Start the New Year with A Simple and Rewarding Commitment
As the new year begins, many people set resolutions to improve their lives. One powerful and enriching way to start the year is by committing to read the Bible in a year. There are many means available to accomplish this. You can find printed Bibles, podcasts, CDs, downloadable audio, and websites designed for this purpose. These resources typically start on January 1st and continue daily for the entire year.
This might seem like quite the commitment for some, but many folks spend twice as much time daily swiping through content like ice bucket challenges, new dance moves, or watching a rock roll down a hill. Everyone has enough time daily to take this on. Even if you are not already a Christian, this is a great opportunity to learn more about the Christian faith and be on the same page daily with millions of other Christians. [Read more…]
Home Remodeling Adventure: Transforming Our Upstairs
My wife and I decided to remodel the upstairs of our home this year. Our main motivator was to replace the carpet that was installed when the home was built with anything but carpet and update the overall look of the space. This included new paint, new plugs and switches, replacing traditional can lights with LED lighting, new smoke detectors, and pulling out the carpet and replacing it with laminate flooring and new baseboards. Fortunately, our downstairs is engineered hardwood, so we do not need to tackle another carpet replacement project anytime soon. We received multiple quotes for the flooring part of the project that were priced about what we expected. But somewhere along the way, my wife managed to convince me that I could do the work better than a professional. I was already entertaining the idea of doing the work myself. Having a wife who was encouraging and supportive of me learning along the way made taking on the effort less monumental. [Read more…]
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. [Read more…]
I first heard Paul Harvey’s broadcast, ‘If I Were the Devil,’ over twenty years ago. I was surprised by how accurately this broadcast from 1965 lined up with the events at the time thirty-nine years later. As the broadcast approaches its 60th anniversary, its relevance to current events has only grown stronger. If you have never heard the broadcast before, I would encourage you to give it a listen or read by clicking on read more below.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
I consider myself fortunate and blessed to have grown up during an era when loving your country and striving to meet its founding ideals was normal and patriotic. Understanding our history, founding, and the course our nation charted was incorporated into our schools and daily lives. We loved our country without reserve and strived to achieve a level of perfection no nation in history had ever even dreamed of. Have we been perfect? No, we have been far from it at times, but our nation’s core ideals are committed to pursuing perfection, although we know perfection is allusive. It seems reasonable to me that your probability of achieving or landing near perfection is highly more probable having aimed for it over not. [Read more…]
When armed conflict between bands of American colonists and British soldiers began in April 1775, the Americans were ostensibly fighting only for their rights as subjects of the British crown. By the following summer, with the Revolutionary War in full swing, the movement for independence from Britain had grown, and delegates of the Continental Congress were faced with a vote on the issue. In mid-June 1776, a five-man committee including Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and Benjamin Franklin was tasked with drafting a formal statement of the colonies’ intentions. The Congress formally adopted the Declaration of Independence—written largely by Jefferson—in Philadelphia on July 4, a date now celebrated as the birth of American independence.
My wife and I recently explored the New Cuyama foothills with pack goats. One of our favorite roadside places to eat is Cuyama Buckhorn, which is located along California State Route 166. We travel the 166 often on our way to explore Carrizo Plain National Monument, and when we head south to visit friends in the Inland Empire. When my wife learned that they were offering goat hikes, she signed us up for the beginner ranch land hike. We were not certain what to expect, but it sounded fun. [Read more…]
Good Friday, the Friday before Easter, is the Christian day to commemorate the crucifixion of Jesus and His death at Calvary.
Good Friday is good because of what Christ did for mankind. Yes it is gruesome, but it was necessary to reconcile man to God and only His Son could accomplish this for us. Scripture shows us that death is not the end of the road. Resurrection is ahead. Resurrection is promised.
The biblical account of Good Friday can be found in all four Gospels:
Matthew | Mark | Luke | John
Good Friday this year is on Friday, March 29, 2024.
