When the Apostle John described Babylon in Revelation 18, his readers understood it to be the Rome of their day. Some of Rome’s rulers had been engaging in horrifying persecution of Christians. Therefore, early believers...

“Therefore stay alert because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.” Matthew 24:42 A couple decades ago I was browsing in my local Blockbuster video store (FYI — Blockbuster went out...

I spent my college years at the University of Kansas. The school’s natural history museum is located just behind my old dormitory. One of the museum’s most prominent displays is Comanche, the taxidermied horse of...

When our devotional team considered fasting from food we tossed around a number of non-food ideas. One was refraining from toxic attitudes. Another was taking a break from social and other media. These exercises seem...

As you begin this week, read the fourth commandment below in two different Old Testament books. Observe the reasons given for this commandment in each. Remember the Sabbath day to set it apart as holy....

Traditionally, most churches followed a Sunday ritual of collecting offerings  accompanied by music, solemnly passing a basket through rows of congregants. A church I once attended departed from that custom by placing baskets at the...

I have been meditating on the five situations (yes, only five), described in the gospels where Jesus is observed explicitly and verbally giving thanks. Color me shocked:  that so few occurrences exist. Two of those...

Our devotional topic this week has been prayer that is dialogue with God —  “in the Way of Jesus with the Heart of Jesus”. As our writing team met to consider various aspects of practicing...

The group of those who believed were of one heart and mind, and no one said that any of his possessions was his own, but everything was held in common. With great power the apostles...

Have you encountered a scene like the one above? Though this activity is legal, positioning yourself in the midst of a multitude of speeding, turning vehicles to acquire a few dollars seems unwise. In Luke...

  This photo shows a collection of letters written to me by my Mom. Although she had an ample supply of paper, her beautiful cursive almost always filled an entire page, front and back, covering...

One Easter Sunday a friend invited me to her Russian Orthodox Church service (Russian language only, no seats). That space was dense with exquisite chanting, intoxicating incense, ornate priestly vestments and precious ancient icons —...