SEPTEMBER 5, 2024 READ: 1 Corinthians 13 (Focus vs. 4-13) MEMORY VERSE “[Love] is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered.” 1 Corinthians 13:5 BACKGROUND We hurried to a fast-food restaurant to have lunch together on my friend Jerrie’s short
SEPTEMBER 4, 2024 READ: Philippians 3 (Focus vs. 12-21) MEMORY VERSE “I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:14 esv BACKGROUND Sometimes surprisingly spiritual messages turn up in
SEPTEMBER 3, 2024 READ: Psalm 39 (Focus vs. 4-13) MEMORY VERSE “Hear my prayer, Lord, listen to my cry for help; do not be deaf to my weeping.” Psalm 39:12 BACKGROUND The first grader called the number for emergency dispatch.
SEPTEMBER 1, 2024 READ: Isaiah 65 (Focus vs.17-25) MEMORY VERSE “The wolf and the lamb will feed together.” Isaiah 65:25 BACKGROUND “I can’t believe what I’m seeing!” My wife, Cari, called me to the window and pointed out an adult
AUGUST 31, 2024 READ: Proverbs 22 (Focus vs.1-5) MEMORY VERSE “The prudent see danger and take refuge, but the simple keep going and pay the penalty.” Proverbs 22:3 BAKGROUND The sight was heartbreaking. A pod of fifty-five pilot whales had
AUGUST 30, 2024 READ: Zechariah 4 (Focus vs. 6-10) MEMORY VERSE “Do not despise these small beginnings.” Zechariah 4:10 nlt BACKGROUND At our wedding shower, our shy friend Dave stood in a corner clutching an oblong, tissue-wrapped object. When his
AUGUST 29, 2024 READ: Amos 2 (Focus vs. 6-16) MEMORY VERSE” “Seek good, not evil, that you may live.” Amos 5:14 BACKGROUND As a teenager, Ryan lost his mom to cancer. He found himself homeless and soon dropped out of
AUGUST 28, 2024 READ: Genesis 12 (Focus vs. 1-5) MEMORY VERSE “Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.” Genesis 21:5 BACKGROUND Talk about a layover. Phil Stringer waited eighteen hours to board a
AUGUST 27, 2024 READ: John 17 (Focus vs. 6-17) MEMEORY VERSE “They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.” John 17:16 BACKGROUND God designed the great gray owl as a master of camouflage. Its silver-gray
AUGUST 26, 2024 READ: Deuteronomy 2 (Focus vs. 1-7) MEMORY VERSE “The Lord . . . has watched over your journey through this vast wilderness.” Deuteronomy 2:7 BACKGROUND When I was a young believer, I thought “mountaintop” experiences were where
