26_01_24_ODB_Devo_YMI

ODB: No More Prejudice

Many years ago, Julie Landsman auditioned for principal French hornist for New York’s Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. The MET held their auditions behind a screen to avoid prejudice by the judges.
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25_01_24_ODB_Devo_YMI

ODB: Strange Places

God, why is this happening? Is this really your plan for us?
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24_01_24_ODB_Devo_YMI

ODB: Quick to Listen

I felt my heart rate increase as I opened my mouth to refute the charges a dear friend was leveling against me. What I had posted online had nothing to do with her as she implied.
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23_01_24_ODB_Devo_YMI

ODB: Scraps to Beauty

My wife, Miska, has a necklace and hoop earrings from Ethiopia. Their elegant simplicity reveals genuine artistry. What’s most astounding about these pieces, however, is their story.
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22_01_24_ODB_Devo_YMI

ODB: The Right Focus

We’d known Kha for more than a year. He was part of our small group from church that met weekly to discuss what we’d been learning about God.
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21_01_24_ODB_Devo_YMI

ODB: Drop by Drop

“In everything / we look for pleasant ways of serving God,” writes sixteenth-century believer Teresa of Avila. She poignantly reflects on the many ways we seek to stay in control through easier, more “pleasant” methods than total surrender to God.
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20_01_24_ODB_Devo_YMI

ODB: Calling Out to God

In his book Adopted for Life, Dr. Russell Moore describes his family’s trip to an orphanage to adopt a child. As they entered the nursery, the silence was startling.
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19_01_24_ODB_Devo_YMI

ODB: God’s Protective Love

One summer night, the birds near our home suddenly erupted into chaotic cawing. The squawking intensified as the songbirds sent piercing calls from the trees.
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18_01_24_ODB_Devo_YMI

ODB: Washing Feet . . . and Dishes

On Charley and Jan’s fiftieth wedding anniversary, they shared breakfast at a café with their son Jon. That day, the restaurant was understaffed with just a manager, cook, and one teenage girl who was working as hostess, waitress, and busser.
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17_01_24_ODB_Devo_YMI

ODB: Choosing to Follow God

“The average person will make 773,618 decisions over a lifetime,” claims the Daily Mirror. The British newspaper goes on to assert that we “will come to regret 143,262 of them.”
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16_01_24_ODB_Devo_YMI

ODB: Learning from Mistakes

To help avoid future financial mistakes, such as those in 1929 and 2008 that brought down the world’s economy, the Library of Mistakes was founded in Edinburgh, Scotland.
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15_01_24_ODB_Devo_YMI

ODB: Serving Others for Jesus

Actress Nichelle Nichols is best remembered for playing Lieutenant Uhura in the original Star Trek series. Landing the role was a personal win for Nichols, making her one of the first African American women on a major TV show.
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14_01_24_ODB_Devo_YMI

ODB: A Gaze Fixed on God

Nineteenth-century Scottish pastor, Thomas Chalmers, once told the story of riding in a horse-drawn carriage in the Highlands region as it hugged a narrow mountain ledge, along a harrowing precipice.
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13_01_23_ODB_Devo_YMI

ODB: Persevering in Jesus

When I was studying in seminary years ago, we had a weekly chapel service. At one service, while we students were singing “Great Is the Lord,” I spotted three of our well-loved professors singing with fervor.
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