Joe Barnett

You received the Spirit of adoption.                —Romans 8:15 Rummaging through records in the college Bursar’s office, Phil stumbled on to something he’d never known—he was adopted. He hopped in his car for the two-and-a-half hour drive to the house where he grew up. Charging through the front door, […]

If only you would tear open the heavens and come down.       —Isaiah 64:1 You’ve heard the question—maybe asked it yourself: “If God is all-powerful and all-loving, why does he sit on his hands when bad things happen?” It’s an old question. The grumbling Israelites asked, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

He was lost and is found.       —Luke 15:32 Morgan Nick, Colleen Nick’s six-year-old daughter, disappeared from an Arkansas ballpark on June 9, 1995. As I write these words—twenty-three years, nine months and ten days after her disappearance—Morgan is still missing. Colleen has never given up and vows she never will. “I would

He sees every step I take.        —Job 31:4 When you came into the world, and for quite a few years after, you didn’t have a clue where life was taking you. You were on a journey with an unknown destination. As you moved through adolescence into adulthood, you began to target a

I call upon you, for you answer me.                    —Psalm 86:7 In 2015, twelve-year-old Cade Pope was trying to decide which NFL team deserved his loyalty. He mailed handwritten letters to each of the thirty-two owners of National Football League teams, explaining that he wanted to pick

A cheerful disposition is good for your health.   —Proverbs 17:22 I have no idea who Aunt Milda is, but someone forwarded me a copy of her blog where she said it takes twenty-six muscles to smile and sixty-two to frown. She also claimed researchers have proved that “when we smile it releases brain chemicals

We will tell the next generation.               —Psalm 78:4 Abilene Christian College’s track relay team—Bobby Morrow, Bill Woodhouse, James Segrest, and Waymond Griggs—set world records in 1957 and 1958. The moment the baton was passed from one runner to the next always had me on the edge of my

We will tell the next generation.               —Psalm 78:4 Abilene Christian College’s track relay team—Bobby Morrow, Bill Woodhouse, James Segrest, and Waymond Griggs—set world records in 1957 and 1958. The moment the baton was passed from one runner to the next always had me on the edge of my

Unless you are born again, you can never see the Kingdom of God.                  —John 3:3 I presided at two funerals where several people smiled perceptively as they passed the caskets. The first was for a man whose job had sent him flying the friendly skies most days

Whoever eats this bread will live forever.                      —John 6:58 William Shakespeare, arguably the greatest English language playwright in history, has been dead over 400 years. One of Shakespeare’s contemporaries, Ben Jonson, wrote of him: “He was not of an age, but for all time.” I