17 Mar 2026
What motivates us? Is it something God would be proud of? Do we trust Him to guide every step we take? Are we confident that He knows what is best for us? Philippians 2:1-11.
Does God Play Bingo?
What is your letter? Preparation Indulge me a moment. Think of life like a Bingo game. You come into the game with one card and it’s yours for life. As time goes by, God calls out numbers. Sometimes HE calls a friend or a member of your family, but at times, when you least expect it, HE calls your number. Most of us travel through life, thinking we are in charge. We play the game till our numbers line up and point us to victory. We try to move heaven and earth to find a way that makes sense. The goal, after all, is to make the pieces fit, to line up the numbers, to win. If we spend all of our lives thinking that is the goal, then we have missed the point all together. The goal is to hear God call our number and to watch God move heaven and earth to get exactly what HE wants. God calls our number when HE is ready, not when we think it’s time or past time. To us it makes sense to line up all the numbers; to God it makes sense to move his people into position for this life and the next. I have friends who never quite understood why God called their numbers. Life seemed to never be complete. Understanding eluded them till they moved off the card into the next world. Now it all makes sense. We get distracted by trying to figure out the clues; we want to understand how God connects the dots. We want life to make sense, to have meaning and purpose. It does, but sometimes it’s a mystery. So enjoy! When God calls your number, step out and claim the moment. Take the challenge. Listen for HIS voice. HE knows how it all fits and when it makes sense. B4! Is that you? Inspiration Rich was very comfortable doing exactly what he had been doing, but these crazy people kept hounding him. They want him on their shortlist for the next CEO of World Vision. “Were they out of their minds?” he thought. At the close of a conversation with a member of the search committee, Rich was asked, “If you are selected for this job, you will have to travel to some of the worst places in the world. You will be exposed to heartbreaking things: children living in garbage dumps, women who have lost their children to disease, people on their deathbeds with AIDS. Are you comfortable with that?” “Comfortable?” Rich gasped. “I am so uncomfortable with that, I can’t even express it! I am terrified! I am not the guy you want at your bedside in the midst of your suffering.” For days Rich pushed this pending venture as far away as he could. Then came that bewildering morning call, “Rich, this is Bob. I’ve gathered the six members of the search committee together and asked them to write their first choice on a slip of paper, fold it, and pass it to me. Your name was on each one. You’ve got the job!” “What? But I don’t want the job. I can’t do this job. This can’t be right.” After he calmed down a bit, Rich told Bob, “Well, you better keep the second guy on the hook.” Then, just before Rich and his wife were to fly to Seattle to do a little first-hand World Vision investigation, Keith, well-healed entrepreneur, surprised Rich with a job offer that would mean millions of dollars in options. Rich was interested, but he had to tell Keith of his dilemma without revealing the World Vision name. “We have to go check out this charitable organization. I have to finish the process, regardless. Then, I’ll give you an answer.” Keith was amazed that Rich was even considering leaving his career, but out of the blue he began … “Decades ago,” he stated, “my wife and I adopted a little girl from India. Then at age ten she died. The loss tore us apart. Months later I was going through the mail and saw an appeal from a group called World Vision. I responded and they connected me with a new “daughter.” For years we wrote. If that’s the kind of thing you are leaving business to do, well, that I can understand.” “World Vision IS the group, Keith. They want me to be their US President.” God was calling Rich’s number. B1 Read about Rich and World Vision in “The Hole in Our Gospel,” by Richard Stearns. Motivation Looking back on your life, when has God called your name, surprised you with something unexpected and out-of-the-box? Have you thanked HIM? Are you still listening? The call usually comes when you are comfortable or have your eye focused somewhere else. Don’t try to fit all of life together. Take it one number at a time. One night Eli, whose eyes were becoming so weak that he could barely see, was lying down in his usual place. The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the house of the LORD, where the ark of God was. 4 Then the LORD called Samuel. Samuel answered, “Here I am.” And he ran to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.” But Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.” So he went and lay down. Again the LORD called, “Samuel!” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.” “My son,” Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.” Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD: The word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him. A third time the LORD called, “Samuel!” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.” Then Eli realized that the LORD was calling the boy. So Eli told Samuel, “Go and lie down, and if
Anything Goes – Except Faith
You can believe in anything, except God? A pervasive and dominant spirit of contemporary culture is its ability to tolerate practically everything that was once deemed intolerable. It is a mood. A climate. An all-encompassing frame of mind. In textbooks, this theory of human action is labeled “relativism.” It holds that the rightness or wrongness of behaviors is relative to each person’s individual opinion or to the social custom of her time and place. Stated negatively, it holds that moral truth is not the same for all people. Everything is up for grabs. Relativism became palatable and eventually gained the upper hand because of its polar opposite – dogmatism. There have always been individuals or groups that are willing to dictate beliefs and behaviors to others. These dictators, tyrants, and authoritarian parties claim to know what is true and yield to no request for proof. It is true because they say so! Questioning is simply not allowed. But a strange thing happened on the road to non-judgmentalism and tolerance. All points of view came to be tolerated except the one which holds that truth and falsehood are real categories, that some acts are good and others bad. Faith may have suffered the most in this great cultural shift. About the only thing that will not be tolerated in today’s super-tolerant world is a Christian claim to truth or the public presentation of one of its moral claims. So “God exists” is allowed as a private belief; it just can’t be offered as a public truth. “Lying is evil” or “fornication is wrong” may be held as a private standard; it mustn’t be stated as a norm by which character is examined. Ironically, there can be no genuine tolerance unless one is committed to a strong view of truth and morality. You don’t “tolerate” people with whom you already see eye to eye. You can only “tolerate” those with whom you disagree. Authentic tolerance means treating someone with fairness and respect – even though you disagree. It means extending to others the right to disagree with your beliefs. More than that, it means trying to see the other’s point of view and granting anything of value it captures. It means being willing to offer support for your views, not simply asserting something and expecting others to accept it on your word; it means listening to other points of view with fairness. Respectful discussion produces understanding. It even leads to changed points of view. So don’t apologize for having an opinion or a strong belief about something. Don’t be intimidated when someone calls you an old stick-in-the-mud (or worse) because of your attitude toward promiscuity or cheating on taxes. Jesus never said it was wrong to make ethical judgments, only that we should not judge carelessly. Don’t be so open-minded that you let all your common sense fall out. “Stop judging by mere appearances,” Jesus said, “but instead judge correctly” (John 7:24 NRSV). And he was not being a bigot when he said it. About the author: Rubel Shelly preached for decades and served as a professor of medical ethics, Bible, and philosophy at multiple universities. He was a former president of Rochester College and Professor of Philosophy and Religion at Lipscomb University. He was the author of more than 30 books and hundreds of inspirational articles. His commitment to a non-sectarian presentation of the gospel touched countless lives.
Events and Emotions
Have you ridden the roller coaster lately? We’ve all had hectic and trying times in our lives. Many of us have said, “What a bad day it was!” Have you ever had a particularly bad week, when everything went wrong? Can you think back over your life and remember an especially bad year? For me, 1985 and 1989 were two years that weren’t very good. On the opposite end of the spectrum, we’ve had those magical and wonderful times that we’ve never wanted to end. Life brings us a few ups and downs. Sometimes life’s events come at us too fast to take it all in at once. Other times, the burdens seem to linger on and on. Have you ever experienced a week, or so, of mixed events, all charged with emotions? The “things of life” have occurred far too fast for me recently. I’ve needed to buckle my “emotional seatbelt” in order to ride it out. On the heartbreaking end, my cousin’s wife in Utah complained of headaches and went to the hospital. She died twenty-four hours later of brain cancer. No one knew that she was ill. It was a shock. On a happier note, some family members traveled to Sherman, Texas, to celebrate my father’s 100th birthday. The day before, he lead a song during the morning worship service – “When We All Get to Heaven.” I was so touched to see him lead that song. We had a wonderful reunion – seeing so many of our friends from the congregation. Many people sent cards to my father. The telephone rang off the hook all day. Several friends dropped by to visit. One of the friends who appeared on the doorstep was the minister who officiated at my wedding. My husband and I had our picture made with him. It was an awesome feeling to know that we were all together again within a few days of our 40th wedding anniversary. Our wedding had taken place in Sherman – we live in San Diego – and it was great to see him after all these years. Coincidentally, we saw the best man from our wedding at the church building. Daddy’s birthday dinner and party were low-key. He didn’t want any fuss. I couldn’t believe that my father had turned 100. I had never even attended a birthday gathering for a centenarian. My parents’ picture was on the front page of the local newspaper with a nice article about his life – see the links below. Within a few days of that happy occasion, we had another sad one – my father-in-law’s memorial service. He was a good man. Among the pictures and flowers at the front of the church building, one unusual item stood out. It was a large candy bar: dark chocolate. Only a family member would have grasped the significance of the candy. He loved chocolate, and had us trained to give him dark chocolate for any gift-giving occasions. He had become diabetic in later years, and wasn’t supposed to eat it. One of his grandsons broke off little pieces of the chocolate bar to share during our time of light refreshments after the service. I almost “lost it” when I ate that little piece of chocolate, and thought of “Fafa” – his affectionate nick-name. Today is our 40th wedding anniversary. We’ll celebrate by going out to eat tonight – just the two of us. Later on, when things settle down, we may take a belated anniversary trip somewhere. However, I’ve taken a real live trip down memory lane over the past few days – that’s sometimes the best kind of trip. Every year on our anniversary, my in-laws used to send flowers as their way of wishing us well. My mother-in-law called events like this “victories and milestones.” We lost her two years ago, and the anniversary flowers stopped at that time. I almost expected flowers today, and then remembered that they weren’t coming. However, I also remembered the joy of years past, when things were different. What a blessing! If you’re celebrating, sorrowing, or somewhere in-between, remember that God is with us always and loves us, no matter what. He is with us in the ever-changing seasons of life! There is an appointed time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace (Ecclesiastes 3:1-10 NIV). About the author: Katha’s small town upbringing in Sherman, Texas was slow paced, with loving parents, lots of down home cooking, and church attendance. Katha graduated from San Diego State University with a degree in English and continued graduate studies in English at Abilene Christian University. Katha was an editor at a publishing company and has done freelance for businesses as well as writing devotional articles for Power for Today. She and her husband have two grown children and a granddaughter. Katha enjoys reading, crocheting, yoga, and singing in groups and as a soloist.
Today’s Verse – Colossians 3:12
As God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. —Colossians 3:12 Thoughts on Today’s Verse… “I wonder what we should wear to that meeting?” This is an expected question when we are invited to an event or an occasion of great honor. In this passage, Paul reminds us to put on the set of clothing that is always in style, especially with God. We should clothe ourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience! We wear this clothing because we are special. We are God’s chosen people who are holy and dearly loved. This clothing is from the Ultimate Designer’s “Godly Character Collection.” We should best wear it when with other people, and when we are alone by ourselves, and we think no one is looking. These qualities are hard to wear, but always a blessing to those who meet us when we’re decked out in this wardrobe. Our prayer is that when we put on these clothes, others will not notice us, but the gracious God who chose us, loves us, and made us his holy children! My Prayer… Abba Father, thank you for bringing me into your family. May I never disappoint you in the way I treat others. May they see in me the qualities of character that they can only attribute to your presence and grace in my life. To you be the glory and the honor, forever and ever, in the name of Jesus and in the compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience in my life by your grace. Amen. All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House.
16 Mar 2026
Jesus predicted that Peter would deny knowing Him (John 13:38). He knew in advance that that would happen. Peter had no clue and swore he would never betray Him. It came to pass in John 18:17. That’s how well God knows us. May we trust what He says concerning us. May He be gracious enough to speak to us and may we heed what He says.
It’s About Seeing Us!
Do you see and listen to these folks around you? Josh has shared a few stories with me about his friend Jack. He has come to call him “Professor” Jack. I can understand that venerable title, given some of the really important things Jack taught him. Professor Jack is a homeless man in Detroit. In better days, he played in a band, owned a restaurant, and had a family. Addiction to drugs took all those things away from Jack. When Josh first met him, Jack was taking a meal from some church members whose hearts had been convicted about their need to help the poor. And he certainly qualified. Jack began to be a tutor and coach to my young friend as the two just sat and talked. Josh can, in fact, tick off a catalog of things he learned from Jack. One of the most important lessons came early in the course. As with first-rate teachers from Moses to Socrates to Jesus, Jack was open to questions. So Josh dared to ask him what good-intentioned people with charitable hearts could do that would really make a difference for the poor and homeless. “Make us feel real,” he said. “We want to feel like we are real people. See us. Talk to us. Be with us. Help us feel. It isn’t just about feeding us or giving us clothes. It’s about seeing us.” Now there’s a lesson that do-gooders like me need to learn! We know what Jesus taught about visiting the sick, feeding the hungry, and clothing the naked. And we know that faith without works is dead. So we send get-well cards or visit hospitals. We donate money and build soup kitchens. We drop off used clothing. All those are good things. But what about personal awareness? What about communicating a person’s worth? What about making her feel valued rather than pitied? And how do I let someone know he is a human being to me, not a project? Professor Jack says it is as simple, direct, and difficult as making eye contact. Spending a little time in conversation. Asking an occasional question – and really taking what is said to heart. Okay, so you’re not the next Mother Teresa or someone who is going to give up your warm bed to live among street people in the dead of winter. Me either! But we can try to keep our giving and caring from becoming impersonal. We can actually be on-site occasionally. Give time as well as money. Have a conversation. Show some respect. It would be a fitting tribute to Professor Jack. He died of an overdose in December. I’m glad he knew he had been seen before he died. [Jesus said]Give what you have to anyone who asks you for it; and when things are taken away from you, don’t try to get them back. Do for others as you would like them to do for you.“Do you think you deserve credit merely for loving those who love you? Even the sinners do that! And if you do good only to those who do good to you, is that so wonderful? Even sinners do that much! And if you lend money only to those who can repay you, what good is that? Even sinners will lend to their own kind for a full return.Love your enemies! Do good to them! Lend to them! And don’t be concerned that they might not repay. Then your reward from heaven will be very great, and you will truly be acting as children of the Most High, for he is kind to the unthankful and to those who are wicked. You must be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate. (Luke 6:30-36 NLT) About the author: Rubel Shelly preached for decades and served as a professor of medical ethics, Bible, and philosophy at multiple universities. He was a former president of Rochester College and Professor of Philosophy and Religion at Lipscomb University. He was the author of more than 30 books and hundreds of inspirational articles. His commitment to a non-sectarian presentation of the gospel touched countless lives.
The Bookmark
What good is a little bookmark? In the huge scheme of things, bookmarks do not play a very important role. They are fairly incidental – convenient but not essential. People often fuss about a mislaid book, but does anyone fuss about a mislaid bookmark? The bookmark’s exalted cousin, the book, is copyrighted, criticized, computerized, reviewed, reviled, revered, discussed, defamed, disputed, distributed, even sometimes black-marketed. It can even be burned or extinguished in a culture. But bookmarks? Who cares? Has anyone ever heard of a “burn the bookmarks” campaign? And what intrepid little battlers they are! They outlast any thumbed-over old volume. Decades after a book has drawn its last readable breath, its bookmark is as fresh as a daisy and as new as tomorrow. Did you know that a bookmark can suspend thought indefinitely? It will hold your mind at the full-stop where you stopped thinking. It can then take you back to the same moment a day, a week, a year, or even a decade later. So don’t mess with bookmarks, especially the ones that carry individually designed messages. Their one-liners can rock the foundations of belief. Usually they have an intriguing little picture at the top – just to get your attention – and below it they have their philosophy. They say things like, “You are not what you think you are, but what you think, you are.” That’s a conversation killer if ever there was one. You would never dare express your thoughts again with that sliding in and out of life’s pages. One of my bookmarks has the most potent screamer I have ever heard. I don’t know who the author is, but I do hope he got a Knighthood or a clap of thunder or something significant. He penned, “It doesn’t take much of a man to be a Christian, but it takes all there is of him.” Like I said, don’t mess with bookmarks. If you do, they will hound you for the rest of your life. They will travel in and out of every page of your personal history. Mine does. (With apologies to Proverbs 23:7 and Deuteronomy 6:5!) About the author: Elizabeth is a team writer for “Just a Minute” e-zine.
It’s All the Rage
Can you let go of your brick or do you still want to throw it? It appears to be all the rage these days. Rage, that is. It comes in countless varieties – road rage, grocery store rage, airline rage, youth sports rage, restaurant rage, standing-in-line rage, can’t-get-in-line rage, ad nauseum. There is no end to short tempers and bad manners on public display these days. Think about the sports pages of your newspaper. Poor sportsmanship and anger literally “beat out” scores and game highlights. The fiercest action is in the stands. A Texas mother slaps the mother of a girl on the winning basketball team at the end of the game. A Florida high school baseball coach breaks an umpire’s jaw after a disputed call. A father beats another father to death in an argument over rough play at their sons’ hockey practice. All sorts of explanations are offered for this epidemic of anger. Social scientists blame stress, high expectations, and multi-tasking. This isn’t merely a psychological problem. It’s a moral issue that reflects a lack of the virtue called self-control. It is a lack of respect for other people and reflects the childish sentiment some never outgrow that everything must happen my way. If Jesus taught his disciples to suffer persecution for the gospel without retaliating and to turn the other cheek to personal insults, what implications do you think his teachings have for getting cut off in traffic or a referee’s bad call? The late Henri Nouwen told the story of John and Sandy. “We’ve never had an argument,” said John. “Let’s have a squabble like other people have.” “But how do we start an argument?” asked Sandy. “It’s very simple,” replied John. “I take a brick and say, ‘It’s mine,’ and then you say, ‘No, it’s mine.’ And then we have an argument.” So they sat down to find out what quarreling was like, and John took a brick and said, “This brick is mine.” Sandy looked over at him gently and said, “Well, if it is yours, you take it.” Where did I get the idea that I am entitled to everything I want whenever I want it? Has our materialistic and narcissistic age so infected us all that no one can do without, wait her turn, or lose an athletic contest? Do others have rights? Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the sight of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone (Romans 12:17-18 TNIV). If you’re holding a brick of anger or resentment today, don’t let fly. Let go. About the author: Rubel Shelly preached for decades and served as a professor of medical ethics, Bible, and philosophy at multiple universities. He was a former president of Rochester College and Professor of Philosophy and Religion at Lipscomb University. He was the author of more than 30 books and hundreds of inspirational articles. His commitment to a non-sectarian presentation of the gospel touched countless lives.
Today’s Verse – Acts 4:10-12
Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: “… It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. … Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” —Acts 4:10-12 Thoughts on Today’s Verse… “Jesus! Jesus! Jesus! There’s just something about that name!”* The words to the song are right. Salvation from our broken world and our warped nature is found in no one else except Jesus. He is our Savior because he was willing to come to this world, bear our limitations, endure the shame of the cross, carry the weight of our sin, and then triumph over all of it to bring us grace (Philippians 2:6-11). We wholeheartedly agree: “Salvation is found in no one else”! My Prayer… Through the precious name of Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ, my LORD, I thank and praise you, God Most High. Your love provided the sacrifice for my sin. Your power guaranteed my resurrection from the dead. Your Son’s willingness to spend a lifetime with us has given me a Great High Priest who intercedes with empathy for my struggles (Hebrews 2:14-18; Hebrews 4:14-16). His example shows me your great love. Thank you, O Father! Thank you for being so gracious and giving me such a wonderful Savior. Even the very name of Jesus is precious to me! O praise his name and thank you for his grace. Amen. * From the Bill and Gloria Gaither song “There’s Just Something About That Name”All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House.