Category: Life Issues
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...
I Leave the Costing to You—Darlene Deibler Rose
The last words Russell Deibler would say to his young wife were, “Remember one thing, dear: God said He would never leave us nor forsake us.” That was on Friday, March 13th, 1942, when Russell Deibler was taken from the cottage where he, his wife, Darlene,...
How to Ascertain the Will of God
From George Muller’s Narratives I seek at the beginning to get my heart into such a state that it has no will of its own in regard to a given matter. Nine-tenths of the trouble with people generally is just here. Nine-tenths of the difficulties are...
Heavenly-minded, Courageous John Bradford
What would inspire a man to fearlessly preach Christ and offer words of hope in the minutes just before he was burned to death on a stake? Consider the life, and death, of John Bradford. John Bradford lived in Britain in the 16th century. He was...
A Pair of Warm Socks: God’s Provision for John Stam
Is there anything too small for the Lord? We often surmise (rightly so) that there is nothing too big for him, but fail to see God working in the smaller ways. Looking back at overwhelming trials, we speak about how God so obviously brought us through,...
What Should You Do About Sexual Sin?
In the town where I grew up, the sexually explicit magazines in the bookstore were placed on the top shelf. That usually didn’t keep a curious young boy or teen from grabbing one, stuffing it in a Sports Illustrated to make it look like he was...
