Council Fire

“Now Israel (Jacob) loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age; and he made him a coat of many colors. And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him.” Genesis 37:3-4 (KJV, clarification added)

We see that Jacob practiced favoritism. This show of affection for one boy from a large family did not help the brothers in their attitude toward the favored one.

There is no excuse for sin at any time...

“But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid the fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.” Jonah 1:3 (NKJV)

A few years ago at our Kikino Family Bible Camp, one of our dogs was sniffing in a small white garbage bag, and his head got caught in the handle. He took off running for his life, as the bag was following him wherever he went! He was scar...

“When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of diffi culty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fi re of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you.” Isaiah 43:2 (NLT)

I was watching a news report this morning about an earthquake in Asia. It wasn’t as bad as some earthquakes, but it got me thinking about the “storms” we all face in life. Everybody has their share of storms—storms of health, relationships, finances, employment (or lack thereof) . . . storms of scenarios we...

“Honor thy father and mother; which is the fi rst commandment with promise; that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.” Ephesians 6:2-3 (KJV) The Bible is full of God’s wonderful promises for us to obey and reap His blessings. Exodus 20:12 is another scripture that instructs us to honor our parents—with a similar promise. For the most part, it was natural for me to love and honor my parents. But there was a time in my life I struggled, as I wanted to go my own way. It began when I left hom...

“But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and forever. Amen.” 2 Peter 3:18 (KJV) I remember when I fi rst came to Jesus. I was 16 years old and didn’t have a clue of how to follow the Lord! Over the years I learned many things about living for Jesus. I want to share with you the three biggest things that have helped me grow in my walk. (1) Getting into God’s Word. At fi rst l didn’t know much about the Bible and wasn’t too interested i...

“Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.” Isaiah 40:28a (NIV) Do you ever feel tired or a little dizzy? It might have something to do with our space travels. We ride on a spinning planet, traveling over 24,000 miles each day (at the equator) at a speed of 1,000 miles per hour. At the same time, we journey around our sun for a year at a speed of over 67,000 miles per hour, completing a tour of 92,960,000 miles. As we rotate on our axis and revolve in orbit arou...

“I am the vine; you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” John 15:5 (NKJV) How do we know if a person is fi lled with God’s Holy Spirit? What should we look for? We cannot see the way God sees, and we may not come to a proper conclusion. However, God does give us wise counsel. We are to look at the fruits of his or her life. Galatians 5:22-23a (NKJV) says: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness...

“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Matthew 6:34 (NIV) I have found there are many people who are not living for today. That includes me, at times. The enemy would love for us to live either in the past or in the future. It is so easy to live in the past, and we could be living with much regret . . . “If only I did it this way; if only I didn’t do that.” You can be so busy thinking about what you did or didn’t do. This is...

“For you formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well.” Psalm 139:13-14 (NKJV) King David, who wrote this psalm, was overwhelmed by God’s awesome creation in the womb. God knew everything about David. In Psalm 139:1-12, scripture indicates that God knew everything that David was doing and going to do—such as sitting down, resting, or when he was traveling. God knew what David was going to say before the words came out of his mou...

“The Sovereign LORD is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights.” Habakkuk 3:19(NIV) The power was off here at our country home for a few hours this morning. No lights, no coffee, no phone charger, no Calgary News on TV (no TV!), no heat, no nothing! The obvious solution? Drive 30km to the nearest town for breakfast, hang around and wait for the repair guys to do their thing! Bacon and eggs should help dull the pain. It got me thinking about how dependent we are on elec...