Could the next great revival be on the horizon? Many Christians think so, and we certainly need one. Our country has reached heightened moral decline, God is all but removed from public places, and we’re divided on many fronts. “There’s so much anger, so much polarization, and Jesus is the answer,” said Anne Graham Lotz, after her father, the Rev. Billy Graham, known as “America’s Pastor” passed away earlier this year[1]. She prays her father’s death serves as a wake-up call for the Church and sparks a revival. Lotz believes to fill her father’s shoes we all need to step…
Spring has sprung—except where I live. Here in northern New York we still have nearly a foot of snow on the ground, although moderating temperatures are bringing the drip drip drip of melting. Us locals know spring doesn’t really arrive for another month. Yet it will come! As the sun warms the earth and winter’s glory fades, it’s always amazing how plants in the yard that looked dead return to life. Tender shoots appear, soon to burst into lush green leaves and colorful flowers. Our lovely lilac bush, nearly buried by recent storms, appears dead and forgotten—but two months from now…
A small group of us were still gathered after church when the news came—a dear brother in the Lord we had been praying for, died. A couple weeks earlier, the doctors had said the cancer was too widespread, too severe. “There is nothing else we can do.” But knowing God could, many people continued fervently in prayer. Yet . . . the miracle didn’t come. This latest blow hit on the heels of the shock from six days earlier—when the man’s wife unexpectedly passed away in her sleep at home. A heart attack, it was determined. Why?? We quickly reconvened…
A friend of ours was in trouble. A foolish mistake had cascaded into unexpected legal issues, turning his life upside down. The stress was nearly unbearable for him—its effects spilling over, changing, and challenging every area of his life. As he retained an attorney and the weeks, then months rolled by, he was gradually forced to adjust to an entirely different life path than familiar. My husband and I did our best to support him, counsel him, and pray for him, watching and waiting for things to resolve. Now, eighteen months later, this friend recently visited us. Things have vastly improved,…
December closed out with our ministry’s annual board meeting. As a group, we rejoiced at all that was accomplished in the past year, and brainstormed plans and goals for the year ahead. I enjoy the synergy of these meetings. The give and take of everyone sharing ideas leads to a combined result greater than the sum of what we would each individually bring to the table. The word synergy comes from the Greek sunergeo, meaning “to work together.” The apostle Paul used sunergeo—translated “works” or “working together,”—in a commonly quoted verse of Scripture: “And we know that in all things…
