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Daily Devotion – The Parable of the Dirty Well
Drawn from my archives In one of his sermons, Charles Spurgeon shared a parable of a man from the East who came upon a mountain. Looking down from the mountain, he saw the sun shining brightly on a river stream. It looked beautiful from afar, but as the old man made his way down the mountain, he soon discovered that this river was muddy and unfit for drinking. Nearby, he saw a young shepherd boy busy filtering water. With much effort and time, he sifted and filtered the muddy water each day for his flock. Little by little he purified the water, collecting it in a cistern so the animals…
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Daily Devotion – What the Word “Family” Really Means
Growing up I shared a room with my sister. For a while there, we even shared the same bed. My cousins had four girls to a room–two in each bed. That’s just how it was back then. Big families made do. With seven girls in the house, and one bathroom, we learned to share. Clothes were passed down, and since I was the youngest I got all the leftovers. But I didn’t mind. I loved sorting through their old clothes, picking and choosing my favorites, knowing that I was growing up too. We also shared memories. Lots of them. Hanging out in the basement playing Monopoly… making cakes in our Easy Bake Oven… turning the…
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Daily Devotion – The Power of One
There’s a song that we used to sing back in the day, and maybe you know it too. It goes like this, “It only takes a spark to get a fire going, and soon all those around will warm up to it’s glowing…” My sister Bonnie and I used to sing that song all the time on road trips. We’d be in the back seat of the car belting out church tunes, with that one at the top of the list. I’ve held on to those lyrics over the years as a constant reminder in the power of one. All it takes is one person willing to be used by…
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Daily Devotion – Grieved by the Sin that Sent Our Lord to the Cross
We’ve all heard it said, “How could it be sin if it’s not hurting anybody?” or “How could it be wrong, if no one gets hurt?” The internet is full of these questions, perhaps you’ve entertained the idea yourself. After all, how bad can it be if no one gets hurt? Turning to Ezra chapter nine we read, “The people of Israel, including the priests and the Levites, have not kept themselves separate from the neighboring peoples with their detestable practices, like those of the Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians and Amorites…” Reading on we see that Ezra is grieved for his people who have not only mingled with strangers from other…
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Daily Devotion – That Christ May Dwell in Our Hearts
When my friend Elaine comes over, she makes herself at home. Her family knows where the fridge is, they know where the drinks are, and they know that they don’t have to knock when they visit. They’re welcome anytime and the door is always open. I suppose that’s what happens when you’re friends for 20 years. When you’ve babysat each other’s children and shared two decades of your life, you start to feel more like family than friends. As I got to thinking about that today, I was reminded of Paul’s words in Ephesians 3:17, where he writes, “That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.” The word “dwell”…
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Daily Devotion – He Goes Before Us
It seems that everywhere I turn lately I see a verse with a similar message telling me, “the Lord goes before you,” and “He will make a way.” With that I’m reminded of the many times that things have worked in my favor. The days when things just fell into place. Those things that I feared, which turned out to be nothing. Opportunities that knocked on my door, and other doors that were opened… How many of those have I chalked up to good fortune, to luck, or to chance? Perhaps I didn’t use those words exactly, but if we aren’t thanking God, who are we thanking, really? We all…
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Daily Devotion – Symbolism at the Wedding in Cana
Michael and I are a bit late to the game, but in any case we started watching The Chosen. Have you seen it yet? If not, I encourage you to check it out. We really enjoy our date nights with an hour or two of the show. The last episode we watched was the one based on the wedding at Cana from John chapter 2. It was during the wedding celebration that Jesus performed His first public miracle of turning water into wine. As I was watching the show, I couldn’t help but wonder what the symbolism, if any, was behind this miracle. Why did He choose water and why…
