WordToday

1 kings 3:10   The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this.  Some time ago I was away from home for two weeks. Whenever I called home my four year old daughter would make sure that she had her turn at the phone. I am certain that she was completely unaware that the tenor and thrust of our conversations were almost always the same. They went something like this;  Her: Daddy, where are you?  Me: I have travelled for work  Her: Daddy, you are taking (soooo) long.  Me: I will be back soon. What did you do today?  Her: Daddy are you far away?  Me: Yes, but on Sunday I will be back. What did you do today?  Then she would sweetly ask.  Her: Daddy, will you bring me a present?  Me: Yes, I will get you a present.  Thereafter I would overhear her excitedly telling her brother that I would buy her 'present for a princess!' Whatever that is.  Monotonous as they were, I would actually look forward to having these conversations with my daughter. And eve

  I recently changed my computer password to ‘ Gott helfen Amerika ’  (God help America). I do this when I feel the need to have a daily reminder to pray for a country in crisis. And I do feel that the United States is in a crisis of sorts. Some of it is of her own making.  Her leaders in recent years have not been kind to her. Bill Clinton pushed through abortion policies and tried to mainstream the gay community, Bush ruined her economy through expensive and pointless wars. Then enter Obama; one of the most brilliant minds to have ruled that nation. He stabilized the economy but then handed Persia, Israel's nemesis, the power to be nuclear-armed nation in a few short years. And whether by intent or through  naivety  he has set the nation on a moral tangent from which she may never recover. During his rule, a great assault on the Christian faith has been shaping up and some see the danger ahead. Ravi Zacharias sums it up this way;   "If the worldview that framed her is a

The king said to Ittai the Gittite, "Why should you come along with us? Go back and stay with King Absalom." (2 Sam.15:19) David's son, Absalom had engineered a coup d'état against his own father. As the old king abandoned his palace he must have been all too aware that what was playing out before him was part fulfillment of Nathan's prophecy against his household after he committed adultery and murdered the poor woman's husband. It was a bitter moment for David as he fled from his son. However, even as the drama proceeded, David tells one of the loyal men following him, “Go back to king Absalom... ” For David it was a no-brainer. Absalom, his son had taken over the throne. Whether it was of God or not was not for him to consider at this moment. The very fact that the palace coup had been allowed by God was enough for him. He pointedly referred to his adversary as 'King Absalom !'  However, how does one so readily concede his palace, privileg

"David was greatly distressed because the men were talking of stoning him; each one was bitter in spirit because of his sons and daughters. But David found strength in the LORD his God." (1 Sam.30:6) David was isolated. The men under him blamed him bitterly for what they perceived as his failure to secure their families and property. They had gone out on a war expedition only to be turned back by the Philistine commanders in whose country they had sought refuge. As they arrived home they found that an enemy had struck in the absence. Their dwellings had been razed to the ground.   All their property was gone and their women and children taken captive. David was greatly distressed. Then in the midst of this doom and gloom we are told; ...but David found strength in the Lord. What does this mean? Simply that he pulled away from the men and from his present circumstances and turned to God instead. When he shifted his focus from his predicament and turned

Introduction-where it all began Many years ago I read a science fiction novel that described life after a major nuclear war. As people struggled to survive, a scientist discovered medicine that could protect humans against the harmful effects of radiation. However it had a major side-effect. Whoever took the pill found that he could suddenly hear other people’s thoughts. Many intriguing possibilities arose for those who could read other people’s thoughts and soon the drug became restricted to a master-class of rulers who used their new-found ability to rule the masses. Which makes me wonder; what are you thinking right now? Well, some several years ago Ohio State University commissioned a research to determine how many times men and women think about some key things every 24 hours. The results were pretty interesting:   The tally   Food Sex Sleep men 18 19 11 women 15 10 8.5   So the