Cell phones are wonderful when they work, but when you are in an area where your signal is breaking up, it can be frustrating. You hear the person’s voice fading in and out, and you keep talking, hoping that he or she is listening. Then, suddenly, you realize you have...
LISTEN TO THE DEVOTIONAL Where have all the fathers gone? That the influence of men in families and society has lessened in recent days is without question. Look for the missing dad in so many one-parent families, the father, also, who leaves before the...
LISTEN TO THE DEVOTIONAL “Don’t be troubled; don’t be afraid!” He knew what was ahead; they didn’t. But instead of struggling with panic, Jesus was calm, fully in control. When you are stronger than the circumstances which confront you, you, too, can have this...
Listen to the Devotional John Wesley was six years old when the fire broke out in the frame house where he and his large family lived. It was one of the most vivid memories of his life. John was trapped on the second floor, unable to get out. He stood at the...
Listen to the Devotional The full-page ad in the newspaper has troubled me for weeks. Pictured in color was a beautiful young woman radiating intelligence, beauty, and charm. Beneath was the caption, “Character may be imitated. Leadership, however, is...
Ed Landry doesn’t believe that we should ever waste trials or difficulties. He says that what we think are the worst of times can actually be the best of times. Ed was on a plane when he turned to the man next to him and asked, “How are you?” The man proceeded to...
Scotland of the 1840’s was as barren as the nursery rhyme cupboard of Old Mother Hubbard. The decade was known as the "Hungry Forties" as crops failed and migrant workers were driven to the overcrowded, desolate cities. In 1848, Mary Mitchell Slessor was born to an...
Julia Lake Lellersberger served with her husband in Africa among the lepers for more than 40 years. Well after the proverbial four-score years, she wrote the following: “At 81 years of age I am taking a post-graduate course in the University of Life. It is different...
A little child, accompanying his father to a cemetery, noticed that on most gravestones were two dates separated by a hyphen. “Daddy,” he asked, “what’s the dash between the two numbers?” The father explained, “The first number represents the date when this person...
“I’ll be home by 9 o’clock.” But nine comes and he doesn’t show. The same thing is true of ten, and eleven. You finally hear the door at 11:50. “I thought you said you’d be home by 9 o’clock.” “Yeah, but something happened.” Then what about the line, “The check’s in...