Category: Life Issues
God Is Good All The Time
My daughter recently returned from a five-week medical mercy outreach to Madagascar with an internationally known Christian organization. Soon after arriving, and after witnessing an almost overwhelming level of poverty, hunger, and urgent medical needs, one of her co-volunteers expressed this thought: “I could never believe...
Are There Humanitarians in Hell?
From a human perspective, there are lots of good people doing great work out in the world who are not Christians. Some philanthropists devote many hours working in third-world nations to provide clean drinking water, and others give billions of dollars each year to fund medical...
Answer Not a Fool
Proverbs 26:4 reads like this: “Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest you be like him yourself.” The message seems clear enough: Don’t be a fool the way you answer a fool. We can be certain that verse is not telling us that we...
Trusting God in Tragedy: Elizabeth Prentiss
It was an awful thing for anyone to watch, but especially difficult for a sensitive eight year old girl. Elizabeth’s father was in great pain as he suffered with tuberculosis. First it was the constant, wrenching cough. Then his stamina failed and he had to give...
The Gospel Your Works Are Preaching
In Corrie ten Boom’s famous biography, The Hiding Place, she tells the story of her Tante (Aunt) Jans, a stern, commanding woman who lived with the ten Booms in their family home. Everything about Tante Jans was no-nonsense. She dressed in black from head to toe in...
Serempore Sorrows: Finding Courage in Catastrophe
William Carey’s associates at the Serampore Mission in India were unsure how the fire started. Perhaps it was a workman’s hookah or even arson. Regardless, the long building that housed the translation work burned to the ground. At times flames shot 25 feet into the...
Setbacks
George Frederick Handel’s career was afflicted with setbacks. Twice bankrupt, he had fallen out of favor with audiences, and financial woes mounted. With such strains upon him, he plunged into the task of writing “Messiah”. Servants reported that for the 24-day duration of the project, his...
Marching on to a Better Land
“La, me, child! I never thought anybody would care enough for me to tell of my trials and sorrows in this world!” That was Charlotte Brooks’ response when she heard that her friend, Octavia, planned to write the story of Aunt Charlotte’s life for publication. Both...
Little Means Much: Laboring Like the Ant
Zealously, in dependence upon God, do the little you can do; do it well, and keep on doing it. You and I are not called upon to regulate the world nor to stay the raging sea of human sin. Let us not attempt to wield the...
Lessons from the Friends of William Cowper
Any way you look at it, the poet William Cowper (pronounced “Cooper”) had a difficult life. His mother and five siblings died by the time William was six years old. He was sent to a boarding school where an older student abused him. As an adult...
