November 2017

From Cotton Patch Sermons, by Clarence Jordan (1912-1969), pages 80-81.       My daughter Eleanor used to be interested in Indian lore, and our farm is located on what was a former campground of an old tribe of Indians called the Cheehaws.  We found a lot of artifacts of various kinds there and Eleanor had […]

By John Piper at:  http://www.desiringGod.org —————– I Peter 5:7: Cast all your anxieties on God, because he cares for you.      When I am anxious about some risky new venture or meeting, I battle unbelief with one of my most often-used promises, Isaiah 41:10:  “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed,

By C. S. Lewis in Mere Christianity      As a great Christian writer (George MacDonald) pointed out, every father is pleased at the baby’s first attempt to walk:  but no father would be satisfied with anything less than a firm, free, manly walk in a grown-up son.  In the same way, he said, “God is easy to please, but hard to satisfy.”

———————–      Psalm 34:18 says, “The Lord is close to the broken-hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”  Behind the writing of many of our best-loved hymns are stories of trouble:  personal tragedy, ill health, early death, or conflict.  And when we are in trouble, it seems, we are more likely to look to the

——————- The Meeting With Joe, by Gary S.  (source lost)      One cold winter morning as I looked out my bedroom window at the gray, bleak landscape I wondered, What is my life worth?  Where do I fit into the scheme of things?  I felt completely overwhelmed by rejection.  I couldn’t see any hope in my

     (…continued)  Sometimes, when very ill, we will pray for a miracle of healing.  The greatest miracle, however, is that every single second of our lives, the body is healing itself, renewing itself, defending itself from infections, and strengthening itself.  This great miracle of continuous healing is going on in each of us, all the

———————————–      (…continued)  We usually look to God only for the big miracles, the big interventions in our lives, at those times when we are really in trouble.  It is when there is an accident or a serious illness or a major crisis that we look to God and pray to God for a miracle. 

     Not long ago I read yet another article about scientific research into the power of prayer in medical treatment.  There are all kinds of Christians, myself included, who will say, “Of course there is healing power in prayer; I’ve seen it myself many times, so I don’t need a scientific study to tell me

Watch as twelve year old Iraqi Christian Noeh goes back to a home to a home destroyed by ISIS: ———————— by Joshua Pease, posted September 5, 2017 at: http://www.opendoorsusa.org       For almost three years Noeh’s family lived as displaced people in the city of Erbil, 40 miles east of their home in Karamles. 

            (…continued)  The other story comes from the Japanese prisoner of war camp made famous in the 1957 movie The Bridge over the River Kwai; which won the Academy Award for the Best Picture of the Year (and six other Oscars).  It is a great movie, but was based on a novel that varied much