Sometimes we have to make decisions that just don’t make sense… Sometimes in ministry we have to make decisions that just don’t make sense to the world, to our friends, maybe not even to our families. In fact, we may just find ourselves, standing in front of the mirror one morning, shaking our heads and …
From All My Heart
“Thank you, thank you,” read one of several excited texts, which I received after a single mom found out she was coming home to a new window air conditioner. The single mom, we’ll call her Karen, is one of the women whom we helped move earlier this year. Since her move, she has run …
Plans to Quit
When I was a very small girl, Dad and I went on a carnival ride. They called it the Octopus. Maybe you’ve heard about it and its ridiculous tentacles. I was terrified throughout the ride, but the end is most indelibly impressed in my memory. I remember lying on my back as the ride came …
NT 9:4 Adoption And The Law
Week 9: The New Testament and Adoption Day 4: Adoption and the Law – (Romans 10:14; Galatians 4:1-10) Over the years, I have come in contact with several children who made very puzzling decisions. They had, up to that point, been brought up either on the streets or in very bad home environments. Suddenly, they …
The Unexpected
Sometimes the unexpected happens. Just when you think you know where you’re going, God switches on the turn signal. At the start of this year, the Lord opened the door to begin preparing materials for a Bible Institute course on reaching the Fatherless. Much of what you have seen in the “What the Bible Says …
NT 8:3 When God Spanks Us, Part 2
Week 8: The New Testament and Children Cont’d Day 3: When God Spanks Us, Part 2, Hebrews 12:5-11 “Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few …
NT 8:2 When God Spanks Us, Part 1
Week 8: The New Testament and Children Cont’d Day 2: When God Spanks Us, Part 1 of 2 – Hebrews 12:5-11 I like my middle name. It’s part of me. It was chosen carefully to reflect God’s work in our family. I wouldn’t change it – but there have been plenty of times when I …
NT 7:4 Stop Assuming
Week 7: The New Testament and Children Cont’d Day 4: Stop Assuming – Ephesians 6:1-4; Colossians 3:20,21 Sometime last year, I sat down with my Sunday School class of 8-13 year olds and said, “OK, here’s the deal, our Sunday School material skips 5 chapters of the Bible between 1 Kings and 2 Kings, and …
NT 7:3 Growing Up, Part II
Week 7: The New Testament and Children Cont’d Day 3: Growing Up, Part II – Galatians 4:19; Ephesians 4:13,14; 1 Corinthians 14:20; 13:11; 3:1-3; Hebrews 5:12-14; 1 Peter 2:2; Matthew 18:3 (Go here for Part I) To some extent, Paul opened his conversation with the Corinthians regarding maturity in 1 Corinthians 13 when he said, …
NT 7:2 Growing Up, Part 1
Week 7: The New Testament and Children Cont’d Day 2: Growing Up, Part I – Galatians 4:19; Ephesians 4:13,14; 1 Corinthians 14:20; 13:11; 3:1-3; Hebrews 5:12-14; 1 Peter 2:2; Matthew 18:3 When I was ten or eleven years old, my family met a family whose child would never grow up. I don’t mean that she …
