By Carey Kinsolving and Friends "Jesus gives light to everyone by letting you buy it from the grocery store,” says Omar, 5. The Apostle John had a different kind of light in mind when he referred to Jesus as “the true light which gives light to every man coming into the world” (John 1:9). “Jesus came into the world to tell people the truth,” says Shelby, 10. “He was the light that took away those dark belie ...

By Michael J. Brooks It’s interesting that scripture exhorts us both to be like children, and not to be like children. I was always puzzled as a kindergartner by the picture we had in the church sanctuary where we had weekly chapel. It portrayed Jesus saying, “Suffer the little children to come unto me” (Mark 10:14). I thought “suffer” meant pain, so I wasn’t sure what this was about. Of course the King Jam ...

By Carey Kinsolving and Friends "Jesus is the Word because through him all things are made,” says Jonathan, 8. “What he said became. Through the words of Jesus, the Earth and man were made. So, he is the Word.” When we read, “In the beginning was the Word” in John’s Gospel, we should immediately think of another Bible text that begins with the same introductory phrase. Genesis 1:1 says, “In the beginning, G ...

By June Mathews, contributing writer In the spring of 1969, 31-year-old Dan Sims had been a member of First Baptist Church Trussville only a few months when he “got told” by then-pastor Richard Francis that he’d be teaching a men’s Sunday School class. The current teacher would soon be moving out of state, and Sims, the pastor figured, would be a good fit for the job. As it turned out, Francis was right. Th ...

By Michael J. Brooks   Gabriel Byrne portrayed Dr. Paul Weston, a therapist on the TV program “In Treatment.” I caught a few episodes several years ago when our cable company gave a preview, and later rented the series. I watched in rapt attention as Dr. Weston probed the issues and brought about breakthroughs for his patients.   But Paul was often clueless about himself. For example, his patient, ...

By Carey Kinsolving and Friends "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever" (Psalm 23:6). "The verse means that God will dwell with me all my life," says Devon, age 10. "It also means that God will stay with me in my house." Devon, God stays at my house, too. But as King David recalled his days as a shepherd boy, I think he had somet ...

By Michael J. Brooks, Siluria Baptist Church I stood there a bit speechless since it didn’t work out like I’d planned, though I suppose it made me look kind-hearted. I paid the bill for my hamburger lunch and then gave the cashier a five-dollar bill. “Can I have some dollars?” I asked. She responded, “Who was your server?” [caption id="attachment_47240" align="alignleft" width="214"] Michael Brooks, Siluria ...

By Tyler Warner We honor the family in the Church. But something so wonderful can become truly ugly when it goes bad. For example, Abraham had several serious setbacks that all stemmed from his family. We think of Abraham as the old patriarch, but when God first called him, he was a young man named Abram. The Lord told him to leave his family and go to a new land alone. However, Abram departed with his fath ...

By Carey Kinsolving and Friends "I would pray that I bless all the people in the world and all the animals, my cat, Rusty, especially," says Noah, age 6. Noah would also ask God to bless his house and other people's houses and "to make the parks really fun." Somewhere in Petaluma, California, there's a blessed cat named Rusty. "I pray that everyone in the world has food," says Clare, 5. We often take for gr ...

By Michael J. Brooks I accepted a lunch invitation from a community organization and was happy to meet some new businessmen and women in the area. The day’s speaker was interesting and fun, and most of us learned some new things, except several gentlemen at our table. They not only stayed on their cellphones throughout the lecture, but they whispered to one another the entire time. The matter didn’t seem to ...