For a number of years, I listened to Leticia Cline who was principal of Boston Elementary, where my girls attended, and also my boss, end the morning announcements with a simple line: “Make it a great day or not, the choice is yours.” To this day, my girls and I sometimes still shout it as we head out the door. I thought about that this last weekend when I came across the following quote from Henry Ward Beecher. He once wrote, “God asks no man whether he will accept life. Tha

I think it is hard for most of us to remember that the biblical texts were not written to us. They were written for people who lived in a completely different time, under vastly different circumstances. The Hebrew people’s daily lives were so different with such different concerns we really can’t come close to understanding them. Thus, when it comes to Scripture, it’s important for us to slow down. Before we ask, “What does this text mean for us?”  We first need to understand