The ultimate Christmas truce

by Steve VanWinkle

“…and on earth peace, good will toward men.”

I can’t help but hear the voice of Linus every time I read this snippet of the proclamation by the heavenly host on the first Christmas. I remember watch­ing Schulz’s cartoon as a boy in our liv­ing room, usually cast in the warm glow of our Christmas tree. It was, for me, the official beginning of the Christmas season that seemed never to arrive. [click to continue…]

Being a wise gift-giver:

Choosing the best gifts for everyone on your Christmas list
by Kevin Carson
Ah, the pressures of the Christmas gift list. What do you buy and why? Did you know there are principles from Proverbs to aid you in choosing the best gifts for everyone on your list this Christmas? Before you skim the rest of the [...]

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ABCs of highly effective prayer

by Jim and Jeri Combs
In the tradition of acrostic or alphabeti­cal psalms and chapters in the Bible (see Psalm 119), it is appropriate to arrange these great truths on prayer in English alphabetical order. In fact, in one month’s time you could memorize the sequence by reading this article daily before you begin your prayer [...]

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Preaching from a grocery bag

By Don Nevels - BBFI missionary to Argentina
Very soon after Pearl Harbor was bombed in 1941, and during the raging battles of the Second World War, Don (that’s me), Nancy, Carole, and Larry Nevels came into the world. Then during the dreadful battles of the Korean War in the early 1950s, Lee Roy and Craig joined [...]

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James Ireland

The preacher they tried to kill
By Thomas Ray
James Ireland was born in 1748 to an affluent Scot­tish family. His future was filled with promise, but a youthful indiscretion forced him to abandon his home and immigrate to America. Settling in Northern Virginia, he obtained employment as a schoolmaster.
Although Ireland had been raised in a godly [...]

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Where is God?

By Charles Lyons
The untimely pregnancy sets tongues a wagging in this Palestinian vil­lage. A young maiden’s betrothed does the socially improper, politically incorrect, religiously unacceptable thing; he stays true to his fiancée.
On top of that drama, a repressive governmental policy sends them on a 90-mile trek in the last weeks of the young girl’s challenging, [...]

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Look at Jesus and tell others

By Linzy Slayden
In 1940 and 1941, British author Dorothy Sayers was commissioned to write a series of plays entitled, “The Man Born to be King.” These plays about the life of Jesus were later produced and broadcast by the British Broadcasting Corporation, but before they were ever heard they caused quite a stir. Some insisted [...]

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