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Have you heard of the term Black Friday? We all know it is where sales start at the beginning of the Christmas season. It is the Friday after Thanksgiving. For centuries, the adjective "black" has been applied to days when calamities occurred. So, the word black is an interesting word to use for the Friday after Thanksgiving — a little history of Black Friday for those who do not know it. The first known use of the term Black Friday to refer to the day after Thanksgiving was in the “Journal of Factory Management and Maintenance" in Nov...
What is light? Scientists really don’t know what light is, but we all know its many effects, and we know that it is radiation waves of different frequencies. However, what it is exactly cannot be truly explained as other things can be explained in science. We know that there could be no life on the earth without light. What the sun is to the earth, Jesus Christ is to the spiritual world. What effect the sun has on nature is the effect Jesus has on our cold, lifeless and sinful natures. Jesus says, in John 8:12, “I am the light of the wor...
Have you ever felt despair? Have you ever had a time in your life when you knew that you messed up things? I am sure that you have. We all have at some point in our lives. We are only human, right? As people, we tend to put our foot in our mouth or make an error in judgment. Sometimes, we mess up the job we are to do. Nothing that is intentional, but it happens from time to time whether we want it to or not. I remember a time when I was working at Wendy’s part-time during Covid to make extra money because my hours were cut drastically with m...
My son took me a long time ago to see “The Matrix.” He believed that the executive producer of this movie had to be a Christian. The movie reminded me how life can control us each day. We get so caught up in the day-to-day issues that we become like a hamster in a wheel, running the rat race, over and over. In the midst of all this, there is a war going on (Eph. 6:10–17): “A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. For we ar...
When I was a child, I would always test my parents’ limits. I became aware by doing this which buttons I could push with my parents and which buttons were best left un-pushed. Sometimes unknowingly or unwittingly, I would still accidentally press the wrong button and regret it later. Usually, this resulted in a punishment that was either physically painful or a creative punishment, but I still did not care for the results. All children do this, and I am sure as you are reading this, you are probably thinking of yourself at a young age when you...
Jesus made a perfect point in Luke 10:25-28 stating how you should love God and how we are to treat one another. "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself," (Luke 10:27). The transformation in the human heart is one of the most important aspects to help align the rest of the person with God. The heart is so important that most people will say that the body, spirit and heart are all one. The heart can lead the other two toward alignment as well...
When I was a kid, I was so fascinated with my grandfather and his military service during World War II. I did not know as a child that this was not something he really liked to talk about. It brought back memories that were painful for him to deal with. As a kid, I knew my grandfather served. I knew he landed at Normandy, and I knew that he was involved in the Battle of the Bulge. To me, he was a hero. What I did not realize at the time was the darker side of the war he experienced: The loss of his friends and being surrounded, hit in the head...
“For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8). The Bible tells us that faith is something that is absolutely essential for us to have. Most people start asking, “Well, if faith is so important, then what is faith? What do you mean by faith? What is the definition of faith? How can I know if I have proper faith? How much faith must I have?” Wait just a minute; not so many questions at the same time! Let’s slow down and take a look at things a little at a time. One question...
The things of this world constantly bombard us. Such as political correctness in saying what we can or cannot say or even what is acceptable to do or to say. We are inundated with commercials suggesting what we should buy or not, what is in or out. There is a culture of wanting things done and wanting them done now according to the individual and how they feel about it. The people around us influence us, and the community and the culture in which we live also play a part in how most people respond to this high-demand, fast-paced, socially...
I remember going to my grandparents for the holidays when I was a kid. It was always something I looked forward to. My grandparents on Mom and Dad's side lived in Kansas, just in different areas, but we would always alternate which one we would see for which holiday. At both places, I would always look forward to food and the love and fellowship of the family that was always felt around that dinner table while we were there. Everything was done at that table, from eating to business and playing...
