February 15, 2010
What do you do when someone you love shows no love in return?
unbelieving evangelists
Since its release in 1979, the Jesus film has been watched by more than 6 billion people, making it the most-watched movie in history. Today it’s suggested that every 4 seconds someone becomes a Christian after watching the film. That’s 21,600 people per day, 648,000 per month, more than 7.8 million per year, resulting in a total of 225 million people…
struggle to surrender
Recently, I found myself chuckling over a radio commercial for car stereos. A couple of men joked about two things you don’t want to do on your own. The first was to perform surgery on yourself: “Hmmm . . . I think I’ll take out my appendix this weekend.” That’s definitely not a good idea. The second was attempting to…
sisera's surprise
Taking online quizzes is popular on Facebook. The quizzes range from “What Disney character are you?” to “What Bible character are you?” I wonder how a person would react if the Bible character quiz revealed that they are most like Jael.
Who’s Jael? She’s the woman who drove a tent peg into an army general’s head. While we could debate…
have you had enough?
A 2008 Barna Group survey asked adults what immoral behaviors they had engaged in during the past week. Of those surveyed: 28 percent had used profanity, 20 percent had gambled, 19 percent had viewed pornography, 12 percent had gossiped, 12 percent had gotten drunk, 11 percent had lied, 9 percent had sex outside of marriage.
The survey also revealed devastating…
thieves and shepherds
In September 2008, a court convicted Ryan Mueller of burglary. Due to multiple convictions, Mueller received 6 years in the penitentiary along with 5 years probation. Mueller’s latest crime happened in the middle of the night when he crept into a family’s home under cover of dark and attempted to steal $20 from a toddler’s piggy bank.
I don’t know…
earthquake
A low grumble rolled through the house. It took only seconds to go from dreamland to all-out panic as I realized what was happening. At 3:59 on Wednesday morning of this week, an earthquake shook the far west suburbs of Chicago where my husband and I live.
In the seconds after the quake, my husband and I bolted out of…
no grumbling allowed
I laughed yesterday as I read Facebook comments written by a close friend and his wife. She updated her profile to read, “I am grumpy for no good reason.” Beneath it, alluding to Facebook’s “like” button, my friend wrote: “They need an ‘unlike button’ for these types of things.
Although the above exchange is humorous, Israel’s grumpy behavior in Numbers…
February 8, 2010
Drew Brees, MVP of Super Bowl XLIV, lifted up God's greatness during his post-game interview. What's your take on pro athletes and other celebrities discussing their faith while in the media's spotlight?
one-hit wonders
A recent TV special on one-hit wonders—pop music performers who had one hit and then disappeared—fascinated me. Old footage from their prime showed them to be arrogant, bold, confident, outrageous, and young!
Now, 20 to 30 years later, the TV crew caught up with many of them. Some had moved on with their lives, raising families and enjoying obscurity. But…
cravings
For our family, vacations are treasured getaways from the demands of regular life. We enjoy visiting a variety of places, but one particular theme park has been a staple. Not wanting to exhaust our children when they were little, we limited our visits to one-day passes. We recently embarked, however, on the coveted multi-day experience. After 5 days of park…
renewed hope
David Blancarte, a paraplegic, used a wheelchair for 20 years. It’s likely he had lost hope of ever walking again. But that changed recently. Blancarte was bitten by a poisonous brown recluse spider. He was sent to the emergency room where a nurse tested a muscle spasm in his paralyzed legs with an electric current. Five days later the former…
knowledge isn't enough
The preacher asked his audience whether they believed he had a $20 bill in his closed hand. After a woman said that she believed he did, the speaker announced that he would destroy her faith by opening his hand and showing the money. “Now that you know I have a $20 bill,” he said, “you can no longer have faith…
