NEVER WALK BACKWARDS

ACTS 15:38 Born into poverty, Abraham Lincoln was faced with defeat most of his life. He lost eight elections, failed twice in business and suffered a nervous breakdown. He could have quit many times – but he did not and because he refused to quit, he became one of the greatest presidents in the history … [Read more…]

A LIFE OF SUFFERING AND GRATITUDE

JOB 1:21 Life is a rollercoaster of spiritual, physical and emotional turmoil. Job’s story is an honest presentation of life in a broken world. Job lost all his wealth in the twinkle of an eye. Despite the heartbreaking news, he at first looked to God in hope and praised Him for being the source of everything. He … [Read more…]

LETTERS OF RECOMMENDATION

2 CORINTHIANS 3:2 I have had the opportunity to write recommendation letters for a number of individuals. I really enjoy writing these letters because I have seen the benefit they bring to people while interviewing for a job, seeking an admission, etc. But the truth remains that recommendation letters may fail to achieve the desired results. … [Read more…]

VERY IMPORTANT PERSONS

ROMANS 16 Thomas Woodrow Wilson was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. Wilson led his country into World War I and became the creator and leading advocate of the League of Nations, for which he was awarded the 1919 Nobel Prize for Peace. … [Read more…]

WAITING FOR THE MASTER

PHILIPPIANS 3:20 Outside the Shibuya train station in Tokyo is a statue in memory of an Akita dog named Hachiko. Hachiko was born in 1923. In 1924, Hidesaburo Ueno, a professor at the Tokyo Imperial University, brought him to live in Shibuya, Tokyo, as his pet. Hachiko was very loyal to his master. He followed … [Read more…]

RENT-A-FAMILY

GENESIS 2:18 There is a growing “rent-a-family” industry in many countries today. People who are short on relatives can hire a husband, a mother, a grandson, etc. Some hire actors to impersonate estranged relatives, so that they can feel, if briefly, a familial connection they long for. This trend reflects a basic truth: Humans are created … [Read more…]

THE GARBAGE MAN’S HOUSE

2 CORINTHIANS 4:7 Jose Alberto Gutierrez, who lives in Bogota-Colombia built a massive free library in his house by rescuing books from trash bins. While emptying the bins of Colombia’s capital, Jose Alberto Gutierrez one day found a copy of the classic novel Anna Karenina and kept it. For twenty years, the garbage man continued to … [Read more…]

HIDE-AND-SEEK

GENESIS 3:9 Hide-and-seek is a popular children’s game in which players conceal themselves in a set environment, to be found by one or more seekers. Most people have fond memories of playing the game as children. Yet sometimes in life the fear of being found is not fun but is rooted in a deep instinct to flee. … [Read more…]

DESTROYING THE COVERING CAST

ISAIAH 25:7 For twenty one years, Mary Ann Franco was totally blind after surviving a car accident in 1995. It took another accident in 2016 to cause what she calls an act of God. After falling down in her home, she received surgery on her spine to alleviate pain in her neck and arm and, when … [Read more…]