Luke 21:1-4

“As he looked up, Jesus saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. ‘I tell you the truth,’ he said, ‘this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.’”

 

      In 1995, I lived in Bogota, Colombia, in South America and had the great privilege of serving in a ministry to stree ...

         

   When I lived in Bogota, Colombia, in South America I was involved with a ministry to street children. The center in the part of the city that reached out to the children directly off of the street was called “El Camino Real” – the real way.

            When I lived in Fissel, Senegal, in West Africa I worked with the Sereer people. The few Sereer Christians referred to Christianity as simply following the “Jesus Way.”

John 10:10b “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” 

 

I am convinced that the way to this full life that Jesus talks about is found in absolute surrender of our lives to him. As we come to the point in our lives when we can say that we will do whatever God calls us to do, and go wherever he calls us to go, we begin the journey to abundant life. It may not be the life that we had planned for ourselves, but it will be God’s plan for us.

 

Before Jesus was bo ...

Jeremiah 29:11 “’For I know the plans I have for you.’ Declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’” NIV

Proverbs 19:21 “Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.” NIV

Proverbs 20:24 “A man’s steps are directed by the lord. How then can anyone understand his own way? NIV

 

It is amazing to me the way that God works.&am ...

I love Christmas time. I love the sights of the lights on the houses, the smells in the air, the tastes of all of the special dishes and sweets, the sounds of Christmas carols, the feel of snow crunching beneath my feet. I love Christmas. One year I was living in Africa just before Christmas. Christmas was very different in Africa. Most of the people did not celebrate Christmas, so you didn’t see Christmas everywhere like you do in America. The weather was very hot so it didn’t feel like Christmas. One thing I will never forget is singing Christmas carols to the beat of an African drum. That year, right before Christmas day I returned to America. One of the first places that I ended up going after I got off of the plane was a Walmart store. I remember being so excited and just turning around in circles in the middle of the store looking at all of ...

I was raised in a small west Texas town with a population of about 4000 people. There were quite a few churches in my small town. I loved growing up there.

Later, when I was an adult, I moved to a village in Africa with a population of about 4000 people. Fissel, Senegal was a great place to live. I loved the baobab trees, the little concrete house that I lived in and called the pink palace – because they painted the outside pink. I guess pink was the cheapest color of paint. I loved the Sereer language and the Sereer people. On one of my first days in the village as I was walking to the well, I began to realize that I was probably one of the few, if not the only Christian in ...

Years ago when I was in a grocery store in Texas, a lady approached me on the canned goods isle. She had lots of canned goods in her basket and she asked me if I thought these canned goods would still be good after she had sent them to a foreign country where her son was serving in the military. At that time our United States military was fighting a war in this country, so I knew that her son was possibly in the middle of this and in a dangerous situation. I answered her question about the canned goods – they have so many preservatives that they would probably still be great – and then I asked her if she would tell me her son’s name so that I could pray for him. She looked at me and asked me a great question. She did not ask if I was a Christian. She did not ask if I went to church. She simply asked me, “Do you know God.”

Psalm 46

“God is our refuge and strength,

Always ready to help in times of trouble.

So we will not fear, even if earthquakes come

And the mountains crumble into the sea

Let the oceans roar and foam

Let the mountains tremble as the waters surge!

A river brings joy to the city of our God