Category Archives: Shared Devotions

‘You are not to be like that.” Luke 22:26 “Exceptional choice,” she enthusiastically nodded.  A big scoop of black pepper chicken landed on my take-out plate.  Since I ordered a “big plate panda meal”—not merely the bowl—two more entrees were included for $11.95.   “Oh, that’s my favorite,” she radiated as I laid down my next…

Lenten Reflection by Bruce Main “They filled both boats so full they began to sink.” Luke 5:7 I’m driving north on Route 130 to my office in Camden.  Not a long commute.  3.8 miles exactly.  With traffic stops and minimal congestion about 11 minutes. Dunkin Donuts, Wawa, Dollar Tree, Popeyes Chicken, McDonalds, Auto Zone and…

My thoughts are not your thoughts…”  Isaiah 55:8 Abandoned.  Discovered in a cardboard box.  Not the way a baby should begin life.  Adopted a few months later by Japanese American parents in the early 1970’s, Shari’s father always carried the residual memories of spending his formative years in US internment camps.  Never feeling like she…

READ: JOHN 6: 1-15 Then Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother spoke up.  “There is a young boy here with two barley loaves and two fish.  But what good is that with this huge crowd?” (V. 8) Miraculous!  Awesome!  Amazing!  Transforming!  Superlative words that do not even come close to describing the effect of Cornerstone Christian High…

“… and all who heard it were amazed.  Luke 2:18 “God was winking at you,” chuckled my 91-year-old mother-in-law.  “Happens to me all the time.”  I had just finished spinning a remarkably improbable story.  Like one of those billion-to-one odds kind of stories—a moment where the convergence of time place and circumstance is unusually precise. …

“Let us go now…so they went with haste.”   LUKE 2:14 “I’d been asleep about an hour,” shared my bleary-eyed. 36-year-old son, Calvin.  “The rain woke me up.  Relentless.  Clock read12:11am.”  A warm bed on a cold night is pretty tough to surrender.  Few things in life are more delicious than knowing you’re dry and safe…

The Christmas morning I spent alone in the hospital was nothing like the scenes I had grown up experiencing.  At 25 years old, a blockage in my small intestine required emergency surgery and landed me in the hospital for 10 days; day 7 was Christmas.  There were no sounds of family laughter, no rustling of…

One might get a little upset finding 15 trash can meticulously lined up in the program room—the same space staff eat lunch, children play and teens get weekly tutoring.  Did someone get their instructions mixed up?  But at a closer look.  These aren’t ordinary trash cans—they’re brand new, gleaming white, and each one is overflowing…

“Boil it down,” I pressed.  You’ve invested thousands of dollars and hours of meeting time…what’s the most memorable thing he ever said?”  Startled by the question, my host paused momentarily.  I was actually curious.  Retaining an expensive leadership consultant is a luxury I never could afford.  Here was a chance to glean good insight on…

READ: ACTS 17: 22-33 And one of your altars had this inscription on it: “To an Unknown God.”  This God, whom you worship without knowing it, is the one I’m telling you about. (V. 23) The armistice ending WWI was signed at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month.  Armistice Day…