Category: Hope for the Journey

Although His birth brought no great fanfare or recognition from the institutions and governments of men, Jesus’ ministry of revealing the Father’s forgiveness of sin changed the course of men’s lives forever. Until Jesus, sin had an ugly permanency that gripped men’s souls like a black ... Read More

There are three things I remember about John on the day that I met him.  He was a tree trimmer, an alcoholic and almost dead.  My wife Anoosh and I were sharing our testimony in a church in Michigan when John’s mother came to the altar ... Read More

When you consider the weakness and failing of modern man, is it any wonder that God sent Christ to die for our sins?  He saw to it that a Mediator bridged the great divide between the holy and unholy, thus securing our access to Him so ... Read More

Nearly everyone has been hurt by the actions or words of another but it is wise to remember that forgiveness can heal individuals, marriages, families and entire communities.  Forgiveness is a decision to release thoughts of resentment and revenge.  My wife’s sister’s husband, Bishop Haik Hovsepian, ... Read More

It is important to know that the Bible bases all its spiritual truths on historical facts. God’s Word, the Bible, does not proliferate ill-defined abstract theoretical ideas but irrefutable historical facts. The evidence in favor of the Resurrection of Jesus is as strong and conclusive as ... Read More

Not long ago most of the major television news channels ran an incredible story about a young child named Don who lost his eyesight to cancer.  Ultimately, he learned  how to do a backflip on a trampoline,  to play cutinsight video games, ride a ... Read More

The Apostle Peter was far from perfect, especially when he first began to follow the Lord.  I suppose of all the New Testament Apostles Peter wouldn’t be allowed to register grievances at the Customer Service Counter of Christianity.  Peter’s darkest hour came when he denied the ... Read More

When the Christian’s mind turns to nature, his heart turns toward God in faith, awe and wonder.  The Bible says in Psalm 24:1, “The earth is the Lord’s, and all it contains, the world, and those who dwell in it, for He has founded it upon ... Read More

As Christians we often wonder what it would have been like to have walked along the shore of Galilee with Jesus and hear him teach, heal the leper, open the eyes of the blind and turn five loaves and two fish into enough food to feed ... Read More

Steven Gallahan, a naval architect and avid sailor, survived for seventy-six days adrift in a small life raft in the Atlantic Ocean. His bestselling book, Adrift: 76 Days Lost at Sea, was on the New York Times best-seller list for more than thirty-six weeks. Callahan departed from ... Read More

Since the dawn of mankind, we have always wondered what happens after we die. Buddhists, for example, believe a living being is somehow connected to a chain of other living beings, and when they pass away, they will begin another life be it human or a ... Read More

Audie Murphy was the most decorated hero in WWII. Though a war hero and then subsequently a movie star, he died broke and destitute in a plane crash on Memorial Day weekend in 1971. Audie Murphy squandered millions of dollars on gambling, [pullquote4 align="right" style="width:300px;"]Little ... Read More

We know precious little about Jesus as a child. There are only a few sentences in scripture about his early life with the most interesting found in Luke 2:48-51. His parents missed him after several days of travel and finally found him in the temple. ... Read More

Almost everyone has a photo album of friends, family and far-away lands they’ve visited. My favorite photo of our children, David and Talitha, was taken by their baby- sitter at a Wal-Mart in West Virginia when they were just four and five years of age. ... Read More

The ocean water was warm, the sand moved gently beneath my feet and the tide rushed towards the dry and thirsty beach, catching the tiny fiddler crabs and carrying them places they didn’t necessarily want to go. The sun was hot, the warm salt air ... Read More

Jehovah (God) gave Moses two of the highest compliments that any human could ever hope to receive. Exodus 33:11 said, “The Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend,” and in Deuteronomy 34:10, the Lord said , “There ... Read More

A friend of mine came to me recently and asked me to interpret a dream for her. The Lord revealed that soon a trusted friend would belittle her and challenge her authority. The next day it came to pass. Right in front of ... Read More

I believe if we listen carefully we can learn some life-lessons from the conversation between a canary in a cage and a lark on the window sill. [pullquote4 align="right" style="width:300px;"]Little Country Church I once found a wise man who claimed he knew it all Walking on rose pedals ... Read More

There’s nothing more beautiful than spring. It’s that glorious time of the year when the earth experiences a joyful period of rebirth and renewal. Flowers bloom, trees blossom and suddenly butterflies, birds and many of God’s smallest creatures reappear after a long cold winter. The trees ... Read More

During the 2nd Great Awakening, the circuit preachers were fiery men of faith who were always on the move, planting the gospel seed and building new churches wherever they happened to make a few converts.  The first circuit rider in America was Robert Strawbridge who came ... Read More

I love the old Wild West movies – especially the ones in black and white where the good guy always wins. As a child I remember watching Dale Evans and Roy Rogers and begging my dad to buy me a horse that looked just like Roy’s ... Read More

I was flying my antique 1942 Aeronca Defender aircraft from Elkins, West Virginia to the airport in Clarksburg where we had just moved. What should have been an enjoyable flight turned into a living nightmare when I almost lost my life. In all the ... Read More

Oscar Levant, the famous Russian Jewish musician, was playing a concert in a high school auditorium and became greatly disturbed when a nearby telephone kept ringing. In the middle of his piece, he leaned forward and without missing a note said, “If that is for me, ... Read More

Henri Nouwen wrote in The Only Necessary Thing: Living a Prayerful Life, “Dear God, I am so afraid to open my clenched fists! Who will I be when I have nothing left to hold on to? Who will I be when I stand before ... Read More

Peer pressure – I guess most of us have given in to it at one time or another. When teens have low self-esteem, small challenges can become major sources of anxiety, embarrassment, and frustration. Because I wanted to be accepted, peer pressure coaxed ... Read More

On a cold January morning in 2007 in the Washington, DC Metro Station, a violinist played six Bach pieces. While he played, two thousand people went through the station, most of them on their way to work. After approximately ten minutes the violinist received ... Read More

My wife Anoosh and I had traveled by train from Moscow to Tbilisi so I could minister in a large Baptist church. We were greeted by freezing rain, sleet, snow and one dark gray day after another. The damp chill got under our skin ... Read More

God believes in missions. He sent His Son to save humanity and reconcile them to Himself through Christ Jesus and the cross. Churches are meant to be missionary communities, sending forth those He called to local and distant lands and equipping them with the ... Read More

I read a blog once that said, "Atheism that consists in vacuous arguments afloat on oceans of historical ignorance, made turbulent by storms of strident self-righteousness, is as contemptible as any other form of dreary fundamentalism.” Along these same lines, a friend of mine once ... Read More

I recently read a fascinating article about what some consider to be the most beautiful sights, people and places of interest in the world: The most beautiful house which is located in Barcelona, Spain; The most beautiful city in the world -- Vancouver, Canada; Fatima, ... Read More

We set sail from Falmouth, England on May 14th in our 26 foot sailing sloop, hoping to reach Lisbon, Portugal by mid June. Our plan was to cross the English Channel and the Bay of Biscay before the early storms and June Gloom (heavy fogs) ... Read More

This theme that God is interested in small things is found throughout the Bible. Sometimes the smallest decision made poorly can render disastrous results. At the conclusion of the movie “Schindler’s List”, the end of World War II has come, and the Jewish people ... Read More

There are more than five thousand languages spoken across the face of the earth. If one believes the Bible, all these languages could be traced back to a time when the people of the world spoke one tongue as told in the primeval Old Testament story ... Read More

Where are you headed in life? Is life a journey filled with meaning and contentment or is it void of direction and fulfillment? Do you yearn to make sense out of life and the world around you? Is your journey one of ... Read More

Money, power and lust are corrupting our society at an alarming rate while many just turn a blind eye and chose to ignore it. The desire for money over spiritual substance has spread through our society like the common cold. The spirit and humility of Jesus ... Read More

One of the many horrible tragedies during the sinking of the Titanic was that many of those who made it into the water alive were left abandoned by half-empty lifeboats that rowed away without rescuing those still left in the water. Out of the twenty ... Read More

God created the world “ex nihilo” which means “out of nothing” but as believers we know that God created the world out of love. Thus it became our responsibility to take pleasure in His creation and use the fruits of his labor wisely. The ... Read More

Acts of compassion have the potential to heal broken hearts, dispel hatred and restore damaged relationships. No one ever embodied God's compassion more than Jesus. His heart cried for the sick, the weary and the outcast. He embodied compassionate leadership which changed the ... Read More

Death is inevitable. It will ultimately happen to all of us as is the way for mortal men and woman. The apostle Paul said, "I tell you a mystery -- we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the ... Read More

In Acts 27:9-12, Luke records how he, Paul and others were adrift for fourteen days in a storm only to end up shipwrecked on the island of Malta halfway across the Mediterranean. Both meteorological and nautical evidence demonstrate, in a rather brilliant manner, that these events ... Read More

Galatians 6:9 says, “And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” Matthew Henry once said, “Those who live a carnal, sensual life must expect no other fruit from such a course than misery ... Read More

Other than the rapture and when it will occur, I know of no topic that is as mysterious as the topic of Heaven. Many religions believe in a heaven but only Christianity gives a clear understanding of what it is as revealed in the Holy ... Read More

The philosophical and theological argument regarding the subject, “Does God still heal today” has been around since the time of Christ. The following brief passage represents in just a few short words the healing ministry of Christ. “Great crowds came to him, bringing the ... Read More