radical recovery
Attempting a quadruple toe loop, Olympic skater Jeremy Abbott swiveled into the air and fell. He careened into the rink’s wall and lay clutching his side. Amazingly, Jeremy then stood up and resumed skating. The rest of his routine included two extremely difficult, yet well-executed maneuvers. In the end, his perseverance after a serious mistake won the crowd’s heart.
blameless
Pastor guilty of bilking money from elderly woman . . . Church elder convicted of accounting fraud . . . Pastor of megachurch accused of financial misappropriation.
out of the abyss
Why did I repeatedly deny I knew Him? How could I have betrayed His trust?
you choose Q: why does my business continue to fail even as I pray to God for help?
Q: Why is my business continuing to slide down even though we have been praying for God's hand upon us? How can I continue to motivate my Christian colleagues who are demoralized? —Teck
A: “Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for,” Jesus promised in Matthew 7:7. Yet, having trusted, your prayers seem to have gone unanswered. It’s…
greater than our shame
God is greater than our shame. Because Saul failed to realize this, his life ended tragically. The Israelites were engaged in a fierce battle and suffered defeat at the hands of the Philistines on Mt. Gilboa. That day, the Philistines killed Saul’s three sons and wounded him. Humiliation, torture, and death were likely to follow his capture. Unable to endure the shame, Saul committed suicide. Beneath this desperate act, however, lurked the larger and the darker issues of disloyalty and disobedience to God.
something rotten
I recently began searching for a good used car. When we went to check out a 2006 model, the vehicle looked pristine. Looks can be deceiving, however. For when I had my mechanic take a peek at the prospective purchase, he found some major transmission problems. If I had bought the car, it would have cost me thousands of dollars to fix.
failure isn’t final
Failure isn’t final. A man in the Bible who experienced that firsthand was John Mark—an assistant to Paul and Barnabas on their first missionary journey (Acts 13:5). We don’t know all that his role entailed, but it likely involved doing behind-the-scenes work like buying supplies and cooking meals, along with some public ministry. He handled some of the day-to-day responsibilities…
the hard way
In this devo, I will write about a subject of which I must say—with great confidence—is an area of expertise. Yes, I will be boasting here. For I’ve been well-trained and have lots of experience in it. My subject? Failure. No one wants to experience it, but you and I have both come to know it up close and personal.…
failure
According to columnist Perry Buffington, a licensed psychologist, failure takes on a life of its own because the brain remembers incomplete tasks or failures longer than successes or completed activities. It’s called the “Zeigarnik effect.” Buffington states, “When a project or a thought is completed, the brain . . . no longer gives the project priority or active working status.…
run the race
One of my favorite television programs is The Amazing Race. This reality show takes up to a dozen couples (people in pre-existing relationships) and places them in a foreign country where they race—via trains, buses, cabs, bikes, and feet—from one point to the next, gaining instructions for the next challenge. The goal is to get to the designated finishing point…
no condemnation
The Thirteenth Amendment that abolished slavery in the United States was ratified by the necessary number of states on December 6, 1865. So, how many slaves were there in the US on December 7?
Technically, there were none. Although the law had been passed, there were many who did not know the truth and continued to live like slaves. There…
failures and rejects
John Mark, a young man, had joined Paul and Barnabas in their first missionary journey (Acts 13:4-5).
For some unspecified reason(s), he abandoned the missions trip (v.13). Perhaps he was homesick. Perhaps he couldn’t take the tough life of the mission field. Paul was ticked because of John Mark’s lack of commitment and because he abandoned the mission.
Three years…
steering clear
It would have been easy for Teresa Clarke to get discouraged and pitch the whole idea. She had failed her driving test 12 times over the past 27 years—never managing to get her license. During that time, she spent more than $25,000 on 450 hours of driving instruction.
But Teresa got behind the wheel again last summer and passed test…
unraveled
Snorts of laughter and quiet giggles swept through the room as I held up my homework assignment. It was our second knitting class and our teacher had asked us to construct a basic dishcloth. Everyone else’s looked pretty much the same: four sides, even stitches, squared corners. Mine resembled an amoeba.
It’s not that I have anything against those one-celled critters…it's…
