Submitted by Andy McIlvain.
We must not forget Christmas is about celebrating the Incarnation of God, Jesus fully God and fully man. Before he was born, the Ancient of Days thought about being born. The form God chose to enter and experience his creation was an infant that grew and matured and was born in the same way as you and I. Somehow God’s infinite power was contained within a fragile infant. Continue reading
Submitted by Andy McIlvain.
You and I have a unique and singular face. We have been seeing it in a mirror since we were young. We have watched it change as we age. Continue reading
Submitted by Andy McIlvain.
I like to fix things. Most people do. It is a facet of our humanity that we create and repair. Life is short. And in our short sinful imperfect lives we are called by God to be co-regents, to participate in the restoration of the Kingdom of God in the here and now. So how do you and I repair/restore the world together; how do we repair ourselves, the people in the complex and paradoxical world in which we live? Continue reading
Submitted by Andy McIlvain.
Prayer is difficult, even for the most disciplined. Life in our broken world is not sympathetic or understanding of prayer. The powers and principalities that surround us deem it irrelevant, and the Spiritual Forces that seek to discourage us also work to diminish its use and effectiveness. Continue reading
Submitted by Andy McIlvain.
We live in a unique time in the history of the world. Our “being” in the world at this time and place is not only providential but sovereignly ordained. God Made you and I to be at this place at this time to help fulfill his will for humanity. One of our many joys in this life is to help other people live and flourish. Continue reading
Submitted by Andy McIlvain.
Anglican Bishop J.C. Ryle writes:
“There is nothing which shows our ignorance so much as our impatience under trouble. We forget that every cross is a message from God, intended to do us good in the end. Trials are intended to make us think — to wean us from the world — to send us to the Bible — to drive us to our knees. Health is a good thing; but sickness is far better, if it leads us to God. Prosperity is a great mercy; but adversity is a greater one if it brings us to Christ. Anything, anything is better than living in indifference and dying in sin.”
Submitted by Andy McIlvain.
I have been in the nursing profession for 10 years now. I am an LPN and have experienced nursing in a hospital setting, home health, and now in family practice. We in America, despite the dysfunction of our medical system, live in a time and place of unprecedented health benefits. Although many people do not get the health care they need, many do. We should be thankful to God for these blessings. Many people travel from around the world to have health care in our country. Continue reading
Submitted by Andy McIlvain.
Christ was raised from the dead.
His life, death, and resurrection are historical facts corroborated by numerous sources outside of the Bible and were seen by many eyewitnesses. Continue reading
Submitted by Andy McIlvain.
July 20, 2019 marked the fiftieth-year anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing on the Moon. I vaguely remember, as a 13-year-old on July 20, 1969, watching the landing with my family, in a home in Pasadena, Texas. Most of us, however, were unaware that Buzz Aldrin, a Presbyterian elder, became the first person to hold a religious ceremony on the Moon, when he privately took communion. Continue reading
Submitted by Andy McIlvain.
“Our whole life is an Education — we are ‘ever-learning,’ every moment of time, everywhere, under all circumstances something is being added to the stock of our previous attainments. Mind is always at work when once its operations commence. All men are learners, whatever their occupation, in the palace, in the cottage, in the park, and in the field. These are the laws stamped upon Humanity.” These were the words of Edward Paxton Hood in his Self-Education: Twelve Chapters for Young Thinkers, published in 1852. Continue reading