Rescue And Response

The sign outside Dave James’ shop in Seattle, Washington, says more about getting your life repaired than it does about fixing your vacuum cleaner, but Dave is in business to do both. The top line of the sign is always the same: Free Bibles Inside. The second line changes and features thoughts such as: Surrender Your Heart for a Brand-New Start.

Our Living Hope

The morning after my mother died, I was reading the Bible and talking to the Lord about my sadness. The Bible-In-One-Year reading for that day was John 6.

When I came to verse 39, the Lord whispered comfort to my sad heart: “This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.” Mom’s spirit was with the Lord already, but I knew that one day she would be raised and given a new body.

Death Cannot Divide Us

Although writers and philosophers have done their best to marshal weighty arguments in favor of life after death, they have not succeeded in bringing comfort to aching, anxious, questioning hearts.

Jesus, however, does not fail to satisfy us. He brings forth no philosophical arguments. He does not try to prove the reasonableness of immortality; He simply declares it! He speaks of what He knows, and answers with the authority of heaven: “I am the resurrection and the life.

In Defense Of Life

The Jews clearly understood that God’s commandment not to kill refers to murder-the malicious taking of human life. It doesn’t forbid governments to use the death penalty or to wage war. This commandment deals solely with private morality.

Exodus 20:13 is based on the divine truth that human life is sacred and that we must protect and preserve it. Every human being bears God’s image. Even an embryo is marked with a unique identity from the moment of conception. Life is God’s most precious gift, and only He has the right to take it. Abortion, euthanasia, and physician-assisted suicide must all be viewed in the light of God’s right to our life.

The Difference Faith Makes

What if we didn’t have faith in God but accepted instead the God-denying theory of evolution? Suppose we had an atheistic view of life. Cornell University biologist William Provine declared in a public debate that if you’re a consistent Darwinian, you realize there’s no life after death, no ultimate foundation for ethics, no ultimate meaning for our existence, no free will. Life would be empty.

Door Of Humility

Over the centuries, the entrance to Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity has twice been made smaller. The purpose in the last case was to keep marauders from entering the basilica on horseback. It’s now referred to as the “Door of Humility,” because visitors must bend down to enter.

As we age, bending our knees becomes more and more difficult and painful. In the physical realm, some people courageously undergo knee replacement surgery. To avoid years of increasingly painful joint damage, they endure several weeks of agony.

Facing Your Enemies

During the US Civil War, fierce fighting was taking place near Moorefield, West Virginia. Because the town was close to enemy lines, it would be controlled one day by Union troops, and the next by Confederates.

In the heart of the town lived an old woman. According to the testimony of a Presbyterian minister, one morning several enemy soldiers knocked on her door and demanded breakfast. She asked them in and said she would prepare something for them.

The Joy Of Waiting

Nine months can seem like forever for a mother-to-be. In the first trimester, hormonal changes sometimes cause lingering morning sickness. Emotions rise to the surface, prolonging afternoon blues. Then a changing appetite stretches out evening hours with late-night cravings for pizza, chocolate, and dill pickles.

During the next 3 months, Mom outgrows her clothes and spends long hours looking for a new wardrobe. The last trimester turns normal activity into a chore as the final watch begins.

Life After Miracles

On the other side of every miraculous intervention by God on our behalf, there is a road of faith to travel. Whether God’s power has touched our health, finances, or family relationships, we must not only praise and thank the Lord but obey Him as well.

After God opened the Red Sea for His people, then released the waters to overwhelm Pharaoh’s pursuing army, there was a great celebration of praise to the Lord (Exodus 15:1-21). But then it was time to move on in the journey toward the land of promise. “So Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea; then they went out into the Wilderness of Shur” (v.22). There they traveled for 3 days without finding water, and they began to complain

Day 1: A Humble King

On that first Palm Sunday, one might have expected Jesus the King to enter Jerusalem on a mighty steed. But He chose instead a lowly donkey. Before He could come as a King to reign, He had to come as a Savior to die. Throughout His life on earth, Jesus was a man of striking contrasts—reflecting both His genuine humanity…

Eye Contact

Researchers studying eye movement during normal conversation have found that sustaining eye contact for any length of time is difficult, if not impossible. Special cameras reveal that what appears to be a steady gaze at someone is actually a series of rapid scans of the face. Eye movement is essential because the nerves in the eye need a constant change of stimulation if we are to see properly. Studies show that if we look at the same spot continuously, the rest of our visual field will go blank.

How To Catch A Rat

My grandson’s chicken coop was invaded by rats. Attracted by the feed, they had moved in. He asked for my help and we set out a couple of traps. After a week, though, we had not caught a single one. Then a farmer friend offered some advice. “No rat,” he said, “will touch an exposed trap. You must disguise it with food. Fill a pan with meal and place the trap in it. Cover it well with meal so it is completely hidden.” It worked! The next morning we had a big fat rat.

All this reminded me that the devil knows this trick too.

Follow The Right Leader

Follow me!” That was the invitation given by Marshall Applewhite, self-appointed leader of the Heaven’s Gate cult. He promised to those who would become his disciples that he would teach them how they could move on to a higher level of life in a new world. Sincere but gullible men and women heeded his call. They left families, friends, homes, and jobs to live and work together and to obey their leader’s teachings.

Those 38 disciples followed him even when he told them to commit suicide. He said they would be liberated from terrestrial bondage and enter into an exalted state of being. In March 1997 they followed their leader to death and eternal loss.

God's Heirs

When friends of ours considered having an orphan from another country come to live with their family, they prayerfully faced their feelings about many issues. To bring the child into the US, they would have to adopt her, giving her the same rights and status as their own children. She would become one of their heirs.

They were not unwilling to share what they had, but they struggled with the long-term implications of what they were about to do. To care for a foster child is a compassionate, unselfish undertaking. But to choose to adopt is an even more serious responsibility.