Bible at Home

One of the sweetest blessings of summer is answering the doorbell and finding a neighbor at your door begging you to accept produce from his or her over-abundant garden, or even sharing from another friend’s garden. The tomatoes are still warm from the sun and so are the cucumbers and summer squash. Even at the…

Jesse was a six year old foster child who lived with us for a few months while his mother waited for an insurance claim. His brother Jason had died in a car-bicycle accident. His oldest brother, Justin, was placed in another foster home. One night Jesse asked me how it was possible for Jason to…

Praise Yesterday morning people stopped and stared when they walked past our house, and some wore a big grin. Why? Because the night before a wind took down half of a very large old ornamental pear tree in our front yard, and they recognized the chore that it will mean. It happened within a week…

Change There are two stories in the Bible that are particularly puzzling. The story of Moses in Numbers 20, and the story of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5:4 describe actions that seem insignificant compared to their consequences. Not long before entering the Promised Land Moses was told by God to carry his staff and…

In the story of the Vineyard in Matthew 20:1-16 the workers who labor the shortest time receive the same pay as the workers who worked all day. The latter protest to the owner of the vineyard, who answers “Are you envious because I am generous?” Jesus compares the vineyard to the Kingdom of God, and…

Why is love so important? It is the birthplace of faith and hope. “We love because He first loved us.” (1 John 4:19). When my grand nephew Will was only a few weeks old his mother placed him in my arms and sat down across from me. The baby’s eyes never left his mother’s face,…

Hunger “Then, because so many people were coming and going that they (the disciples) did not even have a chance to eat, Jesus said to them, ‘Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.’” (Mark 6:31) Jesus and his disciples attempted to do just that. They entered a boat and…

Mary’s Voice A friend once said to me that since the Bible didn’t address the subject of abortion, women are left on their own to know what course to take. I agreed that the word “abortion” doesn’t occur in the Bible, but it seemed to me out of character for God not to have an…

One of the most charming stories in the Chronicles of Narnia stories by C.S. Lewis is The Horse And His Boy. In spite of the horse getting top billing in the title, the story centers around the boy Shasta, a prince who is one of a pair of identical twins separated at birth, kidnapped, rescued…

On Wednesday Jack and I had breakfast at a grocery store, sitting by a wall of windows in the eating area. Just outside the window were two young women also having breakfast, and the one facing me held in her arms a very young infant while she fed him with a bottle. The tenderness and…