What Do You Know For Sure?

โ€œI am sorry to tell you that the results say you only have six months to live.โ€ โ€œThe test is positive. Your situation is incurable. Letโ€™s talk about how we can manage it now.โ€ โ€œYears of skipping annual check-ups have led us to a point of no return. There is nothing we can do now.โ€ …

True Love

It was the shoes that I remember. Piles upon piles of shoes no longer needed by their murdered owners. Our tour of the Holocaust museum in Israel fell right after our tour of Golgotha and the empty tomb. The reality of what Godโ€™s love cost Him had never looked rawer than it did to me …

Give to Him That Asketh of Thee

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com His eyes were sky blue. They reminded me of the color of my grandfatherโ€™s eyes, except his had not been drained of hope, as this manโ€™s seemed to be. The red light did not give us much time to chat, and the temperature registered in negative numbers with the wind …

A Christmas Song in the Night

The lights and the tinsel Sparkle like gold Singing a love song, With a story long told. When God became man, With humanity dwelt. Who walked here with us, Jesus, Immanuel. Imagine with me No gifts wrapped with love, No lights on the trees, No hope from above. Where would we be, If He had …

Free from Fear: Peace on Earth

It was an obscure benediction of Advent that jumped off the page of Godโ€™s Word. Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, had been mute until that day his son was named. His first words poured out prophecy for the coming Messiah, and have been recorded in Lukeโ€™s Gospel, chapter 1:67-79. โ€œThat he would grant …

Why Be Thankful for the Thorns?

With Thanksgiving coming, some friends and I brought up the thorns that come along with the roses of family get togethers. Relationships generally grow with thorns, so we took time to pray over those heartaches, struggles, and family issues that will arise when the families gather, or in some cases, do not gather. Thorns come …

Free From Shame

John 8:36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. Shame is a topic of many parenting classes, and rightly so. Very few children grew up in a home where shame and guilt were not used as parenting tools. โ€œHow could you be so stupid?โ€ โ€œWhy canโ€™t you be more …

First Breath of Heaven

The first breath of heaven Will forget its last on earth. His nail-scarred hands will Brush deathโ€™s tears away. Lost within Compassionโ€™s gaze, Faithโ€™s cry will turn to praise. Thank You, Jesus, For Grace that never failed. Thank You, Jesus, For hands that wore sinโ€™s nails. Thank You, Jesus, For setting hopeless captives free. Thank …

Apathy

When Jesus said That the love of many Would wax cold. I did not know It would be my heart. I did not know That I could look At human need And just walk away. I did not know That dying souls Looked like hopelessness, And how easy it would be, To turn my face …