I grew up in the shadow of my sister, which is kind of funny, because she’s too short to cast much of a shadow. Even so, when it came to personality, she was the star of the show–literally.

She played the role of Oliver in our high school musical, and all I got to be was one of many orphaned kids. I guess you could say I was kind of an extra of sorts. I didn’t have any lines, I just walked around with a bowl of porridge looking sad with the rest of the cast.

As I got to thinking about that today, I was reminded of Caleb. You don’t hear all that much about Caleb. You hear about Moses leading the children of Israel out of Egypt. You hear about Joshua crossing the Jordan and fighting at the battle of Jericho, but few lines are given to Caleb, a man of incredible faith. I’ll tell you, the more I’m reading about him, the more I’m intrigued by his courage and spunk.

The word Caleb means “dog,” and rightly so, as he ferociously protected the children of God. He wasn’t merely a faithful companion to Joshua, he was faithful to God in all of his ways.

You might remember Numbers chapter 13 when Moses sent out 12 men to spy on Canaan. While 10 were afraid to go back to the land of the giants, Caleb was right there with Joshua, ready and willing to take them all on. Notice what he says in Numbers 14:9,

“Only rebel not ye against the Lord, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the Lord is with us: fear them not.” (Numbers 14:9, KJV)

“They are bread for us,” he said. You see, Caleb saw what many Christians fail to see—that trials are the very thing that strengthen us. That the giants we conquer are as bread to our soul, and by the power of God working in us and through us, we grow.

Caleb was 40 years old when he said this, and at 85 years old, he was just as faithfully ferocious as he was back then.

“I am still as strong today as I was 45 years ago,” he said, “and I’m just as ready to go out to battle now as I was then. Give me the land that the Lord promised me that day, and let me go after the giants. With the Lord on my side, I will drive them out just as he said!” (paraphrased from Joshua 14:10-12)


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Tilling the Soil

Read Joshua Chapter 14. Also read Numbers 14:1-12 (which took place 45 years earlier).

Planting Hope

Only rebel not ye against the Lord, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the Lord is with us: fear them not. (Numbers 14:9, KJV)


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Darlene Schacht

Darlene Schacht and her husband Michael live in Manitoba Canada where the summers are beautiful and the winters are cold. Together they’ve come to learn that relationships aren’t always easy, but that marriage, the way God intended it to be, is a treasure worth fighting for.

She began her publishing journey about twelve years ago when she pioneered one of the first online magazines for Christian women, known at the time as “Christian Women Online Magazine.” After three years, Darlene left CWO to blog as a solo author at Time-Warp Wife Ministries.

It was also during this transition that she worked alongside actress Candace Cameron Bure to write the NYT Best-Selling book, Reshaping it All: Motivation for Spiritual and Physical FitnessReshaping it All was the winner of both the 2011 USA Best Book Awards and the 2012 Christian Reading Retailers Choice Awards.

Author of more than 15 books, Darlene continues to write and to minister to her readers through her blog at TimeWarpWife.com.

Connect with Darlene:

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You are loved by an almighty God,

Darlene Schacht
The Time-Warp Wife