Daily Devotional

In this age of electronic devices, I am very thankful for “caller ID.” While I don’t particularly want to screen my calls, well, today access to our information almost requires it.

I grew up in a home that rarely called a repairman. Between my dad and my brothers, we often had the know-how and ability to do most of the work required to keep the house in good order. My dad often made the point that if we did the work ourselves, we would save money. We were not the most skilled workers, but we got the job done.

Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Mid′ian; and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.

Praise be to the Lord,
for he has heard my cry for mercy.
The Lord is my strength and my shield;
my heart trusts in him, and he helps me.

In the musical Annie, the song “It’s the Hard-Knock Life” takes the audience into the daily struggles of the orphans who live in the terrible orphanage run by Miss Hannigan. Daily, the orphans experience hard work with little payoff. Tears and heartache are part of their ongoing emotional roller coaster. The girls are sad, lonely, and often hopeless. As the song builds, the chorus of girls delivers a powerful line, “No one cares for you a smidge when you’re in an orphanage! It’s the hard knock life.”

The Book of Jeremiah begins in a tumultuous time. The nation of Judah is struggling with its identity. Their brothers and sisters to the north had been defeated.

Like many, I celebrated when our men’s gymnastics team won the bronze medal. The U.S.A. men’s team ended a 16-year drought to bring home the team medal with a tremendous performance in France. Brody Malone, Paul Juda, Asher Hong, Frederick Richard, and Stephen Nedoroscik made up the U.S.A. team. They were exciting to watch. I was amazed as I watched them compete. Each athlete seemed to perform superhuman movements with ease.

The St. Luke’s Poteet Theatre is a small community theatre with big talent and an even bigger heart. It is hard to watch a show in the Poteet Theatre without a smile on your face. The cast and staff are a wonderful group of people who love to use their talents to bring great shows to life.

I remember opening an old box that my mom had given me after coming down to visit for a few days. I was in my early twenties and living on my own, so it was the last batch of random things that I left at home after moving out, and my mom thought it was time to pass it along to me. I opened the box, and most of it was junk that I did not need anymore.

The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. And he found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael, and said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.”