Posts with the category “daily-devotionals”

Raising teenagers can be disheartening.  One-minute parents are amazed and hopeful as they see their teens act responsibly.  The next minute their hopes are dashed as they see them do or say something...  Read More

I remember a time when my grandmother hated video games. She’d say things like, “They’re destroying our young kids' minds.” To which I’d laugh and just say, “Oh silly grandma!” But today, I’m starting...  Read More

Do you pray before you eat, thanking God for the food and asking Him to nourish your body? When I was growing up, my parents taught us a prayer they wanted us all to say together before our evening me...  Read More

There are a lot of nice places to live in Fresno. The area Lynn and I came to love the most, early on in our lives together, is the Old Fig Garden community. It is a county island, caught in the middl...  Read More

In ancient times it was routine for a Roman soldier to demand a civilian—especially a Jewish male—to carry his load for up to a Roman mile—actually a distance of 1,000 paces (in Latin: mille passus), ...  Read More

As I go through life, I find that it is always important to express to the Lord my thankfulness and love for Him.  It is easy to take for granted the things God is doing.  Busyness often draws my atte...  Read More

One of the books that is often neglected in the Old Testament is Haggai—named after the prophet who lived in the sixth century B.C. Haggai ministered during the period after the Babylonian exile when ...  Read More

This verse is the end of a parable in which Jesus is telling his disciples about watching for the return of the Master, alluding to His return, Jesus’ second coming. We are reminded here to be ever-wa...  Read More

I had the privilege of helping lead a team of around thirty high school students this past July as we served in Baja California, Mexico. One of the most impactful parts of the trip was working with an...  Read More

This was part of the message from the Lord that Nathan the prophet spoke to King David when David sinned by having Uriah the Hittite killed and taking his wife Bathsheba.In 2 Samuel 7 the Lord tells D...  Read More

“What is that noise?”  My daughter was driving when the noise became more clear. “Meow!” over and over again. She pulled her car over to investigate, popped the hood up, and peered inside. There was a...  Read More

Every now and then I just feel the need to unplug. I started thinking much more about that word and the other places and times it’s used. I began realizing that often when I need to unplug something i...  Read More

When it came time for Jenn and I to start having babies, I have to admit, I didn’t know a lot about them…and frankly, I didn’t like them very much. All they do is eat and poop…then they start crying a...  Read More

Lynn and I both lived at home all our lives until we were married at 22 years old. Our first place was modest, but we were thrilled! Our own address! Our own phone number! It was in Harvard Arms Apart...  Read More

In the late 1800s, the three founders of The Gideons International sought to meet a need among their peers. They wanted to create an Association for Christian traveling men to identify  and support ea...  Read More

There are times when I come to the end of my day, and I ask myself the question, “Where has all the time gone?”  Maybe some of you have experienced the same thing?  It seems like time is accelerating....  Read More

There are many great promises in the Bible that can comfort us in times of difficulty. God promises, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5). And we are promised that “for those who lo...  Read More

The human race has done some pretty remarkable things over the centuries. We have tamed many seemingly uninhabitable parts of this world, and we’ve built great machines that have let us explore, fly, ...  Read More

Do you ever feel like you are in a holding pattern?It's like loading onto a plane and waiting for it to take off. You have everything ready and have stored your carry on in the overhead bin. You sit d...  Read More

I’ll never forget the day I almost fell off a wall like Humpty Dumpty.  I must have been around 8 years old, and I was outside playing with my friend Stephen.  For some reason we thought it would be f...  Read More

I remember playing a lot of video games as a kid. From Super Mario Brothers to Guitar Hero, from Sega Genesis to PlayStation, my childhood included a fair amount of video games and there have been tim...  Read More

The moon is full. The stars twinkle as if to say, “Look at me”. Reeds along the shore sway in the gentle breeze. Underfoot the tiny shells on the shore crackle as we walk on them. Water lapping on the...  Read More

When my youngest son, Alan, was a toddler, he loved to ask 'Why' questions. We’re riding in the car, “Dad, why does the wind blow? Dad, why do I have to be the youngest? Dad, why does Javier Baez ...  Read More

She seemed to come from nowhere, silently gliding into the church aisle. She was maybe 3-4 years old, in her “church clothes†dress, with her long hair cascading down past her shoulders. Delicate l...  Read More

In the spirit of Acts 14, in the last few devotionals I have been sharing an actual report I presented to my local church after a dramatic series of events on a trip to the Philippines just days after...  Read More

Lynette and I moved to Montana in 1980, when I became the pastor of a small Baptist church in a town of 100 people.  God was teaching me a lot about myself and my need to totally depend on His leaders...  Read More

Praise God that Jesus died on the cross for our sins and that we stand forgiven if we simply put our faith and trust in Him as our salvation. But we still sin, we still disobey, we still go astray. Wh...  Read More

When my wife and I first started dating, we banned a phrase that we (mostly me) were using too often. That phrase was “you can do it,†including variations like “you got this.†Why in the world ...  Read More

Secrets are so interesting. When you tell a friend you have a secret the first thing they will ask is, "What is it?" And they'll ask you over and over til you finally tell them…because isn't that why ...  Read More

A while back a group of men at our church finished studying the Book of Ecclesiastes. We spent 21 fascinating and exciting weeks discussing Solomon’s enigmatic message, and I’ve come to the conclusion...  Read More

I think I’ve shared some of my challenges with road rage in the past (God’s not through with me yet.) However, I believe that some of my indignation is justified. For example, have you ever been on th...  Read More

Jack was taller, bigger, and more mature and aggressive than all the rest of us boys in my grade school days (k–8). He liked it that way. He enjoyed threatening and tormenting others. More than one of...  Read More

I picked up the pea between my thumb and finger and flicked it across the table at my husband. Our three girls gasped in shock.  Throwing food at the table was not allowed! My husband retaliated with ...  Read More

One can only imagine being in the Church of Antioch as the Apostle Paul and his missionary companions shared about the ups and downs of their missionary journey. Missionaries do the same today. Some c...  Read More

Did you know we have a ministry in our church called Re:generation? Most people don’t. And those who have heard about it don’t really know what it is. Some say “Isn't that ministry for recovering alco...  Read More

One of the important things I have learned through many years of pastoral ministry is that what we believe to be true affects how we live.   People will either do what is good or bad depending on thei...  Read More

I wonder if you’re going through a battle right now?  According to Ephesians 6:12, we’re always facing some form of invisible warfare or another, some form of spiritual attack from our enemy.  And the...  Read More

How often do you think about the source of our hope? I guess I could also ask the question, what is our hope? What do we hope for, and what is that hope based on? I think in broad terms we hope that j...  Read More

I enjoy taking personality tests. Not the BuzzFeed “what type of cupcake would you be?” articles, but the ones that deepen my understanding of myself and those around me, like the Myers-Briggs “16 Per...  Read More

These were a part of the last words Jesus spoke to His disciples. Before this, in John 15, Jesus told them, "I am the vine and you are the branches…" and reminded them how important it is to stay conn...  Read More