Corona Devotionals

O holy night… O night divine… O night when Christ was born!...   (excerpts from “O Holy Night”, circa 1847) Placide Cappeau de Roquemaure   ~~~ Do we know what today is… tonight? Can you feel it?  …The electricity of the day and the night that today... is.  It is special, but no… that word is not (possibly) strong enough to pay homage and justice to Christmas Eve.  (The eve of the birth of Christ.) Palpable.  Powerful.   Laden. These are better, but still completely lacking.  For, even people who don’t acknowledge God sense a sacrality in this night.  O holy night...when Christ was born. Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.  ~Isaiah 7:14 ~~~ “ The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight .”   (“O little town of Bethlehem, Phillips Brooks, 1868) This phrase sums up our daily/meager/compromised human existence as it co...

Then this city will bring me joy, glory, and honor before all the nations of the earth! ~Jeremiah 33:9 Can we do that today?  Can we bring God  joy, glory, and honor  today? How?   You decide for you.   And...I'll decide for me. Or...we could be blessed to enter into the methods of others who are  bringing joy, glory and honor to God. In preparation for a family vacation, my husband and our eldest son decided to design and print matching t-shirts for each member on the trip.  (Yes, we are that family.)   Can you make a family t-shirt that  brings joy, glory and honor  to God?  They sure did. With a (tasteful) cross and an artfully written "Jesus is the reason for the season", our t-shirts received a surprising number of agreeing nods and even "Amens" as we meandered through crowds and passed people throughout the day that we all donned them.  Did these people already know the Lord?  It seems so, but did we...

I know what time of the year it is.  And I know  the season that we are celebrating.   I know  how the traditions and commercials and movies portray people at Christmas: bubbly, joy-filled, surrounded-in-love and crowded with friends and family.   But there is someone who is alone in this season.   There is someone who feels neither bubbly nor joyous, and no one  is surrounding them. There is someone that is lonely , empty, and having  un happy holidays.  God sees us.  God is with us.   Don't believe me?  Feeling too tired/too lonely/too sad/too mad/too depressed/too lost today? God sees us.   God is  with us.   God writes out our feelings for us in Psalm 88 , to remind us that  He sees us and   He  is  with us.  (1) O   Lord , God of my salvation,  I cry out to you by day.   I come to you at night.   ( 2)  Now hear my praye...

We have a dear friend of our family...our faith family.  God is how we met and God is our common ground and our common love.  We don't know each other all that well, but (because of Jesus), it feels like we've been friends forever.  That's what God does for a relationship. This guy is older than us, and single.  He lives alone and I happen to know that although he is an excellent steward, his money is tight.  And so, clocking in daily before 5:00 AM for a full-day on his feet, he works an (over) full time job, even though he is beyond retirement age.  And although his coworkers and managers do not sound like easy men, he serves everyday in a Colossians 3:23-24 way. Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters,  ( 24)  since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.  ~ Colossians 3:23-24 It certainly is the Lord Ch...

Christmas is just for kids, isn't that what some people say?  If we don't have kids or if we are no longer a child...what's the point?  What's the "wonder" of Christmas? What's the "joy" of Christmas? Is Christmas just for children?  And what makes Christmas special for a child?  Is it the surprise of it?  The excitement?  The gifts?  The wonder and the joy of it all?   And...can these things still (possibly) be ours this Christmas? If we will become as little children , the answer is, Yes.  Jesus tells us in His Word that we must be converted  (changed!) and " become as little children ".  Jesus is not specifically speaking about Christmas (but this applies to Christmas too!).  Jesus is referencing the truth of how we (as adults) must be willing to open the door to Him and our faith in Him...like a little child. At   that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?...