Mr. Nestye was a piece of work—or so we thought. “Why,” we wondered, “is our high school principal always hassling us?” As typical teenagers, we often looked for creative ways to buck authority, but as honors students, we also excelled in the classroom. In our youthful reasoning, we felt that we deserved a little latitude […]
The day began like any other. David, a teenage boy and the youngest of Jessie’s eight sons was doing what none of the older brothers wanted to do—watching the dumb sheep. David honestly did not mind; he enjoyed the freedoms and the rigors of outdoor life. But more than anything, David treasured the time alone […]
Wheat is getting an increasingly bad name in our day. Why? Generations of hybridization have engineered wheat which is more disease resistant, more pesticide resistant, more workable for baking, and generally more productive. However, the same cumulative modifications that have significantly helped reduce starvation across the globe also seem to be having adverse affects on […]
Feeling used by God is very different than feeling used by our world’s system. The world will use you, extract whatever they feel is of value, and then throw you away. The world’s system cares only for your usefulness; there is little to no concern for you as a person. Recently, I spent some time […]
In March of 1980, while walking back to my dorm on the campus of Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP), I surrendered my life to Christ. I am compelled to admit that there was much that I didn’t know at the time. I didn’t know that Indiana, PA would become my home and that I would […]
All of us probably have people that we don’t particularly like—those who rub us the wrong way with their attitudes or behavior. These are folks whom we simply prefer to avoid, doing our best to keep them at a comfortable distance. (I’m sure that at least a few others feel the same way about us!) […]
I’ve had better days. Monday morning began with the hopes of a productive week, but first we had to make a quick—or so I thought—exchange at the car dealership. My wife’s car was plagued by an ongoing safety issue and, after significant public pressure, the manufacturer had reluctantly agreed to a recall. After speaking with […]
Good intentions. Some say that the road to hell is paved with them. So is the winding path to spiritual anemia. Don’t almost all Christians have good intentions? Don’t we all want to draw closer to God, live out the reality of the Christian faith, and make a deep, long-lasting impact on this lost and […]
Dramatic. Powerful. Intense. All are words that I would use to describe the weeks following my conversion to Christianity. Surrendering my life to Christ was without question a calculated decision; I was not crying out to God in a moment of crisis. Still, I was a broken person and the Holy Spirit moved dramatically to […]
The air was thick with tension, but our hearts brimmed with hopeful optimism. Our beloved Pittsburgh Steelers had fought a tough game against their arch-rivals the Baltimore Ravens. Now the game was coming down to a doable 42-yard field goal attempt for the Pittsburgh win. The Steelers began to line up, but then ding-dong–our doorbell […]
