2019

By William Willimon      After a devastating hurricane, all of the power had been out for the past three days.  It was hot, humid, and miserable during the day.  But it was frightening at night.  Rumors were that there had been much looting.  Robberies had taken place because there was no electricity, no way […]

By John Stonestreet and Roberto Rivera, posted December 6, 2019 at:  http://www.breakpoint.org —————————–      Between 1959 and 2016, life expectancy in the United States rose from 69.9 to 78.9 years.  Most people know that.  But did you know that since then, it’s reversed course?      A new study published in the Journal of

         A while back an old friend told me he didn’t go to church anymore.  He said, “It’s the same old thing: ‘things are bad now,’ the preacher always says, ‘but someday Jesus will return and then everything will be better.’  I’ve heard it all before.”      My friend knows I am

By Randy Alcorn, in his December 2, 2019 blog at:  http://www.epm.org ———————      In my book Giving Is the Good Life, I tell the story of ten-year-old Riley and how she experienced the happiness of giving.  A few years ago, while shopping online for a bike as a present for her dad, Riley and

     (…continued)  This is a true story with a happy ending, but let’s imagine another possible ending.  What if upon being discovered, the thief would have responded not with shame and repentance, but with fear and anger and desperation?  Mr. Dorsett did not have a weapon and was not prepared to defend himself.  The

———————— Matthew 24:42-44  —  (Jesus said), ““Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.  But understand this:  If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into.

—————————–      The season of Advent anticipates the celebration of the first coming of our Lord Jesus Christ to earth, born among the cattle and the straw in that Bethlehem stable.  The first Sunday in Advent usually speaks of Christ’s second coming, which will be at the end of time as we know it.

Praying Hands, 1507, Albrecht Durer  (1471-1528) —————————- Steer the ship of my life, good Lord, to your quiet harbor, where I can be safe from the storms of sin and conflict.  Show me the course I should take.  Renew in me the gift of discernment, so that I can always see the right direction in

Lovis Corinth, Franz Heinrich Corinth on his Sick Bed, 1888 ——————— By Lutheran pastor Al Rogness (1908-1992), Book of Comfort, Augsburg Publishing House, 1979, pages 32-35.      I had usually thanked God for health and prayed that he might keep me from being ill.  One evening in 1962, while speaking in a church, I suddenly collapsed.

By Joshua Rogers, posted November 17, 2019, at:  http://www.joshuarogers.com —————————————      It was 9:20 a.m. on a Monday morning and I was about to appear on Fox and Friends for an interview with Steve Doocey.  The interview happened after FoxNews.com published an op-ed of mine called “What happened when my daughter saw me kiss