Devotionals

Alfred Nobel was a Swedish chemist (and inventor of dynamite) that was best known for bequeathing a large portion of his fortune in 1895 to a series of prizes in five areas.  That spawned the Nobel Prize for physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature and peace.  According to Nobel’s will, the awards were to be given to “those who, during the preceding year, have [...]

In 1707 a hymn by Isaac Watts was published by the name “How Sweet and Aweful is the Place.”  The evolution of language over the last three centuries led to the alternate title “How Sweet and Awesome is the Place.” In the hymn the “place” referred to as “sweet and awesome” is the local church.  One stanza begins, “We long to see your churches full” and [...]

Kids begin to ask why before the age of two and it continues for several wearisome years.  I read about a guy that watched his three-year-old nephew engage in a conversation with a man on a bus.  The man patiently answered the youngster as he fired off a series of why questions.  Finally the man asked, “Why do you ask ‘why’ all the time?”  Fittingly the [...]

In Sunday school, in Christian literature and from the pulpit, a common theme is the distinction between Jews and Christians.  Circumcision, ceremonial laws and the Lord’s Day are a few of the topics that are highlighted in those classes, books and sermons.  For the modern Christian there is a bright line between the two groups.  However, in the early church that was not the [...]

Can you think of a time when someone came to you with a problem and, as the particulars were revealed, it became evident that you were not the right person to solve it?  You experienced that sense of relief when you realized that the problem was not, in fact, your problem.  Someone I worked with told me that the problem-solving technique he taught his children was [...]

Have you ever heard of a “feller buncher”?  It’s a funny word to be sure.  It is a piece of heavy equipment used in logging and wildland firefighting operations and, as its name indicates, both cuts down (fells) trees and then groups (bunches) the resulting timber into a pile.  They are massive and powerful tools that can take down a towering tree in a [...]