[Originally published August 28, 2026] Every fall seems bittersweet to parents of young adult children. As they graduate from high school and leave the home nest, the smaller circles of parental and school and church influences begin to widen. Like fledgling eagles, the young adults move out, learn to fly solo, and find their own ways and beliefs. These are critical moments in life, perhaps like n...  Read More

[Originally published August 28, 2026] Recall a person that held sway over your decision making when you were a child. For me, it was Bart Starr of the Green Bay Packers professional football team. That athlete represented wholesome values, and I adopted him as a role model. I aspired to be like him, so I imitated his style of play in neighborhood pick-up football games. That was the extent of Mr....  Read More

Airliners have black boxes onboard that record pilot conversations when a crisis strikes. In some cases, loud audible gasps or shouts have been made to express the emotions that those individuals feel. Picture your most desperate cry for help in a moment of crisis, the words you used to express your despair, and you will be able to identify with the message of Psalm 70. This hymn has a bit of an a...  Read More

It has been said, “Letting yesterday affect today will only destroy the excitement of tomorrow.” Well said, but let’s add a prophetic tweak to the axiom. Ezekiel encountered some leaders who were living in their failed past, and it was ruining the prospects for God’s future. He denounced their flawed leadership. Most of us will know of a church ministry where the members lived their present within...  Read More

How do you handle life’s testing times? Perhaps you worry. Maybe you even lash out at those you love. Others will deny the situation and seek to avoid confronting the trouble! I read numerous accounts of people on social medial who refuse to face their troubles and eventually find that they are overwhelmed by the results. The psalmist pens Psalm 112 as a reminder that our troubles provide us with ...  Read More

“False Confidence” could be the rubric that Jeremiah might place on the marquees of many contemporary churches. The people in Jeremiah’s day believed they were safe because the Temple, God’s dwelling place, was in their midst (HCBC). Many contemporary congregations hold to a similar belief about their own physical locations and the traditions associated with them. Let’s ask the Lord to open our ey...  Read More

(“Jeremiah Lamenting the Destruction of Jerusalem”—Rembrandt, 1630) Sisyphus, the Ancient Greek mythological character, was required continually to push a heavy boulder up the side of a mountain, only to have it roll back down. I suppose that he is remembered most for his misery! Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, as he is often nicknamed, served the Lord in the latter days of the Kingdom of Judah, an...  Read More

[Originally published June 30, 2026] Nicky Cruz (6 December 1938-present) was born in the mountains of Las Piedras, south of San Juan, Puerto Rico, to poor parents who practiced witchcraft. One of eighteen children, he grew up watching seances, satanic rituals of sorcery and voodoo, and horrible atrocities every night. His mother called him "Son of Satan" and his parents abused him physically and ...  Read More

[originally published June 30, 2026] "The law of the instrument" maxim states that a hammer’s great temptation is to treat everything as a nail. Anger has become in our culture a metaphorical hammer in search of the proverbial nail! Perhaps the reason wrath is so prominent is because we view our challenges in such a way that the negative emotion seems to be the best route to a solution. Therefore,...  Read More

“If a spring has not been opened in a soul, a spring of living water from God’s own Son, no waters can flow and there is no life in you.” G.V. Wigram (1805-1879), wrote the English theologian and an early leader among the Plymouth Brethren. He echoes what Christ had taught: Living water must spring from within the well of one’s own heart or a person will die of spiritual thirst. Let’s examine anew...  Read More

A Bible commentator catches my eye when he writes, “Affliction either drives one into the arms of God or severs one from God” (NAC). This perspective often proves to be true, but thankfully Peter opens our eyes today to a useful aspect to affliction that we may have failed to consider. He shows us clearly how we sometimes interfere with God’s good work in us when we are experiencing bad things in ...  Read More

Words are cheap, or so the expression goes, so Christians will choose to show their genuine faith by staying committed to Christ. This introduction encapsulates the point of our focal passage today. The recipients of the Hebrews letter had been tempted to pull away from Christ, so the writer encourages them to remain steadfastly committed to the Lord. The writer uses the symbol of a veil beyond wh...  Read More