Traveling by Starlight
(This Communion Meditation originally appeared online in December 2012.) By Lee Magness For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but...
View ArticleHow Far?
By L. Mackenzie In churches around the world, people celebrate Epiphany, when magi came to Bethlehem to worship baby Jesus. Elaborate feasts, complete with king cakes, paper crowns, caroling, winter...
View ArticleCan Dry Bones Live Again?
By Ronald G. Davis Old Doc Richardson, of my Appalachian hometown, kept a human skeleton on display in his office. Carefully wired together and suspended from a metal stand, that skeleton clinked and...
View ArticleThe Measure of a Man: Where Does He Stand?
By L. Mackenzie Martin Luther King famously said, “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and...
View ArticleMeaning of the Cross
By Randy Gordon What does the cross mean to you? The question is simple enough, but I fear few of us give it much thought. Maybe it’s because we see the cross in so many places. We see it on necklaces,...
View ArticleOne Thing
By L. Mackenzie As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” (Mark 10:17). Jesus commented...
View ArticleTo Love
By Ronald G. Davis The word valentine speaks to us of love. And to love is to be the most like God we can be. Let me repeat that: to love is to be the most like God we can be. For God is love. The...
View ArticlePresidents’ Day
By Ronald G. Davis The presidents of the United States of America have represented the best among us. And the worst. For every president—whether moral, immoral, or amoral—has sinned. None has been...
View ArticleDisplaying our Testimony
By Stuart Powell Testifying to Jesus’ influence on our lives is an important part of the Christian faith. As we grow in our faith, we should have more to say about Jesus. His influence first affects...
View ArticleRemembering Jesus: Bread, Cup, and Fellowship of Believers
By Stuart Powell When Christians gather to partake of the bread and the cup, we have one key focus: remembering Jesus. Our Lord instructed his followers to do this. “Then he took bread, and after...
View ArticleSpiritual MRI
By Halee Wood Have you ever had an MRI? An MRI produces detailed pictures of internal body structures. It can assist in diagnosing many things we never want to face: aneurysms, inner ear issues,...
View ArticleAddicted to the New
By Randy Gordon This Wednesday is the first day of spring [in the northern hemisphere], a season we celebrate the newness of life all around us. We’re addicted to the new. That’s just the world we live...
View ArticleBenefits of the Family Meal
By Halee Wood Close your eyes and picture a family dinner. A “June Cleaver” mom is in an apron and pearls, “Ward” in a sweater and tie. The children’s hands are washed and their hair combed. The savory...
View ArticleThe Radical Request
By Halee Wood During Jesus’ early ministry, many of his followers were ecstatic. Who wouldn’t have been? The vibe, the miracles, the fact that he was hanging out with sinners. Some of these people had...
View ArticleUnified Anthem
By Halee Wood Queen’s song “We Will Rock You” became a worldwide sensation in the 1970s and remains popular. Even in recent years, it is still often played in many professional sports leagues. It is a...
View ArticleFaith: From Sorrow to Joy
By Stuart Powell Is there anything more difficult than hearing someone you love say goodbye? We typically react with sadness. That feeling is amplified when the goodbye comes at the threshold of death....
View ArticleRemembering Excellence
By Stuart Powell Have you noticed the prevalence of sorrow-filled information that surrounds us? The daily news is laden with violence, and much popular entertainment is dark. Many of our words, even...
View Article‘Teach Them to Your Children’
By Stuart Powell Teaching children is an important aspect of the Christian faith and obeying the God of creation. In Deuteronomy, for example, Moses repeatedly encouraged and instructed the people of...
View ArticleRemoving Barriers to Community
By Melinda Gividen A story from Newton, Massachusetts, just outside Boston, is spreading joy across the country. Two-year-old Samantha Savitz lives there with her family; they moved to the...
View ArticleMarcus: Choosing to Love
By Jon Wren Nobody came to his first birthday party. He spent it alone in a wing designed for medically fragile infants in a hospital room in Northern Indiana. Marcus was born 3 months premature,...
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