Nehemiah 1-3, Acts 2:1—21 • Key Verse: Nehemiah 1:11 You can make a career out of writing instructions. People need them for all kinds of things—assembling, installing, using and replacing. Sometimes we need pictures to go with the words. To know what to do is good. To be told what...

Ezra 9-10, Acts 1 • Key Verse: Acts 1:14 In today's passages are two scenes of prayer: one at a time of confession, the other at what must have been a time of confusion. Both remind us that while we should often have times of private prayer, we also need...

Ezra 6-8, John 21 • Key Verse: John 21:22 Ever hear of the “law of unintended consequences”? It's the idea that sometimes there are consequences that were neither intended nor expected. Sometimes that happens with establishing precedents. Something is done once and becomes the benchmark by which other similar things...

Ezra 3 – 5, John 20 • Key Verses: John 20:21-22 “When you come to a fork in the road,” Yogi Berra said, “take it.” Not the most coherent piece of advice, but possibly one of the most realistic. We do come to forks in the road of life and...

Ezra 1-2, John 19:23-42 • Key Verses: Ezra 1:5-6 The morning newspaper is not typically encouraging reading for the start of the day, and neither is the evening news for the end of the day! Yet sprinkled among the stories of crimes and severe weather are bits and pieces of...

2 Chronicles 34-36, John 19:1-22 Key Verses: 2 Chronicles 36:15-18 Perhaps it is the result of lawsuits that we have so many warning labels today. They are found on coffee cups at fast-food restaurants, batting helmets, side-view mirrors on cars—everywhere, it seems, except on credit cards, one place where they...

2 Chronicles 32-33, John 18:19—40 Key Verses: 2 Chronicles 32:7—8 One of the most dreaded days in the life of parents is when their elementary-aged child brings home a piece of paper that reads, “Science project.” Truth in advertising laws should apply and the assignment be called what it is:...

2 Chronicles 30-31, John 18:1-18 Key Verses: 2 Chronicles 30:10-11 Where were you on December 31, 1999, as midnight approached? Preparations For the infamous Y2K bug varied—from building bunkers to ignoring the warnings. Responses to the forecasts of Y2K- related problems were both extremes and everything in between, but it...

2 Chronicles 28-29, John 17 • Key Verse: John 17:13 A cartoon showed two people sitting next to each other on a bus. It was obvious that the man was answering a question asked by the woman next to him. There was nothing unusual about her appearance, but his caught...

2 Chronicles 25-27, John 16 • Key Verse: 2 Chronicles 26:16 Human nature has a strong and strange capacity for self-delusion. We err in our assessment of ourselves—usually by overrating ourselves or our importance. At the heart of this problem is pride, a problem we all face at times. King...