2025

Jesus says in Matthew 6, “Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink.” God knows we need these things and cares for us. 

Storing up money for yourself is still building on sinking sand. During Grandpa Paul’s time in Zaire, he had a front row seat to the drastic changes and devaluation of money. 

Trusting God’s ability to repurpose things for good plays an important part in forgiving others. When we look to the future and choose not to hold the past against another person, we come to know this reality. 

In this story, Grandpa Paul accidentally starts a fire on a mountain. Its quick spread and spectacular view during the night makes it an excellent image of the kingdom of God. It reminds us that God’s kingdom will spread to fill the earth despite attempts to stuff it out.

The task of raising children in the way they should go includes discipline. How can a father claim he loves his child if he does not discipline them? And if he needs wisdom from God in how to discipline, he only needs to ask. As it is written in James, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.”

God is treating us as his children when he disciplines us. He does so for our good and because he loves us. Earthly fathers, though imperfect, receive their fatherhood from God and as such discipline their children as it seems best to them. Respect is owed to them as they struggle to reflect God’s love in their discipline. 

Sometimes we mistake limitations as things that impose on our liberty rather than things that release us into freedom with God. When what the limits are guiding us to comes, the limits get lost in the joy of what they brought us to. 

In a good world created and watched over by a good God, we don’t have to stand far away from his creation. We can enjoy it up close – from backpacking to bouldering to game viewing. Because He is taking care of us, we can fully delight in where he has placed us. And as we depend on his care, we discover this universe is a perfectly safe place to be.

In a good world created and watched over by a good God, we don’t have to stand far away from his creation. We can enjoy it up close – from backpacking to bouldering to game viewing. Because He is taking care of us, we can fully delight in where he has placed us. And as we depend on his care, we discover this universe is a perfectly safe place to be.