DAILY READING Matthew 2: 13-23 REFLECTION Herod Didn't Win! By Carmel Elmer The births of my children were times of such joy. I remember holding those sweet, helpless babies while they slept and having such a feeling of compete bliss. I can’t imagine having brought a child into the world in the circumstances that Mary and Joseph did or being able to comprehend how the history of humanity would change because of the birth of my child. Every parent feels the weight of responsibility for...

DAILY READING Jeremiah 10: 1-16 REFLECTION What are Your Idols? By Carmel Elmer If you make your way through the Old Testament, it will become clear that the Israelites had a recurring, long-standing problem with idolatry. When Moses went up Mt. Sinai to receive the 10 commandments, the Hebrew people began to grow restless and it's as if they suddenly forgot that to this point, God had rescued them from 400 years of slavery, fed them, protected them, parted the Red Sea so they could cross...

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...