Daily Tests

Mrs. Moses’s cookbook surely had a special section on “A Thousand-and-One Ways to Fix Manna.” Unless I miss my guess, she had tried them all . . . many times. What potatoes are to Ireland, apples are to Somerset, cod is to Grimsby, and porridge is to Scotland, manna was to the wandering Hebrews for […]

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What the Resurrection Gives Us

When I was growing up in Houston, our family lived across the street from a widow named Mrs Roberts. Her husband had recently died from a sudden heart attack. Alone, afraid, and facing an unknown future, her grief knew no bounds. In the weeks that followed the funeral, my mother watched Mrs Roberts leave the […]

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Unwrap Joy This Christmas

We sing a lot about “joy” each December. Have you noticed? We’ll offer “tidings of comfort and joy,” and we’ll join our voices on carols with titles like, “How Great Our Joy!” and “Joy to the World!” There’s just one problem. We aren’t joyful. Oh, we sing the songs and sip the hot chocolate and […]

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The Gift I Didn’t Know I Wanted

Life was simple for the three Swindoll kids when we were young and growing up in east Houston. Neither my brother Orville, sister Luci, nor I entertained dreams of grandeur—even at Christmas. But one particular Christmas season, I began to drop hints on how great it would be to get a new rubber basketball. Back […]

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Strangely Wrapped, Silently Delivered

Ever since the first Christmas celebration, I think one word has fallen from everyone’s lips more than any other. It isn’t the word joy or carol or tree or food. It’s the word gift. Gifts are so inseparably linked and interwoven with Christmas that we can hardly think of one without the other. However, we […]

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My Lord and My God!

This season of the year is not joyful for everyone. Put bluntly, some dread it. They are filled with such melancholy memories of painful days gone by, they find it hard to sing the carols. “Joy to the World!”—not really. “How Great Our Joy!”—well, maybe for you but not for everyone. Now, before you call […]

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