Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma. (Ephesians 5:1-2 NASB) My little granddaughter is learning to chat and interact with us more fully these days. Watching her string words together and create increasingly complex sentences is so much fun! Also sobering. You see, she imitates what she hears. The other day, I asked her to do something she did not want to do. When I insisted, she declared, “Okay, fine,” but with a martyred expression and a slight roll of her two-year-old eyes. Oh, did I laugh (and cringe). You see, she didn’t just “make that up.” […] Read more »

“Listen to Me, O house of Jacob, And all the remnant of the house of Israel, You who have been borne by Me from birth And have been carried from the womb; Even to your old age I will be the same, And even to your graying years I will bear you!” (Isaiah 46:3-4a NASB) Dad Gamble had been in the hospital a few days and was feeling better. “I like living with you and Ray,” he said during my visit. “In the morning, honey, you come in with a cup of coffee and put it on my bed tray. You open the blinds so I can see the sun rise.” Then he continued, repeating our daily routine. In that strange hospital room in a […] Read more »

After Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it, he went up to the LORD’s Temple and spread it out before the LORD. (2 Kings 19:14 NLT) How do you react when you receive bad, hard news? If you’re like most of the human race, your first response is an increased heart rate. Fear kicks into high gear, sent straight from the enemy of your soul. Then, different personalities deal with bad news in different ways. Some of us call our seventeen closest friends. Or our mother. Some of us bury ourselves in work and try to forget. Others sit. Paralyzed and frightened. I was recently blindsided with bad news, but this time … I made a decision: I don’t want to walk […] Read more »

But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed. (Luke 5:16 NIV) Ever heard the quotation, “The hurrier I go, the behinder I get?” Been there, done that, a time or seven. The opposite is actually a better choice. Deliberately and often seeking out quiet places prepares us best to do the Kingdom work God calls us to. It’s true. We need to find the “lonely places” and simply sit a spell with God. When you feel like you just can’t justify this, study Jesus’ life. Some days He was so busy he had no time to eat. He traveled all over the countryside, but He also stopped. A lot. There are lessons to be learned from Jesus’ pursuit of the “lonely places” where the […] Read more »