The Shield of Faith

I have a terrible habit of turning on the TV just for background noise, and the occasional Stop-and-Stare. One of my favorite kinds of shows is fixer-upper types. About a week ago or so there was an episode where a 100-year-old house was being refurbished. The floors were crooked. Almost like you were at the House of Mystery. Turns out the house had been built on an old sandy river bottom. There are many reasons why building a house on sand is not a good option. Coastaldreaml

Do you know Mr. Wonka? If not, I’m sure you have heard of him. Mr. Wonka? Willy Wonka? He is the eccentric founder and proprietor of the Wonka Chocolate Factory, and I was first introduced to him when I was about 9 or 10 years old. Played by Gene Wilder, Mr. Wonka gave me a whole new desire, and frankly appreciation, for chocolate. In 1971, Willy Wonka was portrayed by Gene Wilder in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. Wilder's portrayal is considered widely beloved and one

Obviously, tricking the love of your life into getting captured by his enemies would qualify as a relationship dealbreaker, but we have quite a few more red flags that Samson should have seen before they reached the Philistine-capture phase. First: Delilah did not follow Yahweh. Scripture doesn’t say that she’s a Philistine, but she does come from a town outside of Israel. It’s clear by her actions that she doesn’t follow God nor his commands. King Solomon, in later years, fe

He had just murdered an entire company of soldiers with a dried jawbone and now he is mighty thirsty. Judges 15:19 tells us that God opened the earth and water came out, and apparently this was very special water because after drinking it his strength renewed and Samson was revived. Chapter 15 ends by telling us that Samson was a leading judge in Israel for 20 years. His life is so fascinating to me. There is so much fallen-human condition in this story, including what happen

There was an expression, thousands of years ago, that is still repeated today. “An eye for an eye; a tooth for a tooth.” It basically means, people should be punished according to the way in which they offended. For instance, if your negligence causes my cow to die, I should have the right to kill your cow. If you knock my phone out of my hand causing it to break, I should have the right to do the same. But Jesus had an entirely different idea, saying, “You have heard that i

Yesterday we left off with Samson being betrayed by his bride; he became enraged and killed 30 men. The woman of his dreams became the wife of his best man, at his wedding! And then we stop and reflect on verse 4, “His father and mother did not know that it was from the Lord, for he was seeking an opportunity against the Philistines. At that time the Philistines ruled over Israel.” ESV This was God’s plan? And it only gets worse for Samson. Samson came from the tribe of Dan,

Friday, I wrote about a birth announcement delivered by an Angel. It was not the birth announcement delivered to Zacharias and Elizabeth. It was not the birth announcement delivered to Mary and Joseph. This birth announcement came to an unnamed woman and her husband Manoah. But let me ask you, do you enjoy a good riddle? For instance, “what belongs to you, but other people use it more than you?” Or, “I make two people out of one. What am I?” Or “I am white when I am dirty and

A few years ago, I shared the following on my Facebook page. It was titled “How to Keep a Relationship” and was geared toward the relationship of husband and wife, but I looked at it as any relationship; friends, family, any. “Communicate: Talk about things, the good and the bad. Build trusts. Be honest. Be faithful. Be there for one another. Make time for one another. Leave the past in the past. Know that having arguments is normal. Know that you won’t always be happy. Don’t

This story is a decade old, but I am still going to leave out the name. There is a big chain store, that despite a $17 billion profit in 2013, only paid their employees minimum wage, and some say it is costing taxpayers by doing so. According to a study released by Congressional Democrats 10 years ago, the low wages at just one store cost taxpayers $900,000 per year. The reason? Because workers are forced to rely on programs such as food stamps and Medicaid just to get by. Bi

I produce and host a program on Better Life Television called “Women in the Word”. It started out as a topical program. For instance the...

More human beings died by this cause than any other in 2022. Any guesses? I want to pause for just a moment and caution you that today’s writing is viewed as very controversial and could be an emotional trigger. I typically try to stay away from topics that could cause controversy; however, I believe in my heart this needs to be said/written today. So, the question was, what caused more human deaths than anything else in 2022? The answer is abortion. The National March for Li

When my oldest son was 5 and my youngest son at the time was 2½ , I witnessed something that forever changed me as a naive parent. It was evening, and I was barbecuing chicken outside. I had put the meat on low and came inside for a few minutes, leaving my two young sons playing in the front yard. I had left clear, verbal instructions to the boys "Don't play in the water." I was in the kitchen just a couple of minutes when I heard Wendell from the bedroom say to me, "Hey babe

Whether we are playing a board game or assembling a bunk bed; whether we are driving a car or starting our lawn mower; whether we are freestyling in the kitchen or using a recipe, there are certain rules in life that we must follow if we are hopeful of a good, or tasty, outcome. You cannot throw the playing pieces away and hope to have a successful board game. You cannot toss the instructions in the garbage can and hope to assemble that bunkbed stress-free. You cannot bake yo

As a young child I, for some reason, thought God the Father had created the earth. I now have a different understanding. Who created this world? Jesus and I can show you in just three texts. Number 1: Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” NKJV Who is “God” in this reference? Number 2: John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” NKJV Jesus is the Word, and The Word is God. Number 3: Colossians 1:15-

I know someone who recently bought a gym membership. The goal of course is to lose weight and gain muscle and strength. I cannot tell you the amount of money I have wasted on gym memberships over my adult life. The “want to” is there. The “need to” is certainly there. But that long-lasting, staying, commitment that is needed for true success, that is not there. One year, someone very close to me gave me a birthday card. It was a beautiful card with amethysts, my birth stone.

Two things happened yesterday that got me to thinking about misunderstandings. More to the point, not hearing exactly what is being said; hearing something that puts a whole new meaning on what you are truly trying to convey. The first was on a fixer-up program I like to watch. This family fixes up old camps and cabins next to beautiful lakes. I am especially fond of the before and after shots at the very end of the program. Anyway, I heard one of the men say, “Put me in cold

Two years ago today, Wendell Stark passed away. A husband to me for 30 years. The father to my four children, a loyal friend to a few, and the favorite grandpa to even fewer. Wendell Stark was a force to be reckoned with in his day. He was a strong, stubborn, hard-working man, but cancer caused him to become a mere shadow of the man he once was. We met on January 13, 1984. I had begun writing to him a few months prior and we decided we liked each other enough and wanted to ta

In just a couple of days we will say goodbye to 2022. And with the new year, often, comes New Year's Resolutions. I am terrible at keeping them. You? However, about 5 or 6 years ago I made a resolution that I kept all year. I tried it again the next year and the next and I was able to keep it. It was doable! So, once again, this year I will make the same resolution..."to never make a New Year's Resolution again." 🙂 The fact is, every day is, or should be, a day for self-impr

Hickory Dickory Dock. Old McDonald Had a Farm. Pop Goes the Weasel. Hey Diddle Diddle. The Muffin Man. Little Jack Horner. I could go on and on. These and many others, are childhood songs and nursery rhymes that I learned, well, as a child. Innocent songs for the innocence of childhood. Right? Or are they? Things are not always what they seem, and very often we lose sight of origins. Let's take a look at one of the above-mentioned songs. There are many versions of this horrif

Good morning and Merry Christmas. Ready or not…here we go! Let me ask you; do you have a favorite Christmas movie? My mom has invited a small group of church friends over to her place Christmas evening to watch a movie. Can you guess which one by these clues? It is based on the short story The Greatest Gift, by Philip Van Doren Stern. And it is loosely based on Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. A man has given up his personal dreams in order to help others in his community,