Paul W. Powell Legacy Library

A man I knew when he was just a boy lived near one of those old-timey neighborhood grocery stores. As a boy he was in that grocery store every day. He knew the owner and those working in the store very well. One day he stole some pencils. It didn’t amount to very much—maybe 25 cents. Just three, four, or five pencils, and he didn’t need them. It was...

There are some things in life that are priceless. Money cannot buy them and poverty cannot take them away. One of these is a virtuous woman. Proverbs 31:10-31 describes such a lady. The writer asks, “Who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is far above rubies.” Rich indeed is the man who has a virtuous wife. Fortunate beyond measure is the child who h...

Everyone needs to know how to deal with other people’s sins. Daily we are affected by them and they cause us many a crisis and much misery. We are never free from the wrongs caused by others, and they are never free from the wrongs caused by us. Sometimes the sins of others touch us directly. A business partner turns out to be dishonest; your husband is unfaith...

I once traveled to a little country cemetery in North Texas for the funeral service of a dear friend. The little community was like a thousand others. It was once alive with people, but today only an isolated farmhouse punctuates the horizon here and there. The old school has long since been torn down. The little country church is still there, but no one meets in it a...

Our world is victimized by bigness. We seem to be conscious only of the monumental. We are impressed with big salaries, big cars, big houses, and big people. Perhaps as never before we need to be reminded that little things mean a lot. Let it never be forgotten that glamour is not greatness, applause is not fame, noise is not influence, prominence is not eminence. Th...

There is nothing more common nor more detrimental to marriage than an irritable, quarrelsome, critical spirit. It is so ordinary because it takes no brains, no talent, and no self-denial. It is so detrimental because it makes life miserable for everyone. The Bible warns us against this when it says, “Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter [irritable, quarr...