Parable

When I was a boy, I practically lived in the pool during the summer. I loved to go to the pool and spend the entire afternoon swimming races against the other kids, diving for coins and playing endless games of Marco Polo. Some days, one of the kids would bring a beach ball [...]

Weeds have taken over my lawn.    If you were passing by my house, you wouldn’t notice the weeds. I keep my lawn mowed and edged and tidy, so from outward appearances everything looks fine and dandy, even nice. Sort of.  But if you took the time to really look at the lawn you would see [...]

Digging into the archives again. I wrote this over five years ago when I was at Wheaton College. It’s a parable… Once there was a great king who had three servants. The King had big plans for the servants and so he gifted them in different ways to accomplish their different task. To the [...]

In the Arms of Elders: A Parable of Wise Leadership and Community Building (Paperback)By William H. Thomas Buy new: $14.95$10.1732 used and new from $8.00 Customer Rating: First tagged “eldercare” by Meredith Rutter [...]

Thanks to David for sending us this…it’s a great story about poor management at your typical American automaker. A Japanese company (Toyota) and an American company (Ford/GM/Chrysler, take your pick) decided to have a canoe race on the Missouri River. Both teams practiced long and hard to reach their peak performance before the race. On the [...]

The Parable Of The Pipeline by Burke Hedges Once upon a time long, long ago, two ambitious young cousins named Pablo and Bruno lived side by side in a small Italian village. The young men were best buddies, and big dreamers. They would talk endlessly about how someday, someway, they would become the richest men in the village. They were both bright and hard working. All they needed was an opportunity. One day that opportunity arrived. The village decided to hire two men to carry water from a nearby river to a cistern in the town square. The job went to Pablo and Bruno. Each man grabbed two buckets and headed to the river. By the end of the day, they had filled the town cistern to the brim. The village elder paid them one penny for each bucket of water. "This is our dream come true!

A Heavy Tomb I ONCE SAW THE SON of a rich man, sitting on the magnificenttomb of his father.He was quarreling with another boy, the son ofa dervish, and saying:Look at the splendor of my father's tomb.See the marble pavement,the turquoise bricks! And inside, the stone coffin is covered with anelegant epitaph.Compare all this to your father's grave - a couple ofbricks sprinkled with dust!'The dervish boy listened and said:By the time your father has been able to get out from under there,mine will long have been in Paradise.Kindly leave your comments on these Sufi Parables

Cure for a Sick SonWHAT ELSE CAN I DO? Said the rich man, turning away in despair from the bed on which his son lay sick. His friends sadly shook their heads. `The only thing left now, 'they said ,`is either to recite the Koran through from beginning to end, or make a sacrifice. Then God may have pity.' The rich man considered. `It will have to be the Koran, then,' he said, `for it is near at hand. My wealth is all in my folks which are some distance away; by the time a sacrifice could be arranged it would be too late.' A passing holy man commented: `The Koran is near to him, certainly, being on the tip his tongue. But his gold is nearer, being in his heart.'"Kindly put your comments on these Parables."

Once there was a stock broker named John who got fed up of his job, submitted his resignation letter and left the company he’s working with for good. John read a lot of testimonials from bloggers making tons of money online and he want to give it a try. Just yesterday, he got hold of the latest eBook from “JavaMan”, [...]

The Man Who Became a Slave ‘Got You!’ cried the merchant, pouncing in the triumph on a raged unkempt man in the market place. I’ll teach you to run away, slave! Put the chains on him, men. Now fellow, you’ll pay for all the time and trouble I’ve had recapturing you.’ They dragged the unfortunate man off to Baghdad where the merchant was having himself a large house built. The slave was put to the hardest and the dirtiest labor. He struggled to dig foundations in clay. He dragged the stone heaved the wood. A year passed. Then, one morning, an abject starving wretch fell on his knee before the merchant. ‘Forgive me master’, he begged. ‘I am your slave. I ran away a year ago.’ The merchant gasped in astonishment. ‘But if you are my runaway slav

One of my parishioners showed me this story in yesterday's Johnson City Press, 'Tis better to give: Living out parable of giving, congregation receives joy in return. What a great idea. This made my Christmas.

By: Saleem RanaThe Great Library of Alexandria once held the wisdom of the ancient world. When it burned down, billions of invaluable thoughts perished. One book, however, survived. Since it wasn't considered a valuable book, a poor man bought it for a few coppers. He was not very literate and thought the book dull. The only thing of interest to him was a thin strip of vellum. Written on it was the secret known as the "Touchstone."The touchstone, the writing on the vellum strip explained, was a small pebble with magical powers. The pebble could turn any common metal into pure gold. Unfortunately, this pebble looked exactly like any other on the shores of the Black Sea. But the secret was that the touchstone would feel extraordinarily warm. Ordinary pebbles, by contrast, were relatively cold.In a matter of days after purchasing the book, the man had hastily sold his few belongings. He used the money to buy some simple supplies for his travel to the shores of the Black Sea.He began test

According to the late Bill Bright of Campus Crusade, only two percent of Christians regularly share their faith with others. In Matthew and Luke, Jesus uses the parables of the talents to clearly instruct Christians. He expects us to faithfully increase the treasure he gives us. What is Christ’s greatest treasure? Salvation! More: [...]

Here's the link to the original post "The Parable of the Sower""Does it mean that those who are not yet deeply rooted in Christ, who are still babes in Christ, are not going to heaven until they become more firmly grounded in Him?""But what about those who die when they are still babe's and have not yet become firmly rooted? What is your definition of firmly rooted? "PROFESSIONProfession: The act of professing; avowal; a declaration, whether true or false. http://www.dictionary.com/The Parable of the Sower defines four types of people who have heard the Word of God (seed). Three of them are "hearers", producing no "fruit" as a result. One is a "doer", producing "fruit" as a result. The fact that those who profess belief in Christ is categorized along with the unbeliever says a LOT in that fact alone. (The category of being unfruitful.) While their profession may be genuine in and of itself, it does not necessarily mean their faith is genuine as well. The book of James is a wonderful

Can a Christian/Believer lose their promise of eternal salvation if they have abandoned their faith in Him? I have heard this question enough times to get me digging in my Word for an answer. This is a tough question, one where many a Christian have various opinions and answers. So I will turn to the only trustworthy source I know. The spirit of truth which guides me into all truth. John 16:13 And the Word of the Living God.THE HEARERSI am convinced that those who have called themselves Christian and have turned away from Christ, were never truly Christian at heart! Please read Matthew 13:1-9 prior to reading the rest of this post. The parable of the sower can give insight into the differences between "hearers" and "doers" of the Word! The hearers are described in this parable in verses 19-22When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way sid

As you know Dennis Kucinich' campaign slogan is the Jesus Christ-like paradox, "strength through peace." What you didn't know was that he only decided on his version of the WWJD bumper sticker after a long selection process. Asymmetric has acquired a list of the top five slogans rejected by the Kucinich campaign: 1. Width through height. 2. Losing weight through overeating. 3. Victory through surrender. 4. More efficient health care through government management. 5. Freedom through regulation.

The Last Flower: A Parable in Pictures Originally published in November 1939, two months after World War II officially began, James Thurber’s parable in pictures– a graphic novel ahead of its day–about eternal cycles of war, peace, love, and the resilience of one little flower remains as relevant today as it was then. The New York Times called it "at once one of the most serious and one of the most hilarious contributions on war." Civilization has collapsed after World War XII, dogs have deserted their masters, all the groves and gardens have been destroyed, and love has vanished from the earth. Then one day, "a young girl who had never seen a flower chanced to come upon the last one in the world." Written among the sorrow and chaos of war, dedicated to this only child " in the wistful hope that her world will be better than mine." The new printing will feature new scans of Thurber’s original 1939 drawings.  In the sam

Mark 7 The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus and saw some of his disciples eating food with hands that were "unclean," that is, unwashed. (The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders. When they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they wash. And they observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers and kettles.) So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, "Why don't your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with 'unclean' hands?"He replied, "Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: " These people honor me with their lips,but their hearts are far from me."They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.'And he said to them: "You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to

A Japanese company ( Toyota ) and an American company( Ford )decided to have a canoe race on the Missouri River. Both teams practiced long and hard to reach their peak performance before the race.On the big day, the Japanese won by a mile.The Americans, very discouraged and depressed, decidedto investigatethe reason for the crushing defeat. A management team made up of senior management was formed to investigate and recommend appropriate action. Their conclusion was the Japanese had 8 people rowing and 1 person steering, while the American team had eight people steering and one person rowing.Feeling a deeper study was in order, American management hired a consulting company and paid them a large amount of money for a second opinion. They advised, of course, that too many people were steering the boat, while not enough people were rowing. Not sure of how to utilize that information, but wanting to prevent another loss to the Japanese, the rowing team's management structure was totally

I was scrolling through the Bible today looking for something to read when I came across a familiar scripture and realized that there are several things we can learn about business from it. As I read over it, I was amazed at how the principles of this passage apply to entrepreneurship, investing, etc... The story is one that most people will be familiar with. It is the story of the servants who were given talents by their master. Just in case you don't know the story I'll paraphrase it here before I begin breaking down the metaphorical content."A man was going on a journey and decided to entrust some of his property to his servants. Each was given talents(money) according to his ability. To one servant he gave 5 talents, to another he gave 2, and to the last he gave 1. The servant who had

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the Shadow: Psalm of David. YE who read are still among the living; but I who write shall have long since gone my way into the region of shadows. For indeed strange things shall happen, and secret things be known, and many centuries shall pass away, ere these memorials be seen of men. And, when seen, there

Book Description ISBN-0071414320 Warning: Reading this tale could result in effective change occurring in your organization! This is the book you will want everyone in your company to read before you start your Lean Six Sigma deployment. Written by professionals who have successfully rolled out Lean Six Sigma in numerous organizations, Leaning Into Six Sigma uses a fast-paced business novel

Dear Andrea,Please tell me your interpretation of this dream. I have dreamed that a man is having a heart attack and he clinches his heart he goes down and passes out. No one comes to aid him. Could this possibly be a dream that is showing me what may happen to this person because I do know him. Please advise Angela Dear Angela, First, as the bible says of dream interpretation, “it is not in me” (Gen 41:16) but rather, “interpretations belong to God.” (Gen 40:8) What I know in general, I share, and interpret only when He gives one, and even then I am cautious, in awareness of my own fallen human condition. Anything I tell you, He must confirm to you in prayer. Most dreams are not literal, but parabolic, and are usually about yourself. What characteristic, personality trait, strength, or weakness stands out to you about him? It’s possible he represents the same trait in yourself. It’s also possible, if you’ve had concerns about his health, that

“A certain man planted a rose and watered it faithfully, and before it blossomed he examined it. He saw the bud that would soon blossom – and also the thorns. And he thought, “How can any beautiful flower come from a plant burdened with so many sharp thorns?” Saddened by this thought, he neglected to water the rose, and before it was able to bloom, it died… “So it is with many people. Within every soul there is a rose – the God like qualities planted in us at birth – growing amid the thorns of our faults. Many of us look at ourselves and see only the thorns, the defects. We despair, thinking that nothing good can possibly come from us. We neglect to (more…)

You might suspect that as an atheist and battler of all that is oppressive about far right religion, I’d be laughing about the meth-fueled cock-up (pun intended) that Pastor Ted Haggard finds himself in. It would be easy to giggle in glee over the tissue-paper thin excuses he tosses about - I bought the meth, but threw it away; I got a massage, but I didn’t have sex - but that would be ignoble of me. I don’t hate the man. In fact, far from it. We have more than enough people hiding secrets they really don’t need to hide in order to protect themselves from the very things they hypocritically condemn in others. I also don’t hate his family who were probably unaware of his extracurriculars. Nor, do I hate his flock, who are obviously traumatized by the whole sorted affair. It’s never fun to see a man - even a hypocrite like Pastor T - have his life ruined and this time is no exception. I fully expect things will play out as they usually do when the h

{We were told to re-cast a parable of Luke in contemporary terms. I chose to look at the Parable of the Good Samaritan...from a different angle} During the 218th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA), held at San Jose in 2008, on the last day, during the last scheduled Business Meeting on the docket…Jesus appeared. No one knew quite what to make of it. There were a host of different reactions. The Presbyterians For Renewal were excited, though a bit fearful of what Jesus was going to say about the "theological trajectory" of their denomination. The More Light Presbyterians didn't really know what to think at all. All of the YADs (Youth Advisory Delegates) just ran up to Jesus and started asking him questions, talking a mile a minute, as they followed him up to the front of the convention hall. Everyone in the assembly was quite shocked, and a bit tongue-tied, until one of the youngest YADs looked up at Jesus and asked, "Are you going to tell us a story?" Jesus

Jamie Arpin-Ricci, ever a source of worthwhile reflections, has posted a very lovely parable on his blog, (e)mergent Voyageurs. I think you might enjoy reading it. It's the sort of thing that I could see being turned into a short dramatic play, and even used in a worship context or as a discussion-starter. Then again, you may think that it's unduly critical of tall men in robes. :-) Anyway, I think it's cool.