A five-minute montage of snow-related mishaps was the central piece to one episode of a TV show Home videos of people skiing off rooftops crashing into objects while tubing and slipping on ice brought laughter and applause from the studio audience and people watching at home The laughter seemed to be loudest when it appeared that the people who wiped out deserved it because of their own foolish behavior Funny home videos aren rsquo t a bad thing but they can reveal something about ourselves we can be prone to laugh or take advantage of the hardships of others One [... more]

It had been an awful week for Kevin and Kimberley Kevin rsquo s seizures had suddenly worsened and he rsquo d been hospitalized Amid the pandemic their four young children mdash siblings adopted from foster care mdash were taking cabin fever to a new extreme On top of that Kimberley couldn rsquo t scrounge up a decent meal from the fridge Oddly at that moment she craved carrots An hour later there was a knock at the door There stood their friends Amanda and Andy with an entire meal she rsquo d prepared for the family Including carrots They say [... more]

The nbsp three hundred middle and high school students of the small town of Neodesha Kansas filed into a surprise school assembly They then sat in disbelief upon hearing that a married couple with ties to their town committed to pay college tuition for every Neodesha student for the next twenty-five years The students were stunned overjoyed and tearful Neodesha had been hard hit economically which meant many families worried about how to cover college expenses The gift was a generational game-changer and the donors hope it will immediately impact current families but also incentivize other families to move to [... more]

As a teen I was driving way too fast trying to follow my friend to his home after a high school basketball practice It was raining hard and I was having a hard time keeping up with his car Suddenly my wipers cleared the watery windshield only to reveal my friend rsquo s sedan stopped in front of me I slammed on the brakes slid off the street and struck a large tree My car was destroyed Later I awoke in the comatose ward of a local hospital While by God rsquo s grace I survived my reckless ways had [... more]

Bible Humor [... more]

David A Man of Passion and Destiny [... more]

You might start your journey in the southwest United States in a dusty town called Why Arizona Heading cross-country would take you through Uncertain Texas Bearing northeast you rsquo d make a rest stop in Dismal Tennessee Ultimately you rsquo d reach your destination mdash Panic Pennsylvania These are real places across the landscape of America though not likely a trip you rsquo d ever choose to take Sometimes this is exactly what the journey of life feels like We easily identify with the Israelites rsquo tough life in the wilderness Deuteronomy mdash life can be hard But do we [... more]

Song of Songs Take us the foxes the little foxes that spoil the vines for our vines have tender grapes As foxes are sly so is our enemy with the lies and falsehood The word fox here begins with the same letter as lie in Hebrew a Shin as the verse in the Shin section of the Psalm - I hate an Abhor lying but thy Law do I love I spend some time on different types of false comforters that destroy young fruit [... more]

ldquo The wind is tossing the lilacs rdquo With that opening line of her springtime poem ldquo May rdquo poet Sara Teasdale captured a vision of lilac bushes waving in gusty breezes But Teasdale was lamenting a lost love and her poem soon turned sorrowful Our backyard lilacs also encountered a challenge After having their most lush and beautiful season they faced the axe of a hard-working lawn man who ldquo trimmed rdquo every bush chopping them to stubs I cried Then three years later mdash after barren branches a bout of powdery mildew and my faithless plan to dig [... more]

I love a good game of Scrabble After one particular game my friends named a move after me mdash calling it a ldquo Katara rdquo I rsquo d been trailing the entire game but at the end of it mdash with no tiles left in the bag mdash I made a seven-letter word This meant the game was over and I received fifty bonus points as well as all the points from all of my opponents rsquo leftover tiles moving me from last place to first Now whenever we play and someone is trailing they remember what happened and hold [... more]

The fire hydrant gushed into the street and I saw my opportunity Several cars had splashed through before me and I thought What a great way to get a free wash My car hadn rsquo t been cleaned for a month and the dust was thick So I fired it up and headed into the deluge Crack It happened so fast The sun had already beaten down on my black car that morning heating its glass and interior But the water from the hydrant was frigid As soon as the cold gush hit the hot windshield a crack struck like [... more]

To support this ministry financially visit https www oneplace com donate [... more]

Lea was about to start a job as a nurse in Taiwan She rsquo d be able to provide better for her family more than she could in Manila where job opportunities were limited On the night before her departure she gave instructions to her sister who rsquo d be taking care of her five-year-old daughter ldquo She rsquo ll take her vitamins if you also give her a spoonful of peanut butter rdquo Lea explained ldquo And remember she rsquo s shy She rsquo ll play with her cousins eventually And she rsquo s afraid of the dark rdquo [... more]

Today apos s Our Daily Bread Devotional [... more]

My four-year-old grandson sat on my lap and patted my bald head studying it intently ldquo Papa rdquo he asked ldquo What happened to your hair rdquo ldquo Oh rdquo I laughed ldquo I lost it over the years rdquo His face turned thoughtful ldquo That rsquo s too bad rdquo he responded ldquo I rsquo ll have to give you some of mine rdquo I smiled at his compassion and pulled him close for a hug Reflecting later on his love for me in that cherished moment also caused me to ponder God rsquo s selfless generous love G [... more]

While attending seminary I was working full-time Add to that a chaplaincy rotation and an internship at a church I was busy When my father visited me he said ldquo You rsquo re going to have a breakdown rdquo I shrugged off his warning thinking he was of another generation and he didn rsquo t understand goal-setting I didn rsquo t have a breakdown But I did experience a very rough dry season in which I fell into depression Since then I rsquo ve learned to listen to warnings mdash especially from loved ones mdash more carefully That rsquo s [... more]

My mother shared with me how she chose not to attend college so she could marry my father in the s but she always held on to her dream of becoming a home economics teacher Three children later though she never received a college degree she did become a nutritionist aide for the state of Louisiana rsquo s health system She cooked meals to demonstrate healthier meal choices mdash much like a home economics teacher As she shared her dream with me after recounting the events of her life she proclaimed that God had indeed heard her prayers and given [... more]

It rsquo s a quiet riverside park on a Saturday afternoon Joggers pass by fishing rods whirl seagulls fight over fish and chip wrappers and my wife and I sit watching the couple They are dark-skinned maybe in their late s She sits gazing into his eyes while he without a hint of self-consciousness sings to her a love song in his own tongue carried on the breeze for us all to hear This delightful act got me thinking about the book of Zephaniah At first you might wonder why In Zephaniah rsquo s day God rsquo s people had [... more]

Psalms Make thy face to shine upon thy servant and teach me thy statutes Here in the seventh verse of the PEH section - the delight in the fear of the Lord verse this is the seventh and final time in the Psalm the Psalmist asks to be taught the statutes or Huquam Not unlike going around the walls of Jericho seven times as a bride does in a Jewish Wedding So this begs the question - WHAT IS A STATUTE The Hebrew for that word is just two letters two pictures first - Chet meaning wedding or union and [... more]

Psalms Deliver me from the oppression of man so will I keep thy precepts The sixth verse of the Peh God's Presence delivered or redeemed Israel from the Bondage of Egypt so they could what Go have a feast to God in the Wilderness - Yes a Precept I share a story how God did that for me [... more]

To support this ministry financially visit https www oneplace com donate [... more]

An accomplished acrobat and aerialist Jen was born without legs and abandoned at the hospital Yet she says being put up for adoption was a blessing ldquo I am here because of the people who poured into me rdquo Her adoptive family helped her to see she was ldquo born like this for a reason rdquo They raised her to ldquo never say lsquo can rsquo t rsquo rdquo and encouraged her in all her pursuits She meets challenges with an attitude of ldquo How can I tackle this rdquo and motivates others to do the same The Bible tells [... more]

To support this ministry financially visit https www oneplace com donate [... more]

During our tour of an aircraft carrier a jet fighter pilot explained that planes need a -kilometer per hour wind to take off on such a short runway To reach this steady breeze the captain turns his ship into the wind ldquo Shouldn rsquo t the wind come from the planes rsquo back rdquo I asked The pilot answered ldquo No The jets must fly into the wind That rsquo s the only way to achieve lift rdquo God called Joshua to lead His people into the ldquo winds rdquo that awaited them in the Promised Land Joshua required two [... more]