What would cause someone to help a competitor For a restaurant owner named Adolfo in Wisconsin it was the opportunity to encourage other struggling local restaurant owners adapting to COVID regulations Adolfo knew firsthand the challenges of operating a business during a pandemic Encouraged by another local business rsquo generosity Adolfo spent his own money to purchase more than in gift cards to give away to his customers to use at other restaurants in his community That rsquo s an expression of love that rsquo s not just words but action nbsp Building on the ultimate expression of love expressed [... more]

The remarkable movie Little Women sent me back to my worn copy of the novel especially the comforting words of Marmee the wise and gentle mother I rsquo m drawn to the novel rsquo s depiction of her steadfast faith which underlies many of her words of encouragement to her daughters One encouragement that stood out to me was this ldquo Troubles and temptations may be many but you can overcome and outlive them all if you learn to feel the strength and tenderness of your heavenly Father rdquo nbsp Marmee rsquo s words echo the truth found in Proverbs [... more]

Standing in the kitchen my daughter exclaimed ldquo Mom there rsquo s a fly in the honey rdquo I quipped back with the familiar adage ldquo You will always catch more flies with honey than vinegar rdquo While this was the first time I rsquo d accidentally caught a fly with honey I found myself quoting this modern proverb because of its wisdom kind requests are more likely to persuade others than a bitter attitude The book of Proverbs gives us a collection of wise proverbs and sayings inspired by God rsquo s Spirit These inspired sayings help to guide [... more]

Despite knowing that the electricity wasn rsquo t working in our house after a strong storm an inconveniently common occurrence in our neighborhood I instinctively flipped on the light switch when I entered the room Of course nothing happened I was still enveloped in darkness That experience mdash expecting light even when I knew the connection to the power source was broken mdash vividly reminded me of a spiritual truth Too often we expect power even as we fail to rely on the Spirit In Thessalonians Paul wrote of the way God caused the gospel message to come ldquo not [... more]

While our family quarantined due to the global pandemic we took on an ambitious project mdash an -piece puzzle Even though we worked on it almost daily often we felt like we weren rsquo t making much progress Five months after we began we finally celebrated adding the final piece to the nine feet long and six feet wide puzzle that covered our dining room floor Sometimes my life feels a bit like a giant puzzle mdash many pieces in place but a whole lot more still lying in a jumble on the floor While I know that God is [... more]

A viral video of a mama bear trying to get her four energetic little cubs across a busy street brought a knowing smile to my face It was delightfully relatable to watch her pick up her cubs one-by-one and carry them across the road mdash only to have the cubs wander back to the other side After many seemingly frustrating attempts the mama bear finally corralled all four of her cubs and they made it safely across the road The tireless work of parenting symbolized in the video matches imagery used by Paul to describe his care for the people [... more]

After taking the pieces for my special-order table from the box and laying them out before me I noticed something wasn rsquo t quite right The beautiful top for the table and other parts were accounted for but I was lacking one of the legs Without all of the legs I couldn rsquo t assemble the table rendering it useless It rsquo s not just tables that are useless when missing one vital piece In the book of Corinthians Paul reminded his readers that they were missing one essential component The believers possessed many spiritual gifts but lacked love nbsp [... more]

At the graduation ceremony at a local high school students prepared to receive their diplomas The principal began by asking students to stand when he read the name of the country where they were born Afghanistan Bolivia Bosnia The principal kept going until he rsquo d named sixty countries and every student was standing and cheering together Sixty countries one high school The beauty of unity amid diversity was a powerful image that celebrated something near to God rsquo s heart people living together in unity We read an encouragement for unity among God rsquo s people in Psalm a [... more]

ldquo It can be an affliction more harrowing than homelessness hunger or disease rdquo wrote Maggie Fergusson in The Economist rsquo s magazine Her subject Loneliness Fergusson chronicled the increasing rates of loneliness irrespective of one rsquo s social or economic status using heart-wrenching examples of what it feels like to be lonely The hurt of feeling alone is not new to our day Indeed the pain of isolation echoes off the pages of the ancient book of Ecclesiastes Often attributed to King Solomon the book captures the sorrow of those who seem to lack any meaningful relationships ndash The [... more]

Riptide Batgirl Jumpstart These are a few names given to counselors at Gull Lake Ministries the summer camp our family attends every year Created by their peers the camp nicknames usually derive from an embarrassing incident a funny habit or a favorite hobby nbsp Nicknames are not limited to camp mdash we even find them used in the Bible For example Jesus dubs the apostles James and John the ldquo sons of thunder rdquo Mark It is rare in Scripture for someone to give themselves a nickname yet it happens when a woman named Naomi asks people to call her [... more]