Built to do God’s work

We own an exercise bicycle.  It’s in my storage building/workshop.   All of its parts are intact.  They’re all there and none are broken.  It should work fine.  I do use it.  I hang an extension cord on the handlebars.  It sits close to my table saw and sometimes I balance a board on it while […]

Glory to awesome God, part 2

My previous post was about Ephesians 3:20-21, which is the close of Paul’s prayer: Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations […]

Prayer: glory to awesome God

Once upon a time a student at Duke University in North Carolina was invited to a masquerade party.  He decided to go dressed as the mascot of the college – the Blue Devils.  He put on a blue devil costume and headed for the party. Somehow he got the wrong address and walked into a […]

While empires clash

While empires clash                         authorities bully                                     religions vaunt                                                 cultures corrupt                                                             families hurt                                                                         and individuals hope In a secret shelter of wood, hay, and dung, as shepherds wonder and angels praise, the Lord Almighty is birthed in our flesh, inaugurates his holy mission, and the kingdom […]

Prayer: filled with God

            One time Jesus said “the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.” (Matt 13:45-46 NAS) Juan Carlos Ortiz shared a parable to illustrate Jesus’ teaching.  It’s a […]

God with us

“There is no God like YHWH, and He declares that with definitive finality when He descends into the deepest trenches of our suffering through the cross of Christ. In the freedom of His sovereign love, our Lord and our God penetrates to the heart of hopelessness and bears the full horror of His Bride’s godforsakenness […]

Prayer: massive love

A mother was having trouble with her young son and daughter at the supper table.  They just would not behave.  She looked up and said, “Oh, God, please help me with these children.”  Immediately the 4-year-old girl bowed her head in prayer.  Mama was happy, thinking her daughter was asking for help to be good, […]

Prayer: steel in your soul

Sometimes kids can pinpoint obvious needs better than anyone else.  A mom was putting her daughter to bed one night and reminded her to pray that God would bless grandma and let her live to be very old.  The girl replied, “Oh, she’s old enough.  I’d rather ask God to make her younger.”  Well, yeah.  […]

THE CASE OF THE MYSTERY OF CHRIST

A short story based on Ephesians 3:2-12            It was the strangest and most thrilling case he had ever had.  He was a detective, a private investigator.  Clients hired him to find out things for them, to solve mysteries.  This case, however was a mystery that he could not solve.  Even though there were […]

The secret plan that everyone can know

An African woman named Naomi started a dressmaking business.  She had skillful hands and a good eye for color and pattern so she put those to good use to make clothes for her family and to earn an income.  Naomi hired two women to help make the dresses and a young man to go into […]