Daily Devotional

I love you, Lord, my strength.

The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;
my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge,
my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

I called to the Lord, who is worthy of praise,
and I have been saved from my enemies.

Jim Morris was a high school baseball coach for the Reagan County Owls. Coach Morris wanted to encourage his team to strive for success. Morris made a bet with his team that if they were to win district that he would try out for a major league baseball team. The Owls rose to the occasion and won the district title.

Coach Morris honored his part of the deal. He attended a tryout hosted by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Although Morris had spent some time in the minor leagues, he had been plagued by injury and had what he believed to be a career ending shoulder surgery. He showed up at the tryout and told his story to the Devil Ray’s scout. They allowed him to try out so that he could keep up his end of the deal for his team…

“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” – 2 Corinthians 3:17

Day after day, Ginger Sprouse drove past the same intersection where she would see Victor Hubbard standing. Victor was homeless and suffered from mental illness. For years, Victor stood at the same intersection waiting for his mother to come and pick him up. Sadly, Victor’s mother never came, but the 38-year-old waited still. Ginger Sprouse was moved by Victor’s story and finally began to develop a friendship with Victor.

It was not long after getting to know Victor that Ginger decided to do something to help him…

The summer after Aimee and I were married, we decided to see how green our thumbs were. We spent a little time in the flower beds. We pulled the weeds, trimmed back the hedges, and prepared the dirt for planting. One thing we wanted to try was growing our own tomatoes.  Neither of us claimed to be gardeners, but it seemed like something fun to try for the first time.

We went to the store and selected a few small tomato plants. We brought them back home and planted them with great anticipation of the fruit that we would soon see. Weeks passed, and the plants grew. We watered them with great love and care. The little tomato plants were growing big and strong. There was only one problem.  No tomatoes!

The summer months marched on and our little plants continued to grow, but not produce. I began to seek advice from more experienced gardeners. I received advice of all kinds, much of which I tried on those poor little tomato plants. One person told me to just grab the plants and give them a good shake while another person told us to get a flyswatter and give the plants a good spanking (she was not joking). I am sure it was quite the sight for our neighbors to see me punishing our fruitless plants with a flyswatter!

Xavier Jones, an 8th grade student in St. Louis, Missouri, was excited to attend his graduation from Yeatman Middle School. The only problem was that Xavier did not have a ride to his graduation. Xavier lived with his grandfather, after the death of his mother. The family did not have a car. Xavier was not going to miss his special day. He asked his friend and brother to walk with him so that he could attend his graduation.

They started their walk to the graduation. It was going to be a long walk. The boys walked six miles to make it to the graduation ceremony. When they arrived, just two hours later, they told their friends. Word reached the teachers and staff…

Where we start from in life does not determine where we are going. That is what Rehan Straton has demonstrated to the world. Rehan was born into a challenging situation. His father was a single parent and worked for the sanitation department in Maryland. When Rehan graduated from high school, he joined his father working as a trashman. Rehan worked and worked with the hopes of someday going to college. With the help of one of his managers, Rehan was accepted to college and recently made news as a Harvard Law School graduate.

Rehan Straton’s academic success is a powerful story. Rehan’s work has set him up for a life far beyond his start in Maryland.  Perhaps the best part of this story is how Rehan has not let his success change his heart…

Then the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiph′rah and the other Pu′ah, “When you serve as midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them upon the birthstool, if it is a son, you shall kill him; but if it is a daughter, she shall live.” But the midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the male children live.

Now a man from the house of Levi went and took to wife a daughter of Levi. The woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months. And when she could hide him no longer she took for him a basket made of bulrushes, and daubed it with bitumen and pitch; and she put the child in it and placed it among the reeds at the river’s brink.  And his sister stood at a distance, to know what would be done to him. Now the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, and her maidens walked beside the river; she saw the basket among the reeds and sent her maid to fetch it. When she opened it she saw the child; and lo, the babe was crying. She took pity on him and said, “This is one of the Hebrews’ children.” Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and call you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?” And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Go.” So the girl went and called the child’s mother. And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child away, and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.” So the woman took the child and nursed him. And the child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son; and she named him Moses, for she said, “Because I drew him out of the water.”

“For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love be servants of one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you bite and devour one another take heed that you are not consumed by one another.

The summer of my senior year of high school, my youth group headed to Juarez, Mexico.  The purpose of this trip was to build a house for a family living on the outskirts of the city. We loaded up on our church bus, which was a repainted, beyond-used school bus.  We piled our luggage in the back few seats and started our ten-hour journey.

I love missions! Each time I have gone on a mission trip, it seems like I experience a small piece of heaven. However, I must admit, I am not a gifted craftsman. When it comes to building projects, I am definitely an amateur. My lack of handyman skills has never stopped me from trying. I have helped build a church, dig sewers, build homes and much more on mission trips.

The reason my senior mission trip stands out to me is not because of the work I did…

Moses was an unlikely candidate to deliver the slaves from Egypt. His life started in slavery. His mother was forced to hide him. She eventually placed him in a basket and left him in the weeds along the bank of the river. Even when Moses would find a home with the Pharaoh’s daughter, he would have to run away to a foreign land. Moses would commit the crime of murder and lose his home, family, and country. Eventually, Moses would find a new family and begin a new life, tending livestock.

Moses was a slave, an orphan, a fugitive, and a shepherd. This is not the resume of the greatest prophet in Israel…