Hannah longs to have children but is childless. Adding to her misery, she’s harassed by everyone around her. Though, she is her husband’s (Elkanah) favorite wife he dismisses her infertility and fails to protect her from verbal assaults from his other wife, Peninnah, who endlessly torments her. Then, when she prays in earnest, Eli, the […]
Reform Sunday School as an Education Service to Your Community It may be strange to see Sunday school on this list of things we must change for our churches, but we should carefully reexamine it. Do you know the original mission of this Sunday program? It was to teach poor children how to read. And […]
We Must Stand Firm Against Society’s Attacks on Marriage and Children As followers of Jesus, we need to reclaim what the Bible teaches about family. This is because the biblical ideal of family has taken a hit in today’s culture. Therefore, we must counter this and celebrate the family. Today’s secular society views marriage as […]
Marriage Is for Children Not for Self DINK stands for Dual Income, No Kids. The concept has gained traction in recent years. But it’s not an enlightened perspective. Instead, being a DINK is an idea we should avoid. The Result of Circumstances Some couples are childless due to their circumstances. They can’t have biological children, […]
Excitement Prevails I removed every church from my list that was part of a denomination. At best they would merely offer variations of what we’ve already experienced—and rejected. Left are three churches with intriguing implications. Perhaps one will click with Candy. We’ll visit them the next three Sundays. This church meets in a public school […]
Two Options in One Building The budget program I’m involved with on Wednesday mornings also has a Thursday evening option. Though I’m not a regular volunteer on Thursdays, I help from time to time. It’s bigger, with more classes, more clients, and more volunteers. The Thursday evening budget program meets at a different church, and […]
A Word Picture of What a Good Dad Is Like The sixth word picture is God as our father and we as his children. Although not everyone had a good biological father—in fact all human fathers make mistakes in raising their children—our spiritual father, God, is without fault, raising us out of perfect love and […]
Reclaim Our Practice of Communion from a Biblical Context In their practice of Communion some churches allow children to take Communion (the Eucharist) and others don’t. I’ve seen both occur at various worship services, but I don’t know which practice is more common. A similar consideration is the issue of closed Communion versus open. For […]
Pray for Family and Friends Ever since our daughter was born, I knew I should pray for her, as well as for her brother, when he came along. I did pray for them—when I thought of it—which wasn’t very often. I felt guilty for not doing what I knew I should do. And when I […]
Good for Children of Ages I’m quite familiar with the NIV (New International Version) Bible. The NIV is the version I use most for Bible reading, studying, and research. And it’s the version I usually quote in my books. But what about the NIrV? Though I’ve heard about the NIrV (New International Reader’s Version), I […]