Colossians 2:9-10 Ultimate Ruler

Our God reigns.     Colossians 2:9-10 (New Living Translation) For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body. 10 So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority.   Colossians 2:9-10 (The Message) Everything of God gets expressed in him [Christ], so… Read More

Colossians 2:8-9 Empty human traditions and superstitions

I remember the song from the 1960s, “If that’s all there is, then let’s keep dancing; let’s break out the booze and have a ball … if that’s all there is.” And even though my teenage years were full of fast ascents to mountaintops followed by equally-as-fast descents to the bottomless pit, I knew it… Read More

Colossians 1:24-25 Praise God from whom all blessings flow

Is there anyone who asks God for suffering? That’s a little different from seeing it coming, knowing that if you follow God you will suffer. Even then, we hope to avoid it. But through suffering, we grow in our faith and share the gospel. Through a recent illness of an infant grandson, (he suffered physically,… Read More

Colossians 1:11-12 God’s strength for the long haul

Agony. Death. Pain. Fear. Sorrow. We will experience these things and more as we go through life. Do I have to just grit my teeth and endure? In the middle of the deepest and darkest valleys, God will help me to move beyond my wailing question, “Why me?” I look to see God in the… Read More

Tears falling on the pages of our lives

I read Madeline l’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time, A Wind in the Door, and A Swiftly Tilting Planet.  But it’s only recently that I have read any of her non-fiction works and discovered a wise, loving, open-minded, strong woman of faith. Although she died in 2007, she has recently become a mentor to me. As a child of… Read More

Passing through the fire

I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength. Philippians… Read More

Philippians 4:14-16 Support

We aren’t all called to take on the challenges that Paul’s life was so full of. But we are all called on to support each other.   Philippians 4:14-16 (The Message) It was a beautiful thing that you came alongside me in my troubles. You Philippians well know, and you can be sure I’ll never forget… Read More