Shepherds were on the lowest rung of society, they were ceremonially unclean, and theirs was even known as the illegitimate profession. So, why did God select these individuals to be the first to learn of the birth of Jesus? I think it is because these shepherds, tending sheep near Bethlehem, were responsible for the breeding, birth, and care of the lambs that would be
Sometimes when we are in the midst of trials we start to wonder: Lord, will it ever end? In case you haven’t noticed, it doesn’t. But the good news is that with each faith-testing experience, our ability to deal with these trials and tribulations becomes better and our faith grows stronger! In scripture, God compares our faith to a most precious and beautiful metal:
Have you ever eaten a bread and jelly sandwich? Jelly in the middle, and bread on either side. If you just ate the bread without the jelly, it would probably be a little dry and tasteless. By the same token, if you just ate the jelly, it might be delicious initially, but soon you would decide it was too sweet. That’s what I think
Stumbling is not one of my most favorite things in the world. It’s embarrassing and often hurts. The fact is, however, that stumbling is something we all must experience. The question is, what do we do when it happens? Imagine this. You’re walking home and you trip and fall over a random object on the sidewalk. You scraped your knee and it hurt a
Life can be hard. Sickness, financial difficulty, rebellious children, a job that we hate, or difficult people in our daily walk can take a toll on us. There are times when we feel we’ve been pushed into a corner. So what do we do? We can sulk and think of all the bad things that are going on in our life, sitting down in our
A friend made a leather briefcase for me. It has my initials on it and is the perfect fit for the items I carry around. I’m quite proud of it. But what if I used that briefcase as a trash can? Crazy, right? It would not only be poor use of a nice leather briefcase; it would also be insulting to my friend who so
Have you ever heard how a pearl is formed? It is truly fascinating. A foreign object, often a grain of sand, somehow makes its way into the tightly sealed crack of an oyster. Instead of spitting out this irritating object, the oyster covers it with layer upon layer of a substance secreted from its own body. After months or even years, a beautiful pearl
Dirt has to be broken to receive a seed that will someday grow to a plant producing fruit. Grain must be crushed before it can be used for bread. It’s the broken heart that pleases God, not one that is hurting, but one that is contrite and open before Him. “While he was eating, a woman came in with a beautiful alabaster jar of
You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You. -Isaiah 26:3 If you fly long enough, you’ll eventually experience turbulence. It’s uncomfortable at best, terrifying at worst as the plane bounces up and down, shakes, and even takes severe drops. But the truth is, planes are made to handle turbulence. Vertical and horizontal stabilizers help
Momentum is simply the force or speed of movement that carries an object to its final destination. If you want to break through, you need to have a certain amount of momentum. In order for a rocket to blast into space, it needs tremendous momentum to break the gravitational barrier but with the enormous power of jet engines and rocket fuel the ship is
