not idle words
With an estimated 6 billion copies sold, the Bible is the world’s best-selling book. The average American owns three or four copies of the Bible. In a 2012 survey, however, 18 percent of churchgoers revealed that they rarely or never read the Bible, and 22 percent said they did so just once a month. Only 19 percent said they read the Bible every day. Lamar Vest, President of the American Bible Society, said: “There are probably five Bibles on every shelf in American homes. Americans buy the Bibles . . . they just don’t read [them].”
gift of submission
I once wrote a book based on a collection of letters that François Fénelon (a French pastor from the 17th century) wrote to a younger friend who was serving in the morally corrupt court of King Louis XIV. Fénelon’s fatherly posture and his call for unflinching devotion to God captured me. Words like this are standard Fénelon fare: “Becoming a follower of God is hard because it requires that we submit ourselves fully to a God who is other than us. We must let go of our insistence that we know best what we need. We must let go of our demands that God act when and how we demand.”
sleepless nights
Sleep. It’s one of the most underrated pleasures in life. There’s nothing like a good night’s rest or napping on a rainy day. My bed feels like a refuge—a small sanctuary from the cares of life.
who holds the reins?
read> Proverbs 3:5-6 - Trust in the LORD with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding (v.5).
An ex-racehorse at my stable, Dawson, is a talented jumper, but he struggles with overanticipation. Whenever we begin a ride, he speeds up, dances in place, and tries to anticipate my commands, not because he’s being defiant but because he’s eager to…
why didn’t He protect us?
Our lives began to fall apart when my daughter took her life,” the woman told me during a break in the conference we were both attending. “And then our second daughter spiraled into depression and started to ‘self-harm.’ After several months we discovered the reason why: While my husband and I were missionaries in Indonesia, two of our three children had been sexually abused at a mission-run school. We had given our lives to serve God. . . . Why didn’t He protect us?” I would hear similar stories at that conference—people who felt betrayed by God.
carrying your cross
My wife was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in October 2012. I shared with a friend about the challenges this situation had posed for me. As we talked, he gently told me that this is the cross I have to carry. “Carrying your cross” means living with sickness or a child with a disability, or financial problems, or any difficult circumstance of life. But when Jesus tells us to carry our own crosses, is He referring to life’s burdens?
love that dies
Renowned Christian writer Dallas Willard wrote: “The aim of God in history is the creation of an all-inclusive community of loving persons, with Himself included in that community as its prime sustainer and most glorious inhabitant.” Marriage is one way God continues to create this community.
break camp and move on
In his book Seize the Day, Danny Cox, a former jet pilot turned business leader, explained why pilots needed a new ejection system. In the former system, when pilots initiated ejection, all they needed to do was clear the plane and roll forward out of the seat. During testing, however, the pilots wouldn’t let go of the seat during the process. The engineers came up with a solution. Two seconds after ejection commenced, an electronic take-up reel would immediately take up the slack and force the pilot forward out of his seat—freeing the parachute.
work and leisure
Sunday’s here. Hurrah! Let’s go to church in the morning and then catch up on all those things that we couldn’t do during the week. Is that how you view the Lord’s Day? Personal confession: that’s often the way I feel after a busy work week. But is that wrong?
waking to our hunger
When our boys come home from school or return to the house from playing, they utter predictable words amidst moans: “I’m starving. I’m going to die if I don’t eat.” They descend on Miska and me like vultures, insisting they’ll keel over at any moment if food doesn’t arrive. Usually, however, as we list the healthy snacks available to them (nuts, fruit, applesauce, yogurt), they brush each possibility aside. “No, I don’t want that. No, that doesn’t sound good.” Of course, I tell them what every parent throughout human existence has told their children in moments like this: “If you were really starving, you’d eat any of these. Obviously, you’re not that hungry.”
saved by a compass
During World War II, Waldemar Semenov (a retired merchant seaman) was serving as a junior engineer aboard the SS Alcoa Guide when a German submarine surfaced and opened fire on the ship. The US merchant ship was hit, caught fire, and began to sink. Three hundred miles off the coast of North Carolina, Semenov and the other sailors lowered lifeboats into the water. Fortunately, the lifeboats were equipped with a compass. Semenov and his crew used the compass to sail west by northwest toward the shipping lanes. After three days, a patrol plane spotted Semenov’s lifeboat and the USS Broome rescued the men the next day. Thanks to that compass, Semenov and 26 other crewmembers were saved.
Jesus changes everything
If Jesus hadn’t entered our world, two things would be true. First, those with the most _________ win. (Fill in the blank with whatever you or your culture happen to value most.) In ancient times, it was those with the most camels, wives, or gold. Today it includes those with the most cash, toys, or Facebook friends. Either way the goal is the same: Get all you can while you can.
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.
faith & marriage
Family members pleaded with him not to marry. But the young man wouldn’t listen. What was the family’s concern? He was a believer in Jesus; she was not. They knew that the union would dishonor God and that the two would face struggles due to disunity. They were right. One year after they walked the aisle, the couple divorced.
