This week a friend reminded me about a very cool verse in Psalm 78. It is verse 72 which says, “And David shepherded them with integrity of heart; with skillful hands he led them.”  The author, Asaph (a leader and chief musician in Israel)...

Each believer is expected to walk (live) in such a way that their behavior and attitudes match their calling. And to help us do that, the Spirit has endowed each of us with at least one spiritual gift, all kinds of natural gifts, plenty of...

Being a lover of maps, it is not surprising that I own and frequently use a compass. I have a cute little one that I keep in my car. It is fun to figure out the direction of a destination. Especially when everyone in the car is guessing! Kids have...

Just like everyone else, occasionally my self-esteem takes a hit (or two!). This past week just happened to be one of those moments. My situation wasn’t quite as bad as not being picked for the kickball game at lunch, but almost. Truthfully, it...

Skipping through the channels last week, I stumbled on an episode of Dr. Phil dealing with an incredible 16-year-old. She was being raised by a single mother who had tons of money. The young girl had been receiving a couple thousand dollars a month...

I am disappointed. My March Madness brackets (college basketball tournament) did not allow me to win “the pick ‘em” tournaments that I entered! Truth is, I have been disappointed before. I whined when my high school volleyball team didn’t win the...

Too often in our culture, things are portrayed as opposing extremes. Everything is either black or white. And when it comes to a Biblical discussion of citizenship, we are often led to believe that we are either all in for country or all in for...

Several years ago, Chuck Swindoll wrote about Bertha Adams, a 71-year-old who died alone in West Palm Beach, Florida. The coroner’s report cited the cause of death to be malnutrition. At the end, she weighed only 50 pounds. When the authorities...

In Ephesians 2:10, Paul wrote, “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Many translations translate that key word as “workmanship.” We are created much like a clay pot is...

The story at Easter time is captured in Eph. 2:4-5, “But because of His great love for us, God who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions, it is by grace you have been saved.” The root word for “great...

In 1499, Michelangelo created a statue of Mary cradling the body of Jesus for a funeral monument of the French Cardinal Jean de Bilheres. It is an extraordinary sculpture depicting the scene right after the crucifixion. Mary is sitting on a rock...