adventure time!
As my wife tried to get home from visiting our daughter over the holidays, bad weather shut down numerous flights. After 2 days, she had a fistful of boarding passes for planes that couldn’t leave the ground, and she joined thousands of weary travelers scrambling for places to stay.
plastic soldiers and HVAs
Our two young boys wanted a nativity set, so we got a small one to place in their room. One night my wife went to tuck them in bed, only to find that Liam (age 5) had posted little plastic soldiers to guard the nativity. “They’re making sure baby Jesus is safe,” he announced.
the real Jesus
When Peter brought the gospel to the Gentiles, he told Cornelius the story of Jesus. He explained how the Savior traveled throughout Judea healing people and casting out demons, died on the cross and rose again, and then appeared to His disciples and commanded them to tell everyone He was Israel’s Messiah. And right in the middle Peter added, “We were those who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead” (Acts 10:41).
a stone’s throw
The teachers of the law stormed into the temple and interrupted Jesus’ teaching by thrusting a woman in front of the crowd. They said to Him, “This woman was caught in the act of adultery. The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?” (John 8:4-5).
powerless and foolish
If a friend asked you, “Where can I experience the power and wisdom of God?” would you bring him or her to a college? The following saying would cause us to question this choice: The university has lots of knowledge. The first years came in with some. The final years left with none. That is how knowledge accumulates.
heartburn
Heartburn. It strikes when stomach acid leaks backward into the esophagus, causing a burning sensation in the chest. Take it from me—an untreated case of heartburn will ruin your day.
one morning
There aren’t many days that noticeably change the world. In my lifetime I would count 9/11, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and perhaps a few more. Even so, today we conduct our business much as we did before those events.
looking beyond calvary
The Mount Grace Priory in North Yorkshire is one of England’s best-preserved medieval monasteries. For hundreds of years, Carthusian monks lived there in solitude, devoting themselves to prayer. The priory’s ruins are impressive, but a more modern monument caught my attention on a recent visit to the site.
the soul’s worth
O Holy Night” is a Christmas hymn we need to sing loudly. We need to sing it during Advent and Christmas—and if I had my way, we’d belt it out every month of the year. These lines tell us a deep truth:
no other gods
Jason is dead serious about his studies. He’s striving to gain an overseas scholarship that will allow him to pursue a doctorate degree in mathematics. So he makes sure that he does well in all his required classes. He’s also gone beyond the basics to take higher-level classes. He eats, drinks, and sleeps math!
making room
Our voices resonating throughout the living room, last Christmas Eve was like many others as we read Scripture, took communion, and sang together. However, the words of one song took on new meaning. Having recently sold our home, we had been living for the past month and a half with my husband’s parents. Graciously, they had not only offered us the use of their home as they traveled but had even thinned out closets and emptied dresser drawers for our use.
take a stand
Home-field advantage is no myth. According to Tobias J. Moskowitz and L. Jon Wertheim, in their book “Scorecasting,” the home team wins more often than the visiting team. Why? The writers state: “Officials’ bias is the most significant contribution to home-field advantage.” The officials respond to the pressure from the fans because they don’t like to get booed. When the contests are close, the officials tend to make calls that favor the home team.
true love
A 13-year-old girl stole her brother’s car and drove 800 miles to meet a 12-year-old boy she met online. With romance on her mind, she filched her mother’s bankcard, slipped out of her bedroom window, and left her home in Cypress, Texas. Police finally apprehended her about 50 miles away from Nashville, Tennessee, where the boy lived.
shamed and disarmed
Hospital chaplain Matt Marino received a call to go to a patient’s room. He expected to find someone gravely ill, fearful, or clinging to life. Instead, he was surprised to find a “strikingly attractive 23-year-old sitting up cheerfully in the hospital bed, holding her infant daughter and chatting with family and friends.” Confused, Matt quietly asked the nurse why he had been called.
a new genesis
A couple of years ago, as I was driving our son Wyatt to kindergarten, our conversation turned to resurrection. Understandably, Wyatt was perplexed about what it meant and how it worked. Finally, he asked the question for which he most wanted an answer. “Dad,” he asked, “when God raises us from the dead, are we going to be really alive? Or just alive in our head?”
