Read: Proverbs 27:5–10 Wounds from a friend can be trusted. Proverbs 27:6 Charles Lowery complained to his friend about lower back pain. He was seeking a sympathetic ear, but what he got was an honest assessment. His friend told him, “I don’t think your back pain is your problem; it’s...

Read: Acts 4:32–37; 9:26–27 Joseph . . . whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means “son of encouragement”), sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet. Acts 4:36–37 An old Merle Haggard song, “If We Make It Through December,” tells the story...

Read: Nehemiah 12:27–43 The sound of rejoicing in Jerusalem could be heard far away. Nehemiah 12:43 Walt Disney Studios was the first to introduce a new concept in listening to movies. It was called “stereophonic sound” or surround sound, and it was developed because producers wanted the movie-going audience to...

Read: Ephesians 4:1–6 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. Ephesians 4:3 Seeing three large predatory animals cuddle and play together is extremely unusual. Yet this is precisely what happens daily in an animal sanctuary in Georgia. In 2001, after months of...

Read: Psalm 141:1–4 Be kind and compassionate to one another. Ephesians 4:32 When I was a child I was an ardent reader of L. Frank Baum’s Land of Oz books. I recently came across Rinkitink in Oz with all the original artwork. I laughed again at the antics of Baum’s...

Read: John 8:12–20 I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. John 8:12 Each year for several weeks around Christmas, Singapore’s tourist belt, Orchard Road, is transformed into a wonderland of lights and colors. This light-up...

Read: Psalm 119:161–168 I rejoice in your promise like one who finds great spoil. Psalm 119:162 In 1932, Mexican archaeologist Alfonso Caso discovered Tomb 7 at Monte Alban, Oaxaca. He found more than four hundred artifacts, including hundreds of pieces of pre-Hispanic jewelry he called “The Treasure of Monte Alban.”...

Read: James 1:22–27 Look after orphans and widows in their distress. James 1:27 The phone rang in the night for my husband, a minister. One of the prayer warriors in our church, a woman in her seventies who lived alone, was being taken to the hospital. She was so ill...

Read: Psalm 116:5–9 Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits. Psalm 103:2 Do you ever talk to yourself? Sometimes when I’m working on a project—usually under the hood of a car—I find it helpful to think aloud, working through my options on the best way to...

Read: John 1:1–14 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. John 1:9 “My perspective on earth changed dramatically the very first time I went into space,” says Space Shuttle astronaut Charles Frank Bolden Jr. From four hundred miles above the earth, all looked peaceful...

Read: 1 Peter 1:17–23 It was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed . . . but with the precious blood of Christ. 1 Peter 1:18–19 There is a story that in 75 bc a young Roman nobleman named Julius Caesar was kidnapped by...

Read: Psalm 119:9–16 I rejoice in following your statutes as one rejoices in great riches. Psalm 119:14 Perhaps you’ve seen the TV ad in which a person answers the door and finds someone who hands over a check for an enormous amount of money. Then the amazed recipient begins shouting,...