A man identified only as a Pilgrim heard a sermon about praying continuously. The text of the sermon was Paul's admonition to "pray without ceasing" (1 Thess. 5.18). How is it possible to pray all the time? Pilgrim set off on a journey to find out,...
Chief Sechele was seeking after God. It helped that he had a missionary doctor living in his village. Chief Sechele was intrigued with the gospel messages David Livingstone (1813-1873) shared with villagers. Two barriers, however, stood in the way...
Terri and Chuck Roberts have four sons and eleven grandchildren. So far, so good. One of their sons, Charlie, was the gunman who entered an Amish one-room schoolhouse in Nickel Mines, PA and shot ten girls in 2006, killing five of them before...
Synesius of Cyrene (373-414) lived "the good life." He was born into a wealthy family who traced its lineage to the founding of Cyrene (a city in modern Libya). His one hundred fifty-six letters that survive written between AD 399-413 provide...
The only people I heard pray in my growing up years were pastors. They used formal, religious-sounding words I never heard outside of church. Everyone in the sanctuary became very still, folding their hands and closing their eyes. The whole...
Henry Moorhouse was a derelict--a gambler, gang leader and thief. During the revival of 1859, he gave his life to Jesus and began preaching his new-found faith. His favorite text was John 3.16, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and...
Jerome (347-420) had a really bad temper. I don't normally focus on people's flaws in this prayer exercise but I'm making an exception here. Each of us has a particular sin pattern based on temperament, family background, and cultural influences....
After class one day, one of Eugene Peterson's seminary students showed his professor an interview in Rolling Stone magazine with Bono, lead singer of the Irish band U2. Bono had given Peterson's translation of the Bible, The Message, a shout-out in...
Seven-year-old Preena went to draw water from a well. She overheard Amy Carmichael (1867-1951) telling women at the well about her God who loved everyone the same. This God did not assign people to different classes as did the Indian caste system....
It was a Saturday evening custom in the Rose household to read a sermon of well-known New England preachers for family devotions. Lemuel read a sermon on John 3.3 with great enthusiasm. After he finished, Father Rose wagered that the sermon came...
A former pastor at the church I served, Luke, was married to Lettie, whose maiden name was Witherspoon. Yep, it's the same Witherspoon who signed the Declaration of Independence. John Knox Witherspoon (1723-1795) preached the most impactful sermon...
William Wilberforce was elected to British Parliament in 1780 at the tender age of twenty-one. Four years later, when Parliament went into recess, William toured Europe with his family and invited his former tutor, Isaac Milner, to join them. At...
You may recognize the name Desmond Tutu (1931-2021) and know something about his decade-long advocacy work to reform apartheid in South Africa, for which he was awarded a Nobel Prize. What you may not know is his unwavering commitment to daily...
Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672) was eighteen when she left the comforts of her home in England to live in the Massachusetts Bay Colony with her husband Simon. Their existence was spartan at the outset. They moved six times and eventually settled on a...
Puritans have been unfairly maligned in our day. Allow me to illustrate to prove the point. Puritans are often dismissed as killjoys; prudes who hated sex. We need to set the record straight. While they took issue with the dangers inherent in...
Francis Bacon (1564-1627) and Edward Coke were bitter rivals. They were both considered for the post of Attorney General in England, but the nod went to Edward. Francis courted Elizabeth Hatton, a young widow at twenty. She broke off the...
The life of Wilhelm Loehe (1808-1872) represents the triumph of faith over circumstances. After completing his theological studies at the University of Erlangen, he expected to receive an appointment to a city church. Instead, he was assigned to...
It was an inauspicious beginning to a love story. John and Abigail met in the parlor of Pastor Smith's home in Weymouth, MA. John was twenty-four and Abigail was fifteen. Abigail's mom regarded John as a country lawyer who lacked appropriate...