Making the Most of One String

by Mike Riley The story is told of Italian violinist Niccolò Paganini (1782-1840), who, as he played a challenging piece of music before a large audience, a string on his violin snapped — yet he continued to play, improvising beautifully. Then, without warning, two more strings broke, and he continued the composition playing with only…

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The Power of Perseverance

by David Gibson Bois d’Arc endures. That’s why the early settlers in this part of Texas found this practically rot-proof wood so useful for fence posts and foundation blocks. Hang in there! God loves people who stay the course day after day, year after year, no matter what. Marriages and congregations thrive when they possess…

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Why Perseverance Is so Important

While searching for inspirational YouTube videos, I was impressed by how many of them encourage viewers to persevere despite major obstacles, failures, and disappointments. Perseverance means persistence, steadfastness, endurance, holding on, standing firm, tenacity, stick-to-it-iveness, keeping on keeping on, stamina, grit, hoeing your row to the end, staying the course, crossing the finish line. What is…

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The Christian’s Attributes

by Jefferson David Tant “Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. For if these qualities…

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Learning to Fly

by Jefferson David Tant Among the many things that I have learned from my work in Jamaica are the “Lively Choruses” that they love to sing. Here is one: ‘Tis easy to smile, when life flows along like a song, but the man worthwhile, is the man who can smile, When everything goes dead wrong.”…

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Press On! Press On!

by George Slover “Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise” (Hebrews 10:35-36). During my boyhood days, we spent many hours on a lake enjoying the outdoors with boating, camping, swimming,…

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Never Give Up

by Jeffrey W. Hamilton He first contacted me because he was struggling with sexual sins. Conversations were not the greatest because English was his second language and I could not speak his. There was also a cultural gap because he only knew the Orthodox church and its teachings. It was also frustrating because he would…

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Is Jesus a Bad Teacher?

by Jeremy Crump Have you ever had a teacher that just wouldn’t give you a straight answer? I remember a math teacher I had in high school who I’d ask for help and instead of solving the problem for me, she’d give me some hints and then send me back to my seat to work…

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Making Bricks of Mud

by Robert F. Turner Paul was set upon by a mob and then dragged from their hands by the police. Falsely charged, he spent two years in Jewish prisons and was then sent to Rome to appear before Caesar. His traveling days ended, and threatened with death by savage beasts (II Timothy 4:17), we could…

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Pressing On

https://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/2015Fall8PressingOn.mp3 by Brace Rutledge 2015 Fall Meeting

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Do Not Grow Weary

by Joel Moore It was 2007 and I was in a very rural part of the southernmost state of Mexico: Chiapas. My dad and I had been in the car all day (or, at least, what seemed like all day), had preached at two churches, and spent time with the Christians in each place. Finally,…

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Don’t Quit

by Bubba Carrier The first time I tried to march and play drums at the same time, I was terrible. When I concentrated on playing a steady beat, I marched out of step; when I focused on marching in line, I played off beat. After the first week, I went to the band director and…

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