Remembering The Reason

Joe Morris flavors his ice cream with ingredients ranging from chocolate and strawberries to green tea and dried chipotle peppers. He’s one of three ice-cream makers for a successful Texas company known for its quality, creativity, and innovation. But Joe hasn’t forgotten why he does it.

Insightful answers to listener questions

Monday, July 23, 2012, Part 1

“You are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth. The Lord did not set his love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; but, because the Lord loves you, and because he would keep the oath which he swore to your fathers, the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Therefore know that the Lord your God, he is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant with those who love him and keep his commandments; and he repays those who hate him to their face, to destroy them. He will not be slack with him who hates him; he will repay him to his face. Therefore you shall keep the commandment, the statutes, and the judgments which I command you today, to observe them” (Deuteronomy 7:6-11).

IDEA: God deals lovingly with His people as they show their love to God by their obedience.

PURPOSE: To help listeners understand the extent and the limits of being God’s chosen people.

Troubled Times

If you’ve never heard of Murphy’s Law, you’ve probably experienced it: “If anything can go wrong, it will.”

Surrounded By Prayer

My friend Melissa’s 9-year-old daughter Sydnie was in the hospital for chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant when I had a dream about her. I dreamed she was staying in a central room at the hospital with her parents. Surrounding her room was a block of other rooms where family and friends were staying and continually praying for her during her times of treatment.

I don’t love to read, but…

By Beth, Singapore I think I must look like a nerd. For many people have asked me, “You love to read, right?” Well, no, I don’t love to read. I would rather be entertained in some other ways—be it slumping in front of the TV or surfing the Internet. But I try to read anyway. [...]

Dorian Gray

The Victorian novel The Picture of Dorian Gray illustrates how the person we project to others may be very different from who we are on the inside. After the youthful and handsome Dorian Gray had his portrait painted, he dreaded the prospect of growing old, and he wished the portrait would grow old in his place.

The Best Things In Life

An old adage says, “The best things in life are free.” There’s a lot of truth in that. Some people, however, believe that the best things in life are expensive or perhaps elusive. Recently I saw a sign that made me smile and think. It said, “The best things in life are not things.” What a great way to say it! The value of family, friends, and faith points us to the realization that what matters most in life is all wrapped up in people and the Lord.

From Life’s First Cry To Final Breath

By Isaac Tan, 20, Singapore As portrayed in movies and TV shows, the significant smack on a baby’s bottom creates the shrilling cry when he or she first enters the world. Well, as many of you may already know, the piercing cry of a baby is a reassuring sign that there is a clear passage [...]

From Life’s First Cry To Final Breath

By Isaac Tan, 20, Singapore As portrayed in movies and TV shows, the significant smack on a baby’s bottom creates the shrilling cry when he or she first enters the world. Well, as many of you may already know, the piercing cry of a baby is a reassuring sign that there is a clear passage [...]

Speech Study

Dr. Deb Roy, a researcher and cognitive scientist with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, recorded the first 3 years of his child’s life to learn how humans acquire language. He and his wife rigged their home with recording devices, which they used to collect over 200,000 hours of audio and video footage. Amassing, condensing, and editing the recordings enabled them to hear baby sounds like “gaga” evolve into words like “water.”

Right Intentions For Attending Church

By Julian Abraham, 19, Singapore I’m a follower of Jesus Christ but I don’t follow His teachings. Sounds strange? Ironic? Familiar? As a Christian, one of the subtlest yet deadliest ways to fall into sin is skipping weekly church service. Why? The influences week in week out from sources like school, friends, television, movies, advertisements, [...]

Opening Our Homes

In Outlive Your Life, Max Lucado writes: “Hospitality opens the door to uncommon community. It’s no accident that hospitality and hospital come from the same Latin word, for they both lead to the same result: healing. When you open your door to someone, you are sending this message: ‘You matter to me and to God.’ You may think you are saying, ‘Come over for a visit.’ But what your guest hears is, ‘I’m worth the effort.’”

Two Lessons Learned

Afew weeks after writing an Our Daily Bread article about the importance of obeying the law, I set out on an 850-mile trip—determined to stay within the posted speed limit. While driving out of a small town in New Mexico, I became more occupied with unwrapping a sandwich than with watching the road signs, and I got a speeding ticket. My first lesson that day was that not paying attention costs the same as deliberate disregard for the law. And I still had 700 miles to go!

5 Ways to Waste Money in College

By Chaz Oswald, 22, USA I slept walked to the kitchen to cook porridge for breakfast. To my horror, there was an army of ants feasting on last night’s dinner crumbs. Living in an apartment with guys, I guess such a scene is not surprising. Before cleaning up the mess, I watched in amazement as [...]