As parents, we’ve had to adjust the way we discipline our children from time to time as they grow and as the culture changes….with especially major differences from the time when I was growing up. For example, when I was young and got in trouble, I was sent to my room, in which was my bed and a bunch of books. There was no TV, radio, internet, or phone. It was a time-out given to re-evaluate my attitude and behavior.
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As we approach the New Year, we’re back to making New Year’s resolutions … but this year is a bit different, since it’s not only a New Year but a New Decade! During the past ten years we’ve seen such radical changes in our society; the definition of marriage, millennia-old norms of gender identity, bath and locker-room privacy, have all been affected by court decisions as a sea change in social mores has swept through the western world. People of Biblical faith are witnessing the fulfillment of Isaiah’s warning, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!” [Isaiah 5:20]
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When Apple released their newest version of their iPhone this month, it reminded me of when we got our very first iPod. Our daughter, Elianna was only two years old at the time, but she loved listening to the worship music on the iPod.
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Here in Israel, I have to carry my passport everywhere. It’s always in my pocket where ever I go. It’s my source of American identity here in the Land, should anyone ever question it.
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In my first years serving the Lord, I was dedicated to serving with an inner city bus ministry in the heart of Baltimore. We would go door to door and offer “free Sunday morning babysitting” for their kids. If they agreed to let us take their kids to church, we would come and pick them up early every Sunday morning. Many times, the obvious change in their kids’ lives would make a great impression and their parents would be moved to come out to the church as well — then they too would give their lives to the Lord! It was exciting to see whole families come to faith! The following story touched my heart, from Max Lucado’s book, God Came Near.
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I heard a story once, of a chaplain who was speaking to a loyal soldier in the hospital. “Bless you son, you saved a fellow soldier’s life — and lost an arm in the great cause doing it,” the chaplain said. “No,” said the soldier with a smile. “I didn’t lose it … I gave it.
...continue reading this devotion.Our sojourn in America has been a series of divine appointments. When we were in Nashville, we were introduced to the ancient Hebrew alphabet; letters which were originally written much like ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics in the time of Moses. In this written language it was often possible to derive the meaning of a word, because each letter was a symbol, which had its own particular meaning and significance.
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