-
The Hands of Christ
Many families from Austria and Holland barely escaped before the Nazis occupied both countries and they fled to England. Justin Jackson, a postmaster friend of mine from Ohio, tells this story: My brother and I started traveling many years ago to trace our family’s heritage and it’s taken us to many Holocaust sites and death…
-
The Pastor’s Pen: ‘I thought you were Jesus’
When Wycliffe Bible translator Doug Meland and his wife moved into a village of Brazil’s Fulnio Indians, he was referred to simply as “the white man.” The term was by no means complimentary since other white men had exploited them, burned their homes, and robbed them of their lands. But after the Melands learned the…
-
The Pastor’s Pen: The Word of God
Maybe you’ve heard about the gorilla in a zoo holding a Bible in one hand & a book about evolution in the other. He was looking confused, so someone asked, “What are you doing?” The gorilla answered, “Well, I’m trying to decide if I’m my brother’s keeper or my keeper’s brother.” There’s a story I…
-
The Pastor’s Pen: Just watch!
A young boy looked up at his grandfather and wondered aloud, “Grandpa, how do you live for Jesus?” The respected grandfather stooped down and quietly told the boy, “Just watch.” As the years went by the grandfather was an example to the boy of how to follow Jesus. He stayed rock-steady in living for Him.…
-
The Pastor’s Pen: Approaching storm
“Isaac’s Storm” is a very interesting book about the hurricane that wiped out Galveston in 1900. One of the main plot lines of the book is about how everyone was convinced that a hurricane could never strike Galveston, even as one approached. The author vividly describes how, as the streets began to flood, people went…
-
The Pastor’s Pen: Truly hungry
In May 1846, 187 men, women and children left from Missouri in a wagon train headed to California. There was nothing exceptional about the group or this journey and we would have never known about them had they not made the decision to try a shortcut. The “Hastings Cutoff,” as it was known, was indeed…
-
The Pastor’s Pen: $10 is $10
A man named Stumpy and his wife Martha went to the state fair every year, and every year when Stumpy saw the antique bi-plane he would say, “Martha, I’d like to ride in that airplane.” Martha always replied, “I know, Stumpy, but that airplane ride costs $10, and $10 is $10.” One year, Stumpy said,…
-
The Pastor’s Pen: Ruby’s Prayer
Ruby Hamilton, a businesswoman in her 50s, was stunned at the loss of her husband of 32 years in a car accident. She had become a follower of Christ in her late 20s, but her husband didn’t share her newfound interest in spiritual things. Nonetheless, she had set about praying for him feverishly and unceasingly…
-
The Pastor’s Pen: Three dollars worth of God, please
Tim Hansel, in his book “When I Relax I Feel Guilty,” writes some insights into what most people want from God. “I would like to buy $3 worth of God, please. Not enough to explode my soul or disturb my sleep, but just enough to equal a cup of warm milk or a snooze in…
-
The Pastor’s Pen: Can you be defeated?
1 John 5:4: “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.” It’s a scene from one of the “Star Trek” TV series. Worf, the Klingon, is captured by the evil Dominion. They intend to use him as a practice dummy in hand-to-hand…