Consider this

“Lord, the God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments, let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer your servant is praying” (Nehemiah 1:5-6). That is the start of a prayer by a man named Nehemiah. At the time, he was facing a daunting task. Success looked remote at best and so he prayed. The important thing to notice here is not just the fact that he prayed, but to whom he prayed. Look at his description of God. It will not only give you a good picture of God, but an idea as to why he prayed in the first place. The first word to notice is “Lord” which means, “One who owns or controls as a master… the one in full control”. Nehemiah knows that he is not in charge and that there is a bigger plan to be lived by than his own. That is a hard lesson to learn, but it is the starting point of all spiritual growth. Next he refers to God as “the God of Heaven”. This may be a simple referenc...

It may just be the “Cinnamon hearts” talking (I am eating a handful as I type this), but I have to say that I like Valentine’s Day! Now, before you flood my inbox with emails stating how Valentine’s Day is just a fake holiday made up by the card companies to force us to spend money needlessly on a bunch of junk that we did not want or need, let me assure you: I get that part. If you want to point out that one should cherish their loved ones every day of the year and not just when some day in February tells them to, “check!” Some will say that Valentine’s Day is nothing more than commercialism to the extreme where the only valid way to express your love for someone is to buy them something. If you think it is bad for that reason, I am with you there. However, I still think that Valentine’s Day is valuable simply because it reminds us to do what we know should be doing. It is a fact of life that many good things are taken for granted simply because they are a...

Last Sunday I spent part of the afternoon watching the “58th National Hockey League All-Star Game” from Raleigh, North Carolina. Normally this is a boring game with no hitting and a lot of highly talented players skating around at about half speed. One interview, though, made it worth my time. During the third period, the CBC’s Scott Oake interviewed Daniel Briere from the Philadelphia Flyers. Following that, Oake turned to Briere’s thirteen year old son, Caelan, who was standing on the player’s bench behind his dad and asked, “What has been the best part of the All Star weekend for you?” Did Caelan talk about meeting all the players? Did he mention getting to watch the All Star game from the player’s bench? Did he talk about the big hotel room that the NHL made available to his family? Did he mention all the stuff that the game sponsors gave them? Did he say that he liked all the good food in the fancy restaurants? If you saw it, you know that he did not mention any of t...