Monday’s lesson, The Shipwreck, reminds me of another storm at sea and the faith of a young girl. Below is a remarkable account of Ellen Harmon, no more than eighteen years old. She is on a steamboat leaving Portland Maine that has just run into a very dangerous storm. While many were fearful for their … Continue reading –>
Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from … Continue reading –>
“I miss the good ol’ days of the church.” “I wish we could go back to the way things were.” “I want my church back!” Chances are, if you are an Adventist, you have run into phrases like this. In fact, you may even have said them. In my early twenties I went through this … Continue reading –>
As a second grader walking home from school with a couple of other boys, for some reason I cannot explain, I thought it would be a good idea to throw some rocks at a car parked near a house. The lady in the house ran outside and demanded that I go get my mother and … Continue reading –>
While I was away on a brief vacation this summer, a friend covering a family Bible study in my place called. Apparently the family was reading through Genesis on their own. After learning what circumcision is, the family’s young daughter asked my friend a question the family could not answer. “God wanted boys to be … Continue reading –>
When Jesus told Peter to forgive his brother 70 X 7 times, Peter may have raised his eyebrows, questioning if that was a little much. But after Peter cut off a man’s ear, and denied he even knew Jesus, while weeping in bitterness for his own sins, I imagine 70 X 7 didn’t seem too … Continue reading –>
Saul honestly thought he was doing God service when he was persecuting the Christians. Jesus may have been thinking of Saul, when He said, For you will be expelled from the synagogues, and the time is coming when those who kill you will think they are doing a holy service for God. John 16:2 NLT … Continue reading –>
We were in our last couple nights of evangelism meetings when a water pipe burst, flooding a room behind the sanctuary, near the baptistry entrance. One of the deacons told a local elder to help the other deacons pump the water out. The elder politely replied that he could not do that, because he had … Continue reading –>
When was the last time you had people from your church over to your house? The New Testament speaks of churches in homes. See Romans 16:5, 1 Corinthians 16:9, Colossians 4:15,Philemon 1:2. Years ago, when I became a Bible Worker at a church in Texas, an elderly saint informed me of a group of people … Continue reading –>
In conversation with a young adult I’ll call Sophie, we talked about the suicide of a friend of hers I’ll call Tommy. “He was the life of the party!” Sophie said, “He lit up the room. Everyone felt like his best friend.” Clearly this Tommy’s relational life thrived. “But he didn’t know what to do … Continue reading –>
