Pop Quiz-Question today! How many seasons of the year are there? If we said "four" (Fall, Winter, Summer, Spring), then (for today's Quiz)--we would be wrong , because we forgot an important and delicious season. In my area of the world, country, state, and city...it's pumpkin season.  "Pumpkin season" technically falls within the "Fall" Season, but it is most definitely a season all it's own.  One can identify "pumpkin season" by the flavor of pumpkin invading every drink (hot/cold/coffee/tea/creamer), every confection (donuts/muffins/cakes/crisps/cookies/...and the famous pumpkin "roll"), and even savory food items such as ravioli and soup. Pumpkin season is known and experienced by  tasting it in so many ways.  When it is pumpkin season, the flavor of pumpkin (can) apply and be infused into just about everything, even Oreos ~~~ Can we be the "pumpkin-flavor" of the Christian faith?   Can we declare today the be...

I was at a beautiful event on Friday, filled with followers of Christ, and one of the main focuses was encouraging families to choose Christian education over public education.  There were wonderful testimonies and encouragements supporting the benefits/the securities/the opportunities for furthering the Kingdom of Christ in choosing Christian education. And the very next day I attended a different event, filled with followers of Christ, and the main focus was equipping students to share and shine the Gospel in public schools.  There were wonderful testimonies and encouragements supporting the mission to go-and-make-disciples/the opportunities for salvation/and the call to furthering the Kingdom of Christ in choosing public education. Which is the correct decision for a family? That answer is: either .  (And homeschooling is an excellent educational-option as well, I just didn't attend an event focusing on the benefits of it this week.) Only the Lord knows what plans are ...

Before opening the Bible, I scribbled a desperate prayer in my journal, snapshotting my heart: Lord--we NEED You.  We are walking through the fire. My fire isn't your fire, but we all walk through them at one time or another. Are we walking through the fire today? The flames of persecution may be licking at our heels, or perhaps the heat of pain or sorrow surround us.   Are we walking through fires of emotional trauma?  Or is it a fire of physical flames that laps at our peace and faith-foundation?  Or perhaps it is  people  that are causing our world to burn down around us. Lord--we NEED You.  We are walking through the fire. It's a lonely place (isn't it?)... being inside the fire.  It's as if you can't see anyone else, or even remember anything else.  All we know in the burden of the fire is  the suffocating nature of it surrounding us.   Lord--we NEED You.  We are walking through the fire. But this is why we open...

Sometimes God takes us on a deep dive into a single verse or two in the Bible.  And sometimes, the Lord says, "Let's review quite a few." That's today. And sometimes we need to review God's Word. Life happens.  Years move.  Decades can pass, and we can assimilate into our routine, and our opinions, and our schedules, and our comfort zones...and we can forget  the basics of what God has said about how to live our lives for Him. Let's remember today.   Let's get back to God's basics today.  Let's be reminded of God's gold standards for life.  Let's be refreshed in God's truth.   Let's be reestablished in how God says to live our lives for Him because: that's what we're here for . ~~~ God delivered His guidelines for godly-living to the Israelites one day a couple thousand years ago when they were gathered at the base of Mount Sinai (also known as Mount Horeb). Their hearts were repentant and expectant for the Lord. Moses trav...

The Lord of Heaven’s Armies says, “The day of judgment is coming, burning like a furnace. On that day the arrogant and the wicked will be burned up like straw. They will be consumed—roots, branches, and all.     ~Malachi 4:1 NLT Sounds harsh , doesn't it? Another version of the Bible says it this way: “For behold, the day is coming, Burning like an oven, a nd all the proud, yes, all who do wickedly will be stubble.   And the day which is coming shall burn them up,” s ays the Lord of hosts, “That will leave them neither root nor branch.  ~Malachi 4:1 NKJV It still sounds harsh.   God's Word and Truth can be harsh, and that is only because He is holy. But someone might need to hear the harsh today.   Maybe one of us is behaving arrogantly and wickedly , and we need a wake-up call.  This world is not  all that there is, and we may need to make some heart-changes before  the day of judgment comes .  And it will come , ...