Topic(s): Humor

I was having a sleepless night—an evening cup of coffee, my husband’s abnormally loud snoring, and details about an upcoming trip were keeping me hopelessly awake. Even after I slipped into the guest bedroom, I still had trouble. Finally, at 3:15 a.m., I crawled back into my own bed, next to a now half-awake husband. “Honey, I can’t sleep,” I whispered. “I start to drift off and even dream, but then I wake up with a jerk.”

“Wait a minute,” my husband said, now fully awake. “I am not a jerk!” -Karen Wingate, Coldwater, Kansas

Remember: “Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favour of the LORD” (Proverbs 18:22)

God Can Handle Today—and Tomorrow

Topic(s): Faith, God

In May 1995, Randy Reid, a 34-year-old construction worker, was welding on top of a nearly completed water tower outside Chicago. According to writer Melissa Ramsdell, Reid unhooked his safety gear to reach for some pipes when a metal cage slipped and bumped the scaffolding he stood on. The scaffolding tipped, and Reid lost his balance. He fell 110 feet, landing face down on a pile of dirt, just missing rocks and construction debris. A fellow worker called 911. When paramedics arrived, they found Reid conscious, moving, and complaining of a sore back. Apparently the fall didn’t cost Reid his sense of humor. As paramedics carried him on a backboard to the ambulance, he requested: “Don't drop me.” (Reid came away from the accident with just a bruised lung.) Sometimes we resemble that construction worker. God protects us from harm in a 110-foot fall, but we’re still nervous about three-foot heights. The God who saves us from hell and death can protect us from the smaller dangers we face this week.

“He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” - Romans 8:32

Open Letter to All Parents

Topic(s): Children, Father, Mother, Youth

Three months ago I sat in a courtroom and heard a judge say, “20 years.” He was pronouncing sentence on our 21-year-old son—punishment for drinking, gambling, and robbery, which ended in the shooting and near death of a man. The sentence might have been less, but our son had a defiant attitude throughout the trial, ridiculing every officer who spoke to him. But the shocking climax came when the judge asked, “Young man, don’t you believe in God?” He laughed aloud as he said, “God? Who’s that?” Everyone in the courtroom turned and looked at us.

We went to Bible class when we were small and had learned about God. After we were married, we decided to go again and take the children. All of us went regularly for a year. Then we skipped two or three services—then went only on special times. Soon we joined a recreation team and competed on Sunday afternoons. We couldn’t go to church and get ready in time to play, and sports were so much fun! If only we had those years to live over.

Time after time since that trial, we have heard the words of our son, “God? Who’s that?” ringing in our ears. When we think of the wasted years of “having fun” instead of meeting God at His appointed place, we are sick with shame. We’re trying to make restitution by urging other people to go. So many say, “We do not believe in making a child go to church if he doesn't want to go.” How many would go to school if they were not made to go? Ask any child that question! ...Heartbroken Parents

“Train up a child in the way he should go…” - Proverbs 22:6

Four Reasons We Should Not Fellowship Denominations

Topic(s): Church, Denominationalism, Unity

1. The church of Christ is not a denomination, and having fellowship with denominations implies falsely that it is (cf. Ephesians 5:11).
2. People in denominations, generally speaking, have not obeyed the Gospel, and having fellowship with them implies they have (Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38).
3. Worship unauthorized by God is a very serious sin, and having fellowship with those in denominations implies that it is not a serious sin (cf. Matthew 15:9; John 4:24).
4. We should not have fellowship with denominations because they do not teach the doctrine of Christ, and having fellowship with them implies that they do (cf. 2 John 9-11).

Excerpt: “Shall We have Fellowship With Denominations,” by Bobby Duncan (Spiritual Sword).