Several years ago popular singing competition television show called The X Factor. The show gets its title from a term that’s used to denote a certain quality or qualities that cause a person to rise above the ordinary and become a star.

What is it that women really want? The late Gary Smalley, the noted Christian author and marriage counselor, once gave nine specific needs of a wife in the marriage relationship:

The Greek legend of Pygmalion describes the man who couldn’t find a wife to suit him, so he decided that he would make a wife for himself. He sculpted a beautiful woman and knocked off all the rough edges and made this woman just how he imagined. So he got down on his knees and, according to the legend, prayed to his gods and the woman came alive and became his wife. 

Isn’t it funny how there are basically two kinds of religions in the world? There are those religions of works, which are false religions. And then there is religion by faith, which is true religion. Those are the only two categories: works-based religion and faith-based religion.

One day Napoleon was standing before his army after he was defeated at Waterloo. He was trying to cover his losses and see what his next move would be. Napoleon realized that his quest for world domination was practically over. He had a map of the world on the wall and on that map the British Isles were marked in red. Napoleon angrily said to his generals, as he pointed to the red marked on that map, “Were it not for that red spot, we would have conquered the world!”

I heard about a man from China who was keeping up a family tradition of putting a nine-course meal on one of his family member’s graves. One day, an American was also at the cemetery putting flowers on his family member’s grave. So the American watched the Chinese man place a full nine-course meal on that grave. He was amused.

One of the former presidents of Princeton University once said, referring to the time when he personally received Christ, "Since that glorious day, every day of my life has been a 'P.S.' to say 'Thank You, Lord, for what You have accomplished in my life!'" What a wonderful way to look at our works, as our P.S. to God's already-written letter of salvation in our lives.

I try to play a little golf now and then, and I tend to be pretty good on the practice range. Not long ago, I was invited to play in a tournament our church was having, and I was amazed at how good I was hitting the ball on the practice range. I felt like a combination of Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer!

Several years ago when I was pastoring in Oklahoma, there was a doctor in our church who had delivered many babies over the years. One day, he was telling me about a very tough delivery where the mother and the baby almost died. But gratefully, both of them came through happy and healthy.