The old year goes out with fanfare. Restaurants create elaborate menus for New Year’s Eve dinners. Shopkeepers dress their windows using party clothes to entice customers to buy their sparkly offerings. Friends and family ask, “What are you doing for New Year’s Eve?” In New York City, crowds stand for hours in Times Square waiting …
Tag Archives: Devotional
Devotional | In The Storm
A devotion by Karen Rees “Without warning, a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping.” Matt 8:24 As an author, I know readers want stories filled with conflict, crisis, and danger. In contrast, we like our lives to be basically predictable, free of …
Devotional | Changing Times – An Unchanging God
Devotional by Karen Rees “The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock in whom I take refuge.” Psalms 18:2 The Mt. Pinatubo volcano erupted in the Philippines in June, 1991. In a matter of days, villages, rice fields and roads were buried under thousands of tons of pale …
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Devotional | The Incarnational *ADVENT*ure
There’s something about Christmas. People from all walks of life suddenly start decorating their homes garishly, wearing garments they would otherwise never dream of endorsing, putting trees inside their houses instead of outside where they belong, singing in public, and making plans to cook a very specific set of foods. A whole host of traditions, coming …
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Devotional | Where are you dwelling?
Dwelling and Resting: Psalm 91 verse 1- 2 and 9 -10 NIV He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High, will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. Verse 2. I will say of the Lord “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” This year personal circumstances …
Devotional | Are you an Ostrich or an Emu?
On the way to our camp in the Australian bush, we travel past a field that is home to a mob of emus. These birds are almost the largest in the world, second only to the African ostrich. There are many similarities between these two flightless birds. Both are massive animals—six to nine feet tall. …
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Devotional: Plots You Need to Know
One Christmas, I received a book many writers may have in their library of writing resources. Between the covers of Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories, Christopher Booker pours a wealth of knowledge into 700 pages about crafting the perfect plot and creating satisfying storytelling. A plot is a sequence in which a story …
Devotional | You’re Not Here to Think…You’re Here to do as You’re Told!
“You’re not here to think…you’re here to do as you’re told!” These words were fired at me like bullets from a rifle, causing me immediate injury. Of course, I laughed about it afterwards with my school friends, but in reality, the teacher who shot those words at me in class over forty years ago, caused …
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Devotional |Though The Fig Tree Does Not Bud
Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, verse 18- yet will I rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God …
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Devotional | Waiting for the Tanks – Lessons from the Old Testament Prophets
Devotional by Karen Rees “In this world you will have troubles. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33 I was reading the Old Testament books of prophecy during the early months of Hong Kong’s demonstrations against the serious erosion of guaranteed freedoms. At first, the demonstrations were massive peaceful protest marches. We …
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