This week as Americans follow the lead of a concerned daughter from Grafton, WV, we remember our mothers and seek to show them honor. Of all the blessings that come from our mothers, the blessing of comfort may be the most appreciated, and if your mother has gone on, the most missed. For believers, the…

Was James writing his letter for the sake of a precious 12-year-old girl? “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance” (Ja. 1:2-3). Hundreds gathered in Portland, OR this week for a memorial of a life well lived. Jolene…

The longer I live in Christ, the more I realize that there are less and less coincidences and more and more ‘God-incidences.’ This Saturday, while visiting with family that was shopping for a new couch, I found myself wandering through a large furniture store filled with countless living room or dining room displays. While allowing…

The first thing we think of when disciplining children is spanking. But the word discipline comes from the word for disciple. We long to train our children to want to be as much like Jesus as they can possibly become. Consequently, our Sunday morning alternative class in the multi-purpose room for the spring quarter (April-June)…

I really want to be more like Christ than I am. I want to pray, love and forgive more like He does.  But the change I see in my life seems infinitesimal and on some days nonexistent. But what I need to understand is that my efforts to change my life are for naught. I…

“Lord, I know that You want me to be a better person. I know that You long for me to imitate Jesus in all that I am and in all that I do and say. But Lord, I just can’t. There are too many shortcomings in my life. I’m not good enough, strong enough or…

We have allowed the Pharisees and teachers of the law convince to us that Christianity needed to be something religious. We decided that we needed to have the right rules and the right organization to be the right “church.” And when we have done everything the way we think it should be, then we feel…

If we are not careful, we can look at all of the news around us and develop a negative, demoralized outlook of the future of our nation and of the world. Economic, militaristic, moral and relational difficulties invariably receive primetime coverage on news, talk shows and other forms of media and personal discussion.  But we…

In his treatise on the joyous character of Christ, Are You Fun to Live With? (1968), Lionel Whiston described our Lord thusly: “Wherever He went, Jesus radiated confidence” (p.32).  Jesus was fun to live with. He was invited to weddings and even to the homes of Pharisees on one extreme and tax collectors on the…

“Jesus is ideal and wonderful, but you Christians – you are not like him.” – Mahatma Gandhi We try so hard to prove that Jesus is the Christ, so others will choose to surrender their lives to this wonderful Savior. We use the wonder of fulfilled prophecy to show that the probability of hundreds of…