I am who?
Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey the week before His crucifixion. On that day, which we now call Palm Sunday, the crowd proclaimed Him to be the Son of David (Matthew 21:9). On the following Tuesday in the temple, Jesus asked the Pharisees a question: “What do you think about the Messiah? Whose Son is He?” They replied, “He…
oscar ewolo's transformation
Born in the Congo and raised in France, Oscar Ewolo dreamed of playing in the World Cup. Today, as captain of Congo’s football team, he has a chance of realizing that dream. But when Oscar was 14, his father died, and his life had begun to disintegrate. “It was as if my whole family was dying on the inside,” Oscar…
no limits
The other day I spotted a man in a wheelchair rocking back and forth on a street corner. One of his front wheels was stuck in a crack on the curb, and he was struggling to get loose. Moments later, a kind man came along and gave him a push to set him free.
Many of us would refer to…
fighting the good fight
Jacqueline’s eyes flash fury and fire. She’s the embodiment of the hot-tempered, angry, fight starter described in Proverbs 15:18, 29:22. It’s not surprising then that rather than pleading with her landlord for more time to pay her delinquent rent, she beat him up and gave him two broken ribs.
The landlord was not the first person to suffer Jacqueline’s wrath.…
one, two, three . . .
When my son was a toddler, I played a game with him that made a big splash—literally. As I stood in the water, just a few feet from the edge of the pool, I would reach out my arms and encourage him to leap from the safe terra firma to me. I would count, “One . . two . .…
rich
Their fatigue and discomfort blended with the barren landscape as the group walked through the dirt streets. Trash littered what could hardly be considered front yards. This arid area of Choluteca known as “The New City” exists in denial of its name. Unclothed children, wild dogs, and a few large pigs ran through the streets with little purpose or focus…
refusing to play the fool
Israeli media recently reported on the frenzied scene in garbage dumps around Tel Aviv, as people searched for one million dollars stuffed in an old mattress that had been accidentally discarded. A woman identified only by her first name, Anat, told a local radio station that she didn’t realize her elderly mother had the money stuffed into the beat-up bedding.…
May 24, 2010
What have you learned about following God's will?
choose love
The actress Cameron Diaz explained why none of her romantic relationships have led to marriage. “I think that what I’ve found . . . is that you always find the person you’re meant to be with at that time in your life. And what I’ve also found is that you have to move on from those people at certain times,…
who needs relationship?
Emperor Frederick carried out an isolation experiment to try and determine humanity’s original language. He reasoned that infants would eventually speak the natural tongue of humans if they were sheltered from the sound of the human voice. The infants never heard a spoken word. Wet nurses, sworn to absolute silence, were employed. Within several months, the babies all died.
We’re…
being sure of the cause
John Calvin once said, “All the exhortations which can be given us to suffer for the name of Jesus Christ and in defence of the gospel will have no effect if we do not feel sure of the cause for which we fight.” Jesus, in Luke 22, was absolutely sure of the cause for which He was fighting.
Luke’s account…
shared happiness
The 2007 film Into the Wild tells the true story of Chris McCandless. Upon graduating from college in the early 1990s, McCandless had become disillusioned with his conventional life. Without saying a word to his family, he sold all his belongings, disappeared into the back country of the western United States, and eventually ventured deep into the Alaskan wilderness—alone.
McCandless…
God's patience
Nearly one-third of the recorded teachings of Jesus in the Gospels are parables. It’s said that a parable is “an earthly story with a heavenly meaning.” Jesus was the Master teacher who taught with simplicity, clarity (Matthew 13:54), and great authority (7:28-29). So much so, that the leading priests, teachers of the law, and elders asked Him, “By what authority…
the humanitarian veterinarian
Steve Goldsmith is a veterinarian who performs humanitarian work in difficult locations around the world. It’s humanitarian work because in poverty-stricken regions healthy animals can spell the difference between life and death for the people!
Recently, Dr. Goldsmith went on a medical mission to war-ravaged Afghanistan. One family cow didn’t take kindly to being stuck with a needle. The bad-tempered…
mistaken identity update
Take a few minutes to watch an inspiring update from Van Ryn and Cerak families which aired this morning on TV.
Don, Susie, and Lisa Van Ryn are dear friends. Their faith in God has inspired and challenged me as they've allowed God to use them to reach thousands of people with the Good News of Jesus. They lost a precious,…
