Love is not just feeling: A young man said to his father at breakfast one morning, "Dad, I'm going to get married." "How do you know you're ready to get married?" asked the father. "Are you in love?" "I sure am," said the son. "How do you know you're in love?" asked the father. "Last night as I was kissing my girlfriend good-night, her dog bit me and I didn't feel the pain until I got home."

Love is not selfish: Dear Jimmy: No words could ever express the great unhappiness I've felt since breaking our engagement. Please say you'll take me back. No one could ever take your place in my heart, so please forgive me. I love you, I love you, I love you! Yours forever, Marie. P.S., And congratulations on willing the state lottery.

Love should not be misunderstood: "I was attending a junior stock show when a grand-champion lamb, owned by a little girl, was being auctioned. As the bids reached five dollars per pound, the little girl, standing beside the lamb in the arena, began to cry. At ten dollars, the tears were streaming down her face and she clasped her arms tightly around the lamb's neck. The higher the bids rose, the more she cried. Finally, a local businessman bought the lamb for more than $1000, but then announced that he was donating it to the little girl. The crowd applauded and cheered. Months later, I was judging some statewide essays when I came across one from a girl who told about the time her grand-champion lamb had been auctioned. "The prices began to get so high during the bidding," she wrote, "that I started to cry from happiness." She continued with: "The man who bought the lamb for so much more than I ever dreamed I would get returned the lamb to me, and when I got home, Daddy barbecued the lamb--and it was really delicious." Reader's Digest.

Mercy unto you, and peace and love, - kai agaph - feast of charity or love - The Greek word agaph seems to have been added to the Greek language as a Christian invention -- a new word for a new thing (apart from about twenty occurrences in the Greek version of the Old Testament, it is almost non-existent before the New Testament). Agape draws its meaning directly from the revelation of God in Christ. It is not a form of natural affection, however, intense, but a supernatural fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22). It is the basic element in Christ-likeness.

The Love of God is infinite and perfect: There is nothing you can to do make God love you more! There is nothing you can do to make God love you less! His love is Unconditional, Impartial, Everlasting, Infinite, Perfect! Richard C. Halverson.

Illustration: Missionary-evangelist Stanley Jones writes: Swami Shivananda, a famous swami in India, used to tell his disciples: "Kill the mind and then, and then only, can you meditate." The Christian position is:

"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy mind" -- the intellectual nature;

"with all thy heart" -- the physical nature. The total person is to love him -- mind, emotion, will, might. But the "might" may mean the strength of all three.

Some love him with the strength of the mind and the weakness of the emotion -- the intellectual in religion;

Some love him with the strength of emotion and the weakness of the mind -- the sentimentalist in religion;

Some love him with the strength of the will and the weakness of emotion -- the man of iron who is not very approachable.

But loving God with the strength of the mind, the strength of the emotion, and the strength of the will -- that makes the truly Christian and the truly balanced and the truly strong character.

Illustration: "On a foggy morning, near Mobile, Alabama on September 22, 1993, a. tugboat accidently pushed a barge into the bayou. The drifting barge slammed into the bridge. Someone on the tugboat radioed the Coast Guard. Moments later an Amtrak train, the Sunset Limited, traveling from Los Angeles to Miami, unaware of the damage, crossed the bridge at 70 mph. There were 210 passengers on board. As the train crossed the bridge, the bridghe gave away. Three locomotive units and four passenger cars fell into the bayou. The darkness and fog was thickened by fire and smoke.

The tugboat operator immediately called the Coast Guard. Emergency vehicles were only able to get within 6 miles of the site on land. Helicopters were called in to help rescue any survivors. 47 people drowned or died in the flames.

There were many heroes that morning. Michael Dopheide was a man who had just finished college, and was heading to Florida. Jolted awake, he heard the screaming and cries all around him. He ran down the aisle to an emergency exit, and as the water was rising he removed the glass, and jumped into the swampy waters that were 25 ft deep. Treading water, he coaxed people to jump the six feet down into the bayou. Those who couldn’t swim he helped to a metal girder 10’ ft away.

The thirty people he helped save included one two year old, an elderly lady, and a 11 year old girl with cerebral palsy named Andrea. Her parents, Geray and Mary Jane Chancey, were traveling home with their little girl. As they were waiting to get out, the car shifted and filled with water. They desperately pushed little Andrea out through the window to the hands of waiting rescuers.

This was their last act of love for their daughter. Instead of getting out themselves, they chose to give their lives to save their child." (Adapted from the book "Choices" by Dr. Ronnie Floyd)