I am a thoughtless person. And this morning I did a thoughtless thing.
I began this blog in March of 2020, sending out daily devotions each week to friends and family through emails, and to anyone through the Shelby County Today website. That was over five years ago, over 250 weeks ago, over 1500 devotions ago.
Today’s devotion is all about the numbers 316. There are 49 “3:16” verses in the Bible. Why aren’t there 66 - one for every Bible book? Well, some books, like Psalms, have a 3rd chapter with less than 16 verses. And other books, like Jude, don’t have a 3rd chapter at all.
As we close this week, here are a few notable 3:16s...
Happy May Day! Feel free to dance around a maypole. But the first day of May has another claim to fame. On this day, in 1840, England issued the very first postage stamp. It cost a penny and featured a portrait of Queen Victoria on a black background. The “Penny Black” stamp is worth a pretty penny today!
April 30, 2025 - Good Morning! It’s Wednesday, April 30.
The Center Library is in the middle of its Spring Sale - a great event for a great cause. So, for all you book lovers out there, today’s devotion focuses on one of the most famous and most successful novels in history - Charles Dickens’ “A Tale of Two Cities”. It was first published on April 30, 1859.
April 29, 2025 - Good Morning! It’s Tuesday, April 29.
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound . . .
The word “grace” is found about 170 times in the Bible. One of those verses is John 1:17 - “For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ”. We typically think of grace as a New Testament concept, but 20 of those grace scriptures are in the Old Testament. Verses like Genesis 6:8 - “Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord”, and Psalm 84:11 - “The Lord gives grace and glory”.
April 28, 2025 - Good Morning! It’s Monday, April 28.
Last Saturday, over a billion people watched the funeral service of Pope Francis. Perhaps you were one of them. I was. Hundreds of thousands lined the streets of Rome. A crowd of a quarter million gathered in St. Peter’s Square. Our president was in that crowd.
April 25, 2025 - Good Morning! It’s Friday, April 25.
As we come to the end of this week, we focus on endings. Have you heard about these people that read the last chapter of a book first? It’s a thing. They’re out there. And now that streaming services put on a whole season of TV shows at the same time, I’m guessing they watch the last one of those first, too.
April 24, 2025 - Good Morning! It’s Thursday, April 24.
Today we focus on a man who gave up comfort, security, and power - to follow God’s call and to do God’s will. This morning we look at the man, Nehemiah.
April 23, 2025 - Good Morning! It’s Wednesday, April 23.
Change. Change is part of life. Change is inevitable. Change comes to everyone. All we can hope for is that it be a change for the better. But sometimes it seems to be a case of change for change sake. And we end up worse than before.