My friend Raleigh is sprinting toward his eighty-fifth birthday Since my first conversation with him more than thirty-five years ago he rsquo s been a source of inspiration When he recently mentioned that since retiring he rsquo d completed a book manuscript and started another ministry initiative mdash I was intrigued but not surprised nbsp At eighty-five Caleb in the Bible wasn rsquo t ready to stop either His faith and devotion to God had sustained him through decades of wilderness living and wars to secure the inheritance God had promised Israel He said ldquo I am still as strong [... more]

The color red doesn rsquo t always naturally occur in the things we make How do you put the vibrant color of an apple into a T-shirt or lipstick In early times the red pigment was made from clay or red rocks In the s the Aztecs invented a way of using cochineal insects to make red dye Today those same tiny insects supply the world with red In the Bible red denotes royalty and it also signifies sin and shame Further it rsquo s the color of blood When soldiers ldquo stripped Jesus and put a scarlet robe on [... more]

Jill Price was born with the condition of hyperthymesia the ability to remember in extraordinary detail everything that ever happened to her She can replay in her mind the exact occurrence of any event she rsquo s experienced in her lifetime A TV show Unforgettable was premised on a female police officer with hyperthymesia mdash to her a great advantage in trivia games and in solving crimes For Jill Price however the condition isn rsquo t so much fun She can rsquo t forget the moments of life when she was criticized experienced loss or did something she deeply regretted [... more]

At the pastor rsquo s invitation at the end of the church service Latriece made her way to the front When she was invited to greet the congregation no one was prepared for the weighty and wonderful words she spoke She had relocated from Kentucky where in December devastating tornadoes had taken the lives of seven of her family members ldquo I can still smile because God rsquo s with me rdquo she said Though bruised by trial her testimony was a powerful encouragement for those facing challenges of their own David rsquo s words in Psalm which point to [... more]

One day a sixth-grade student noticed a classmate cutting his arm with a small razor Trying to do the right thing she took it from him and threw it away Surprisingly instead of being commended for her act she received a ten-day school suspension Why She briefly had the razor in her possession mdash something not allowed at school Asked if she would do it again she replied ldquo Even if I got in trouble I would do it again rdquo Just as this girl rsquo s act of trying to do good got her into trouble at her school [... more]

I know Daddy rsquo s coming home because he sent me flowers rdquo Those were my seven-year-old sister rsquo s words to our mother when Dad was missing in action during wartime Before Dad left for his mission he preordered flowers for my sister rsquo s birthday and they arrived while he was missing But she was right Dad did come home mdash after a harrowing combat situation And decades later she still keeps the vase that held the flowers as a reminder to always hold on to hope Sometimes holding on to hope isn rsquo t easy in a [... more]

The newspaper declared that Pep had taken the life of the cat of the governor rsquo s wife mdash but he didn rsquo t do it The only thing he may have been guilty of was chewing the sofa at the governor rsquo s mansion Pep was a rambunctious young Labrador retriever owned by Pennsylvania rsquo s governor Gifford Pinchot in the s The dog actually was sent to Eastern State Penitentiary where his mug shot was taken with a prisoner identification number When a newspaper reporter heard about it he made up the cat story Because his report appeared [... more]

On a trip to Paris Ben and his friends found themselves at the one of the renowned museums in the city Though Ben wasn rsquo t a student of art he was in awe as he looked upon the painting titled The Disciples Peter and John Running to the Sepulchre on the Morning of the Resurrection Without words the looks on the faces of Peter and John and the position of their hands speak volumes inviting onlookers to step into their shoes and share their adrenaline-charged emotions Based on John ndash the painting portrays the two running in the direction [... more]

We all leave a bit of ourselves behind when we move to a new place But to become a long-term resident of Villas Las Estrellas Antarctica a cold and desolate place leaving a piece of yourself behind is a literal thing With the nearest hospital miles away a person will be in serious trouble if her appendix bursts So every citizen must first undergo an appendectomy before moving there Drastic right But it rsquo s not as drastic as becoming a resident of the kingdom of God Because people want to follow Jesus on their own terms and not His [... more]

ldquo Lord please send me anywhere but there rdquo That was my prayer as a teenager before embarking on a year as a foreign exchange student I didn rsquo t know where I would be going but I knew where I didn rsquo t want to go I didn rsquo t speak that country rsquo s language and my mind was filled with prejudices against its customs and people So I asked God to send me elsewhere nbsp But God in His infinite wisdom sent me precisely where I asked not to go I rsquo m so glad He did [... more]

In the late s people in different places developed the same vision at the same time The first was in Montreal Canada in In a similar concept was launched in New York City By some of these programs were active in North America each summer This is the early history of Vacation Bible School which still continues today The passion that fueled those Christian VBS pioneers was a desire for young people to know the Bible Paul had a similar passion for his young prot eacute g eacute Timothy writing that ldquo Scripture is God-breathed rdquo and equips us ldquo [... more]

A Colorado mother proved she would stop at nothing to protect her child Her five-year-old son was playing outside when she heard him screaming She rushed outside and to her horror saw that her son had an unexpected ldquo playmate rdquo mdash a mountain lion The large cat was on top of her son with his head in its mouth The mother summoned her inner mamma grizzly to fight off the lion and pry open its jaws to rescue her son This mother rsquo s heroic actions remind us of how motherhood is used in Scripture to illustrate God rsquo [... more]

As a teenager Charles Spurgeon wrestled with God He'd grown up going to church but what was preached seemed bland and meaningless God was a struggle for him and Charles in his own words ldquo rebelled and revolted rdquo One night a fierce snowstorm forced the sixteen-year-old Spurgeon to seek shelter in a tiny Methodist church The pastor's sermon seemed directed at him personally In that moment God won the wrestling match and Charles gave his heart to Jesus Spurgeon later wrote ldquo long before I began with Christ He began with me rdquo In fact our life with God [... more]

In rural Amish culture the building of a barn is a social event It would take months for a single farmer and his family to construct a barn but the Amish doing it together make quick work of it Lumber is stocked ahead of time tools are prepped On the designated day the entire Amish community gathers early morning divvies up tasks and together pitches in to raise a barn In some cases a barn is built in a single day This is a good picture of God rsquo s vision for the church and our role in it The [... more]

Caesar Augustus BC ndash AD the first emperor of Rome wanted to be known as a law-and-order ruler Even though he built his empire on the back of slave labor military conquest and financial bribery he restored a measure of legal due process and gave his citizens Iustitia a goddess our justice system today refers to as Lady Justice He also called for a census that brought Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem for the birth of a long-awaited ruler whose greatness would reach to the ends of the earth Micah ndash nbsp nbsp nbsp What neither Augustus nor the rest [... more]

A popular restaurant in Bangkok serves soup from a broth that has been cooking for forty-five years and is replenished a bit each day The practice called ldquo perpetual stew rdquo dates back to medieval times Just as some ldquo leftovers rdquo taste better a few days later the extended cooking time blends and creates unique flavors The restaurant has won multiple awards for the most delicious broth in Thailand Good things often take time but our human nature struggles with patience The question ldquo How long rdquo occurs throughout the Bible One poignant example is from the prophet Habakkuk [... more]