Jeff Ragan > Recent Status Updates

"...as I was journeying to Damascus with the authority & commission of the chief priests, at midday, O King, I saw on the way a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shinning all around me & those who were journeying with me. And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me... 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.'" - Acts 26:12-14

"The executives may have mishandled the situation or misread the possible trends but it's unlikely United Distillers gave the whiskey the same attention or marketing as it received under Sazerac, Willett, Barton, Jefferson's, and the dozens of other brands that bottled this whiskey" (211).

"Be on guard for yourselves & for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; & from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore be on the alert..." - Acts 20:28-31

"The Master said, (A gentleman) does not grieve that people do not recognize his merits; he grieves at his own incapacities" (177).

"He is a God that is enough; or, as our old English translation reads...I am God all-sufficient...The God with whom we have to do is a God that is enough. He is enough in himself; he is self-sufficient; he has everything, & he needs not anything. He is enough to us...we have all in him, & our most enlarged desires, enough to supply the defect of everything else, & to secure...happiness for our immortal souls" (110).

"The God who made the world & all things in it...does not dwell in temples made with hands; neither is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all life & breath & all things; & he made from one every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times, & the boundaries of their habitation." - Acts 17:24-26

"...fifteen major bills were passed shoring up the banking systems, creating a huge public works program, & establishing financial safety nets for farmers & creditors...it was the first time [except Hoover] a president had tried to cure an economic crisis. 'I knew that we must never let our economic system get out of joint again...and the only way...was to have a government with the power to cure the abuses" (187).

"And opening his mouth, Peter said: 'I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality, but in every nation the man who fears Him and does what is right, is welcome to Him.'" - Acts 10:34-35

"At the time of Jesus' birth, according to the New Testament, devout Jews were looking for the Messiah, and some believed that the infant Jesus was this hoped-for One. Haggai, along with Zechariah and Malachi, was to some degree responsible for this messianic expectation. The language of Haggai makes clear that the rebuilding was in some way to be related to the promise of the coming Redeemer" (398).

"Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, 'Rulers & elders of the people, if we are on trial today for a benefit done to a sick man, as to how this man has been made well, let it be known to all of you, & to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead - by this name this man stands here before you in good health.'" - Acts 4:8-10

"For me it was the loss of more than a yacht. I felt like one who had first betrayed and then deserted a stricken friend; a friend with whom for the past fourteen years I had spent more time at sea than on land, and who, when not at sea, had seldom been out of my thoughts...I shall never forget her" (658).

"Jesus answered, 'My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting, that I might not be delivered up to the Jews; but as it is My kingdom is not of this realm.'" - John 18:36

"History ends at least once...in...every civilization. As the civilization's universal state emerges, its people become blinded by what Toynbee called 'the mirage of immortality' & convinced that theirs is the final form of human society...The citizens of such universal states '...are prone to regard it, not as a night's shelter in the wilderness, but as the Promised Land, the goal of human endeavors'" (301).

"Let not your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also." - John 14:1-3

"Tzu-lu asked about government. The Master said, Lead them; encourage them! Tzu-lu asked for a further maxim. The Master said, Untiringly" (161).

"Jesus therefore answered them, and said, 'My teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me. If any man is willing to do His will, he shall know of the teaching, whether it is of God, or whether I speak from Myself. He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who is seeking the glory of the one who sent Him, He is true, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.'" - John 7:16-18

"Outside of the States, though, people could not get enough bourbon. Australia, the United Kingdom, South Korea, Italy, and Japan were paying upwards of $80 for Maker's Mark. As they watched sales drop domestically, distillers were eyeballing foreign markets" (197).

"No politician ever made less use of his family heritage than Benjamin Harrison, grandson of President William Henry Harrison. All his life he had a desire to be his own man. 'He will not build high who has not built for himself,' he once told a crowd of his grandfather's admirers" (174).

"Jesus therefore answered and was saying to them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner. For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself is doing; and greater works than these will He show Him, that you may marvel." - John 5:19-20

"When our hearts are too much set upon any creature-comfort, we are easily put upon the use of indirect methods for the obtaining of it. Inordinate desires commonly produce irregular endeavours. If our wishes be not kept in a submission to God's providence, our pursuits will scarecely be kept under the restraints of his precepts" (106).

"And He said to them, 'The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who have authority over them are called "Benefactors." But not so with you, but let him who is the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as the servant.'" - Luke 22:25-26

"At this point the historical and parabolic interpretations come together, for either approach yields the same lesson: Yahweh is concerned about pagan peoples and commands his servants to proclaim his message to the nations" (386).

"He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much. If therefore you have not been faithful in the use of unrighteous Mammon, who will entrust the true riches to you? And if you have not been faithful in the use of that which is another's, who will give you that which is your own?" - Luke 16:10-12

"The Master said, 'The gentleman calls attention to the good points in others; he does not call attention to their defects. The small man does just the reverse of this'" (158).

"And He said to His disciples, 'For this reason I say to you, do not be anxious for your life, as to what you shall eat; nor for your body, as to what you shall put on. For life is more than food, and the body than clothing. Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap; and they have no storeroom nor barn, and yet God feeds them; how much more valuable you are than the birds!" - Luke 12:22-24

"As we drew near the town that evening the wind failed and we turned on the engine. How often does one write those words - always with a slight feeling of guilt, that it is not quite playing the game; and how comparatively easy does the action itself make life at sea - no drifting about in fog off Thorshavn at the mercy of strong currents, wondering which bit of the coast you are going to hit..." (643).

"And He was saying to them all, 'If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it. For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits himself?" - Luke 9:23-25

"But despite the occasional family success story, most American presidents still come from humble origins. Bill Clinton was the son of an itinerant salesman; Ronald Reagan, of a show salesman, Jimmy Carter, of a peanut farmer. Gerald Ford was the adopted son of the owner of a paint store. Richard Nixon's father owned a gas station and family market...Americans trust leaders who have come up the hard way.." (167).

"And the angel said to her, 'Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb, and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of his father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever; and His kingdom will have no end.'" - Luke 1:30-33