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Telling the Story: Not a heart like Herod
Herod was a terrible person. We know it from the Bible (Matthew 2); history records his evil deeds. He’s been the bad guy of the Christmas story for a long time. Though thousands of years have passed, we can still learn from his notorious ways. Make that what not to do. When the wise men
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Telling the Story: Prayer and the wish book
Way back in the 1900s, there was an amazing, magnificent, almost magical book of wishes. Each year, the Sears, Roebuck, and Company issued a treasured catalog containing all the toys on earth, and it went to Every. Single. Household. Kids young and old anxiously awaited its arrival in the fall. Dolls of every size and
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Telling the Story: The ‘Do not be afraids’ of Christmas
It’s hard to let go of Christmas. The “Do not be afraids”are still on my mind. When the angel visited Mary in Nazareth, the words gushed from Gabriel’s mouth: “Do not be afraid…you have found favor with God.” Seeing an angel right in front of her would have been terrifying. Pondering it from this side,
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The enemy at Christmas
Many moons ago, my beloved was sharing a difficult church situation with his mentor, Dan Garland. Things had been going splendidly…then they were not. Dan Garland is a treasure. He has been a godsend to us. Since our friendship began in 1999, when he served as the KBC Evangelism director, he has shared from his
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Telling the Story: Mary’s Song
Have you ever been so filled with the joy of the Lord, or overcome with appreciation that He has met a secret or public need, or He has saved your bacon AGAIN and you just can’t get over that He still puts up with you or He has pulled you out of a pit or
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Telling the Story: Team Mary and Joseph
A middle schooler recently told his mother he didn’t like Sunday School because he knew all the Bible stories already. I got a little bit tickled but beg to differ with that young man. Even though I am 62, every single time I open God’s Word, He speaks to me. Unfortunately, I’ve been there as
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Telling the Story: Spending time with the Nativity
A decades-old nearly life-sized Nativity set needed to be repainted. I volunteered all the artsy people I knew to do it; I would help, too. I’m no artist, but I thought it would be like a humungous paint by number: not too difficult, it would just take some time. My first job was to prep
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Telling the Story: Trusting when you can’t see
Even when we can’t feel it, God is working. Even when we can’t see it, God has a plan. Those truths are obvious when you look at the X-ray of a child’s tooth. The baby tooth is easy to see, but just above or below it in the X-ray, depending on the location, you can
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Telling the Story: Thanksgiving and ‘Thanks-living’
When our pastor, Steve Rice, preached a sermon about “Thanks-living” instead of “Thanks-giving” decades ago, I teased him mercilessly. We were dear friends; it’s what friends do. It was “Happy Thanks-living” this and “Happy Thanks-living” that. (I wasn’t nearly as mature as I am now.) I worked the word “Thanks-living” into every conversation. In his
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Telling the Story: Sharing pie and God’s Word
I didn’t want to share my pie. That sounds terrible, but it was blackberry—my very favorite. While Mr. and Mrs. Walker gave it to my beloved for pastor appreciation, I knew it was actually for me because they know it’s my favorite. My beloved doesn’t like the seeds, so it was all mine. It’s one
