ODJ: dressed for success
A few years ago my husband and a friend of his attempted the Three Peaks Challenge—climbing the highest mountains of Scotland, England and Wales within 24 hours. This included scaling Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in the British Isles at 1,344 meters.
ODJ: the success that follows
A member of my small congregation is now in his 9th decade. His zeal for God and for serving His purposes hasn’t diminished for more than 60 years. His body, however, is finally starting to slow down.
ODJ: the stings of life
A 71 year old woman was outside her home when a swarm of killer (Africanised) bees began stinging her. Neighbours called firefighters who rushed to the rescue—only to find the woman covered in a “suit of bees”.
ODJ: love and knowledge
An old legend about the Titanic goes like this: a woman boarding the ship nervously asked a deckhand if the Titanic was truly unsinkable, to which he replied, “God Himself could not sink this ship.”
ODJ: crushed
The other day I read two passages in Deuteronomy and Numbers with similar messages. They caused me to recognise more deeply the consequences of disobeying God and failing to heed His warnings.
ODJ: no regrets
Sociologists at one university recently completed a study on regret. In it, they examined whether people felt more regret over what they had done or what they had failed to do.
ODJ: being found
I have a friend who has wounds so deep that she resists the compassionate love of others. Caring people have reached out to my friend. They would give their lives for her (in fact, in many ways they’ve done precisely that).
ODJ: soldiers, athletes and farmers
What do soldiers, athletes and farmers have in common? Discipline. Soldiers go through drills day in and day out. They want to be battle ready. Athletes undergo strict training so they can compete in the race.
ODJ: a bigger picture
My daughter posed an excellent question to me: What’s the connection between Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Job? The first two seem so . . . contradictory. And the book of Job is a saga all on its own!