Don’t Believe Everything You Think

I admit a curiosity for bumper stickers. On occasion, one succinctly states a great truth or at least provokes reasonable thought. Once I stopped at a light, and the car in front of mine had...

Gratitude

Gratitude Years ago, a woman living on a farm in Germany brought to her minister about $10, which was a lot at the time. She explained, “In former years, I have had to pay about this...

Bounce Back

What is the difference between people who thrive and people who decline over a long period of time?  It is not that they do not get knocked down; it is that they bounce back up....

The Anchor of the Soul

No one who knows what can happen at sea would go to sea in a vessel that carried no anchor, even if it were the greatest and most modern ocean liner afloat. Circumstances might...
notebook and vintage camera on the desk

Five Bible Pictures of Hope

The Bible uses five pictures to help us understand hope. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then five pictures are worth a whole sermon full of words.  Hope is light—to help us see...

Hope is Powerful

A Lot Can Happen A man sentenced to death obtained a reprieve by assuring the king he would teach his majesty’s horse to fly within the year—on the condition that if he did not succeed,...

What it Means to Trust God

We live in unique times. With the COVID-19 pandemic, we are facing challenges most of us have never seen in our lifetime.  Such challenges should encourage us to trust in God. Consider these passages:  The...

In Pursuit of Hope

An S-4 submarine crew became trapped after they were rammed off the coast of Massachusetts. The sub sank immediately. Rescue efforts failed. Near the end, a diver heard tapping and placed his helmeted ear...

The Best Sermon

Many years ago, a farmer had an unusually fine crop of grain. Just a few days before it was ready to harvest, a terrible hail and windstorm destroyed it. The farmer and his son...

Have You Read the Book That Shaped America?

America’s earliest settlers came in search of religious freedom, to escape religious persecution—which has again become an issue in modern times.  A new arrival who joined the Pilgrims at Plymouth in 1623 “blessed God for...