513 results for tag: blog
Seeing Jesus in Others – by Bermie Dizon
She was the daughter of an Albanian grocer, and at age 18, she made a decision that would change not only her life but the lives of countless others. She moved to the slums of Calcutta, where she picked up children from garbage dumps—children riddled with disease, poverty, and despair.
That young woman was Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu, now known as Mother Teresa. When asked what inspired her to do such sacrificial work, she replied with a simplicity that pierced through all human excuses: “I see Jesus in every human being. I say to myself, this is hungry Jesus, I must feed him. This is sick Jesus. This one has leprosy or gangrene…I serve ...
A Canary in a Coal Mine – by Greg Albrecht
Years ago coal miners in the United States and the United Kingdom took caged canaries down into the mine with them as an early warning system. Canaries are extremely sensitive to toxic gases such as carbon monoxide and methane. The earliest mines didn't have ventilation systems, so canaries helped detect toxic gases long before humans could.
The canaries served as an audible and a visual cue regarding the condition of the air the miners were breathing. As long as the miners could see that the canary was alive, and could hear the canary singing, the miners knew that the air was safe to breathe. A silent, dead canary meant that the miners needed to ...
The Crib and the Cross – by Greg Albrecht
Did you ever stop to think that Jesus did not start his “professional life” – ministering, teaching, comforting and healing – by posting a sign outside of a building announcing healing services and prophecy seminars? Jesus didn’t wait for people to find him. Instead, he found people in the midst of their daily problems, dilemmas, challenges and struggles.
Much of the time Jesus often arrived in people’s lives unannounced and unexpected. Jesus didn’t expect people to get in their cars or jump on their donkeys so they could travel to a holy piece of real estate where they would file into a holy building, take their places and ...
A Care Giver’s Promise – by Ruth A. Tucker
Bless the Lord who crowns you with tender mercies.
Psalm 103
Waiting for a diagnosis. The hours and days drag on. I’ve experienced the tension of waiting for the results of a biopsy, though I’ve never faced that dreaded word—cancer. But for me, cancer is not my greatest diagnostic fear. Alzheimer’s tops the list? John, assuming he survives me, would be left largely alone with my care. How would he cope? To the very end he cared for Ruth and Myra, his first and second dearly departed wives who both died of cancer. So also, I am confident, he would care for me.
On the back cover of his book A Promise Kept, Robertson McQuilkin is ...
He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not – by Greg Albrecht
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loveshas been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
&n...
Franchised Religion – Jim Fowler
I had always dreamed of owning a business of my own. A friend had advised that a franchise outlet of an existing chain with its developed support network was a wise business choice. Therefore, I was most interested in the advertisement which read: “Franchises available—Sound business opportunity. International corporation. Open one in your community. Call 1-800...”
I made the call and agreed to visit one of their successful franchises. They had a unique marketing strategy encouraging people to “Look for the Golden Crosses.” Each establishment had a large lighted sign that read, “Billions and Billions Saved.” The name of the ...
Intimacy With God – by Greg Albrecht
Here's some breaking news! God is head-over-heels in love with you. He loves you beyond your wildest imaginations. You might respond, "How can he love me that much? He knows all there is to know about me. And of course, anyone who knows that much about me could never really love me."
Corrie Ten Boom, a Dutch Christian writer who, with her family, helped many Jews escape the Holocaust, once offered a word picture to explain how God loves us—specifically she was talking about how he forgives all our sins—past, present and future. Corrie Ten Boom said that God takes all of our shortcomings, tragedies, flaws and scandals and throws them into the ...
It’s All on Rails – by Ed Dunn
The beginning of 2025 is a big deal as it relates to my commute to and from work each business day. Early 2025 is the date set for a brand-new train station to open close to my home. This means that no longer will I need half-an-hour to get from my front door to the station stop I use. Rather, all I’ll need is ten minutes, with a convenient Starbuck’s Coffee positioned smartly along the way. I’ll board the train with a hot cup of coffee in hand, and ride the rails to work a bit more quicky than I do now.
It’s all on rails for me, which is to say, it’s all quite easy. In an urban sprawl the size of Los Angeles County, to leave the ...
Hooked on a Feeling – by Greg Albrecht
Once upon a time, the word "addiction" was used almost exclusively to define and describe dependence on mood altering substances. Addiction is centered on sensory stimulation and gratification. When a particular chemical substance that produces an incredible "rush" or "high" wears off, an individual starts returning to the drug to experience the same feeling again. Substance addiction is further understood as continued involvement with a drug because of immediate pleasure and gratification, in spite of the negative consequences the addict would eventually experience.
Today we speak not only of substance addiction but also, in a broader context, ...
Clothed in Christ – by Greg Albrecht
Friend and Partner Letter for February 2025:
One hears much discussion at this time of year about clothing styles and designers as the “stars” come out for award shows which their industry hosts to honor itself – the Academy Awards being the most lavish and spectacular of them all. Much of the focus is on what the “beautiful” people are wearing.
Clothing of course hides our nakedness and protects us from the elements. But spiritually speaking, clothing can be an attempt to hide who we really are while vainly endeavoring to present ourselves as being something we are not. Genesis says clothing served ...
When Christ-less Religion Meets God’s Grace – by Greg Albrecht
All this I have told you so that you will not fall away. They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God. They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me.—John 16:1-3
What happens when fear, shame and guilt meet God's unconditional love? Human history is a record of titanic struggles and classic confrontations. Biblically, we think of Moses and the seemingly defenseless Israelites, hemmed in by the mountains, with the Red Sea at their back, being pursued by the finest, most well-equipped and trained army in the world at that time. We ...
Looking Ahead or Looking Back – by Greg Albrecht
As the covered wagon rolled and pitched
Along the prairie track, One sat looking forward
And one sat looking back. One searched the wide horizon For a bright and better day:
And, one saw the disappointing road
Til’ it too slipped away. ...
Grace – Up on the Roof – by Greg Albrecht
The second chapter of Joshua tells us that a woman named Rahab found grace in the most unexpected manner and place. This story would make a great Hollywood action-thriller. It's a story that includes adventure, suspense, military conflict, spies—and, of course, a beautiful woman. It has all the elements of a block-buster hit at the box office.
The leading character of this drama is a prostitute named Rahab. We can be fairly certain that Rahab was not invited to join the important clubs in Jericho where she lived, because she lived and worked on the fringes of polite society. While Rahab's way of earning a living may have been more acceptable in ...
The God of Comfort – by Greg Albrecht
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the church of God in Corinth, together with all his holy people throughout Achaia: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are ...
Get Comfortable with the Questions – by Ed Dunn
Once a year, usually around a long weekend, we’d all pile into our old family station-wagon and head out from our home in western Pennsylvania for the woods of central Connecticut. We were off and traveling to see our Grammy and Grampy Reeves, grandparents on my mother’s side of the family. It was hard to contain the excitement of five eager children. Our visits were a cherished treat, and both the trip and the time together were treasures we truly looked forward to.
Grammy and Grampy Reeves split most years living in two places; the school years in New York City and the summers in upstate Connecticut. As the lead chaplain at New York’s ...
CWR Video – The Plan and Will of God
In this CWR Video, Greg and Ed discuss ways to talk about the Plan and Will of God.
https://vimeo.com/1011063662
If this post has helped you, please subscribe and share it freely. We also invite you to help us continue to help others with a donation. Click here if you're able to partner with us
Turning the Corner on 2024 – by Greg Albrecht
Friend and Partner Letter from January 2025:
We made it! We made it through another madcap, tumultuous, challenging and wild roller coaster ride of a year. We made it through 2024! Or, more correctly, by God’s grace we made it. We made it because our Risen Lord empowered and enabled us, living his life in us.
There is great news as we begin this New Year of 2025! God is still in love with you. He cannot love you any more than he already has, because he has loved you, still does and always will… to the MAX! God is absolutely head-over-heels in love with you.
He’s got your picture on his refrigerator and he has your name, ...
I Am Alive For Ever and Ever – by Greg Albrecht
When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: "Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I Am Alive for Ever and Ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades."—Revelation 1:17-18
You know, almost every time that God came to someone in the Bible to tell them he wanted them to fulfill a certain responsibility, he received a similar response. Moses said he wasn't fit for the job because he had a speech impediment. Jonah of course ran away in the opposite direction. When Peter became more aware that Jesus was God in the flesh he told Jesus to get ...
Great Gifts in Small Packages – by Laura Urista
“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God” (1 John 4:7).
Two Christmases ago, after exchanging all the other presents, our daughter gave my husband Juan and me a small beautifully wrapped package. She had saved it and asked us to open it last. At first, we were a little confused, because the contents looked like a positive Covid test, but I suddenly realized it was a positive pregnancy test. The tears started flowing as I understood that we were going to have a new addition to the family!
What joy the news of a precious new life brings to any family. ...
Plain Truth Ministries | Box 300 | Pasadena, CA 91129-0300
