John Milton was a great poet in the 1600s. He is most known for his epic poem Paradise Lost but not many people know the circumstances under which he wrote his most famous works. He was born in December of 1608 in London, England. He studied independently for six years in preparation for his career in […]
Ludwig van Beethoven was a great pianist and composer in the 1700s and is still considered a musical genius to date. He was born in 1770 in Germany. He was raised by his alcoholic father who took to teaching him music in a rather brutal way. Often he would be flogged, locked in a cellar […]
John 15: 1 “I am the real vine, and my Father is the gardener. He breaks off every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and he prunes every branch that does not bear fruit, so that it will be clean and bear more fruit.” Verse 4-8 — “Remain united to me and I […]
John 11: 25 “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me will live even though they die; and all those who live and believe in me will never die. Do you believe this?” John 7:37-39 On the last and most important day of the Festival Jesus stood up and said in […]
John 14: 6 Jesus answered him, “I am the way, the truth and the life; no one goes to the Father except by me. John 8:32 You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. Verse 34— Jesus said to them, “I am telling you the truth: everyone who sins is a […]
John 15: 10 “If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. Verse 12-17: “My commandment is this: Love one another, just as I love you. The greatest love a person can have for his friends is to give his […]
John 10: 9-11 “I am the gate. Whoever comes in by me will be saved; they will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only in order to steal, kill and destroy. I have come in order that you might have life — life in all its fullness. I am the […]
Ephesians 6: 25-27 Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the Church and gave his life for it. He did this to dedicate the church to God by his word, after making it clean by washing it in water, in order to present the church to himself in all its beauty—pure and faultless, without […]
John 6:33 For the bread that God gives is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. Verse 35 — “I am the bread of life,” Jesus told them. “Those who come to me will never be hungry; those who believe in me will never be thirsty…” Verse 51 — I […]
I grew up Catholic so some of what I share will be influenced by my Catholic faith (just giving you a heads up). Now as Catholics we believe in the Holy Trinity— God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Let’s start at the beginning. We all know God the Father, but just […]
Zhuang Zi was a brilliant philosopher and strategist who lived in ancient China. His abilities were many and several rulers sought his services. One of them, King Wei, sent his courtiers out to Zhuang Zi’s pastoral home to invite him to come to Wei’s court and be the leader’s chief counselor. They found him there […]
The carpenter I hired to help me restore an old farmhouse had just finished a rough first day on the job. A flat tire made him lose an hour of work, his electric saw quit, and now his ancient pickup truck refused to start. While I drove him home, he sat in stony silence. On arriving, he invited […]
One quiet and peaceful morning, it was snowing. The fluffy snowflakes slowly circled in a captivating dance, slowly falling to earth. Two little snowflakes flying close to each other struck up a conversation and to avoid drifting away from each other, they held each other’s hands. One of the snowflakes said cheerfully, “Flying is such an […]
In Japan, in a village near the capital city, there lived an old samurai. One day when he was conducting a class for his students, one young warrior, who was famous for his rudeness and cruelty, approached the samurai. His favorite technique was provocation: he would make his opponent so indignant that, blinded by rage, […]
Gomer’s marriage to Hosea is one big, real-life parallelism of God’s thoughts and feelings about Israel and Judah at that time. Hosea was a prophet whom God spoke to about his frustration with Israel’s worship of baal and unfaithfulness to him. He considers Israel to be like his wife, for whom he provides abundantly, but […]
The story of the Samaritan woman is quite the incredible one because she was chosen to be the gateway through which many more Samaritans would come to believe in Jesus. It was no mistake, her testimony was what brought many Samaritans into Jesus’ fold. Now in those days, Jews did not associate with Samaritans. They […]
During the time when Jesus was conducting his ministry, at one time he was seated in the Temple teaching a crowd. The Pharisees and Teachers of the Law had grown afraid of him and had began plotting to catch him in a mistake. They did so by asking him questions and posing situations to him […]
Jesus told his disciples a parable about a widow who lived in a certain town. The judge of that town neither feared God nor cared about men, but the widow kept going to him with a plea for justice against her adversary. In those days a judge would sit somewhere and people would go to […]
One time, Jesus went to visit Simon the Pharisee. You will remember that the Pharisees were part of the ruling class in those days, and formed a part of the Sanhedrin Council. Although fairly liked by the masses (in comparison to the Sadducees – other superior members of the Sanhedrin Council), Jesus took issue with […]
If there’s anything we know about being a woman, it’s that sometimes we’re called to give and give until we have nothing left. This is the story of the Widow of Zarephath who lived alone with her little boy. Those were the days when King Ahab ruled Israel. King Ahab was the one whose wife […]
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