Then, calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?” —Mark 8:34-37 NLT (emphasis mine) It’s Memorial Day here in the United States. A day we set apart to honor the brave men and women who have fought and died in various battles on […] Read more »

How can I know all the sins lurking in my heart? Cleanse me from these hidden faults. Keep your servant from deliberate sins! Don’t let them control me. Then I will be free of guilt and innocent of great sin. —Psalm 19:12-13 NLT We humans are peculiar creatures. Quite prone to extremes. We can take a very good thing … like loving our children, and turn it into a bad thing, worshiping our children and pinning our own self-worth on how our children are doing. We may discover that a certain medicine or product or food has changed us for the better and then obsess about it until it consumes our thoughts, and we are pushing it nonstop to neighbors and friends. Some of us […] Read more »

Today’s Musing is from Donna Perkins And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God. —John 17:3a ESV Flying is so not my thing! It took two dear friends many years ago to get me into a way-oversized tin can blasted high into the sky! Since then I’ve done a fair bit of flying. To the casual eye I look just fine. To the trained eye it’s obvious that I’m out of my comfort zone. On one such hurl across the “friendly” skies, that weren’t so friendly that particular day, I was even less at ease than usual. Sometimes one can wonder how the captain flying the plane might be ... the last flight at the end of a really […] Read more »

Today’s Musing is from Marlene McKenna. At daybreak, Jesus went out to a solitary place. —Luke 4:42a NIV After spending a December weekend in New York City, I have a new appreciation for the crowds Jesus experienced. While we were on the streets of New York, throngs of people were everywhere. It was exhausting! Even though Jesus was surrounded by multitudes most of the time, He purposed to move from one crowd to another showing Himself to be the Son of God—and He didn’t have a nice hotel room as a retreat like we did. In Luke 4:23-30, Jesus is speaking in His hometown of Nazareth when the audience tries to kill Him. He then leaves for Capernaum, where He frees a man from demon […] Read more »

O God, You have taught me from my youth; And to this day I declare Your wondrous works. Now also when I am old and grayheaded, O God, do not forsake me, Until I declare Your strength to this generation, Your power to everyone who is to come. —Psalm 71:17-18 NKJV Dear precious Grands, Once upon a time, your Nina was a little girl living with Great Grandma and Great Grandpa. I remember moving in to a new house when I was four years old and shouting from the top of the stairs to hear the echo it created. We had steep stairs, and we had to go down them very carefully. Oh, how we loved to shout from the top of those stairs! There […] Read more »