We had an interesting drive home from Michigan the other night. The weather had been terrible, but the radar predicted an improvement later in the day. We decided to make a run for it while we could, as another storm was in the forecast. The first 230 or so miles were fine, but the last 50 were a hard slog. The wind was blowing, there was still a bit of snow in the air, and the ploughs just could not keep up. But I knew we’d get home fine. I had faith! Enough, at least, to tide both of us over our anxiety till we got in our front door.
Destiny
I have written a year-long devotional on the Psalms. As I’ve been editing the daily segments, it occurred to me that every day is significant to God, including the date each of us was born.
And that is because our mindset is, or should be, fundamentally different from the people around us. I’ll explain what I mean. The ancient Greeks believed our lives were controlled by fate. Supernatural beings policed the lines of fate to make sure no one stepped outside of what was predetermined for them. And in practice, many people believe the same kind of things today. That’s why they say things like “touch wood,” have “lucky” pieces of clothing or other items, or are superstitious in various ways.
The mentality of the Greeks is on display every day in horoscopes. Everyone born under a certain sign of the Zodiac has all the aspects of their life predetermined. There are plenty of people around who can’t bring themselves to believe that the God who created the universe could raise his Son from the dead, but they have no trouble at all believing that their daily horoscope tells them how the inanimate stars are controlling what is going to happen to them today.
Blowing with the wind
The wind was blowing right down from the Arctic this week. The Americans said it came from Canada, but the Canadians reported it came from Russia.
And we were experiencing extraordinary variations in the weather. One morning I was driving in to a breakfast appointment in minus 28 degrees Celsius (minus 18 F). It was so cold schools, government offices and many businesses just shut down. The day before, it never got above minus 26 the whole day. We had some frozen pipes at our place, but thankfully jacking the heat up managed to thaw them out.
Fast forward a couple of days, the wind had changed direction, and it was above freezing and sunny. We left our coats in the car when shopping, and turned the heat back down.
Lynette Carpenter: The Promise
Stepping into a promise is sometimes easier said than done.
In 2016, my husband, Tim, and I were one year away from turning forty, reaching our twentieth anniversary milestone and celebrating our oldest son’s graduation.
It was a great season of life.
We were raising our four children on our family farm while serving as youth leaders at our church. Life was comfortable. Good. Happy. No need to rock our proverbial boat.
No one knew it, but we had began discussing the idea of starting a new business. The idea was nerve wracking, scary and borderline dumb - at least in my opinion. But through a series of events, we kept coming back to the idea of building four poultry barns.
A handful of quietness
A handful of quietness.
It sounds like the title of a novel you found at your local Christian bookstore, doesn’t it? Or maybe just somebody’s desperate cry for peace after a busy day.
It is in fact a Bible verse. The full verse reads like this: “Better is a handful of quietness than two hands full of toil and a striving after wind.” It goes on to talk about the futility of a man who keeps on working harder and harder in order to amass more and more riches, but has no heir to pass them on to.
There's a lots of interesting things in Ecclesiastes, and you really have to study up on the background to understand it properly. But there’s gold in it if you look.




