I didn rsquo t notice him at first I rsquo d come down for breakfast at my hotel Everything in the dining room was clean The buffet table was filled The refrigerator was stocked the utensil container packed tight Everything was perfect Then I saw him An unassuming man refilled this wiped that He didn rsquo t draw attention to himself But the longer I sat the more I was amazed The man was working very fast noticing everything and refilling everything before anyone might need something As a food service veteran I noticed his constant attention to detail Everything [... more]

In his poem ldquo Rest rdquo nineteenth-century minister John Sullivan Dwight gently challenges our tendency to separate ldquo leisure rdquo time from ldquo work rdquo asking ldquo Is not true leisure One with true toil rdquo If you want to experience true leisure instead of trying to avoid life rsquo s duties Dwight urges ldquo Still do thy best Use it not waste it mdash Else lsquo tis not rest Wouldst behold beauty Near thee All round Only hath duty Such a sight found rdquo Dwight concludes that true rest and joy are both found through love and service mdash [... more]

A monk named Telemachus lived a quiet life but his death at the end of the fourth century changed the world Visiting Rome from the East Telemachus intervened in the blood sport of the gladiatorial arena He jumped over the stadium wall and tried to stop the gladiators from killing each other But the outraged crowd stoned the monk to death The emperor Honorius however was moved by Telemachus rsquo act and decreed the end of the -year practice of gladiator games When Paul calls Jesus ldquo our peace rdquo he refers to the end of hostility between Jews and [... more]

In this passage from Thessalonians we find four qualities of life that honor God Pastor Greg Barkman continues his expositional series [... more]

Years ago my son Josh and I were making our way up a mountain trail when we spied a cloud of dust rising in the air We crept forward and discovered a badger busy making a den in a dirt bank He had his head and shoulders in the hole and was vigorously digging with his front paws and kicking the dirt out of the hole with his hind feet He was so invested in his work he didn rsquo t hear us nbsp nbsp I couldn t resist and prodded him from behind with a long stick lying nearby [... more]