Daily Devotional

Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come, when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. And no one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch tears away from the garment, and a worse tear is made. Neither is new wine put into old wineskins; if it is, the skins burst, and the wine is spilled, and the skins are destroyed; but new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.”

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places”

Change is a difficult thing for many people. Especially the changes that happen that are out of our control. Change removes us from our known, ordinary, and often comfortable surroundings. Change moves us to a place of awkward searching for how to handle the new situation we are presented with.

Not long ago, the store where we get most of our groceries underwent a renovation. They added a few extra isles and moved items around to accommodate the new items. The change was small, but it was change.

My wife and I were visiting family in another town. We went to the grocery store. The store was the same chain as the store we shop at home. The only problem was the store was arranged differently…

I read a story of an 87-year-old woman in Plymouth, Massachusetts. She was no longer able to leave her house and be as active as she once was, but she was not going to let that stop her from doing good for someone.

She was skilled at knitting and so, from her chair in her living room, she began to knit warm hats for the winter. She can knit one hat a day. To date, she has knitted over 75 hats. Her daughter then distributes them to homeless shelters, schools, and children in need…

Lauran Siler was in her seat, waiting on the plane to take off. She was looking at her social media when she came across the photo of Annie. Annie is a black Labrador retriever who had been dropped off at a shelter in Dallas, Texas. Lauran was about to fly home to Dallas, and she knew that she needed to get home and adopt Annie. When she landed in Dallas, she reached out to her roommate to make sure it would be OK to bring home a dog. Her roommate agreed and Lauran went to retrieve the retriever.

Annie was dropped off at the shelter by her previous family. The only information they left was that Annie was no longer eating and no longer walking. They also said that Annie was 19 years old…

The story of the Good Samaritan is one of the more famous of Jesus’ parables. This great story is told in response to a teacher of the law who asked Jesus, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus immediately responds with a question of his own, asking “What does the law say?” The lawyer proves to be a good student of the law. He answers Jesus with the correct response:

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.”  -Luke 10:27

The teacher of the law knew the right answers to the first question, but he was not satisfied with just one question…

Playing professional football was a dream come true for Jason Kelce. Growing up in Ohio, Jason competed in football at every level. He was a success on the gridiron. However, he received few offers to play collegiate football. He decided to walk on at the University of Cincinnati.  It did not take long for the coaches to realize his potential. Jason soon became a starter and played in 38 games as a Cincinnati Bearcat.

Jason had a successful college career. He had hopes that his dream would become a reality and he would play in the NFL. Unfortunately, just like before college, few in the NFL would consider him an actual prospect. At 6’3” and 295 lbs, Jason is considered small for an NFL lineman…

And he arose and left the synagogue, and entered Simon’s house. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was ill with a high fever, and they besought him for her. And he stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her; and immediately she rose and served them.

To thee I lift up my eyes,
O thou who art enthroned in the heavens!
Behold, as the eyes of servants
    look to the hand of their master,
as the eyes of a maid
    to the hand of her mistress,
so our eyes look to the Lord our God,
    till he have mercy upon us.

The gospels record many parts of Jesus life. One thing that all four gospel writers include is that Jesus was faithful in prayer. There are so many occasions that Jesus prayed. At times, he prayed short prayers of gratitude. He prayed before significant acts of ministry. Jesus often would go away and pray…

Luke records that Jesus, “went out to a mountainside to pray.” He spent the entire night out, away from those who were following him and immersed himself in prayer. Immediately after this time he selected the twelve disciples…