASPIRATION In other words, your dreams determine your destiny. To accomplish anything, you must first have a mission, a goal, a hope, a vision. "Without a vision the people perish." (Proverbs 29:18)

The passenger tapped the cab driver on the shoulder to ask him something. The driver screamed, lost control of the car, nearly hit a bus, went up on the sidewalk, and stopped inches from a department store window. For a second everything went quiet in the cab, then the driver said, "Look mister, don't ever do that again. You scared me half to death!" The passenger apologized and said he didn't realize that a little tap could scare him so much. The driver replied, "You're right. I'm sorry. Really, it's not your fault. Today is my first day as a cab driver. I've been driving a hearse for 25 years." (from Mikey's Funnies)

“Mother, am I a canoe?” asked Joan of her mother. “Most certainly not,” mother emphatically replied. `Whatever makes you ask that?” “You’re always saying you like to see people paddle their own canoe. And since you paddle me so much, I thought I was a canoe!”

"Bravery comes along as a gradual accumulation of discipline." —Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon.

It's time to go on a diet when: You are diagnosed with the flesh-eating virus, and the doctor gives you 22 more years to live. Your driver's license says, "Picture continued on other side." You learn you were born with a silver shovel in your mouth. You go to the zoo and the elephants throw peanuts to you. You put mayonnaise on an aspirin. Your blood type is Ragu. You could sell shade.

In the book The Ascent of a Leader, Bruce McNicol and Bill Thrall tell of a woman who has a dream where she wanders into a shop at the mall and finds Jesus behind a counter. Jesus says, "You can have anything your heart desires." Astounded but pleased, she asks for peace, joy, happiness, wisdom, and freedom from fear. Then she adds, "Not just for me, but for the whole earth." Jesus smiles and says, "I think you misunderstand me. We don't sell fruits, only seeds."

In August, 2003, a study was released revealing that money can't buy happiness. Beginning in 1975, University of Southern California researcher Richard Easterlin surveyed 1500 persons annually and found: Many people are under the illusion that the more money we make, the happier we'll be. We put all of our resources into making money at the expense of our family and our health…The problem is we don't realize that our material wants increase with the amount of money we make. The study discovered happiness was related to quality time with loved ones, good health, being friendly, having an optimistic outlook, exercising self-control, and possessing a deep sense of ethics.

Talk doesn’t cook rice. – Chinese Proverb

Determine never to be idle. No person will have occasion to complain of the want of time who never loses any. It is wonderful how much may be done if we are always doing.

One does what one is; one becomes what one does.

People build most nobly when limitations are at their greatest.

In the midst of great joy, do not promise anyone anything. In the midst of great anger, do not answer anyone’s letter.

Everybody ought to do at least two things each day that he hates to do, just for practice.

If I do not practice one day, I know it. If I do not practice the next, the orchestra knows it. If I do not practice the third day, the whole world knows it.

Men give me some credit for genius. All the genius I have lies in this: When I have a subject at hand I study it profoundly. Day and night it is before me. I explore it in all its bearings. My mind becomes pervaded with it. Then the effort which I have made is what people are pleased to call the fruit of genius. It is instead the fruit of labor and thought.

Either you let your life slip away by not doing the things you want to do, or you get up and do them. -- Carl Ally

Don’t put off for tomorrow what you can do today, because if you enjoy it today you can do it again tomorrow. -- James A. Michener

Never put off until tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow. -- Mark Twain

In the morning fix thy good purpose; and at night examine thyself what thou hast done, how thou hast behaved thyself in word, deed, and thought.

Just do what must be done. This may not be happiness, but it is greatness.

If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing badly.

Winners are those people who make a habit of doing the things losers are uncomfortable doing.

He who cannot establish dominion over himself will have no dominion over others.

Let us train our minds to desire what the situation demands.

Losers have tons of variety. Champions just take pride in learning to hit the same old boring winning shots.

It is easier to suppress the first desire than to satisfy all that follow it.

And the things [his men slaughtering pack animals for food] that were happening had not escaped the notice of Alexander, but he saw that the remedy for present circumstances was his pretense of ignorance rather than his knowing acquiescence.