“Difficulties which seem like mountains shall melt away like snow in spring. Obstacles which seemed like giants in the distance, will dwindle into nothing when you actually face them. The lion that blocks the way that you are traveling and causes you great fear, will prove to be chained and unable to harm you. If men believed the promises more, they would never be afraid of their assigned duties [underline added, CCS]” (J. C. Ryle, Thoughts for Young Men, 55).

Ahab has just gone postal on his quadrant and declared a “curse” against “Science.” The following is Starbuck’s musing, addressed to Stubb, regarding Ahab’s tumultuous way: “I have sat before the dense coal fire and watched it all aglow, full of its tormented flaming life; and I have seen it wane at last, down, down, to dumbest dust. Old man of oceans! of all this fiery life of thine, what will at length remain but one little heap of ashes!” (Herman Melville, Moby Dick, 493)

“Jesus’ famous statement in John 4:23 that the Father seeks worshippers is unparalleled, for nowhere in the entire corpus of Holy Scripture do we read of God’s seeking anything else from a child of God. God desires worship above all else. . . . A look at the massive emphasis in the Old Testament reveals God’s mind on worship’s priority. Exodus devotes twenty-five chapters to the construction of the Tabernacle, the locus of divine worship. Leviticus amounts to a twenty-seven chapter liturgical manual. And the Psalms are a spectacular 150-chapter worship hymnal. Divine worship has always been the occupation and sustenance, the priority, of the believing soul” (R. Kent Hughes, Disciplines of a Godly Man, 111).

“God is no hard master. He will not, like Pharaoh, require you to make bricks without straw. He will make sure that the path He requires us to walk is never an impossible road. He never gave commands to man which He would not give man the power to perform” (J. C. Ryle, Thoughts for Young Men, 54).

“The world is only too ready to wink at youthful sins. The world appears to think it is a matter of course that young men must “sow their wild oats.” The world seems to take it for granted that young people must be irreligious, and that it is not possible for them to follow Christ. Young men, I ask you this simple question–Where will you find anything of this in the Word of God? Where is the chapter or verse in the Bible which will support this talking and reasoning of the world? (J. C. Ryle, Thoughts for Young Men, 52-53).

“Look not too long in the face of the fire, O man! Never dream with thy hand on the helm! Turn not thy back to the compass; accept the first hint of the hitching tiller; believe not the artificial fire, when its redness makes all things look ghastly. To-morrow, in the natural sun, the skies will be bright; those who glared like devils in the forking flames, the morn will show in far other, at least gentler, relief; the glorious, golden, glad sun, the only true lamp–all others but liars! (Herman Melville, Moby Dick, 420).

“Think for a moment why you were born into the world. . . . You were placed here to train for eternity” (J. C. Ryle, Thoughts for Young Men, 50-51).

“Young men, I set before you Jesus Christ this day, as the treasury of your souls; and I invite you to begin by going to Him. Let this be your first step — go to Christ” (J. C. Ryle, Thoughts for Young Men, 48).

“If you don’t know who you are, becoming an entrepreneur is an expensive way to find out.”
                                                                                                           –Sam Wyly

“To live in Christ, to draw all from Christ, to do all in the strength of Christ, to be ever looking to Christ; this is the true secret of spiritual prosperity. “I can do all things,” says Paul, “through Christ which strengtheneth me” (Philippians 4:13)” (J. C. Ryle, Thoughts for Young Men, 48).