“‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’” – Jeremiah 29:11 Mark Batterson, in his book “Play the Man: Becoming the Man God Created You to Be”, writes: “I spent an unforgettable week in the Galapagos Islands. This archipelago of islands off the coast of Ecuador hasn’t changed much since Charles Darwin sailed there on the HMS Beagle in December 1831 and studied fifteen species of finches. The Galapagos may be the closest thing to the Garden of Eden left on Earth! My son and I saw a two-h ..read more

“‘Is not my word like fire,’ declares the LORD, ‘and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?’” – Jeremiah 23:29 In 1931, Dietrich Bonhoeffer began teaching at the University of Berlin. His pastoral ministry continued as a chaplain and a teacher of a confirmation class for young boys in an impoverished part of Berlin, choosing to live in their neighborhood. It was during this year that Bonhoeffer experienced a radical conversion experience: “Then something happened, something that has changed and transformed my life to the present day. For the first time I discovered the Bible…I had often ..read more

“But they will reply, `It's no use. We will continue with our own plans; each of us will follow the stubbornness of his evil heart.'". - Jeremiah 18:12 In the summer of 1986, two Soviet ships collided in the Black Sea when the Admiral Nakhimov, a passenger liner, and the freighter Pyotr Vasev struck each other. Some 400 passengers died as they were hurled into the icy waters below. News of the disaster was further darkened when an investigation revealed the cause of the accident. It wasn’t a technology problem like radar malfunction–or even thick fog. The cause was human stubbornness. Each ca ..read more

“Like a partridge that hatches eggs it did not lay is the man who gains riches by unjust means. When his life is half gone, they will desert him, and in the end he will prove to be a fool.” - Jeremiah 17:11 In March 2024, Lamor Whitehead, nicknamed the “Bling Bishop,” was convicted in federal court of using a parishioner’s retirement savings and trying to extort a businessman while touting he had connections to the New York City mayor. Whitehead, the pastor at the Leaders of Tomorrow International Ministries in Brooklyn, was found guilty of five counts, including wire fraud, attempted ex ..read more

"The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” – Jeremiah 17:9 Lyndon Johnson was known as a master at the game of self-justification. His biographer, Robert Caro, described what would happen when Johnson came to believe something to be true, he would believe in it “totally, with absolute conviction, regardless of previous beliefs, or of the facts in the matter.” George Reedy, an aide who witnessed the same behavior, described LBJ as having “had a remarkable capacity to convince himself that he held the principles he should hold at any given time, and there ..read more

“Therefore this is what the LORD says: "If you repent, I will restore you that you may serve me; if you utter worthy, not worthless, words, you will be my spokesman. Let this people turn to you, but you must not turn to them.” – Jeremiah 15:19 In his book “Extraordinary Faith For Ordinary Time”, Larry R. Kalajainen writes the following on repentance: “Samuel Colgate, the founder of the Colgate business empire, was a devout Christian, and he told of an incident that took place in the church he attended. During an evangelistic service, an invitation was given at the close of the sermon for all ..read more

“You are always righteous, O LORD, when I bring a case before you. Yet I would speak with you about your justice: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease?” – Jeremiah 12:1 Hans Urs von Balthasar, in his book “A Theology of History”, writes the following about patience: “God intended man to have all good, but in . . . God’s time; and therefore all disobedience, all sin, consists essentially in breaking out of time. Hence the restoration of order by the Son of God had to be the annulment of that premature snatching at knowledge, the beat ..read more

"Let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord." — Jeremiah 9:24   In the book “The Faith of Elvis”, Billy Stanley, half-brother of Elvis Presley, poignantly shares the ups and downs of Elvis’ walk with Jesus. On a more humorous side, he shared this encounter between Elvis and Sammy Davis Jr.: “It was a kind of a funny thing, and also serious in a way, but one time in Las Vegas, he was talking to Sammy Davis Jr. Sammy noticed Elvis wearing both a Star of David and a cross necklace—two things that don’t normally go together because they represent t ..read more

“O my Comforter in sorrow, my heart is faint within me.” – Jeremiah 8:18 Thomas Kelly, in his book “A Testament of Devotion”, writes the following on the Comforter: “The sense of Presence! I have spoken of it as stealing on one unawares. It is recorded of John Wilhelm Rowntree that as he left a great physician’s office, where he had just been told that his advancing blindness could not be stayed, he stood by some railings for a few moments to collect himself when he “suddenly felt the love of God wrap him about as though a visible presence enfolded him and a joy filled him such as he had neve ..read more

“To whom can I speak and give warning? Who will listen to me? Their ears are closed so they cannot hear. The word of the LORD is offensive to them; they find no pleasure in it.” – Jeremiah 6:10 Stephen Macchia, in his book “Becoming a Healthy Church” writes the following: “We must tune our ears to hear God’s voice. It’s like the child who was told by his father during a symphony orchestra concert, “Listen for the flutes in this song. Don’t they sound beautiful?” The child, unable to distinguish the flutes, looks up at his father with a puzzled look, “What flutes, father?” The child first need ..read more