Corona Devotionals

Has it been hard?  For a long time? Are we tired ?  Worn down by the world...and worn out.   Are we weary? Yes...this life of following the Lord can be hard.  Can be grueling, can be leveling.  Can even (once in a teensy while) cause us to wonder if this way  is worth it.   But we mustn't give up!   Keep on today, fellow soldier of Christ.  We can  do  this.  And the Lord sees us doing it .  He has seen  where we are headed (eternity with Him), and God encourages us today through His Word (the Bible). The secret to keeping-on for Christ is (simply/stoically/determinedly/stubbornly) to  keep-on  keeping-on for Christ.   As for you, go your way until the end.  ~Daniel 12:13 Until the end .   Somehow, the Lord telling us that (yes), it's going to be  like this until the end ...but that we must also keep going our  way  until the end ...somehow this is empow...

We have entered December..and collectively...we journey toward the manger together. It is an annual pilgrimage that I love  each year: reading the Bible verses foretelling and narrating the events of the birth of our Savior, who chose to be born in that manger in Bethlehem. Let us go to the house of the  Lord  together this season. Let us read and receive H is deep love for us, and let us soak in His sacrifice at the start and finish of His earthly expedition as a man...even though He is God. Yes, all of us walk toward Bethlehem this month...toward Jesus...toward Truth.  But many have no idea what that means. Let us  invite them in  to the true meaning of Christmas.   Let us go ...to Bethlehem together.  Let us  introduce Jesus to our friends.   Let us go to the house of the  Lord . They will rejoice  (as we do) when invited-in, and this is the perfect time of year for it. You (simply) can't avoid Christmas this month...

Our King, as we welcome the day, or as we come up for air in the midst of it: we approach and become aware of You .   Re-center our hearts, our minds,  and ourselves  on You today, Lord.  We come before You humbly. We must. There can be no pride when we realize afresh and anew Your holiness, Lord...and our un holiness.   We submit  to You.  We bow low before You, Maker of Heaven and Earth.   Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God, ( 6) Who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them; who keeps truth forever...  ~Psalm 146:5-6 Like Daniel, when he came into the presence of Gabriel , ( someone who looked like a man , but who was communicating on Your behalf, Lord)...we are (or should be) overcome... undone...and fully-affected by Your purity, Your presence, and Your Word, Lord.  Just as Daniel was. As I, Daniel, was trying to understand the meaning of this vision...

I went to the gym the other day, and while there was a time (and even a couple decades of my life) when working out, athletics, jogging, and staying physically fit was a part of my everyday routine...it has been another couple of decades since  that type of routine has been routine in my life.   At the gym, there were elderly people and young children, and every age in-between on the track and utilizing the exercise equipment, and (young or old), I knew that they all  knew much (!!) more than me when it came to exercising in that place. I was walking in ignorant, raw, and out-of-shape...and I knew it.  I could have no exercise "chip" on my shoulder because there was no truth or reality in that being true.   If I had  come in with pride, or hastily jumping-in to a rigorous routine, I could have gotten hurt or made a fool of myself.  Plus, we can't learn anything if we are not honest with ourselves about our current state, and then we must...

We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters.   ~I John 3:16 This love ...this   real love that the Bible calls us to is so... revolutionary  compared to the (self) love that the world glorifies.  Not only is the real love  of Jesus revolutionary, it is revolting  to most people, who have been trained to love and promote only themselves, rather than to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters. This real love  that the Bible speaks of is contradictory and even contraband.  As Believers in Christ, it's almost like we have to smuggle  God's love ( real love ) to others, because this kind of love is so unknown in the me-first era in which we live. But, as the Bible has done for over two thousand years: God's Word defines life and real love  in stark contradiction to the accepted cultural versions of love, which are diluted and tainted because man ha...

I made a  big  pot of turkey noodle soup the other day.   Turkey noodle soup is just like chicken noodle soup, but I boil the cooked and carved turkey (carcass) to make a beautiful-tasting broth, and then I strain everything out of the broth, add some veggies and turkey, and (of course), serve it over noodles.  Lot's of carrots sliced and celery diced and broth that tastes too good to be true: it makes a great soup.  But before I serve it, I always chill it overnight and then the next day I skim off a layer of yellow solidified oils and grease (fat) that settles on the top of the soup broth.   I'm no food-chemist, but something about the boiling-of-the-turkey puts oils into the broth.  However, refrigeration causes most of that fat/grease/oil to rise and solidify, making it very easy to skim-the-scum off the top, and then my soup is cleared for culinary consumption. Without the removal of that junk , the soup would be greasy, gross, and much ...