One of the most difficult of tasks is to explain death to a child. How do you do it?
First, be calm. How you tell them is almost as important as what you tell them. If you are composed, they will probably accept your explanation calmly. If you are hysterical, they will probably become hysterical. Their experience and understanding is limited and so they are likely to re...
Celebrated English poet John Milton said, “Loneliness is the first thing which God’s eye named not good.” There is a loneliness in us that only God can satisfy. But there is also a type of loneliness—a longing for togetherness—that only another can satisfy. We all need the togetherness that only another human can provide. Ruth expresses the kind of togetherness I am talking about when she said,...
A foreigner, when asked his impression of American people, said, “They impress me as being worried.” Anxiety is part of almost every life. In fact our age has been called “the age of anxiety.”
In the midst of the tensions of today's times many are wondering, “How can I overcome worry?” One of the greatest helps is to remember that God values you and will take care of you. You need to va...
Former Australian Prime Minister John Anderson said, “Doubt is a good place to start, but an awful place to stop.” Doubt can be the threshold to new truth or it can be the pitfall to despair. To our skeptical, doubting age God issues a challenge in Malachi 3: “Prove me...”
We can prove that God is. We can’t do this by scientific means for God cannot be crammed into a te...
A minister who was conducting worship services in the White House quoted a maxim of Augustine: “I will work as if everything depended on me; I shall pray as if everything depended on God.”
Prayer and work naturally go together. Jesus said, “Men ought always to pray, and not to faint” (Luke 18:1). Prayer is important but prayer is not a substitute for work; it is a desperate effort to wo...
"When I found out Jesus was not a Methodist, it was a shock. And then I discovered he was not even an American.” So said Dr. Horace Williams who was a professor of philosophy at the University of North Carolina from 1890 to 1940. We’d probably all be surprised to know Jesus as he really was. One thing we’d be surprised about would be his friends, for Jesus always was and still is the friend of...
Many years ago when the Baltimore Ravens were the Baltimore Colts I saw them play the Houston Oilers in a thrilling exhibition game. The score seesawed back and forth until, with one minute and 15 seconds left to play, the Oilers got the ball and methodically moved down the field to score and go ahead. Only 30 seconds were left when they kicked off and it looked as if they had the game sewed up...
There is much talk today about the generation gap—that invisible chasm between parents and their children. While there has always been a gap between one generation and the next, there are many who feel that it is deeper and wider today than ever before.
Several factors, like the rapid changes that are occurring all over our world, improved communications through television, and growing...
When a small child or infant is suddenly and tragically taken in death, natural questions arise. “What happens to an infant who dies? Is the child saved? Will the parents see the child in heaven?”
Yes! When a child dies before he reaches the age of accountability, that child is safe. He is with Jesus in heaven. And if you are a Christian, one day you will be with the child and with the...