From my journal on a Monday morning: A Chinese proverb: "Not the cry but the flight of the wild duck leads the flock to fly and follow." My translation: talk is cheap and abundant, but courageous efforts are to be valued.

Challenging people to follow Jesus is important. But living like a Jesus-follower is equally significant. Rufus Jones describes some great Quaker saints as "invincibly fixed in purpose, genuinely heroic, ready for great deeds, possessed of infinite confidence in God, and withal tender in love and humility … they were triumphantly beautiful spirits … and the beautiful life in the long run is dynamic and does inherit the earth." I pray to know people who fit this description; I pray to be one of them.

Now that the Lord's day has ended and worship and preaching and Christian programming is over, a fresh question appears: "What is to be done?" Not: How good do I feel? Not: How much more do I know? Not: How much busier can I become? But: What is to be done? And ...