One of my favorite Bible lessons I did with our church teens a few years ago involved Pictionary.

I gave them random Biblical stories to draw, which became quite comical. Most of them were pretty easy; but, it was all part of getting them to the final image. For the finale’ we had a draw-off and told them to draw, “God.”

Cultures flourish and deteriorate based on how they answer these questions: Why do people exist? Is there some greater meaning to life? What’s our purpose in the here and now?

Mark Twain said, “The two most important days in your life are the day you were born and the day you find out why.” If we’re honest, we all want to know the why.

I recently purchased some new eye glasses. Within the first hour of wearing the glasses, I knew the hinge on one side was loose. Because of traveling, it took about 2 weeks before I could go back to my optometrist to get the glasses adjusted. When I walked in, the associate asked what he could do for me.

Today I'm grateful to host guest blogger Joy Pedrow Skarka, who has provided the following wonderful list of resources for helping victims of sexual abuse, sexual harassment, rape, domestic violence and other forms of abuse of power. Keep it handy. Hopefully you will never need it.

Awareness & Organizations

The Rape Foundation

Ministry Safe

RAINN

In my ninth-grade P.E. class, we wrote down positive attributes for each of our classmates. My teacher assigned two of us—me and one other student—to compile the responses. Combing through the answers, I was surprised to find some people described as “shy.” I chose to leave it off.

I am an introvert, but I hate the word shy. Honestly, I am not even sure I like the way “quiet” is often used. Both tend to have pejorative meanings in American society. Our culture tends to worship the extroverted ideal, doesn’t it?

Title:The Son, worthy to redeem the lost
Aim: To turn to the Savior for help, especially in our times of struggle.
Scripture: Revelation 5:1–14
 
The worthiness of the Messiah, Revelation 5:1–5
 

It’s easy to look back at the previous year through the lens of struggle—to look only at the difficulties, the disappointments, the dark places—and then jump to inappropriate conclusions. My husband and I have had more than our fair share of “hard” this past year with tough ministry decisions, medical treatments for our newly adopted son, and the death of a sibling. Friends have faced equal if not greater challenges as well. The list of those struggling is endless.  

Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 1:9, “But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.” Not relying on ourselves. Relying on God.

In the verse before this one, Paul describes how he and his companions were experiencing something far beyond their ability to endure. On their own. If you ever studied Acts, you realize how tenacious Paul is, how bold he is, how much he endures, and how he even endures beatings and imprisonments with singing. After all that time, why did God still want them to rely on Him rather than what they had learned already?