Their Own

“They confessed their own sins” (Nehemiah 9:2). That is the story of the Jewish exiles who returned to Jerusalem in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah. They were working Steps 4 and 5 before Steps 4 and 5 had even been written. Taking a personal inventory of their shortcomings, they then released them with repentant…

Compassion

There is a great story in the New Testament about Jesus healing a man with leprosy (Mark 1:40-45). Notice how the story begins. “A man with leprosy came and knelt in front of Jesus, begging to be healed. ‘If you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean,’ he said. Moved with compassion,…

The Bad Driver

A man took his eye off the road, and ran into a tree, leaving him bloodied and trapped in his car along a country road. He saw a man coming toward him on a horse, so he honked his horn as he cried out for help. The man on the horse dismantled, for his horse…

The Man Who Invented Sliced Bread

“That’s the greatest thing since sliced bread.” We’ve all said that a zillion times. Sliced bread has become the measuring stick of all great inventions. But has it ever occurred to you that there really was a person who invented sliced bread? Meet Otto Rohwedder, of Davenport, Iowa. Working for Chillicothe Baking Company, Mr. Rohwedder…

The Running God

Let’s play Bible Trivia. Can you name the only time in the Bible when God is shown running? Answer – Luke 15:20 “So he got up and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him and…

The Rising Corpse

Here are just a few strange, but true stories. A man went to a funeral, and he saw the deceased rise from the casket and stand in front of the church as the attendees entered. A woman returned home from work one day, only to find the sofa cushions arranged on the floor in the…

Take a Bow

Martin Luther told the story of his professor who started every class the same way. He’d enter the room, hang up his coat, then bow before each student, one by one. Eventually, Luther managed the courage to ask the professor why he did this. The professor explained, “I bow before you in honor of what…

Green Eggs and Ham

“Do you like green eggs and ham? I do not like them, Sam-I-Am. I do not like green eggs and ham. Would you like them here or there? I would not like them here or there. I would not like them anywhere. I do not like green eggs and ham. I do not like them,…

No Gaps Remained

I’ve been reading through the Book of Nehemiah. It has long been one of my favorite books of the Bible. But yesterday, I came across a little verse that had escaped me until now. “Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab, and the rest of our enemies found out that I had finished rebuilding the wall and…

Samaria

Between one set of miracles and another, the Bible says, “Now Jesus had to go through Samaria” (John 4:14). And so he was on his way, from Judah to Galilee, passing through the land of Samaria – an unwelcome place. The Samaritans were considered half-breeds, as they were the offspring of Jews and Gentiles. They…