It is always fun to remember your “firsts.” We all cherish the remembrance of our first boyfriend or girlfriend, our first kiss, our first job and that wonderful first paycheck. I also clearly remember the first time I tried to memorize scripture....

Discouragement is the ugly little sister of depression. It isn’t severe, but it can be debilitating. It usually doesn’t require medication, but it does require attention. And it does drain the joy out of everyday living. Discouragement comes in all...

Summer is upon us, and it is the time for reading, not because we must, but because we want to. I have always been an avid reader, but sometimes the rest of the world doesn’t seem to see the joy in books that I do. In fact, the reading habits of...

One of my favorite Old Testament stories centers around Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathon, David’s dear friend. His story occurs in II Samuel chapters 4 through 16 where he is clearly a type of redeemed sinner. In fact, he is a lot like you and me!...

A while back I saw an article in the NYTIMES about how much water it takes to manufacture one pair of jeans. Levi Strauss and Company reported that “from the cotton field in rural India to the local rag bin, a typical pair of blue jeans consumes...

We keep track of a person’s legacy in many ways. Epitaphs written on tombstones might be the most humorous approach. Here are a few of my favorite: In Washington D.C.: Uncle Walter loved to spend; He had no money in the end. But with many a...

In her book, Now and Not Yet, Ruth Chou Simons suggests that there is a significant difference between living through a season of life and living permanently in a wilderness. A season of pain or disappointment or personal unrest can be very...

Church is meant to be so much more than just a preaching station. The New Testament emphasizes its worth and value in Acts 2:42 where it declares that the early church “devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the...

My early exposure to the gospel included a healthy dose of information regarding mission efforts all around the world. If someone was talking about evangelism, they would most likely present their thoughts in a context that mirrored the commission...

I have always been fascinated by world records. So much so, that I led an effort to have Stoneybrooke be listed in the Guiness Book of World Records. (We are! At one point, we made the World’s Longest Paper Doll Chain. Check it out!) Recently, I...

 World War II officially ended with the unconditional surrender of Japan. The documents were formalized on the deck of the USS Missouri on September 2nd, 1945. After the end of the war, it took more than three years to bring home the 3.5...