Posts with the category “daily-devotionals”

Samuel has got to be one of my favorite characters in the Bible.  The story of his birth and Hannah’s desire to dedicate him to the service of the Lord is inspiring (1Sam 1:1–28).  As a young boy, he ...  Read More

How well do you understand the principles of electricity and how it works to power the lights and devices around your home? If you saw a bunch of loose wires coming out of your wall sparking and crack...  Read More

What’s your favorite Bible story? Is it the Exodus? David and Goliath? Noah and the Ark? I love all of these narratives, but my favorite Bible “story” is actually fictional. It’s a story Jesus told – ...  Read More

I spent all of last week at Stanford Hospital with my friend who had major back surgery. For those of you who know me you may be asking yourself, "Oh my goodness, why would she have Laurel do that?" Y...  Read More

So many people I talk to are struggling with loneliness. These conversations have prompted me to share an experience I had as a JARON missionary in the Czech Republic in 2019. I hope my experience can...  Read More

How do you respond when under attack? Everyone who knows me knows that I'm a big movie guy. But even if you’re not that big into movies, most have seen or heard of the classic Karate Kid. One of the m...  Read More

If you happen to stop by my office anytime during the year, there’s a good chance you’ll hear Christmas music playing. I think it was during my ‘choir days’ that I got hooked on playing Christmas musi...  Read More

After Jesus’ resurrection, having already appeared to His disciples twice, Peter says to his fellow disciples, “I am going fishing.” They declare that they would go along with him also. They fished al...  Read More

(Note: Welcome to my on-going devotional series in Acts 16–28. I encourage you to look back at past devotionals and stay current. Today we come to Acts 26).In Acts 26 we find the apostle Paul now stan...  Read More

I grew up in northern California, near the small town of Vina, 18 miles north of Chico.  My father was a farmer, and he moved onto our family farm in December of 1939.  There wasn’t an evangelical chu...  Read More

Recently I began reading through the Book of 2 Corinthians, and I was struck by the way Paul began his letter.  He uses a very interesting word in the opening section – affliction.  In Greek, the word...  Read More

This verse is often quoted and I think many times misunderstood. This verse does provide comfort and confidence to we who follow and love God, but I think it often can be misinterpreted to mean that o...  Read More

“There’s always a light at the end of the tunnel,” says the truism. In other words, no matter how bad things are, they will get better eventually. But that’s not always true, is it? Perhaps that light...  Read More

“There’s always a light at the end of the tunnel,” says the truism. In other words, no matter how bad things are, they will get better eventually. But that’s not always true, is it? Perhaps that light...  Read More

This is one of my favorite passages. It shows me that the priests demonstrated their faith by walking into the water. And as soon as they did the waters were cut off. Sometimes it takes us walking int...  Read More

A decorative plaque resides on my piano that says, “My grace is sufficient for you.” I have walked by this  and glanced at the words scores of times. Today I stop. My attention is riveted to the words...  Read More

Have you ever played Two Truths and a Lie? It's a fun get-to-know-you, icebreaker game that I often play in situations when I'm around new people, where the objective is to spot the lie. Let's try it....  Read More

If I came up to you right now and asked, “Are you experiencing peace in your life right now?”, what would you say? When we gather at church, we look at each other with a smile on our face and say “God...  Read More

I was shocked today (June 21)! I asked the Lord to help me with today’s NT passage in Ephesians 4, noting how many times I have read it in five decades. It was also in the NKJV, which is not my norm. ...  Read More

(Note: Welcome to my on-going devotional series in Acts 16–28. I encourage you to look back at past devotionals and stay current. Today we come to Acts 25).In Acts 25 we are back at the trial of “Paul...  Read More

I have read through the book of Isaiah numerous times.  On one of the last times reading through the book, the Lord drew my attention to these verses in the 46th chapter.  Maybe my mind was drawn to t...  Read More

This is one of the best-known and most-quoted verses in the Bible on parenting.  On the surface there is a precious promise here: if we train our children in the ways of the Lord, when they get older ...  Read More

This is part of the vision given to John on Patmos about the end of all things. Revelation is a prophetic book and is full of wild imagery and symbolism and it can often be hard to discern and interpr...  Read More

You can tell a lot about a person by the spaces they inhabit. Let me give you a tour of one of my spaces—my office here at Maple. It’s nestled in the back corner of C Building, down a few doors from J...  Read More

You know that feeling you get when you have messed up and you feel so bad and just want forgiveness but know you really don’t deserve it? I hate that feeling! But for some reason it can take me awhile...  Read More

Whew!  Our trailer is packed with everything, even things we will never use. My hubby has checked to be sure the trailer is securely hitched to our vehicle. We ease our tired bodies into the front sea...  Read More

Whoever said there’s a thin line between love and hate was on to something. Because while I’d never say that I hate any of my family members, some I have a hard time getting along with. Some of my fam...  Read More

When I say “You are salt and light” I am quoting from Jesus' sermon in Matthew 5:13–16. “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no l...  Read More

Some people have a heart to see God’s kingdom. They have tuned their hearts to know it, and make decisions in alignment with what they see. My dad could not see me leaving the historic family church. ...  Read More

(Note: Welcome to my on-going devotional series in Acts 16–28. I encourage you to look back at past devotionals and stay current. Today we come to Acts 24).Acts 24:10 “…I cheerfully make my defense…” ...  Read More

The phrase “to lean” means we rest on something for support.  Daily we need support to work through the things we experience and feel.  We can look for support in the right or wrong places.  Leaning o...  Read More

The fear of the Lord is a difficult concept for many Christians to grasp.  As God’s children, we marvel at the love our heavenly Father has for us, and we have a hard time understanding what role fear...  Read More

At the end of his letter to the Corinthians, Paul exhorts them with a few instructions. This seems like a simple verse but there are a number of key commands here for us to follow. The first is watch....  Read More

How did I become a knight?In a previous devotional, I mentioned the “coming-of-age” ceremonies my father designed for me and my two younger brothers. These types of ceremonies are common in various cu...  Read More

In the past as I have read through this passage of Moses going up on Mount Sinai I have always been a little critical of the Israelites impatience with waiting for him to come back down. They had just...  Read More

The word home is supposed to be a beautiful word, producing memories of home cooking, treasured times and healthy relationships. Home is designed to be a safe haven where God’s peace prevails. King So...  Read More

You may be familiar with the author Stephen Covey and his book, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. In the book, one of Covey's encouraged habits is to begin with the end in mind. The idea is that wh...  Read More

Rest is defined as “Cease work or movement in order to relax, refresh yourself, or recover strength.” When you think of Jesus offering you rest, what comes to mind? Maybe a nap after lunch. Maybe bing...  Read More

Last January our daughter, Anne, invited us to join her and her family on a trip to Hawaii. She paid for the house for us all, and arranged flights for Lynn & me to get there. We were to fly out of Fr...  Read More

(Note: Welcome to my on-going devotional series in Acts 16–28. I encourage you to look back at past devotionals and stay current. Today we come to Acts 23).Acts 23:6 “I am on trial for the hope and re...  Read More