Son Of A Saint

By James Watkins

Mr. and Mrs. Manoah were model parents. Despite living in a land that “did evil in the eyes of the Lord,” they ate a kosher diet, prayed to the one true God, offered sacrifices, and didn’t even drink. A Jewish mother would be proud to have them for a son and daughter-in-law!

After being childless for a number of years, an angel of the Lord announced they would have a son. What joy as he “grew and the Lord blessed him, and the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him.” The son of these godly parents was none other than—Samson!

Now wait a minute. What about the promises of “training up a child in the way he shall go and when he is old he will not depart from it”? Aren’t godly parents guaranteed godly kids?

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New Use For Old Pain

By Cynthia Ruchti

Have you found a new use for old pain? It’s a biblical principle spelled out clearly in II Corinthians 1:4. The wording can seem a bit cumbersome if we skirt over the passage without thinking too deeply about it.

It reads this way, beginning with the last phrase of verse three: “…the God of all comfort… comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God” (NIV). In one version, the last part is “with the comfort wherewith we’ve been comforted.”

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Daily Resolution

By Gina Stinson

The last few years I haven’t made New Year’s resolutions. I used to make the common resolutions as I switched to a new calendar – lose weight, read my Bible more, spend less, get more organized – and each year, somewhere around January 15^th, I realized I’d already failed. I beat myself up, did some pretty degrading self-talk and sometimes even tried again. But, with only a few exceptions, I would eventually give up. What a disappointment!

For a couple of years I conveniently ignored all the hype regarding resolutions and just opted for a resolve-free year. That was a commitment I could keep. That worked well, until I realized what God’s Word had to say about New Year’s resolutions.

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Turn, Turn, Turn

By Peter Lundell

I was driving one day, listening to an oldies station, when I heard Pete Seeger’s 1965 classic, “Turn, Turn, Turn” that the Byrds turned into a number one hit song in America. Right there in the left turn lane, the Holy Spirit seemed to dance all around me. I love it when God works through “secular” stuff.

But in fact the song is not so secular. It’s a musical rendition of Ecclesiastes 3:1-8. That day I spent two hours on a plane ride reading and rereading and meditating on those verses. In them I saw wisdom so deep, so multifaceted, so life encompassing that I could say it’s essential to everything a person ever thinks or does in life.

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When Your Children Hurt

By Gina Stinson

My seven year old has extreme stage fright. She takes after her mother. Recently, after practicing for four months on a Christmas musical, purchasing the traditional formal attire for such an event, and spending some extra time getting ready, she almost didn’t make it up on stage. As the children filed in to step onto the stage, I noticed her usually light complexion was a rosy shade of pink. At first I thought, she is just a little flushed. Then I saw the look that accompanied the blush. She was frightened out of her mind. Tears were streaming down her face. She wanted her mommy. She was scared!

I tried to encourage her to go ahead and get on the stage with the other forty children. She reluctantly continued up the steps. When she got into place she was still sobbing and looked like a frightened kitten. For a couple of moments, I wanted to step in and rescue her, make it all better, let her step out of the program, but rational thinking got the best of me and I decided to wait a few minutes and see if she could regain composure. And then it happened.

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