ODB: Approaching God
It used to bother me that the closer I drew to God in my walk with Him, the more sinful I felt. Then a phenomenon I observed in my room enlightened me. A tiny gap in the curtain covering my window threw a ray of light into the room. As I looked, I saw particles of dirt drifting in the beam. Without the ray of light, the room seemed clean, but the light revealed the dirty particles.What I observed
ODJ: unchanging
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How badly would someone have to betray you before you turned your back on that person forever? What if he told you that he loved you, would even die for you, but shortly thereafter adamantly denied that he even knew you? I’m guessing you’d turn your back on that person, or at least give him the cold shoulder for a few months.
Such is the situation in John 21. Peter had failed Jesus by denying
ODB: Weighed Down
August 10, 1628, was a dark day in naval history. On that day the royal warship Vasa set out on her maiden voyage. After taking 2 years to build, being lavishly decorated and holding 64 cannons, the pride of the Swedish navy sank only one mile out to sea. What went wrong? The excessive load was too heavy to make her seaworthy. Excess weight pulled the Vasa to the bottom of the oc
ODJ: glow worms
In response to a critic, former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill once replied, “We are all worms, but I do believe that I am a glow-worm.”
Today at a children’s football game I saw a very different, yet increasingly common, response to criticism. Rather than using humour or graciousness to diffuse a situation, a group of parents nearly stormed the field when a referee penali
ODB: Whose Will?
“May all things happen according to your will,” is a greeting frequently exchanged during Chinese New Year. As wonderful as that may sound, events turn out best when God’s will plays out and not mine.Given a choice, Joseph would not have wished to be a slave in Egypt (Gen. 39:1). But despite his captivity, he was “successful” because “the Lord was with [h
ODJ: dark secrets
Do you have a dark secret that you’ve kept from others? Maybe you did something you think is so bad that if people found out about it they would have nothing to do with you. Perhaps you’re hooked on watching porn or you struggle with substance abuse. Maybe you’re carrying deep hatred for someone who hurt you.
Some people think that it’s best to keep such skeletons tucked away in a closet.
ODB: Mirror, Mirror
How often do you see your reflection in a mirror? Some studies say that the average person looks in a mirror 8 to 10 times a day. Other surveys say it could be as many as 60 to 70 times a day, if glancing at our reflection in store windows and smart phone screens is included.Why do we look so often? Most experts agree that it’s to check our appearance, especially before meetings or social gather
ODJ: a true friend
A few months after his son’s tragic death, my friend told me that people who had been close were now avoiding him and his family. He said it was as if people no longer wanted to be around them. I asked him why he thought the poor comforters were acting this way. His answer troubled me, for I knew it was the hard truth: “When people don’t feel they can fix a situation, they try to pretend it
ODB: Building A Bridge
James Michener’s Centennial is a fictional account of the history and settlement of the American West. Through the eyes of a French-Canadian trader named Pasquinel, Michener converges the stories of the Arapaho of the Great Plains and the European-based community of St. Louis. As this rugged adventurer moves between the growing clutter of the city and the wide-open spaces of the plains,