Wednesday, July 22, 2009

on the pastor's door

Yesterday I went to lunch with a few of your church staff. We ate at the Panda Cafe by Price Chopper on Woods Chapel Road. The folks at Panda Cafe are Chinese Christians and they are very nice. It is a quiet place to go for lunch that offers ample time to visit. The food is great and the price is right. #9 General's Chicken. Fried rice. Crab rangoon. No soup. Please bring a knife. They don't even ask me what I want anymore.

And then there are the fortunes. Really good fortunes make it onto the pastor's door. I would say "my office door" but it is the pastor's door and I won't always be the pastor. Here are some of my favorite fortunes, collected over the years, that are on the door.

"people in your surroundings will be more cooperative than usual."

"it is a nice day."

"a friend is someone who knows the song of your heart and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words."

and then there is this lovely rhyme from Rogers and Hammerstein:

"a bell is no bell til you ring it,
a song is no song til you sing it
and love in your heart wasn't put there to stay

love isn't love til you give it away."

What are your favorite rhymes or sayings?

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

13 comments:

Unknown said...

"Setbacks pave the way for comebacks"

Take care,
Kara

sharon said...

This is my new favorite saying--a new version of an old favorite that I saw on a T-shirt in Florida: "If life hands you lemons, squirt them in someone's eye."

Just kidding of course. ; )

I'm ba-ack!

Anonymous said...

What started out as a good day, just got even better, Jeff. Thanks for being such a "light" to all of us. May we return the favor!
M.A.

fisher of men said...

"Live your life so the preacher won't have to lie at your funeral"

Lori G. said...

This line has been in my head all week: "Streams of mercy never ceasing, call for songs of loudest praise." From my favorite song.

Dave Templeman said...

I have a fortune from a cookie taped to my office wall: "You believe in the goodness of mankind". Technically not a fortune, but one to hang on the wall.

Lion's Den Man said...

The time is always right to do the right thing.
-Martin Luther King, Jr.

Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing.
-Albert Schweitzer

Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant. ~ Robert Louis Stevenson

Anonymous said...

"Life is what happens while you're busy making other plans."

JanR said...

Live the Life you Love -
Love the Life you Live!

Anonymous said...

"He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose."

Anonymous said...

What you do speaks so loud I cannot hear what you say. kb

mhaskamp said...

"You can do no great things, just small things with great love." - Mother Theresa

iTeachiHope said...

From a sermon of yours, actually, and posted prominently in my middle-school classroom: "The right thing to do is the right thing to do even if you're the only one doing it. The wrong thing to do is the wrong thing to do even if everyone is doing it."
I even made it into a big hallway bulletin board last year. Thanks for the inspiration! :o)