Nicodemus was a member of the Sanhedrin court, the high court of the land. He came to speak with Jesus after darkness had fallen. He was likely afraid of being seen by those who knew him; afraid of what they would think of him if they saw him with Jesus. Jesus had been performing many miracles and drawing a large crowd. Nicodemus' fellow leaders were jealous of the attention Jesus was getting. They wanted to turn Him away. Yet Nicodemus knew there was something special about

It seems that every week we find that another person we love or know has gone on to the next life. And when someone we love goes on, we grieve their loss because we love them and miss them. But if they knew the Lord, their death, for them at least, was a good thing. One can only dream, at this point, what it might be like for one who passes from this old sinful earth on into a completely perfect place. There is no perfect place on earth. But though there is no perfect place o

Perhaps sometime during your life, someone has asked you that question; "Are you certain about that?" Sometimes when you are asked that question, the asker wants to imply that he is not certain of your belief. The question, in this case, would be intended to cause you to re-examine your fact to be sure of them. When you pray, are you certain God is listening? Do you believe He will answer your prayer? If you aren't sure; how do you get to the point of certainty? I am certain

Several years ago, before the internet, there was an exercise guru on TV named Jack LaLanne. He could do all kinds of fantastic feats of strength. He was also a nutrition guru and a motivational speaker. He described himself as being a "sugarholic" and a "junk food junkie." He lived to be 97 years of age. But the interesting part is that until the final days of life, he was able to do incredible feats of strength. Even in his 90's he could still do many "push ups" ! One reaso

I think you would be different from the average person if you aren't worried about anything at all. Worrying, however, merely causes you to take your eyes off what is important so that you may tend to something that may not turn out to be important at all. In fact, about 80 percent of the things we worry about are things we cannot control anyway, so why are we worried about them? Another 10 percent are probably things that don't really matter in the scheme of things anyway, s

I think, even for those who say it doesn't matter; it does matter, at least a little bit. Yesterday, in Washington DC, our US Capitol Building was under siege. That seems incredible to us. The last time anything like that happened was in 1954 when four Puerto Rican nationalists broke into the Ladies' Gallery of the House of Representatives and fired several automatic pistol rounds inside the chamber. It is said there are still bullet holes to be found in the room. Before that

I think Charles Dickens came up with a "novel" idea when he wrote his novel with the name "Great Expectations." What are your expectations for the new year. Do you really expect something great to happen, or will you just be surprised if anythings does? I have noticed with some people, when they start out by saying, "I'm going to tell you the truth," you can expect that to be an unsaid statement, that they evidently don't always tell the truth. So they must begin by explainin

How would you finish the title? Would you say a new year, or a new beginning, or perhaps you would say a new chance to succeed? There are so many things that could finish that title. All of the things that pertain to one person might not pertain to someone else at all. But for each one of us, the new year means something. If you are a student of history, you will find that things don't remain the same for long. I just finished reading a book about the plight of the American I