“Listen to the painful cries of the prisoners! Use your great strength to set free those condemned to die!” (Psalm 79:11, New English Translation) Prison. It’s not a place we would willingly choose to live. The amenities are dismal and the company undesirable. It’s little wonder numerous prisoners try to…
“My soul, wait silently for God alone, for my expectation is from Him” (Psalm 62:5, New King James Version). Certain restaurants hold little appeal for me, especially when I’m with friends. It isn’t that the food is bad or the price too expensive, but it’s the noise level. I find it…
“This letter is from Paul, an apostle. I was not appointed by any group of people or any human authority, but by Jesus Christ himself and by God the Father, who raised Jesus from the dead” (Galatians 1:1, New Living Translation). A friend has an unusual spelling of a common…
“I thought to myself, ‘Come now, I will try self-indulgent pleasure to see if it is worthwhile.’ But I found that it also is futile” (Ecclesiastes 2:1, New English Translation). Many people live with the belief that “things” make us happy. The more things we possess, the happier we become.…
“Let each one examine his own work. Then he can take pride in himself and not compare himself with someone else” (Galatians 6:4, New English Translation). We can take a deep breath and get back to a semblance of normal with the hurry and scurry of the holidays now behind…
“So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom” (Psalm 90:12, New King James Version). Many of us are very uncomfortable in talking about our mortality. Deep inside we know we have a limited number of days on earth, but we prefer to go through…
“For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another” (Romans 12:4-5, New King James Version). We did it again! A friend recently flew in for a…
“Why are you sleeping? ” he asked them. “Get up and pray, so that you won’t fall into temptation” (Luke 22:46, Christian Standard Bible). I find alarm clocks annoying but necessary. I am not one of those people whose eyes pop open automatically, and who cheerfully jumps up to face the new…
“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, who does not change like shifting shadows” (James 1:17, Christian Standard Bible). It’s that time of year again when we hear the word “exchange” a lot. There are gift exchanges and cookie exchanges. And let’s…