The Bulldog and the Sprinkler
Most summer mornings, a delightful drama plays out in the park behind our house. It involves a sprinkler. And a bulldog. About 6:30 or so, the sprinklers come on. Shortly thereafter, Fifi the bulldog (our family’s name for her) arrives.
Fifi’s owner lets her off her leash. The bulldog sprints with all her might to the nearest sprinkler, attacking the stream of water as it douses her face. If Fifi could eat the sprinkler, I think she would. It’s a portrait of utter exuberance, of Fifi’s seemingly infinite desire to be drenched by the liquid she can never get enough of.
There…
Who We Are
I’ll never forget the time I took my future wife to meet my family. With a twinkle in their eyes, my two elder siblings asked her, “What exactly do you see in this guy?” She smiled and assured them that by God’s grace I had grown to be the man she loved.
I loved that clever reply because it also reflects how, in Christ, the Lord sees more than our past. In Acts 9, He directed Ananias to heal Saul, a known persecutor of the church whom God had blinded. Ananias was incredulous at receiving this mission, stating that Saul had…
Limited Stocks Only
You’ve probably read or heard about the recent flap over Huawei’s National Day promotional offer of a mobile phone for $54, which was made available to Singaporeans aged 50 years and above.
Not surprisingly, perhaps, it drew long queues…
Responding to God
As we listen to God, we should answer. This is prayer—our response to the revelation and unfolding of God’s heart.…
Listening to God
Until we take time to be quiet we’ll not hear God. God cannot be heard in noise and restlessness; only…
Time Alone with God
“Begin small and start promptly” is an old Quaker saying. The idea is to keep things simple and to begin…
Ready for Restoration
While stationed in Germany in the army I purchased a brand-new 1969 Volkswagen Bug. The car was a beauty! The dark green exterior complemented the brown leatherette interior. But as the years took their toll, stuff began to happen, including an accident that ruined the running board and destroyed one of the doors. With more imagination, I could have thought, “My classic car was a perfect candidate for restoration!” And with more money, I could have pulled it off. But that didn’t happen.
Thankfully the God of perfect vision and unlimited resources doesn’t give up so easily on battered and broken…
Rest and Renewal
Left to ourselves we would have nothing more than restlessness, driven by the realization that there is something more to…
The Word Purifies
In His high-priestly prayer, Jesus prays to the…
All for Nothing
Heroin addiction is poignantly tragic. Users build tolerance, so larger hits are required for the same high. Soon the dosage they seek is more than enough to kill them. When addicts hear someone has died from an exceptionally strong batch, their first thought may not be fear but “Where can I get that?”
C. S. Lewis warned of this downward spiral in Screwtape Letters, his imaginative look at a demon’s explanation of the art of temptation. Start with some pleasure—if possible one of God’s good pleasures—and offer it in a way God has forbidden. Once the person bites, give less of it…
Plodding for God
Those raised in the English village with William Carey (1761–1834) probably thought he wouldn’t accomplish much, but today he’s known as the father of modern missions. Born to parents who were weavers, he became a not-too successful teacher and cobbler while teaching himself Greek, Hebrew, and Latin. After many years, he realized his dream of becoming a missionary to India. But he faced hardship, including his child’s death, his wife’s mental-health problems, and for many years the lack of response from those he served.
What kept him serving amid difficulties so that he could go on to translate the entire Bible…
In-Service Training
A manager at a company in Brazil requested a short written report from the custodians in her building. Each day she wanted to know who cleaned each room, which rooms were left untouched, and how much time employees spent in each room. The first “daily” report arrived a week later, partially completed.
When the manager looked into the matter, she discovered most of the cleaning employees could not read. She could have fired them, but instead she arranged for them to have literacy lessons. Within five months, everyone was reading at a basic level and continued in their jobs.
God often uses…
70X7: Finding Peace by Forgiving Others…And Yourself
Something happened. It might have been yesterday. It might have been years ago. But it hurt. And it changed you. And unless you forgive those who wronged you, the heart wound will become infected and spread. Eventually, you can become a prisoner of your own wounded heart.
If the story ended here, you would be hurt beyond healing. But the Good News is, it is not finished.
In his creative, story-driven, highly motivating style, Bruce reveals from the words of Jesus Christ how you can find the freedom and peace your heart longs for.
Discover forgiveness that is for real and forever.
This course…
Making Things Whole
In the documentary Look & See: A Portrait of Wendell Berry, author Berry spoke of how divorce describes the state of our world. We’re divorced from one another, from our history, from the land. Things that should be whole are split apart. When asked what we should do about this sad fact, Berry said, “We can’t put everything back together. We just take two things and put them together.” We take two things broken apart and make them one again.
“Blessed are the peacemakers,” Jesus tells us (v. 9). To make peace is to bring shalom. And shalom refers to the world being set right.…
Who Is God?
Most of us have no clear picture of the God we long to worship. Our image of Him is clouded…
