Category: Love

6/9/2026 2 Comments

Faith in the Dust: A Devotional for Those who Feel Forgotten

I asked Pastor Daniel Mugeni, one of our First Cause international leaders, to share with you what it is like to minister in a poor rural community in Uganda. Daniel pastors Grace Harvest House of Worship in Iganga, Uganda, a town 33km from the source of the Nile in Jinja. This is critical because it is so easy to be complacent and selfish in a prosperous nation and forget what it means to suffer and struggle not just in faith but in surviving.

Meditation
2 Corinthians 1:6,7--If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation. If we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is experienced in your endurance of the same sufferings that we suffer. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that as you share in the sufferings, so you will share in the comfort.

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5/26/2026 2 Comments

Lettuce Bless You

We are in a drought in SE Georgia. Nevertheless, the spinach and lettuce I planted have flourished thanks to some very rich, amended soil. Since you can only eat so much lettuce, and it is not great for freezing, Stacy texted several of our neighbors to see if they would like some. Everyone responded, “Yes.” So, I bagged up lettuce and made deliveries. Though we did not ask for anything, in return we were given two dozen eggs, a whole carton of blueberries, and peaches. Neighbors shared from their bounty, and I was struck by how we were blessed beyond what we had given. “Lettuce bless you,” was met with “We berry much appreciate you.” (C’mon, everyone needs a dad joke now and then).

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4/23/2026 0 Comments

"Did They Get Off?"

On September 27, 1942, 500 Marines were trapped by the Japanese on the island of Guadalcanal at Point Cruz.[1]A 22-year-old Coast Guard Signalman, Douglas Munro, recognizing the desperate situation, volunteered to lead 10 Higgins Boats to rescue them, knowing they would all be under intense enemy fire. Then he did something even more amazing. Douglas put his boat between the Japanese and the boats carrying marines. As the last Marines boarded the evacuation boats, Munro maneuvered even closer to the Japanese to draw their fire. This man, who was not even supposed to be in combat, was hit by machine gun bullets to his neck and head. Lying wounded, pouring out blood, he asked Coxswain Ray Evans, “Did they get off?” Evans looked at him and replied, “Yes, they’re all safe.” Munro smiled and passed away.

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3/14/2026 0 Comments

What the Gospel Looks Like

David Nasser

David Nasser was invited in his car late at night to a Southern Baptist youth group meeting the next evening by his weed-sharing friend.[1] He told his friend he needed his parents’ permission, so the two of them went inside David’s house. David yelled out to his sleeping parents that he was sorry to wake them, but needed to know if it was okay for him to attend his friend’s church group the next day. Expecting a solid “No” from his Shiite Muslim father, he was surprised when his dad asked him the name of the church. His friend yelled out, “Shades,” synonymous with Shades Mountain Baptist Church. “I know those people,” his dad replied and gave David permission to go.

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1/22/2026 0 Comments

I Have Observed

I remember, as an eighteen-year-old, living with my aunt and uncle in Coeur ‘d Alene, Idaho, who graciously took me into their home while I awaited my move to New York to attend West Point. Norm let me drive his Ford Ranchero and paid me to move pipes and water his crops. Whenever I got in a bind, he would flash his trademark Norwegian grin, which could be translated as “You are such an idiot.” I felt like a little kid in his presence. Given my mechanical stupidity, I’m sure he wondered how I would ever make it in an engineering school. Had it not been for God’s help and classmates like Kevin Stewart, who spent hours tutoring me, I would never have survived the Academy, and I wonder what would have become of my life. Wondering can be a healthy exercise in appreciating God’s sovereignty. This surely must have been the case for one of the world’s greatest leaders.

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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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12/9/2025 0 Comments

Love

Psalm 89:1--I will sing about the Lord’s faithful love forever; I will proclaim Your faithfulness to all generationswith my mouth.

I was driving down the road recently asking God to forgive me for a persistent sin in my life when I was overcome with the realization of how much God loves me. There is no greater feeling in the world than to be loved. I don’t know how your week is going but I do know this, God loves you. Consider and reflect on this awesome affirmation—God loves me! He loves me with a permanent, immeasurable, all-understanding, beautifully-sculptured, cross-bearing, resurrection-resounding love! Now pause with this succeeding thought. There is someone near me who needs to hear a poignant message, “God loves you!” Ethan the Ezrahite was so blessed by God’s love He would sing of it forever. Embrace his song and add your own harmony to the symphonic truth that gives hope today—“God loves us!”

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8/5/2025 1 Comment

Rescuers

I was reading in my quiet time Jeremiah 22, and I was struck by how David’s message praising God’s actions in Psalm 146 was like what God, through His prophet Jeremiah, called the king of Judah, his officials, and the people to do.

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7/12/2025 0 Comments

Breakfast at Banning's

Herb and Craig began meeting for breakfast in Tigard, Oregon, in 1992, weekly on Tuesdays. Later, they shifted their meetings to Friday mornings. Other friends have joined them periodically over the years, but it is these two men who have met together for 33 years and counting. It takes incredible commitment, faithfulness, love, and enjoyment to maintain such a longstanding tradition. Very rarely do friends have such a sustained track record.

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7/1/2025 0 Comments

What Matters

Angel serves as an elder at Waymaker, a church that began thirty years ago. He is one of the most faithful donors. If there is a men’s breakfast, count on him to be there. If the church needs workers for onsite repairs, he helps. Often, the pastor calls on him to pray over the offering. He leads the security team at the church, but his team has a high turnover rate.

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5/16/2025 1 Comment

To Be Entrusted

Padel Code

Beth* walked off the court before our game started, sat down by the chain-link fence, and sobbed. Then she grabbed her gear and left the pickleball courts. Candace caught up with her and tried to comfort her. While that was going on, Jimmy (who was going to be her partner) came over and explained what had transpired. He commented to her that he did not enjoy playing with her in a previous game because she was too loud and excitable. Beth was already aware that her behavior might be too much for people, so Jimmy’s words increased her insecurity and hurt her feelings.

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4/17/2025 0 Comments

He Loved Them to the End

Leonardo da Vinci famously portrayed the Last Supper. At West Point, I was part of a group that reenacted this iconic scene. It was a sobering key event during Holy Week, preceding Jesus’ arrest, trial, crucifixion, and resurrection. During that final meal with His followers, Jesus demonstrated His immense love for them through His actions and message.

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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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3/11/2025 3 Comments

Mindlock

They were college roommates with a friendship that brought laughter and fun to almost everyone who entered their orbit. Now, 44 years later, on opposite sides of the political spectrum, they bash each other on social media with barely concealed contempt. Whoever said, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me,” was internally dishonest. Negative words do more than upset, they create resentment, rifts, and land littered with destroyed relationships.

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2/25/2025 0 Comments

Crafting Circles Not Cliques

Todd Foreman

My West Point classmate Todd Foreman is the most generous person I know in helping those around him, whether they be friends, coworkers, family, or those who are underprivileged, disabled, neglected, or hurting. Todd has a soft spot in his heart that is bigger than the state of Texas, where he resides. Sometimes, to his detriment, he puts the needs of others before his own needs in keeping with the Apostle Paul’s admonition, “Do nothing out of rivalry or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves. Everyone should look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others” (Philippians 2:3,4). Todd is a make-the-circle-bigger kind of leader.

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2/11/2025 1 Comment

A Booster

Larry and Valencia Turrentine

Larry leads a group of military academy graduates in our weekly Tuesday night prayer ZOOM® calls with a brief devotional and prayer. His words often encourage us. When I asked Larry what we could pray for him for the year, his answer was thoughtful and four-fold. He asked for prayer for those he was financially counseling and coaching who were in debt. He requested a benevolent, discerning heart for those needing love and financial assistance. Larry sought wisdom in leading online classes to facilitate spiritual growth. He solicited energy to not grow weary in visiting those who were bedridden and suffering from dementia.

Larry often sends me encouraging texts. He is a caring friend I go to for advice, a good listener, and a gentleman who, above all, seeks to honor God. I thank God for bringing him into my life and the lives of countless others. Larry is a booster.

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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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11/30/2023 0 Comments

Taking Blows

Fragile. Thin-skinned. Does it increasingly seem that we live in an age when many Christians cannot take criticism or rebuke of any sort without getting defensive and angry? Try confronting a believer over sin and see how that goes. Observe someone’s attitude or comment on questionable conduct, and be prepared to be attacked or shunned. Myles Munroe wrote in Waiting and Dating, “Being open to correction means making ourselves vulnerable, and many people are not willing to do that.”

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11/9/2023 0 Comments

If

Oswald Chambers made an interesting observation in My Utmost For His Highest, after musing upon John 14:15, “If ye love Me, ye will keep my commandments.” (RSV):
"Our Lord never insists upon obedience; He tells us very emphatically what we ought to do, but He never takes means to make us do it. We have to obey Him out of a oneness of spirit. That is why whenever our Lord talked about discipleship, He prefaced it with an IF—you do not need to unless you like."

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10/28/2023 4 Comments

A Wonderful Aroma

Meditation
2 Corinthians 2:14-16—But thanks be to God, who always puts us on display in Christ and through us spreads the aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. For to God we are the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To some we are an aroma of death leading to death, but to others, an aroma of life leading to life. And who is competent for this?

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