The Blog

Read Isaiah 18:1 through 20:6; 2 Corinthians 13:1–14   “Do you have a building permit for this?” The city official stood in the driveway with a clipboard.   Ted was nearly finished adding the room above his garage. “I need a building permit to add on to my own home?”   Ted should have checked with the city. At least, …

Read Psalms 54:1 through 61:8   Hiking the high-altitude volcanoes of Guatemala can leave a novice hiker gasping for air at the side of the trail after just a few minutes. The locals (who are used to the conditions) know this, so they run along with the group, leading horses to ride when a hiker cannot take another step. At …

Read Psalms 27:1 through 33:22   The pastor was excited that his morning sermon was progressing so well. His points were flowing; his illustrations were hitting home; and the congregation was leaning in to hear every word. But then during his conclusion he asked what he intended to be a rhetorical question: “Who here wouldn’t like to be in a situation …

Read Psalms 1:1 through 10:18   During World War II, many young men went off to war in both Europe and the Pacific, leaving behind family and loved ones to wait for their return. As days turned into months, and months turned into years, the waiting must have been a very difficult season of life for those who were left …

Read Proverbs 7:1 through 9:18; 1 Corinthians 7:1–20   Have you ever been given an assignment from a teacher or employer that stretched you beyond your comfort zone? It could be the task is especially difficult, or perhaps the people involved are difficult to work with. In life, some assignments affect greater outcomes than a grade, pay raise, or promotion. When …

Read 伯  Job 1:1 through 2:13; John 21:10–25   “I told you I was ill.” That amusing epitaph marks the grave of British comedian Spike Milligan.   The gravestone of Martin Luther King Jr. features a line from his 1963 speech in Washington, DC: “Free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty I’m free at last.”   The inscription …

Read Luke 21:1 through 22:71   Many people have done something or refused to do something and then later regretted their actions. Peter is one of them.   And he went outside and wept bitterly (Luke 22:62).   During the arrest and trial of Jesus, the apostle Peter made four crucial mistakes. He miscalculated the power of the devil. Christians …

Read Genesis 21:1 through 22:19; Matthew 6:19–34   When God promised Abraham a son, he and Sarah both laughed at the idea that they might experience such an event in their old age. (Genesis 17:17; 18:12). But Sarah became pregnant by her husband. At the end of nine months, she gave birth to a son at the very time God …

Read Isaiah 10:20 through 12:6; 2 Corinthians 10:1–18 In her short story titled “I’m Still Learning to Forgive,” Corrie ten Boom recounted something that happened while she was ministering at a church in Munich, Germany, in 1947. Corrie came face-to-face with one of the guards from the concentration camp where she and her sister had been held. A man who …

Read  來 Hebrews 1:1 through 2:18 In light of the realization of who Jesus is—the radiance of God’s glory, the exact representation of God, far superior to angels and all created beings—we must be very careful to pay even closer attention to the Word of God that we have heard (Hebrews 2:1). It will not be the blatant, in-your-face sins …