ODJ: smelling good

Quite a number of my friends wear fragrances. But before long, the fragrance wears off and they have to spray on more to continue to smell good!
What happens between two important dates in your life determines whether your name will be an alluring fragrance or a repulsive stench. The dates are your birth, when your parents named you, and your death, when your name will appear on a death certi

ODB: Working For The Wind

Howard Levitt lost his $200,000 Ferrari on a flooded Toronto highway. He had driven into what seemed like a puddle before realizing that the water was much deeper and rising quickly. When the water reached the Ferrari’s fenders, its 450-horsepower engine seized. Thankfully he was able to escape the car and get to high ground.Howard’s soggy sports car reminds me of Solomon’s observation that

ODJ: the big “i”

I recently attended a meeting of leaders that could have become contentious and disastrous. It could have resulted in more fireworks than Chinese New Year! Thankfully, however, difficult issues were addressed with honesty and transparency. The big “I”—integrity—led individuals to speak words of truth, love and forgiveness.
Micah would have been pleased.
Possess

ODB: New To The Family

While on a ministry trip with a Christian high school chorale to Jamaica, we witnessed an illustration of God’s love in action. On the day we visited an orphanage for disabled children and teens, we learned that Donald, one of the boys our kids had interacted with—a teen with cerebral palsy—was going to be adopted.When the adopting couple arrived at the “base” where we were staying, it w

ODJ: one source

During October the trees come alive with colour in my region. One year a particular tree caught my attention. Like Joseph, it wore a ‘coat’ of many colours. Its top leaves were plum coloured. A little lower the purple morphed into crimson foliage. The red gave way to robin’s-chest orange and, finally, neon yellow leaves peeked out at the bottom like a petticoat. Although the leaves had radic

ODB: All Together

For years my wife’s piano and my banjo had an uncomfortable and infrequent relationship. Then, after Janet bought me a new guitar for my birthday, she expressed an interest in learning to play my old guitar. She is a very capable musician, and soon we were, together, playing songs of praise on our guitars. I like to think that a new kind of “praise connection” has filled our home.When the ps

ODJ: with us

Harrison Odjegba Okene had been trapped 100 feet underwater for more than 72 hours. His air and his hope were running thin. The Nigerian was a cook on a tugboat that sank in the Atlantic Ocean in May 2013, leading to the deaths of the 11 other crew members. Harrison, however, found his way to a small cabin with a small, dwindling air pocket where he shivered as temperatures plummeted. Comforted by

ODB: First Response

When my husband, Tom, was rushed to the hospital for emergency surgery, I began to call family members. My sister and her husband came right away to be with me, and we prayed as we waited. Tom’s sister listened to my anxious voice on the phone and immediately said, “Cindy, can I pray with you?” When my pastor and his wife arrived, he too prayed for us (James 5:13-16).Oswald Chambers wrote:

ODJ: “who touched Me?”

It is said that the number one fear in life is public speaking, ranking higher than even the fear of death. As a comedian once observed, that means that at a funeral, people would rather be in the coffin than give the eulogy!
With that in mind, Jesus’ request that the bleeding woman identify herself seems almost like a punishment (Mark 5:30). After all, she had already been healed—why not