Sleepless?

My friend confided that he hadn’t been sleeping well. His sleeplessness was related to a difficult family situation that had kept him up at night. It happened that this was the day I was prepared to discuss Psalm 3 in my adult Sunday school class. In Psalm 3,...

A Grandmother’s Prayers

During a family reunion many years ago, my mother shared some words she’d written. She honored her grandmother, a woman I’d never met but had heard her spoken of often. Mom wrote that she recalled Mama Susan getting up “before dawn” and praying...

Unexpected Interruption

Manuel was late for church and stuck at a red light. As he waited impatiently, his daughter noticed a stranded driver trying to fix a tire. “Daddy, you’re good at changing tires,” she said. “You should help her.” Manuel was now going to...

Catch the Little Foxes

“It’s the little foxes that spoil the vine,” my grandmother used to say. Then my mom repeated the same thing. And now I say it to my own children. But what does it mean to beware of “the little foxes”? After planting grapevines, it can...

Christ Our Priority

“May we invite you to be the main speaker in our nationwide church leadership conference?” After Jose read the invitation from the renowned organization, he replied, “Please let me pray about it first.” Later, when he turned down the offer, he...