Shotgun Therapy

Last Saturday, my son-in-law, Donnie, invited me to go to the shooting range with the family.  I hadn’t been shooting in years, and I’d only shot a shotgun twice in my entire lifetime, but I had never attempted to shoot skeet before, so I went along. We drove to a shotgun shooting range about an hour north of us.  Then Donnie set up the skeet launcher.  The only way that…

Our Attitudes Reflect Our Devotion Time

This Sunday, Floyd and I will be celebrating our 35th wedding anniversary.  When we got married, we agreed that divorce was not an option, and if we ran into marital challenges that we would take them to the Lord and let Him help us work them out. And in those 35 years, we’ve faced quite a few challenges – from raising a mentally handicapped daughter to extended periods of separation…

Misplaced Trust

Having faith means to have complete trust or confidence.  Where is your faith?  Where do you place your complete trust or confidence?  Is it in the Lord?  Or is it in yourself?  Do you trust in the Lord to provide for you, or is your trust in things or your bank account or your career?  Trusting means to hold a firm belief in the reliability or truth or strength of…

Mission Fields are Everywhere!

When we think of missions, we usually think of foreign mission fields – Taiwan, Japan, Romania, Iraq, etc.  We don’t usually think of domestic mission fields, especially those of us who live in the Midwest or south where we can find a Gospel preaching church in every town and city. Missionary Ron Taylor and his wife, Susan, are on a domestic mission field as they work to bring the gospel…

Subway Evangelism

Before our mission team left for New York City, we knew that Missionary Ron Taylor did “subway evangelism.”  We don’t have subways in Cincinnati, Ohio, so there was not one member of our seven-person missions team that wasn’t looking forward to an evening of “subway evangelism.” But the devil was really working against it.  Subway evangelism was scheduled for Wednesday. We planned to leave about 5:00 pm so we could…

A Glimpse into New York City

I’ve heard people say that New Yorkers are the rudest people on the planet.  They bump and jostle you as they rush past you and don’t even have the courtesy to apologize or say “excuse me.” I have poor equilibrium, so as people crowded around me, I bumped into them.  Being a polite Cincinnatian, I said, “Excuse me.”  I probably said it four or five times to several different people. …

Could You Recognize the Truth?

When our pastor died in June, 2011, Floyd was in a position to hold the church together for a little while.  But when we weren’t able to fill the pastor’s position right away due to financial circumstances beyond our control, a church member offered to fill in as interim pastor. Since he had previously pastored a church, most of the congregation received his offer gladly.  The only problem was that…

Looking Toward Eternity

Isaiah 55:10-12 says, “For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:  So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and…

Where’s Your Joy?

Galatians 5:22-23 are frequently memorized and often quoted verses which boldly declare the fruit of the Spirit.  “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”  What Spirit is the Bible referring to?  The Spirit of Almighty God.   (Certainly not the spirit of man.)  And these wonderful traits flow naturally from God’s pure and holy nature. Because…

Who Said That?

Although our nation was clearly founded on God and godly principles, our nation as a whole refuses to acknowledge it.  Today’s society can deny the facts and attempt to rewrite history, but their lies will never change the truth.  While touring old historic Jamestowne, we paused at the site of an old church and read the plaque that was prominently displayed at the entrance.  It said that the church had…