Author: Jim Cotterill

All things are difficult before they are easy.” ―Thomas Fuller, African Slave 1710 – 1790 Thomas Fuller was 14 years old when he was taken from his native West African home and sold to a Virginia planter. We have no record of what he experienced during this time, outside of the sure knowledge that his…Continue reading Quote of the Month: August 2023 →

Members of Congress serving on [Senate and House Finance committees] have collectively received over $3.4 million from the payday lending industry” ― OpenSecrets For many years we have worked with other groups who fight for fair treatment of those who need small short-term loans. “Payday” loans unfairly punish those with few resources in general, but…Continue reading Quote of the Month: July 2023 →

Prisons are woefully ill-equipped for their current role as the nation’s primary mental health facilities” ―Jamie Fellner Jamie Fellner is senior counsel for the United States Program of Human Rights Watch, which often deals with issues of the maltreatment of prisoners in the U.S. These are generally episodes against an incarcerated individual in a singular…Continue reading Quote of the Month: June 2023 →

Some want to live within the sound of church or chapel bell; I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of hell.” —Charles Thomas Studd Charles Thomas Studd was born in Great Britain in 1860, and as he grew, he became a star cricket player in a game that was the premier sport…Continue reading Quote of the Month: May 2023 →

Ruin is the road to transformation” —Elizabeth Gilbert Do we park at the point of our pain? Or do we try again? When Larry Bird’s father committed suicide, he was lost. He tried college but couldn’t deal with it, so he went back home and became a garbage collector. When Oprah Winfrey was sexually assaulted…Continue reading Quote of the Month: April 2023 →

There’s a difference between remorse and repentance. Remorse is being sorry for being caught. Repentance is being sorry enough to stop.” —Greg Laurie, Author, The Jesus Revolution Who among us could not apply this statement to our own lives? Greg Laurie, who wrote about his life in the book and new movie, The Jesus Revolution,…Continue reading Quote of the Month: March 2023 →

I got 16 years to life” —Pastor Jeff Osborne Jeff Osborn is a pastor who talks candidly about surviving prison and turning his life around. He was a kid, an army brat in a loving family who went to church, believed in God, and was brought up to come under authority. But one day, when…Continue reading Quote of the Month: February 2023 →

There was a time in my life when I thought I had everything – millions of dollars, mansions, cars, nice clothes, beautiful women, and every other materialistic thing… Now I struggle for peace.” —Comedian Richard Pryor I was in college when I became aware of Richard Pryor. He was raw, funny and hugely popular. As…Continue reading Quote of the Month: January 2023 →

Hate is strong and mocks the song of peace on earth, good will toward men” —Henry Wadsworth Longfellow In 1861 Fanny Longfellow, died after her dress was set ablaze by a falling candle. Her adoring husband, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, rushed to smother the flames, covering her with his body, but was too late to save…Continue reading Quote of the Month: December 2022 →

You oughta be thankful, a whole heaping lot, for the places and people you’re lucky you’re not.” —Dr. Seuss Cute. It rhymes. But the truth is—it’s the truth. Most of us are the lucky products of the grace and blessings we were handed in this world. We are the “lucky ones.” For the most part,…Continue reading Quote of the Month: November 2022 →