I have found from costly experience that it is much easier to analyze the facts after writing them down. In fact, merely writing the facts on a piece of paper and stating our problem clearly goes a long way toward helping us reach a sensible decision. As Charles Kettering puts it: "A problem well stated is a problem half solved.

These are lessons Bob Taylor of Taylor Guitars certainly takes to heart.

Take a chance! All life is a chance. The man who goes farthest is generally the one who is willing to do and dare.

rhyme as one of his mottoes: For every ailment under the sun, There is a remedy, or there is none; If there be one, try to find it; If there be none, never mind it.

There is only one way on God's green footstool that the past can be constructive; and that is by calmly analysing our past mistakes and profiting by them-and forgetting them.

Let me repeat: The principles taught in this book will work only when they come from the heart. I am not advocating a bag of tricks. I am talking about a new way of life. Talk about changing people. If you and I will inspire the people with whom we come in contact to a realization of the hidden treasures they possess, we can do far more than change people. We can literally transform them.

What is the problem? What is the CAUSE of the problem? What are all possible solutions to the problem? What solution do you suggest?

five words from a church hymn: One step enough for me. Lead, kindly Light … Keep thou my feet: I do not ask to see The distant scene; one step enough

Old ways of doing things cease to be effective, though they may have been very powerful in the past. There arises a very real danger that we will set ourselves in opposition to what God truly is doing now and aims to do in the future.

Why is it, comedian Lily Tomlin asks, "that when we speak to God we are said to be praying but when God speaks to us we are said to be schizophrenic?" Such a response from ourselves or others to someone's claim to have heard from God is especially likely today because of the lack of specific teaching and pastoral guidance on such matters.

It is much more important to cultivate the quiet, inward space of a constant listening than to always be approaching God for specific direction.

I fear that many people seek to hear God solely as a device for obtaining their own safety, comfort and sense of being righteous. For those who busy themselves to know the will of God, however, it is still true that "those who want to save their life will lose it" (Mt 16:25).