DAILY READING Acts 2:1-4, 14-41 Spirit Enabled   By Carmel Elmer Imagine yourself in the crowd at Pentecost. When I try to visualize the "tongues of fire" resting on the heads of the apostles I imagine I would have been terrified. I might have even been in the camp of those believing they were drunk on wine when they began speaking in tongues! It reminds me of a time when I was a little girl and I woke to find my older brother, John with his hand on my head, chanting what sounded like...

DAILY READING John 5:36-47 REFLECTION   Where Do You Find Glory? By Carmel Elmer After reading today's passage, I looked up the definition of glory. There are a number of different meanings but the one I like best is this: "High renown or honor won by notable achievements" At first glance, I didn't set out to write about glory, but in reading and re-reading this text, it's the word that stood out to me and I realized, God was convicting my heart. I generally talk a good game and have...

DAILY READING Psalm 22 REFLECTION   Never Forsaken By Carmel Elmer “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” I can’t think of anything sadder in all of history than those 9 words spoken by Christ in his greatest moment of agony and here, in the opening verse of Psalm 22 written 1000 years before Jesus cried them out in desperation.    Throughout Psalm 22 we see a profound foreshadowing of Christ’s agonizing death on the cross and the events leading up to his final desperate cry.  As I...