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Lettie Cowman, Fellow Traveler
Perhaps you have never heard of Lettie Cowman, but hopefully you have been introduced to her mloved devotional books, Streams in the Desert and Springs in the Valley. These two books, published in 1925 and 1939 respectively, have been perennial best sellers, gracing the nightstands and desks of men and women for generations. What made them so timeless and who was the woman behind them? Lettie and Charles Cowman served faithfully as missionaries in Japan from 1901-1918. Their efforts were successful, but eventually Charles developed serious health problems and they had to return home. This was not the future they expected. Lettie began to journal various quotes and scripture verses…
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To Hold the Ropes
We are about to transition from our busy spring schedules of graduations and end-of-year activities to an equally busy summer season. Mission trips are a big part of church and ministries’ summer schedule. In preparation for that, I suggest we prepare to “hold the ropes” for those who are venturing on mission adventures, church camps or even just helping in VBS. One of Christianity’s most compelling mission stories is of William Carey, called “the father of the modern missionary movement.” In 1792, William Carey, a poor English shoemaker, felt God’s call to take the gospel to the unreached in India. The mission society of his church appointed him to go,…
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Tell the Next Generation About the Lord
“You’re the writer. Take this,” my siblings said as we cleaned, sorted, and emptied my parents’ home after they both passed away. Everything that appeared to document their lives, ministry, and testimonies was stuffed into an overflowing box and handed to me. For three years the box sat in my office closet. My husband, the one who loves to take out the garbage, queried, “What are you going to do with it? You know someone’s just going to throw it away someday.” Despite that reality (which I accept), I finally opened the contents of my parents’ lives and dove in. I categorized and read, scanned and discarded. Ray Dubert’s baby…
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The Power of a Penny
Jesus often used simple earthly objects to explain a spiritual concept. His listeners were asked to focus on something physical so that He could teach them something spiritual. Understanding that God is outside of time, space, and matter is difficult for His creation to comprehend. Finite sinful creatures just cannot comprehend the infinite and holy God. Jesus understood His creation and our need for hooks in our brain on which we could hang new concepts. He often taught with parables and object lessons. God, in both the Old and New Testament used parables and object lessons to help us understand our own sinfulness, His holiness, our helplessness, and His grace,…
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What Is Left When Your Props Are Removed?
My husband and I were talking this week about our American culture’s emphasis on financial security. We determined that financial security is not a biblical concept. Most of the world barely survives a day or a week. There is likely not even an opportunity to save for the future to feel financially secure. Biblically, we are to look at God as our provider through our work and other means He supplies. But, at any moment, that which we depend upon to make us feel secure, such as money in the bank, can be taken away. Such an event will certainly show us if we are depending on these props to…
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The Testimony of Onelio Gonzalez
“For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain” (Philippians 1:21). Communist Cuba, circa 1963, four years after La Revolución. The young pastor, still in his twenties, had just finished conducting evening services when four men in a Jeep pulled up outside of the church, exited the vehicle, spread out around the building, and then entered. “Onelio Gonzalez,” they said, confiscating the preacher’s Bible, his hymn book, the pulpit, and the forty cents given in the evening offering, “We have orders to take you to prison.” They gave no reasons. Five days later, having already moved him through two prison locations, they finally spoke to him: “Do you know…
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My Sisters Have Names
Several women gather in a small African hut on Tuesday mornings to praise Jesus. Most are from the same tribe; a couple of them are missionaries. There are no decorated tables or spiral bound study books. Only a few can read. They walk long distances to get there each week. And they have names. I love that I know their names – these sisters of mine in Christ – because the newsletters from our missionary friends tell me their names, their stories, and provide pictures of them. They are not just nameless converts. I know their names, what their life is like, and can pray for them as they meet…
