Trust is a benefit to the one who embraces it. The blind person, trusting his guide dog. The sick person, trusting her caregivers. The child who trusts her father. All these derive a great benefit of peace and confidence and safety in the willingness to trust. Trusting is an act of will that enables the one who trusts to make progress and to thrive in the face of the unknown and the unseen; and, trust and faith are necessary partners because you cannot trust what or who you do not first believe. I remember being a young child at the swimming pool with my father. I was watching other children…

Is your heart troubled? My guess is that most of us are troubled by a good many things, ranging from personal relationships to global crises. For sure, these issues are important, even significant, and how are we to be relevant and engaged, if we are not troubled in heart by the plight of those around us? Wouldn’t that make us unrealistic and uncaring? In the days leading up to Jesus betrayal and crucifixion, when His disciples were about to face fear and confusion and hopelessness, Jesus said this: “Do not let your heart be troubled….” (John 14:1a NASB) What did He mean by that? Of course they were going to…

“All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen and welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.” (Hebrews 11:13 NASB) Most of us are probably very familiar with this chapter in Hebrews, which has been called the Hall of Faith. The written account of some of the men and women of old who served God, obeyed Him, and believed Him. I cannot imagine the grit, the courage, the determined commitment they must have possessed to give their lives for the sake of something they would not witness on this side of heaven. They were called from beyond, and they lived…

Today, our pastor taught from the book of Jeremiah. There was one thing he said that has pierced my heart: “It’s not so much about the evil we face as it is the God we serve.” So I am asking myself, “Where is my focus? What is my priority?” It is easy to get lulled into believing that Earth is my home, but when that happens I am likely to become self-preserving and self-promoting. In the face of all that is going wrong in our society and in our government, it is tempting to focus on keeping the evil at bay. However, this is not my home. I am a…

We humans need sleep. We were placed here on Earth to live in a rhythm of daylight hours and nighttime hours. And, for most of us, daytime is for working and nighttime is for sleeping. Many studies have been performed on the role that sleeping plays in maintaining the health of our bodies and the activity of our brains. Without getting too technical, basically the end of the matter is that sleep is necessary. We need sleep to rest our muscles and to reboot our personal computers (our brains). So, why is it that we sometimes have emotional baggage tied to feeling tired? It’s as though we are surprised that…