HOW PRIDE BLINDS February 17, 2020 | Esther 5:9b–14 DEVOTIONS This Month’s Issue If you were to name the “Top Ten Egotists of All Time,” whom would you include? One such list features Billy the Kid, one of the most lethal men in the Wild West, and John Wilkes Booth, the stage actor who shot […]
WHY DELAY? February 16, 2020 | Esther 5:5b–9a DEVOTION This Month’s Issue According to one newspaper report, Americans spend roughly 37 billion hours waiting in lines each year. Researchers added: We are far more satisfied with our “queuing experience” when we have something to do while we wait. We prefer forward movement toward our goal—rather […]
CHARACTER TRANSFORMED February 15, 2020 | Esther 5:1–5 DEVOTIONS This Month’s Issue Don’t you love it when a character finally learns an important lesson and changes for the better? This transformation, in literature, is called the “character arc”—the way in which the main character develops and grows as a result of the story’s conflict. And […]
AN ACTIVE AGENT February 14, 2020 | Esther 4:15–17 DEVOTIONS This Month’s Issue Have you ever floated down a lazy river, drifting along with the current? Sometimes our lives can be like that. We go with the flow, choosing comfort over obedience. It can be easier to take the path of least resistance, to just […]
DEFINING MOMENTS February 13, 2020 | Esther 4:6–14 DEVOTIONS This Month’s Issue In March of 2009, my husband Peter and I received phone calls from two different friends, who were each telling us about “a seven-month-old baby boy coming up for adoption.” This baby was first entering the foster care system, and if we decided […]
RETURN TO ME February 12, 2020 | Esther 4:1–5 DEVOTIONS This Month’s Issue What does grief look like? We express our grief in many different ways. At times, we may mourn in private. Other times, we long for the support and company of close family and friends. We may find comfort in staying busy or […]
NOT BY CHANCE February 11, 2020 | Esther 3:5–15 DEVOTIONS This Month’s Issue In 2011, TIME Magazine listed the “Top 100 Toys of All Time.” Included on that list was a toy called the Magic 8 Ball. It worked like this: When users shook the sphere and asked a yes/no question, a twenty-sided die floating […]
THE PLACE OF PROVIDENCE February 9, 2020 | Esther 2:21–23 DEVOTIONS This Month’s Issue God’s providence has been compared to an elaborate piece of embroidery. If you look at the underside, all you see are knots and tangles. But flipping it over reveals a beautiful and intentional design. Our earthly, limited view, means we are […]
STANDING FIRM February 8, 2020 | Esther 2:19–20 DEVOTIONS This Month’s Issue A 2019 study reported that as many as 64 percent of twentysomethings who grew up in the church have walked away. A new book from the Barna Group, however, takes a look at those who chose to stay. In Faith for Exiles, David […]
KNOWING RIGHT FROM WRONG February 7, 2020 | Esther 2:12–18 DEVOTIONS This Month’s Issue Can you imagine having a full year of spa treatments? It might sound luxurious to us, but for the young women in Susa, any pleasure that might have been enjoyed was certainly mixed with grief, fear, and shame. When it was […]