Corona Devotionals

When our children were small, we had a trampoline in our backyard.  One of those big ones, with the netting all around it, so that they could bounce without worry.  Or run. We had such  fun on that trampoline when they were young, and often it would be all of us running along the inside edge, around and around.  I would announce the children as if they were horses in a race as they ran and ran.   And inevitably we would all flop down and lie on our backs and stare up at clouds in the sky, deciding what shapes the clouds portrayed: such as a dragon, rooster, or turtle. We made wonderful times and memories laying there and staring up at the sky. .  When was the last time any of us laid on our backs looking up at the clouds to see what shapes they resemble?  It sounds trivial doesn't it?  Childish even.  But another word we could use is "carefree" or "peaceful".   When was the last time that we relaxed long-enough to enjoy a ...

There's something (spiritually) fishy going on here. I've been thinking that for weeks. Has it been a month? I know it's been more than twenty-one days. I believe this can happen (be experienced) both ways: positively and negatively, but h ave you ever had the feeling (sense) that something is not quite right ? Maybe we can't put our finger on it, but sometimes we can. We can sense/feel, or we just know that something is fishy. That something is off , and that something is not quite right . To coin a term: spiritual battles. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood,  but against the rulers, against the authorities,  against the powers  of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.  ~Ephesians 6:12 I've been waging a war at work. My whole job is about communication. Phone, and a lot of email. I send emails, and I also receive email updates/questions/ leads/and (hopefully) sales. But not this week. And not in...

Sometimes I will ask a question outloud to our children...and  no one  will answer.   It's not often, but it does happen.  They can be sitting in the next room, but they can also be in the same room  or in the same car, and no one responds.  They simply don't hear me. Either lost in concentration on studies, focused on the TV or a screen, or ears plugged with music: sometimes there is literally no recognition or response when I ask a question or make a request.   This is not so (ever) with our Heavenly Father.   Did we know that the Bible says that  the moment you began praying, a command was given (Daniel 9:23). He hears us, Brothers and Sisters in Christ!   God always hears our prayers (our "talking" to Him), and He  never  is lost in concentration on other things.  Our Lord is  always  focused on us.  And His ears are  never  plugged. Why?  And how do we know that God he...

Have you ever had a pomelo (or pummelo)? How about a shaddock? Trick question!  Because pomelos and shaddocks are actually the same thing...the same fruit.    And what a fruit they are!  A huge fruit.  A big, grapefruit-looking fruit, pomelos grow big and they go big .  When it comes to fruits in the citrus family, there is no bigger. We tried a pomelo the other day.   I saw them at the grocery store, and their size shocked and enticed me!  I decided to try one mostly because they are so big. ~~~ Go big  (for God) today. Really-- go for it.   Go big.  Go all in, and if the Lord has laid something/someone/some idea on our heart--- Go big  in making it happen today, or at least in beginning  to make it happen.  Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  ( 20)  and teaching them to obey everything I have comman...

I was reading the Bible in the Book of Daniel , and...that guy got it.     Daniel was a regular person, just like us, who came to know God and Daniel  loved  God, feared God, and honored God with his life.  Daniel got it .  Daniel got what it meant to follow God.  He understood that God was holy, and deserves our reverence, obedience, and praise.  But, Daniel also saw that people-are-people--we are sinful and even though God and His prophets tell us  to behave and to live well to honor the Lord... we don't.    Daniel saw the people around him (his people!) dishonor God.  Not  follow God's commands, and Daniel saw the people sin and choose their preferences and pleasures over the Lord's.   Daniel knew  this behavior was incongruent with God's expectations, and God's holiness.  Daniel knew that there would have to be (holy) consequence for the (unholy) incongruence, and he was right.   Dan...

Hey!  You know that (wonderful) feeling when we go to the mailbox/mailroom/post office, and someone has written to us?  For me?! Oh, it's wonderful when someone has written to us.  Thought about us.  Been intentional and specific  to care and to write to us. Hey!...  We got a letter in the mail today!  Someone has written to us.  Just us.  But...each and every one  of us. It's a letter from John the apostle.   Not-the-disciple John, but th e contemporary of Jesus, John .   J ohn, who saw Jesus live and die... that  John: he tells us who he is writing to... and it's us. Remember today that we are dear children of God, and God (through John) has written to us today: I am writing to you, dear children,  because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name.   ~I John 2:12 Like a letter in our mailbox, personally addressed to us: the Lord delivers His most pertinent message to us through t...

We've heard the saying, "Everything old is new again", but let's apply that to our faith heartbeat today.   Do we need a little spiritual-pick-me-up?  (And I don't mean coffee!)  If our once pounding-for-Jesus heartbeat has slowed or become a bit faint... be revived  by the Bible today!! Be refreshed in what we know  about God and serving Him.   Everything old is new again, and this means God's commandments too.   Dear friends, I am not writing a new commandment for you; rather it is an old one you have had from the very beginning. This old commandment—to love one another—is the same message you heard before.  ( 8)  Yet it is also new. Jesus lived the truth of this commandment, and you also are living it. For the darkness is disappearing, and the true light is already shining.  ~I John 2:7-8 Our daughter went in for her yearly check-up at the pediatricians recently, and there's so much to say  when you only visit onc...