Daily Challenges Archive

A few years ago, I was visiting with a wealthy former professional athlete. He asked me what I was doing that day, and I told him I was headed to a particularly poor school where I was involved in ministry, delivering coats. It was the middle of w...

Tough truth time. I’ve been dealing with a physical challenge with my foot. It has literally taken 2 ½ years to reach this point of improvement. When I first went to the doctor about it, he said it should take about two weeks to heal. Considering ...

I have goals for both 2025 and the remainder of my years on this planet. I also had goals for 2024—hit some, missed some. I assure you that I entered 2024 with no idea what lay ahead, and I’m pretty certain I’ll be heading into the adventure of 20...

Seventh-day Adventists don’t celebrate Christmas as a denomination. They leave it up to each member’s personal convictions to decide how they want to celebrate or ignore it. They are mostly known for their stance, which emphasizes living out the r...

In preparation for today’s devotion, I Googled “Good News From a Distant Land.” Here are some of the results: “Philanthropist MacKenzie Scott reveals another $2 billion in donations in 2024,” “Two teens used trigonometry to prove the Pythagorean T...

I just saw an article about prisoners being kept locked up past their release date. I don’t understand why that happens, but personally, I think it’s awful. I can only imagine the sense of excitement or anticipation that builds in a person as the ...

Other than the gift from a wise man, Jesus never had wealth, gold or silver. He certainly did not possess “earthly” riches. Yet, He had the greatest name of all time. The dictionary definition of “esteemed” is “held in great respect; admired.” I c...

Being a kingdom person rather than playing the religious game is at the heart of Solomon’s writing here, as well as in many other places. Jesus felt the same way. When Jesus threw the money changers out of the temple, He was actually going against...

My master’s work was in Counseling Psychology. I love helping people glimpse what makes them tick and I enjoy the process of discovery. My son had a gift for this. Where I had to work and dig, he had the unique ability to quickly read the source o...

Yesterday, I was sitting in the recliner in my living room with lots of family around. In the midst of the activity, I heard a small voice say, “Hm, that didn’t work so well.” I glanced toward the source of the statement and saw my 7-year-old gran...

It’s been somewhat of a rough week for my family. I’ve had a number of people tell me how amazed they are by how strong and resilient we’ve been. They haven’t been around when reality sneaks up and emotions erupt. However, for the most part, I agr...

There are many great truths in this short verse. One that is certainly prominent throughout the Bible, though not necessarily forefront in this passage, is that God is the one who ultimately tests our hearts. In fact, He is the only one who has th...