Category: God

4/16/2026 3 Comments

Ninth Grade

I don’t know how much you know about ninth graders today, but from what I am learning, it is nothing like what I experienced when I was that age. It was more than eye-opening when one of the boys in our neighborhood came over and spent part of his afternoon with Stacy and me because he was locked out of his house and no one was home.

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1/16/2026 2 Comments

Tragedy

Delta Maddogs--40th Gander Reunion

When I walked into the American Legion on December 11, 2025, I was entering a gathering of those connected to the fatal crash of Arrow Airlines on December 12, 1985, that killed 256 people in Gander, Newfoundland. We had assembled in Kentucky for the 40th anniversary of that horrific tragedy. But my first thought was that I was in the wrong place. The people looked too old and mostly unfamiliar as I initially scanned the faces. But then, as my eyes adjusted to the bright light so dissimilar from the dark parking lot, I recognized soldiers from my company and my West Point classmate, Mark Armstrong. I was in the right place, yet wow, how much forty years has changed our appearance and bearing.

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1/9/2026 2 Comments

Diligence: The Key to Prospering

Every person I know who is successful—morally, spiritually, physically, financially, socially, or intellectually—is diligent. I can think of no exceptions. Without diligence, life falls apart. Consider a person who is morally inconsistent, who follows the rules or ethical mores only when it is convenient. That person’s reputation and standing will eventually fail because of a breach of integrity.

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12/31/2025 1 Comment

A New Year

A new year, 2026, approaches. Achievers eagerly begin plotting the goals they will set and accomplish in the coming year. If they are like me, they may use a format like Luke 2:52 to organize their goals under four headings: spiritual, physical, social, and intellectual. Executors tend to love goal setting because it gives them something tangible to measure and earn satisfaction from. Relators enjoy goals so long as they further or deepen relationships. Influencers find goals helpful for accomplishing an overall vision or agenda. Thinkers tend to be more strategic about what they plan to do, or cautious if the process has not gone well in the past. And some people in each category (depending on their strengths) may find the whole notion of goal setting a waste of time or effort.

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12/9/2025 1 Comment

What Matters II

Pastor Daniel Mugeni

Each year, First Cause sends a Christmas gift to someone on our international team. This year, our gift went to Daniel and Aidda in Iganga, Uganda. Daniel wrote, “You have served my entire family of 30 members with Christmas. I have 26 needy orphans living with me, plus my four kids.” We did not realize that Daniel and Aidda were caring for 26 kids. Like our brother, Joseph, who pastors in Eldoret, Kenya, they do not just pastor needy families; they live by a daily faith that is stretched often beyond what seems possible.

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10/26/2025 4 Comments

Praying God's Will

Barbie with Ron

Recently, I traveled to central Florida with my sister, Barbie, to spend time with Dad, who was not doing well and, according to our brother, Nate, might not live much longer. Once again, Dad surprised us. He snapped out of his comatose state, recognized us, and was able to briefly converse and display the joy that permeates his life. While Dad slept most of the time, the three of us siblings were able to catch up and share meaningful conversations. During one of those discussions, Nate shared something that challenged my thinking, and I want to share it with you, hoping it might encourage you as it did me.

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9/20/2025 1 Comment

Understanding Hate

The topic of hate is quite prevalent in our society. I decided to do a study on the word and see what Scripture has to say about it. First, though, let’s define the term. Whether used as a verb or a noun, hate basically means “to dislike intensely or passionately; feel extreme aversion for or extreme hostility toward; detest.”[1]

In the Old Testament, there are two Hebrew words: śānē’ and śin’āh, used a total of 148 and 17 times respectively, with the English words hate and its variation 107 times, combining both words. The other English words used are foes, enemies, malice, adversaries, dislike, enemy, unloved, abhor, am not loved, shunned, detest, hostile, malicious, not loved, not, refuses, and a total of three untranslated words.[2] In the New Testament, the Greek words apostygeō and miseō are translated as hate 39 of 40 times and once as detestable.

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8/18/2025 1 Comment

Ignorance on Fire

Pastor Brett Williams

Pastor Brett Williams made a statement that caught my attention while teaching at Agape Church on Sunday morning. “Ignorance on fire is better than knowledge on ice.” Now that is an arresting statement that deserves scrutiny.

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6/17/2025 1 Comment

There is no God

An older woman was bent over by the side of the road, working on a cross and flower arrangement on the corner of Colerain and Douglas Drive. Her black Toyota was parked on the grass just off the road, and Stacy thought it would be a good idea to see if she was okay. So I dropped her off and then executed a U-turn to park behind them.

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6/5/2025 0 Comments

Understanding Protection

In the war of the colonists against Great Britain, Benjamin Franklin wrote:
In the beginning of the contest with Britain, when we were sensible of danger, we had daily prayers in this room for Divine protection. Our prayers, sir, were heard, and they were graciously answered. All of us who were engaged in the struggle must have observed frequent instances of a superintending Providence in our favor . . . And have we now forgotten this powerful friend? Or do we imagine we no longer need His assistance?

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5/28/2025 1 Comment

Empty Speculations

Here are five of the most common myths about Christianity:
1. Christianity is anti-science and anti-intellectual.
2. The Bible is full of errors and contradictions.
3. A good person can get into heaven.
4. Christianity is merely a set of rules and regulations.
5. All Christians are hypocrites and the same.

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4/1/2025 0 Comments

Deprived

Alice worked in the nursery for her church in California. A toddler needed his diaper changed and in the presence of the other workers, Alice changed it. When the child returned home the parents asked him if anyone had touched him and the child said yes and let them know it was Alice. The parents called Child Protective Services and they filed a report against Alice. The church by policy terminated her services despite the fact there were witnesses who stated she did nothing inappropriate. Alice was never told who made the accusation and was labeled as guilty of a sexual offense against a child with no means to clear her name. So, she lost her job. How could someone with a good heart serving the Lord get treated so poorly?

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3/25/2025 1 Comment

A Fabulous Debt

Our dogs can be obnoxious. Whenever our next-door neighbor’s kids or dogs play in their backyard, Sig and Uzi run along the wooden fence barking with some dog-only-knows obsession. When birds fly overhead or geese land on the pond, they race the length of the yard yapping, trying to create a “no-fly zone.” Phil and Julie never complain. Graciously, they say the noise does not bother them and they like dogs so don’t worry about it.

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3/19/2025 2 Comments

Overflowing Hope

L-R: Bill Wadley, Dan York, Laura Wadley

He had a pretty rough upbringing with three different mothers and two different fathers.[1] His dad was an alcoholic and gambling addict. His 16-year-old birth mom was a drug and alcohol abuser. At the age of five, he had to take care of three half-siblings in the apartment, and if anything was broken or went wrong, he was beaten. He was seventeen before he found out his stepdad was not his real father.

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3/6/2025 0 Comments

By the Strength of His Hand

Dave and Terri Legg

On 5 November 1992, three officials from the Russian Ministry of Education asked Christian educators to join the CoMission—a group of over 80 Christian organizations formed to instruct Russian public school teachers how to teach Christian ethics. This unusual invitation originated from the JESUS Film Project’s efforts to show the JESUS film in Russia.[1]

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2/18/2025 1 Comment

The First Commandment

Aseret haDevarim are the Hebrew words which mean the “ten words” or “ten matters” and describe what is worldwide known as The Ten Commandments.[1]
"In the early fifth century, the Christian theologian Augustine of Hippo combined the first two commandments into one commandment, and split the prohibition on coveting into two commandments . . . Augustine’s list became the standard enumeration for the Roman Church."[2]

The Eastern Orthodox churches used a variation of Jewish thinking by making the first commandment, “Do not have other gods besides Me,” and “Do not make an idol for yourself . . .” (20:3,4a). But in Judaism, the first commandment is God’s declaration, “I am the LORD your God.”

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2/4/2025 1 Comment

Running Away

In Genesis, Jacob (whose name meant heel or supplanter) twice defrauded his brother, Esau. First, he manipulated Esau into giving him his birthright. Second, he stole Esau’s blessing by deceiving his aged and blind father, Isaac, into thinking he was his brother. So, it was ironic that years later, Jacob’s uncle Laban cheated him multiple times—first, by giving away of his daughters as brides, and second, by changing his wages on numerous occasions for rendered work. So, when God told Jacob to return to his own family, he seized the opportunity to leave while his uncle was shearing sheep. He did not give Laban the chance to say goodbye to his daughter and grandchildren, instead secretly fleeing.

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1/21/2025 0 Comments

The Lips of a Priest

Pastor Richard Wurmbrand was arrested and thrown in a Romanian prison for fourteen years.[1] For two of those years, they placed him in solitary confinement. A political prisoner in an adjoining room taught him Morse Code. Using this knowledge, Richard was able to share Bible verses and proclaim Christ to other prisoners. One day, a neighbor tapped that it was Good Friday. Richard found a nail in the lavatory and inscribed “Jesus” on his cell wall, hoping it might comfort someone later assigned to the same room. A guard caught him and angrily placed him in a carcer for two days.

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12/30/2024 0 Comments

Omniscient

Our brains manage emotions, thoughts, memories (sensory, short and long-term), touch, vision, breathing patterns, and all the procedures that control our bodies.[1] Scientists calculate the human brain storage capacity by gauging the connections between brain cells and decoding that number into bytes and computer memory units. “A single byte comprises 8 bits, and the human brain can store more than one quadrillion bytes of data – a petabyte.”[2] Our brain’s memory capacity is equal to 2.5 petabytes of memory capacity. A “petabyte” translates into 1024 terabytes or a million gigabytes. An average adult brain can accumulate the equivalent of 2.5 million gigabytes of memory.

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12/24/2024 0 Comments

Insignificant

He was born in a lowly place—a smelly stable in a manger, nursed among unclean animals because his parents were required by edict to register in an obscure village—Bethlehem, the town Micah, the prophet, foretold (Micah 5:2). His father, Joseph, nearly in secret divorced the unborn Child’s mother, Mary, until an angel intervened and informed him that she conceived through the Holy Spirit (Matthew 1:19,20). Joseph was a humble carpenter, whose trade he would pass on to his Boy, raised in the Galilean town of Nazareth. “‘Can anything good come out of Nazareth?’ Nathanael asked him. ‘Come and see,’ Philip answered” (John 1:46).

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