Legacy Youth Ministry Resources

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Don't Fish for Forgiven Sins

Corrie ten Boom, a Dutch evangelist who survived a German concentration camp put it this way: "Maybe because the sea is never far from a Hollander?s mind, I liked to think that that?s where forgiven sins were thrown. "When we confess our sins," I said, "God casts them into the deepest ocean, gone forever. And even though I cannot find a Scripture for it, I believed God then places a sign out there that says, NO FISHING ALLOWED." (Found by C.K. Miller in Tramp for the Lord, Corrie ten Boom, pg. 53).

Dead People Still Bite

"Never assume the head of a decapitated snake is safe to handle. Bites from dead snakes are more common than you might think, said Dr. Jeffrey R. Suchard, a medical toxicologist at Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center in Phoenix. Nearly 15% (5 of 34) snakebite victims admitted to that hospital between June 1997 and April 1998 were bitten by dead snakes."

Convicted Killer Finds Peace

Westley Allan Dodd was a convicted killer who had said he'd do it again, a man who once said there was no hope that he'd ever be released from the hideous darkness within his soul. But moments before he was executed, he was allowed to give his customary final words. They came as a shock to many. He said, "I was wrong when I said there was no hope, no peace. "There is hope. There is peace. I have found both in the Lord Jesus Christ." (From the collection of Barry St. Clair)

Oglethorpe to Wesley - "I never forgive..."

General Oglethorpe once said to John Wesley, ?I never forgive and I never forget.? To which Wesley responded, ?Then Sir, I hope you never sin.? (The Friendship Factor, by Alan Loy McGinnis, Augsburg Publishing House, 1979, p. 160) (See Matthew 6:15.)

He Who Angers Conquers

"He who angers you conquers you." -- Elizabeth Kenny

Columbine and God's Image

Two high school students had so much going for them. They came from upper-middle class families. No struggle with poverty. They seemed to have stable homes. Their parents weren't divorced. They had activities like bowling and boy scouts. They were intelligent. So what caused them to walk into Columbine High School and unleash an arsenal of weapons, killing 12 students and a teacher, and wounding many for life? Sure, they were fed up with the bullying, taunting and teasing. But lots of students take abuse from other students without plotting a sinister revenge. I think a root of their problem goes back to their belief system. If they believed in God at all, they despised Him. So to them, people had no great worth in themselves. To them, people were just another species of animal. So what's wrong with taking a few of them out? How we view ourselves and other people makes a tremendous difference in how we treat ourselves and others. (Written by Steve Miller, Facts from Angie Cannon; Betsy Streisand; Dan McGraw; David Whitman; Douglas Pasternak; Chitra Ragavan; James Morrow; Franklin Foer, Why?. Vol. 126, U.S. News & World Report, 05-03-1999, pp 16.)

On Forgiveness and Washing Feet

Forgiveness is the well from which we draw the water to wash others' feet. -- D. Siler

Anger As Holding a Hot Coal

Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one getting burned. --Buddha

Enemies Accumulate

Friends may come and go, but enemies accumulate. --Thomas Jones

Giving Up My Right to Hurt You

Forgiveness is me giving up my right to hurt you for hurting me. --Anonymous

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