by Barry Creamer | Oct 30, 2024 | Devotionals
“Where on earth is that smell coming from?” I caught the slightest waft entering the garage. But now, opening the driver’s side door, the cab of my truck seems a more obvious source. I don’t remember noticing the scent when I parked in the garage last night. And now...
by Daisy Reynolds | Oct 23, 2024
Barry describes the odd artifact of many Sunday morning services, where we all sit looking toward the front as the preacher tells us things that (hopefully) we already know. It is similar to a college class and the interaction between professor and student. What is it...
by Barry Creamer | Oct 23, 2024 | Devotionals
So you accepted the invitation to spend a few months in a caravan of RVs orbiting a couple of hundred miles above earth’s recent mayhem. Your friends are in the RV just ahead of you at the same altitude. You’d like to catch up with them, dock, and play some board...
by Daisy Reynolds | Oct 16, 2024
Barry reads some poetry to remind us that time’s winged chariot is hurrying near, and we best make the most of what we have. Whether it’s acknowledging the importance of people who are living, people we have lost, or the people we are to become in our remaining time,...
by Barry Creamer | Oct 16, 2024 | Devotionals
The knowledge that we had no sharks in our back yard pool did nothing to relax the grip tightening around my spine as soon as the water enveloped my body. Nope. No night swims that summer. Not long ago, a similarly irrational fear—that there might be a large predator...
by Barry Creamer | Oct 9, 2024 | Devotionals
Dense vegetation lining the creek bed across the street from my home houses ants, rats, opossums, squirrels, racoons, hawks, owls, bees, and an uncatalogued menagerie of other species, all sallying into the neighborhood occasionally, just as the undergrowth itself...
by Daisy Reynolds | Oct 9, 2024
Barry explores a story in the Old Testament that reminds us of a glorious truth in the New Testament. In his peaceful comfort in Persia, Nehemiah begins with heartfelt intercession for the people in Jerusalem, and then moves to incarnation as he goes himself, and...
by Barry Creamer | Oct 2, 2024 | Devotionals
Near Terlingua, TX, cradling the Rio Grande, is a deep, narrow, rock-faced canyon: Santa Elena. Our kids suggested we visit it while celebrating our 41st anniversary with stays in the Texas desert and hill country. High waters from recent rains kept us from hiking up...
by Daisy Reynolds | Oct 2, 2024
Barry heads to Psalm 82 for a productive counseling session with God. Just as when we go to counseling to talk about all those people that are at fault, there is always that awkward moment in the session when the counselor (in this case, God) turns the focus to you,...
by Daisy Reynolds | Sep 25, 2024
Barry covers a narrative in Matthew 16 where Simon receives two names. The first one is quite wonderful—Peter. The second one… not so much. The connection between this confession and rejection is undeniable: to accept Christ’s identity means to embrace (and follow)...
