I lament the loss of civility in our day. Sure, what we believe is crucial but so is how we behave toward others. Evidently, some Christians haven't received the memo that gracious behavior matters to God. What initially caught my attention to...
Polycarp (70-155) was the last surviving link to Jesus' original twelve apostles, having been a student of the apostle John. Polycarp served as bishop of Smyrna and was a respected leader in the early church. When the Roman Empire unleashed a new...
One Sunday in 1642, John Owen went with his cousin to hear a famous preacher, Dr. Edmund Calamy, at St. Mary's Church in London. We might classify John, who was twenty-six at the time, as a seeker in today's vernacular. While he was a nominal...
The one person I have quoted more than any other in preaching (not counting Jesus) is C. S. Lewis (1899-1963). People in my former church came to expect at least one C. S. Lewis quote with every sermon. I couldn't help myself since he is so...
John Barry was researching the history of Massachusetts in a London library in 1855 when he made a startling discovery. He came across the original copy of William Bradford's account Of Plymouth Plantation. Wiliam's diary from 1621-1650 contained a...
Lilias Trotter (1853-1928) was a self-taught artist. Her mother sent several of Lilias' paintings to a foremost art critic, John Ruskin, who recognized her colossal talent. He claimed that under his tutelage, Lilias could become the most famous...
Julia Foote (1823-1901) struggled with self-doubt. Don't we all! She was born a free woman, the daughter of former slaves, yet racial prejudice prevented her from attending public school in New York. She described her conversion at age fifteen in...
"Kindness has become a forgotten virtue," Barry Corey wrote in his book Love Kindness. I concur! The cause of Christ will suffer if we don't practice kindness going forward in culture war debates. Francis de Sales (1567-1622) asked in his Treatise...
George Muller (1805-1898) prayed about everything. He claimed to be a regular guy who believed with all his heart that God truly answers prayer. George and his wife Sarah opened their home to orphans living in the streets of Bristol, England. They...
My initial thought in writing about Andrew Murray (1827-1917) was to acknowledge that I do not belong in his same league. He was a spiritual giant. Yet when I read the story of Andrew’s marital engagement, I relax. This is more like it, someone...
His ambition in high school was to become a Hollywood actor. Instead, he went to Hollywood as a preacher. Lloyd John Ogilvie (1930-2019) told a story about waking early one Sunday morning, feeling the urge to review his sermon one last time. He...
When my dad was alive, he liked to tell people I was the least likely person he had ever known to go into the ministry. I observe something similar with regard to people I encounter in the church. Some of the least likely people become committed...
I've avoided the traditional "Irish blessing" in this daily exercise of prayer until now. To my way of thinking, this prayer has been over-sentimentalized as a needlepoint favorite or a staple at weddings. Silly me! I've allowed its popularity to...
Robert Robinson (1735-1790) was riding in a stagecoach. To break the monotony of the trip, a fellow passenger began to sing softly the hymn "Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing." The young woman asked Robert what he thought of the song. "Madam, I am...
I'm fascinated by all the ways, dramatic and ordinary, by which people come to faith in Jesus. Nicolas Herman (1614-1691) of Lorraine, France was converted by a tree. Seriously! When he was eighteen, he came upon a tree stripped of its leaves in...
Wilfrid Meynell opened his mailbox in 1887 to retrieve a small bundle of poems written on dirty scraps of paper. As publisher of the London magazine Merry England, he was accustomed to receiving variously shaped parcels. He filed the bundle and...
Some Christians hear God's voice in visions and experience God's presence through dreams. So-called mystical Christians" are people who not only think great thoughts about God, but experience God deep in the soul. Teresa of Avila (1515-1581) was a...
Gilbert Keith (G. K.) Chesterton (1864-1936) was a funny, absent-minded author who liked to write in train stations. It was not uncommon for G.K. to become so engrossed in his compositions that he would miss the train he was supposed to catch. On...