GIRD YOUR MINDS, FIX YOUR HOPE, BE HOLY! "Therefore, gird your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, "You shall be holy, for I am holy" (1 Peter 1:13-16). Recently I was once again re-visiting...

What images does the title of this letter bring to mind? Perhaps you envision a member of the persecuted church in China being singled out for discipline and/or confinement because of his or her uncompromising faith. Maybe your thoughts go to Mother Teresa, walking the streets of Calcutta, India, amidst some of the world’s most extreme and horrific poverty. Or…maybe you think of some of our Muslim brothers and sisters in Christ, whom, upon their conversion to Christianity, may be killed for...

Joy to the world the Lord is come Let earth receive her King Let every heart prepare Him room And Heaven and nature sing And Heaven and nature sing And Heaven and Heaven and nature sing Isaac Watts George Frederick Handel When our son, Jeffrey, was little he would sing, “and hammanamma nature sing,” which made the song even more joyful to his parents and older sister. He, of course, caught the real essence of the song most accurately. It wasn’t about lyrical precision but rather about the...