“I’ll give this $20 to anyone who comes up here and takes it.” The evangelist whipped out a bill and waved it in the air like a giant foam finger, but no one in the congregation moved. I wanted to but didn’t. The speaker repeated his offer. “This $20 belongs to anyone who will take it.” My intrepid husband leaped to his feet, strode forward and collected his gift. His smug smile provoked my envy. “Salvation is a…
The first sunny Sunday in September after my birth, Mom and Dad trundled me off to the church my father pastored in Dayton, Ohio. They started a habit I’ve kept my entire life. I married a minister. I teach Sunday school, and I play the piano in morning worship. But I was 31 years old before I truly believed God loved me. Why? I developed an orphan heart. I saw God not as a loving father an—“Abba, Daddy”…
“He’s gone.” Two little words altered my life forever. In my Washington, D.C. hotel room, I collapsed to the floor in grief. My 18-year-old brother had been killed in a construction accident. My honeymoon ended with a late night drive through mountains hazed with dense fog to come home for my brother’s funeral. I had not even been married for a full week. My first question, and one I sometimes still ask, is “Why?” That particular hurricane pounded…
Winds howled, waves buffeted, and the ship rolled at sea. The Apostle Paul, on his way to Rome to witness to Christ and be martyred, was in true danger of dying at sea instead. Acts chapter 27 recounts his harrowing journey, and tucked in those verses are lessons for us as we navigate our own stormy seas. If life is a sailing voyage, it’s wonderful when the seas are calm. We have our health, things are going well…
“It hurts so good!” This common expression highlights the contrast between pain and pleasure. Most people are hard-wired to avoid pain at any cost. But sometimes that which causes pain is also productive. A pastor I know left behind a little black binder with notes he made during more than 50 years of ministry. At a denominational conference in 1959 (the Ohio Yearly Meeting of Friends, a.k.a. Quakers) he wrote this quote from Paul Rees, the speaker: “There…
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us…” Hebrews 12:1, NIV Let’s be clear—I only run if something is on fire, and only then if the blazing item is worth more than a hundred dollars. I am challenged by the verse above when I envision a stadium full…
“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.” Colossians 3:23-24 Resentment began to grow in my heart like an ugly weed. It had been more than a year since my husband had been forced to resign from ministry in a church he had pastored for…
“That I may know Him [Jesus], and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death…” Philippians 3:10 (KJV) “Rhonda.” Only a few times have I heard God in what seemed an audible voice. He certainly had my attention! As I continued in His presence, I received at last a revelation I desperately needed to begin my journey to healing. The gaping wound in my soul was three years old…
“The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms…” Deut. 33:27a I collapsed on the floor of the hotel room, prostrate and weeping before God in prayer. Dale and I were just about to receive an answer to twelve years of petitions before God. Wouldn’t one think that would be easy? It wasn’t. The quest to become a mother had been difficult. For twelve years I had sought the help of doctors, undergone tests and…