ldquo Please clean the front room before you go to bed rdquo nbsp I said to one of my daughters Instantly came the reply ldquo Why doesn rsquo t she have to do it rdquo nbsp Such mild resistance was frequent in our home when our girls were young My response was always the same ldquo Don rsquo t worry about your sisters I asked you rdquo In John we see this human tendency illustrated among the disciples Jesus had just restored Peter after he had denied Him three times see John ndash ndash Now Jesus said to Peter ldquo [... more]

Ever heard of The Sewing Hall of Fame Established in it recognizes people that have made ldquo a lasting impact on the home sewing industry with unique and innovative contributions through sewing education and product development rdquo It includes individuals like Martha Pullen inducted into the hall in who is described as ldquo a Proverbs woman who never failed to publicly acknowledge the source of her strength inspiration and blessings rdquo The Sewing Hall of Fame is a twenty-first-century invention but had it been around during the first century in Israel a woman named Tabitha might have been a lock [... more]

Your bees are swarming rdquo My wife stuck her head inside the door and gave me news no beekeeper wants to hear I ran outside to see thousands of bees flying up from the hive to the top of a tall pine never to return I was a little behind in reading the clues that the hive was about to swarm more than a week of storms had hampered my inspections The morning the storms ended the bees left The colony was new and healthy and the bees were actually dividing the colony to start a new one ldquo Don [... more]

Running a marathon is about pushing yourself physically and mentally For one high school runner however competing in a cross-country race is all about pushing someone else In every practice and meet fourteen-year-old Susan nbsp Bergeman pushes older brother Jeffrey in his wheelchair When Jeffrey was twenty-two months old he went into cardiac arrest mdash leaving him with severe brain damage and cerebral palsy Today Susan sacrifices personal running goals so Jeffrey might compete with her What love and sacrifice The apostle Paul had love and sacrifice in mind when he encouraged his readers to be ldquo devoted to one [... more]

On January a huge molasses tank burst in Boston A fifteen-foot wave of millions of gallons of molasses careened through the street at over mph sweeping away railcars buildings people and animals Molasses might seem harmless enough but that day it was deadly twenty-one persons lost their lives and over were injured Sometimes even good things mdash like molasses mdash can overwhelm us unexpectedly Before the Israelites entered the land God promised them Moses warned the people to be careful not to give themselves credit for the good things they rsquo d receive ldquo When you eat and are satisfied [... more]

In Martin Luther observed Among themselves the merchants have a common rule which is their chief maxim I care nothing about my neighbor so long as I have my profit and satisfy my greed rdquo More than two hundred years later John Woolman from Mount Holly New Jersey let his commitment to Jesus influence his tailor shop dealings Out of support for the freeing of slaves he refused to purchase any cotton or dye supplies from companies who used their forced labor With a clear conscience he loved his neighbor and lived according to integrity and sincerity in all his [... more]

Kyle and Allison had a wonderful honeymoon in an exotic location When they returned home however they discovered that Kyle rsquo s feet had developed a strange itchy rash The couple was referred to an infectious disease specialist He informed them that small parasites had burrowed their way into Kyle rsquo s feet through blisters caused by his new flip flops What started out as a dream vacation ended in a challenging battle with unwanted ldquo guests rdquo David knew that if he didn rsquo t ask God for help to fight sin his dream of living a pleasing life [... more]

The halted hands of a pocket watch in a library rsquo s archives at the University of North Carolina tell a harrowing tale They mark the exact moment and seconds the watch rsquo s owner Elisha Mitchell slipped and fell to his death at a waterfall in the Appalachian Mountains on the morning of June Mitchell a professor at the university was gathering data to defend his correct claim that the peak he was on mdash which now bears his name Mount Mitchell mdash was the highest one east of the Mississippi His grave is located at the mountain rsquo [... more]

Tragedy struck near Los Angeles in January when nine people died in a helicopter crash Most news stories began something like this ldquo NBA superstar Kobe Bryant his daughter Gianna ldquo Gigi rdquo and seven others lost their lives in the accident rdquo It rsquo s natural and understandable to focus on the well-known people involved in a horrible situation like this mdash and the deaths of Kobe and his precious teenager Gigi are heartbreaking beyond description But we must keep in mind that in life rsquo s big picture there rsquo s no dividing line that makes the ldquo [... more]

Our family was planning to get a puppy so my eleven-year-old daughter researched for months She knew what the dog should eat and how to introduce it to our new home mdash among myriad other details nbsp nbsp nbsp Turns out puppies do best she told me if they rsquo re introduced to one room at a time So we carefully prepared a spare bedroom I rsquo m sure there will still be surprises as we raise our new puppy but my daughter rsquo s delight-infused preparation couldn rsquo t have been more thorough The way my daughter channeled her [... more]

Lara and Dave desperately wanted a baby but their physician told them they were unable to have one Lara confided to a friend ldquo I found myself having some very honest talks with God rdquo But it was after one of those ldquo talks rdquo that she and Dave spoke to their pastor who told them about an adoption ministry at their church A year later they were blessed with an adopted baby boy In Genesis the Bible tells of another honest conversation mdash this one between Abram and God God had told him ldquo Do not be afraid Abram [... more]

In the mid- s two people participated in research on the effects of darkness on the human psyche They entered separate caves while researchers tracked their eating and sleeping habits One remained in total darkness for days the other days Each guessed how long they could remain in darkness and were off by months One took what he thought was a short nap only to discover he rsquo d slept for hours Darkness is disorienting The people of God found themselves in the darkness of impending exile They waited unsure of what would take place The prophet Isaiah used darkness [... more]

A man walked into a convenience store in Wollongong Australia put a bill on the counter and asked for change When the clerk opened the cash drawer the man pulled a gun and asked for all the cash in the register which the clerk promptly provided The man took the cash from the clerk and fled leaving the bill on the counter The total amount of cash he got from the drawer Fifteen dollars We all act foolishly at times mdash even if unlike this would-be thief we rsquo re trying to do the right thing The key is how [... more]

Radamenes was just a kitten when his owner dropped him off at an animal shelter thinking he was too ill to recover The kitten was nursed back to health and adopted by the vet He then became a fulltime resident at the shelter and now spends his days ldquo comforting rdquo cats and dogs mdash just out of surgery or recovering from an illness mdash through his warm presence and gentle purr That story is a small picture of what our loving God does for us mdash and what we can do for others in return He cares for us [... more]