by John Piper at: Â www.dgm.org ——————– James 1:2-3 Â — Â Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. Â Â Â Strange as it may seem, one of the primary purposes of being shaken by suffering is to make our faith […]
1573) Building Spiritual Strength Read More »
  Image above: For a week Job’s friends sat with him without saying a word. ******************************    Three of Joe Bayly’s seven children died at young ages.  The View from a Hearse is Bayly’s meditation on death and grieving.  He wrote it for those facing the death of a loved one or their own
1562) A Time to Be Silent Read More »
Pictured above: Chief Justice John Roberts  (1955- ) Last month United States Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts delivered the commencement address at Cardigan Mountain School, a private all-boys school in New Hampshire, where his son was graduating from the ninth grade.  In the following excerpt, Roberts wishes the boys the bad luck and troubles
1558) Wishing You Bad Luck Read More »
By Joshua Rogers, posted March 14, 2017 at:  http://www.joshuarogers.com ——————————    My wife and I did not intend to have another year of sweeping changes in 2016.  We never do.    We told ourselves this year was going to be different.  The roller coaster was finally going to stop.  No more big transitions like the
By William Willimon, Pulpit Resource, January 31,1999, p. 19.            It is a sad sight to see someone who seemed to be something reduced to nothing…            When I first visited him, he was a successful businessman, with a fine home, a beautiful family, and three cars in the custom-built garage. The last time I
1405) Reduced to Nothing Read More »
By Daniel Ritchie, posted January 16, 2017 at: http://www.desiringgod.org Ritchie is the student pastor at Lake Norman Baptist Church in Huntersville, North Carolina. Â He is a husband and father of two. ——————————— Â Â Â I was born without arms. Â Â Â That is the best way to summarize my story. Â I stepped into suffering at
1378) One Way God Speaks Read More »
Painting above:Â 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. Â Â Â I had usually thanked God for health and prayed that he might keep me from being ill. Â One evening in 1962, while speaking in a
1356) When You Are Sick Read More »
AN OLD STORY (author unknown): Â Â Â There was a group of women in a Bible study on the book of Malachi. Â As they were studying chapter three they came across the third verse which says, “He will sit like a refiner and purifier of silver.” Â This verse puzzled the women and they wondered what
1344) Refined by Fire Read More »
   (…continued)  In Luke 16 Jesus told a parable about a similar reversal of fortunes.  The story opens with a rich man who has everything, living in luxury every day.  At this rich man’s gate is a poor man, covered with sores and hungry.  Lazarus is so poor that he longs to eat what
1140) This Too Shall Pass (b) Read More »
 Above image: Amos the Prophet, 8th century B. C. (woodcut by Gustave Dore, 1832-1883) ***********************   Amos was a farmer, called on by God to be a preacher to Israel, during the time of King Jeroboam.  This was a very good time for Israel in many ways.  The economy was good, the military was strong,
1139) This Too Shall Pass (a) Read More »
