By Joshua Rogers at http://www.joshuarogers.com, April 13, 2017    I was five years old when I walked into my mother’s bedroom and told her I wanted to give my life to Christ.  We got down on our knees beside the bed and I asked Jesus into my heart.  After that, I proudly told everyone […]
1465) A Prayer for Easter and Every Day Read More »
   The Constitutional Convention of 1787 held its meetings in secret, and its members were expected to keep the details of their discussions and debates confidential.  The official papers of the Convention sat in the State Department offices, untouched, until 1818.  When finally released to the public, it was clear that tempers flared often
1444) Ben Franklin’s Request for Prayer Read More »
  By Fred Craddock, Craddock Stories, ed. by Mike graves and Richard F. Ward, Chalice Press, 2001, pages 110-111.    I met a desperate woman the other day.  I had gone to the hospital in Fannin County to visit someone else.  I did not know this lady, and I didn’t know I would encounter her,
1428) A Desperate Prayer Read More »
Above: The Unjust Judge, Eugene Burnand (1850-1921) —————————— By Walter Sundberg, The Rose magazine, page 26, Spring 1999. ——————– Luke 18:1-8  —  Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.  He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God
1427) Prayer as Nagging Read More »
   My wife and I got acquainted in Chautauqua, New York, with a minister who had no arms.  He was telling us one day there at Chautauqua the experience of learning to put on his own clothes without any arms.  He said his mother always dressed him, and he’d gotten to be a pretty
1425) Figure it Out 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 »
Above:Â A street in Bethlehem today. ———– From The Word for Every Day, by Alvin Rogness, Augsburg Publishing House, 1981, page 365. Â Â Â Bethlehem can be in our hearts. Â Jesus came to this little village. Â He can come to us too. Â Â Â His coming to the earth centuries ago was a part of
1353) Where is Bethlehem? Read More »
By ELCA pastor James D. Engh, in the November 1995 issue of The Lutheran, pages 20-21. ———————    I face the altar on Sunday mornings before I turn to greet the congregation. And I pray silently: “O Lord, our maker, redeemer and comforter, we are assembled in Thy presence to hear Thy holy word.
1322) Treasure in Soiled Hands Read More »
By Joshua Rogers, November 6, 2016 blog at:  http://www.joshuarogers.com ———————————    When I was little, our family hit hard times and we didn’t even have money for groceries.  I was just five years old, so I wasn’t sure what was going on — all I knew was that the cabinets were empty.  Â
1307) Answers to Prayer Read More »
   Painting above: Saying Grace Norman Rockwell **********************    The coffee shop was a tiny hole-in-the-wall place, open 24 hours a day.  The lunch counter had the antiseptic shine of stainless steel, and in the early morning light looked sanitary and impersonal.    Assorted persons were lined up on the stools:  yawning
1297) Giving Thanks Read More »
