Devotionals

Dear Readers, I want to acknowledge that last week’s column contained a mistake. The two climbers whose story I told were not the...

Looking Good or Being Good In 2016, I read a deeply moving devotional by Jennifer Benson Schuldt in an Our Daily Bread devotional. She...

The Hope of Easter Each of us must eventually deal with the grief of losing a family member or close friend. For many years, my family...

Be More Like Jesus Lewis Lawes became the warden at Sing Sing in 1921. At the time it was one of the harshest prisons in the United States....

Love Your Enemies I recently discovered New York Times best-selling author, Richard Paul Evans, and fell in love with his books. In his...

Do Not Forget During the oil crises and embargo in the 1970s, Dutch researchers began evaluating their country’s energy consumption. They...

God Gives Us Each Other In a June 22, 2006, USA Today article, experts reported Americans had 33% fewer close friends than they had 20...

Treating Others Right In General Colin Powell’s fascinating book, It Worked for Me, the former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff...

Unexpected Potential Each NFL team adds fresh players to their roster during the annual draft. Every coach and their staff spend hours...

What Matters Most? How long can you hold your breath? As I prepared to write today’s column, I took 3 deep breaths, closed my eyes, and...

God Watches Over Us Charlotte Wechsler was blind and lived on a dead-end street. She used a white cane when she took walks but had little...

God Cares About You Every person faces a challenging situation at some point in life. Some challenges are merely day-to-day frustrations,...

Mistakes Do Not Limit God Have you ever failed? I know the answer because of my own failures and because I have worked with thousands of...

Do Not Quit Living Mark Batterson tells this fascinating story about QueenVictoria in his fine book, Win the Day: 7 Daily Habits to Help...

A Positive Difference George Saunders shared his life experiences in the 2013 commencement address at Syracuse University with graduates...

The Tragedy of Unreturned Love Elizabeth Barrett had published four poetry books by the time she was 12 years old. Three years later, her...

A Baby Can Change Everything In her April 30, 2024, Our Daily Bread devotional, Xochitl Dixon wrote about her son, Xavier. She recalled...

Who Is Your Father? Fred Craddock, one of the last century’s great preachers, once told about a vacation to Gatlinburg, TN, where he and...

Our Firm Foundation Recognize the name John Rippon? Most of us do not, but about 250 years ago this British pastor served at Carter’s...

The Church Will Prevail Seven years ago, on November 5, 2017, First Baptist Church of Sutherland Texas, made news around the world when...

Who Do You Trust?  No matter who you voted for last Tuesday, or if you even voted, you are probably glad this year’s election is finally...

God Welcomes Us One of my favorite authors, Pastor Charles Swindoll, turned ninety earlier this month. He has written over seventy books;...

  The High Cost of Low Morality Nearly ten years ago, I read a disturbing story that caught my attention and left me shaking my head...

  Our Mysterious Hope Honest people recognize the presence of both good and evil in our world. Dr. Jim Denison’s October 8,...

  Sacrificial Serving Though his extraordinary bravery has inspired millions, few readily recognize the name Desmond Doss. This...

  Only God Knows   Last week, our church hosted a group of senior adults on a visit to Niagara Falls. According to the...

  Living Up to Our Potential  Like many of you, I grew up in rural America. I remember my Grandma Richards being the only serious...

  Digital Vegetables not Digital Candy I was privileged to recently watch a lecture about the impact of children consuming too much...

  Talk Less, Listen More We all need friends, yet many say they have few friends who genuinely care about them. Friendship is vitally...

Practice Makes Perfect    In James Clear’s excellent book, Atomic Habits, the author writes about University of Florida professor...

Thanks, Dad! Those who know me know the last month has been challenging. Four weeks ago, my dad’s doctor found a mass on his pancreas and...

Second Chances Like most people, I rarely watch horse races. While 15 million enjoy the annual Kentucky Derby, according to Statista, just...

We Need Not Be Lonely In a survey on loneliness that appeared in the January 31, 2020, Minneapolis Post, Susan Perry reported how 61% of...

America Has Been Blessed During the deadly September attack, casualties mounted, with both the capital and the White House being targeted....

The Danger of Pride  Until recently, I knew little about the Korean Conflict except that the US entered the fight in 1950 to stop the...

Priorities Our church staff is reading an incredible book suggesting tiny changes can produce remarkable results. In Atomic Habits, James...

Happy Father’s Day In 1995, 35-year-old Wendy Lawrence flew her first Space Shuttle mission and later flew three more times. She had...

Being Available for Our Little Ones On May 17, my wife and I welcomed our first granddaughter. Baby R weighed in at barely five pounds and...

Ask God to Bless Your Marriage You are not alone if you have forgotten the news from September 20, 2016. Only minutes after we learned...

A Debt of Gratitude Next Monday, the United States will officially observe Memorial Day for the 156th time. There were occasions before May...

You Have Amazing Worth When 15-year-old Amanda Jane Cooper saw Wicked on Broadway, she immediately wanted to play the role of Glinda. She...

Helping Vs. Oppressing As I walked to my car following a very busy Sunday, a man called across our parking lot, “Are you the pastor?” I...

A Challenge Worth Embracing Our church staff has been reading James Clear’s fascinating book, Atomic Habits, Tiny Changes, Remarkable...

Trusting God I took my grandson to the library for the first time last Friday. J enjoys being read to, so I hoped he would eagerly pick out...

Just the Right Word Last Sunday, I read an inspirational Reader’s Digest post, The 100 Greatest Compliments You Could Ever Give or...

God’s Protective Love In How Firm a Foundation, Jennifer Benson Schuldt described a visit to her great-grandmother’s house when she was...

Always Trusting God My friend Irene Hurt shared this story about Stephen Grellat which appeared in Measure Your Life, by Wesley Duewel....

The Hope of Easter Popular author, Jim Cymbala, became pastor of the Brooklyn Tabernacle in 1971. He once wrote about a particularly busy...

Choices Columnist Bill Crowder wrote in a recent Our Daily Bread devotional that according to the Daily Mirror, a British newspaper, the...

Burgers to Blessings Ray Kroc was an incredibly successful entrepreneur. The 52-year-old believed he had discovered a gold mine when he...

Has Stealing Become the New Norm? If you are like me, you are getting used to using self-check-out lines when you shop. Stores which hire...

Better Together Sometimes a single word can bring a thousand memories to mind, words like: “Mom,” “Dad” or “Sweetheart.” Some...

Hearing God’s Voice My friend, Bob Johnston, was pastor of the First Baptist Church of Rolla for over 30 years. He recently retired, but...

Dangerous Up and Down A few years ago, I read an Our Daily Bread devotional by Mike Wittmer, about a mountain climber who reached the...

Commitment to a Higher Purpose Each Christmas someone in my family gives me a book they know I will use for future columns. This year my...

Incorrect Assumptions “What in the world were you thinking, Kenneth Ray… The very idea! What are people going to think when they hear...

God Can Bring Good from Bad I recently finished, Before We Were Yours, a fascinating novel by Lisa Wingate. Her book tells the story of...

A Fresh Start Those who read my last column may remember I wrote about Michael and Matthew Clark; two brothers with leukodystrophy, a fatal...

Achieving Maturity Yahoo published a fascinating article in 2012 about two brothers, Michael and Matthew Clark who were living normal lives...

The Power of Love First-lady Roselynn Carter passed away on November 19, 2023. Her death and thinking about her family’s contributions to...

The Lord Is My Shepherd The twenty-third Psalm is one of the most famous passages in the Bible. Part of what makes the ancient psalm so...

Gratitude For the past 25 years I have used a marital survey designed and developed in 1977 by Prepare Enrich when I counsel couples. It...

Loneliness In Sam Kim’s excellent book, A Holy Haunting, the author referenced a recent national survey released by Cigna, a global...

Well Done Many years ago, I read best-selling author John Maxwell’s fascinating book, The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. Maxwell told...

Second Chances I once read about a man whose name was mistakenly included in the obituary column of his local newspaper. The notice of his...

Don’t Forget to Do Good Larry Davies and I are friends though we have never met nor spoken by phone. We have read each other’s...

The Surprising Power of Kindness Jimmy Abbott was born September 19, 1967, without a right hand. When he started school his classmates...

My Jesus I Love Thee William Featherston was born in Montreal Canada in 1846. He would die there when he was only 26. His life did not...

Life Is Short The boy was barely a year old when the atomic bomb dropped just 100 miles from his home. Six years later during his...

Christianity— Stronger than You Think Christian anthropologist Jim Denison says in his June 28, 2023, Daily Article, we need to ask why...

My Jesus I Love Thee William Featherston was born in Montreal Canada in 1846. He would die there when he was only 26. His life did not...

God Loves Us Unconditionally I love the parables found in scripture. Jesus often used these fictional stories to teach spiritual truth in...

The Amazing Power of Teamwork A couple of weeks ago I was privileged to serve as the photographer for the “Joni and Friends Missouri...

Helping Others Five-year-old Beth Usher experienced up to 100 seizures every day. She often injured herself when she fell during one of her...

Honoring the Overlooked Far too often those who work behind the scenes are either ignored or viewed as less valuable than their upfront...

Grandchildren As my wife and I approach the first birthday of our first grandchild I have been thinking about my first year as a...

Do Your Best Each Day  Most of you who read my weekly columns do not know that my friend David Shaw helps me edit each column you read....

Small Steps Dr. Jim Denison recently authored a fascinating Daily Article, about a piece which appeared in the MIT Technology Review. It...

God Knows  In 1994, the FBI arrested Aldrich Ames for espionage. He was a CIA agent for 30 years; during nine of those he sold secrets to...

What America Needs   This week our country celebrates its 247th birthday. While Americans enjoy the freedoms our constitution affords us,...

Finding Hope Stories are one of the most powerful tools speakers have at their disposal. As a pastor I have used them for over 40 years....

Sooner Than We Think I am writing today’s column the day after I had the honor of conducting my Uncle Ronny’s funeral. Many members of...

God Loves Us As We Are Charlotte Elliot, born in 1789, grew up in the home of a minister in Brighton, England. She was a popular young...

Gratitude is an Attitude   Over the course of many years, James Banks has had many devotionals in Our Daily Bread. In his devotional...

No Greater Love… Like many, I was blessed to be with my family on Memorial Day. As I talked with my mother about the holiday, she...

Jesus Loves You For over 2,000 years the life of Jesus has fascinated millions. Even many who do not follow the teachings of Jesus are...

Sharing Our Blessings Each morning on his way to work, Glen went through the drive-through of a local coffee shop to order a coffee for...

A Case for Faith Lee Strobel’s journey to faith was long and difficult. The former atheist was an award-winning legal editor of the...

Consistent Faithfulness I enjoyed reading about a young man named Nelson in the October 28, 2022, Our Daily Bread. Devotional writer, Karen...

Acknowledging Failure Few outside the ranks of historians know much about President James Garfield and for good reason; our twentieth...

Serving Others All of us have read an inspirational story which made us smile, however, occasionally, a friend plays a significant role in...

An Unexpected Lesson from Einstein I have always been fascinated by physicist Albert Einstein. His intellect is certainly amazing, but I...

Hope In The Jesus I Never Knew, award-winning author Philip Yancey examines the story of Jesus’ resurrection. He says those who reject...

Overcoming Loneliness Last November an article from Michigan State University (MSU) addressed the devastating impact of rampant loneliness...

Revival at Asbury Did you hear about the recent Asbury revival? Continuous revival services began at Asbury University, in Wilmore,...

Surprising Endings For many years country music fans have enjoyed the beautiful harmonies of the hit, Song of the South. It was written by...

The Surprising Truth About God’s Forgiveness Philip Yancey is one of my favorite authors. His fascinating book, The Jesus I Never Knew,...

Make Pleasing God Your Priority I decided to use the story of Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler in a weekly column during Black History Month after...

Healthy Marriages Like most of you, I watched Sunday’s Super Bowl along with an estimated 150 million viewers, but the night before I...