“…they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense” (Luke 24:11, NIV). When Mary Magdalene and the other women shared what they had witnessed on the first Easter morning, the disciples must have thought the women were out of their minds. A couple of Scripture-quoting…

It’s Friday afternoon. Jesus’ body hangs limply upon a Roman cross which stands center-stage in a gruesome scene. Jesus has been beaten and scourged and spat upon. His nail-punctured wrists and feet still hold him securely to the cruel device of the cross. A crown of thorns impales his bloodied…

“ ‘My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that…

“…I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will…

“In God, whose word I praise— in God I trust and am not afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?” (Psalm 56:4, NIV). I’m amazed when I hear of Christians who, for at least a moment in time, seem to be fearless. The Bible is full of such heroes,…

“Jesus wept” (John 11:35, NIV). I used to think as a kid that real men didn’t cry. But then I saw my Dad, tears falling from his eyes, mourning the loss of a friend, and I knew that it was okay to show emotion. Years later, I watched a sports…

“I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead” (Philippians 3:10-11, NIV). Much of the New Testament of the Bible is written either about or by…

“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will” (Romans 12:2, NIV). Lately I’ve been praying a simple prayer that goes something like…

“…‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness’…” (2 Corinthians 12:9, NIV). Pastor George Matheson once prayed, “My God… I have thanked you a thousand times for roses, but not once for my thorn.” Matheson’s point was that sometimes God allows us to suffer…

“If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand…