Godly Insights for the 21st Century Life

"Those here without the Lord, how do you cope? For this morning we don't mourn like those who have no hope." ~ Newsboys, " Breakfast " "But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who have died, so that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope" ~ 1 Thessalonians 4:13 Most of the time when I'm asked what my favorite song is, I tend to say the name of whatever song is speaking to me at that time. Christian music is full of so many great songs, and it always seems that another great song is released several times a year. It's almost impossible to choose just one to be an overall favorite, but a few years ago, that's just what I did. That song is the very one quoted above, "Breakfast" by the Newsboys. So what about this song makes it my all-time favorite? Yes, it's incredibly goofy, which some people don't like about it, but it also has some deep theological truth interspersed among all t...

     This summer, Mom and I did some cleaning around the house. One of the things we found was an old CCM magazine talking about the upcoming book and CD set chronicling the 100 greatest songs in Christian music. While the article hinted at some of the songs featured in the countdown, we were really curious to see the entire list. While we could find the track list for some of the CDs, we couldn't see the entire list without reading the book. We had to use an inter-library loan to get it, but it was worth it to be able to uncover the mystery of which songs made the list.     My parents and I really enjoyed reading the book and seeing the choices that the editors made. Some of the songs on the list came as no surprise. (Among the top five were " Awesome God " by Rich Mullins, " Jesus Freak " by DC Talk, and " I Can Only Imagine " by MercyMe.) Some of the songs I knew well, but not their original versions. (I've sung " Soon and Very Soon " ...

Last month, my church had Vacation Bible School, and this year's theme was Hero Central. Throughout the week, the storytelling team taught the kids about heroes from the Bible, and what each hero taught us about what it means to be a hero for God. Monday: (1 Samuel 16:1-13)  The first story of the week was about Samuel anointing David as the next king of Israel. King Saul was not following along with what God wanted him to do, so God gave Samuel the task of anointing a new king from among the children of a man named Jesse. So that Saul would not find out, God told Samuel to take a heifer to sacrifice and invite Jesse and his children to the sacrifice. Once everyone was assembled, Samuel had each of the children come in to see which of them God wanted him to anoint, but none of the six arrogant children there was God's choice. Samuel then asked Jesse if he had any other children, and he replied that the youngest was out in the field watching the sheep. Samuel asked Jesse to se...