Corona Devotionals

Sometimes at church you and I will have missionaries come to visit, and they will share of their call to serve the Lord in far away places. Sometimes at church you and I have friends and families that are weekly, regular, dear members of our church body, and then they are called by the Lord to leave our family and go and build God's family somewhere else. Sometimes at church you and I have visiting pastors, college students, children's choirs or others who are passing-through or staying for a spell. How do we respond to them? How do we support them? How do we serve them? How do we show hospitality to them? What do we DO for the brothers and sisters (in Christ) even though they are strangers to us? And, when it is time for them to leave, are we sending them on their way in a manner that honors God ? ~~~ Why am I asking? The truth is: I am not asking. But God, through the Bible (His Word) is asking us, and He is pricking-our-hearts about our treatment and reception of ...

I am so blessed  by the family of Christ, and I am so grateful-for/encouraged-by/and ignited by friends-in-Christ...and I hope that you are too. This living-for-the-Lord thing is a group-effort (We can't do it alone!) and friends and family (in the Lord) make the journey-for-Jesus fun at times, and possible  at other times. It can be hard to express what the family of Christ does for us and our spirit, but we should try to express it to them (thank them), so that they can know and be encouraged in knowing what an encouragement their faith is to us. I am writing to... my dear friend, whom I love in the truth.  ~3 John 1:1 ~~~ I   popped out of bed at 5:45 AM yesterday for a coffee date with one of my good friends-in-Christ.  We hadn't caught up in a while, and this early  hour was one that we both had available, and so we booked it--and I couldn't have been more tickled to do so.  Why?   Because I love this dear friend   in the truth ....

Let's just stop whatever ( else )  we are doing   right now.   Sit down.  Sit still.   He says, “Be still, and know that I am God"...  ~Psalm 46:10 ~~~ Let's open the Bible today: God's Word written to us... for  us.    Lord, we do not want to take this privilege (of meeting with You) for granted.  Lord, we do not want to take the power  of connecting-with-You and reading-Your-Word for granted.   We seek  You today, we thirst  for You today.  We long  for You today, Lord. (1) O God, You are my God; early will I seek You; My soul thirsts for You; my flesh longs for You in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water. (2) So I have looked for You in the sanctuary, to see Your power and Your glory. (3) Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise You. (4) Thus I will bless You while I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name. (5) My soul shall be satisfied as with m...

“Come, let us return to the  Lord .   He has torn us to pieces;  now he will heal us.   He has injured us;  now he will bandage our wounds.  ( 2)   After two days He will revive us;  On the third day He will raise us up, t hat we may live in His sight.     ( 3)  Oh, that we might know the  Lord !   Let us press on to know him.   He will respond to us as surely as the arrival of dawn  or the coming of rains in early spring.”   ( 4)   “O Israel and Judah,  what should I do with you?” asks the  Lord .   “For your love vanishes like the morning mist  and disappears like dew in the sunlight. ( 5)  I sent my prophets to cut you to pieces— to slaughter you with my words,  with judgments as inescapable as light.  ( 6)  I want you to show love,  not offer sacrifices.   I want you to know me  more than I want ...

Picture it: we are alone in the house and the lights go out.  The room goes dark: pitch black and silent.   Our initial/momentary/reactionary feelings when the lights go out, or power is lost and we are left  alone  in the dark can cause a deep pit in our stomach.   We can feel any number of emotions in a moment like that.                Sometimes due to a storm, or perhaps it is downed power lines...but POOF!  The room and entire home that we are in is suddenly filled with silence and unknown darkness...and we  are in the dark.   What do we do?  Maybe we find a cell phone and turn on the flashlight feature.  Maybe we rustle around and find a real flashlight.  Or maybe we strike a match and light a candle for warmth and light.   The initial moments of no electricity can be frightening, even to the bravest of us.  But once we regroup, and regain our senses,...

I'm not always so good with names and numbers…especially numbers, which (for me) includes dates. For instance, I can't remember all the details--such as exactly what year it was, or which North Carolina beach-city we were staying in the Summer that our (extended) family rented a 30-plus person house to vacation-in, all together.   Together-in-one-house is a beautiful idea and memory for vacation...unless someone gets  really  sick with a contagious stomach-bug…which is what happened to us.  To  all  (thirty) of us.  And what I  do  remember is that it was  our child  that started the sickness-cycle.   The details are foggy for me, but there were people that fainted, an uncle that spent the night in a bathtub, cars that pulled over for people to exit and vomit, and lots (and lots) of bodily functions that went awry during that week of “vacation”. But I do remember the main point, because it is seared on my hear...