Loving in Deed

I John 3:17-18 says, “But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?  My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.” As children of God, we need to do more than tell someone we love them, we must show it through…

The Heart of Gratitude

My heart goes out to the Filipino people since the typhoon that devastated their island.  I cannot begin to understand their heartache and sorrow at the loss of life and the destruction of everything precious to them.  Not to mention, their struggle just to survive; to provide their families with the most basic of necessities – food, water, shelter, and safety. And then I thought about those still recovering from…

Is Your Mirror Cracked?

A couple of weeks ago, as I was leaving a parking garage, I turned too quickly and smashed my driver’s side mirror when I spun it right into a concrete post.  The instant I hit it, I jammed the brakes, but it was too late.  The damage was done. For the next two weeks, as I waited for the new mirror that the car dealership ordered, my side mirror displayed…

Faith Promise Giving

Missions is the very heartbeat of God.  John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  Because God is holy, the price of sin must be paid.  Yet, at the same time, He loves us tremendously and doesn’t want to see anyone die in their sin.  II Peter 3:9 says, “The…

Finding the Blessing amidst the Chaos

Sometimes as believers, we wonder why God allows a sudden calamity to knock us down, especially if we’re attempting to walk in obedience.  And we might get so focused on our circumstances that we fail to recognize God’s hand of mercy and continual blessing throughout the situation. Back in the early 1980’s when Floyd was still in the United States Air Force, we lived in a double wide mobile home…

The Warranty Dispute

Coming through St. Louis on my way home to Cincinnati two days before Easter in 1996, my Subaru station wagon was making a horrendous howl every time I accelerated.  I pulled into Firestone about 4:30 on Friday afternoon to get my car checked and didn’t hit the road again until 9:00 – in a rental car.  My car was in need of a new transaxle, so it had to be…

Heeding God’s Warning

Psalm 115:11 says, “Ye that fear the LORD, trust in the LORD: he is their help and their shield.“ In January, 1986, Floyd’s job took him away from home for nine months.  So in April, we drove down to Wichita, Kansas to spend a week with him during our kids’ Easter vacation from school.  It took me about twelve hours to get there from Cincinnati. We left Wichita at 9:00…

Who’s the Influence?

I was raised in a non-Christian home.  My parents did not believe in influencing us toward or against God.  My mother used to tell me, “Marjie, I have no right to influence your religious beliefs.”  She and my dad did take us to church for a couple of years so that we could decide what we wanted to believe.  I was about nine or ten years old.  We didn’t go…

Doing What You Want

One day, out of the clear blue sky, God spoke to my heart and said to me, “You know, Marj, you do what you want.”  I was in my thirties when he hit me with that revelation. Do we do what we want to do?  There are men paying alimony and child support.  There are people working at jobs they hate just to make ends meet, serving in the military…

Fear Not

My daughter-in-law, Amy, had surgery last Thursday, and because of the nature of the surgery, the Army authorized emergency leave for my son, Toby, who flew home from Korea.  Then Amy’s mom, Joanne, and I drove out from Ohio to help Toby with the three little ones – ages 4, 5, and 6.  They live in Kansas. The surgery went well, and Amy is now recovering at home.  She can’t…