Made for God

“The thought of you stirs [man] so deeply that he cannot be content unless he praises you, because you made us for yourself and our hearts find no peace until they rest in you.”

- Augustine, Confessions 1.1

Trust the Strategy to the Commander

“Cloud of battle-dust inevitably dims the overall picture of the campaign. The individual soldier must just trust the strategy to his commander and obey the orders given to him personally. In the spiritual realm the same is true of the disciples (soldiers) of Christ. But when the battle is over and the dust has settled, what has happened and the reason for certain orders will become apparent to even the common soldier. In that day ye shall ask me nothing.”
- Isobel Kuhn, Green Leaf in Drought

Rationally Correct and Emotionally Uncomfortable

“If we are forced to choose between being rationally correct but emotionally uncomfortable, and irrationally incorrect but emotionally comfortable, we frequently choose to be irrational.”

- Raymond Ruble, Critical Thinking, 48.

The Arrest of Polycarp

Here is an amazing account of what happened when Polycarp was arrested before his martyrdom. This is from Eusebius’ Church History.

“Soon the pursuers arrived and arrested two of the servants there, one of whom, under torture, showed them to Polycarp’s quarters. It was night, and they found him lying in an upper bedroom. He could have moved to another house, but he had refused, saying, ‘God’s will be done.’ When he heard that they had come, he went down and talked with them in such a cheerful, serene manner that they were astounded in view of his old age and confident air and wondered why there was such anxiety to arrest an old man of such character. He ordered that a table be set for them and invited them to dine with gusto, asking only for a single hour to pray undistrubed. This granted, he stood up and prayed, filled with the grace of the Lord, to the astonishment of those present, many of whom grew distressed that so dignified and godlike a man was going to his death.”

“Whoever controls the image and information of the past determines what and how future generations will think; whoever controls the information and images of the present determines how those same people will view the past.”
~ George Orwell, 1984 (1949)