At first, he didn’t even want to go. Then, he made excuses. He certainly didn’t feel qualified. When he consented, he had the rug pulled out from under him and found himself seriously short-staffed (to use a term you hear a lot right now). Gideon faced an enemy numbering at least 120,000 soldiers, and he…
“I can remember exactly where I was when….” Each year approaching the 9/11 remembrance you hear that phrase, and perhaps more so this year with it being the 20th observance of the events of that horrible day. It is fitting and proper to remember and honor those who lost their lives, those who gave their…
“Things are crazy right now.” Heard that lately? Maybe you’ve even said it; I know I have. I look around and see fear because of what’s happening. I see fretting because we can’t do much about it. I see frustration because it keeps happening over and over. I see these things around me, and sometimes…
Forgiven! What a beautiful word! When was the last time you considered the blessed truth that, as a child of God, you are forgiven? Think about what the Scripture says. “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). “For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their…
I guess you could call this Adoniram Judson, Part 2. Last week I shared part of Judson’s testimony of how he “fled to Jesus” in times of trial and discouragement. What I didn’t include was what he wrote later on in that same letter. It’s not so much a comfort as last week’s thought as…
Sometimes I think I have it tough. But then I read a little more in our current Men of the Word Bible study book, a biography of Adoniram Judson. Judson is often called “The Father of American Missions,” spending almost 40 years intensely laboring in what was then called Burma. He and his wife were…
The Scripture is quite plain. “Children are an heritage of the Lord,” says Psalm 127:3. Then, Proverbs 17:6 states, “Children’s children are the crown of old men.” These children are to be taught the truth about God and His commandments (Deuteronomy 6:4-7) and are to be brought up “in the nurture and admonition of the…
I got off the phone a little while ago, and I’m still shaking my head. Someone called me here at the church and unburdened their heart. And it was a lot of unburdening. I don’t know how people can hold up in circumstances like this outside of God’s grace. By the way, let me say…
I’m certainly not one to break out in song, but I did. Well, not out loud anyway, but I sure was humming like everything. I’ve heard some say it’s “just a big hole in the ground.” OK, but to me, it definitely was not that. To me, it lived up to and beyond its name:…
Thirty-three years ago this month I bought my last Father’s Day card. I didn’t know it would be the last one, but that’s what it turned out to be. Now, even though I no longer buy them, each year I do pause, reflect, and give thanks to God for the man for whom I bought…