ABOUT RAPHAEL I am a Gideon and the Lord has given me a prison ministry within that organization. Three months ago, another Gideon and I were meeting with five prisoners at the county jail on a warm Sunday afternoon. I asked my usual question so I would know how to bend the discussion. “How many […]
ABOUT OSSI I was walking my granddog Ossi around the block last night in the cool of the evening. He’s totally blind and needed my guidance to keep him out of harm’s way and lead him along smooth paths. But sometimes he strained against the leash in wanting to go his own way. And at […]
A PRAYER OF HOPE In the summer of 2006, I was so depressed I sometimes lost track of who I was. That was not the case on the morning of August 10 that summer. I knew who I was and the Holy Spirit led me to this prayer. “Jesus Christ – my Lord, Master, Savior, […]
HUMILITY It was an above-average day in temperature last January 20, when I prayed, “I am inadequate in Your sight, O Lord. I am not what You want me to be.” In a still, small voice, He replied, “I do not want you to be anything, only follow Me.”
ATTACKED A spammer tried to impose himself into my computer with a display box on the monitor screen that I couldn’t click out of or get rid of, no matter what I did. You’ve probably had something like that happen to you. After struggling with it for several minutes in frustration, I hit the restart button; and […]
THE UNENDING FLAME I have related to you that I start my mornings in the lower level before the fireplace. It puts me in a frame of listening instead of speaking. One could almost call it silent prayer. In the silence of my mind, the Holy Spirit plants thoughts that are not of my own […]
BABY ALEXIS I was watching my 11/2-year-old granddaughter put together a puzzle and noted her singular focus on putting all the pieces in the right places. When she completed the puzzle I clapped my hands in delight and her little face beamed. Would that adults had such a singular focus on Jesus and putting the […]
TONGUES OF FIRE With a cup of coffee in hand, I descend to the lower level and turn on the fireplace. This is my new morning ritual when I’m at home; it wasn’t always so. Sitting on the edge of the couch on the opposite wall, I have a conversation with God, mostly listening to […]
THE NEXT STEP “What am I to do, Dr. Chambers?” said Mrs. Lockhart to Teddy, Paul’s brother and a practicing Christian psychotherapist. “My husband died two months ago and left me nothing but debt. I feel crushed.” Teddy took his glasses off and looked straight into her eyes. “The only way to keep your life […]
SIX COMMANDMENTS FOR DYING TO SELF Gracie May had been a Christian for two years. One day she went to see a deacon at the church she attended to ask a question that was troubling her. The deacon was Paul Chambers. “Mr. Chambers,” she asked, “I know I’m supposed to die to self but have […]