William Fay encourages you to get out of your comfort zone. “If you are living in isolation from the world and the only friends you have are in your comfortable Bible study, Wednesday night church get-togethers, Sunday school, church picnics, retreats, homeschool events, and concerts, you will never experience the joy of sharing your faith.”

John Ensor reflects on God’s providence in sparing his grandson’s life. “Why was Jack spared? At least part of the answer … is found in Psalm 57:2: ‘I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfills his purpose for me.’ Jack was saved because the Lord has not yet fulfilled his purpose for him. If he had been crushed, though our hearts would be crushed as well, we would take a measure of comfort in knowing that evidently all God’s purposes for Jack’s life here on earth were fulfilled in three months.”

Colin Peckham reminds us of the cost of prayer. “It is not an easy thing to pray. There is a price to be paid, a price of curbed freedom, of resolute concentration, of agonizing supplication. Prayer is the acid test of devotion. To stay in the presence of God and to wait upon him, bearing your soul to His searching gaze, costs everything. The one who prays must be transformed. Prayer must make him holier, purer, more Christ-like. Prayer is a purifying medium.” (Sounds from Heaven, The Revival on the Isle of Lewis 1949-1952.)

Jessica Snell shares about celebrating the church year at home. “As a new parent, I was flummoxed by how to explain Jesus to a two-year-old. The church year answered my question. You start by letting her participate in the story: By letting her see the crèche at the front of the church during Advent and the Wise Men moving toward it during Epiphany. By standing with her in a candle-lit church on Christmas Eve. By having her forehead crossed with ashes at the beginning of Lent. By giving her a palm frond to wave on Palm Sunday. By giving her a bell to ring on Easter Sunday. By wearing red on Pentecost. The church year was made for people like her.”