Joe Barnett

There was no room for them in the inn.                          —Luke 2:7 The Bethlehem innkeeper has caught a lot of flak for his callous cruelty in not making room for Joseph and Mary, forcing Mary to give birth to Jesus in a barn and […]

Make the best possible use of your time.                —Colossians 4:5 Author Frederick Buechner says it takes one-sixth as long to write Xmas as it does to write Christmas. “If you do your cards by hand,” Buechner claims, “it is possible to save as much as seventy-five or eighty

It is to a man’s honor to avoid strife, but every fool is quick to quarrel.        —Proverbs 20:3 He stormed into the convenience store and started dressing me down because my front left tire was on the stripe next to a handicapped parking space. I responded in kind: told him he was

Keep your eyes on Jesus.     —Hebrews 12:2 On July 4, 1952, Florence Chadwick stepped into frigid, shark-infested water to attempt a twenty-six-mile swim from Catalina Island to the California coast. Sixteen hours later, thick fog rolled in, and she called it quits. Unknowingly, she had thrown in the towel less than a mile

I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.       —Mark 2:17 Tara Lawton quit going to her health spa because she sensed she didn’t fit in. She was overweight and felt that the svelte were staring at her and judging her. So Tara joined a gym that was exclusively for people

In everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.              —Philippians 4:6 When the doctor walked into the surgical waiting room, Bob and I met him to hear his report. He said the surgery had gone well. When he left, we retreated to a corner of

This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.        —Psalm 118:24 Celebrate today by divorcing the past and marrying the present. Celebrate today by divorcing resentment and marrying forgiveness. Celebrate today by divorcing malice and marrying love. Celebrate today by divorcing indifference and marrying compassion.

Young man, I say to you, arise.               —Luke 7:14 It is unknown how many Jesus raised from the dead. We have a record of only three: a widow’s only son, a synagogue leader’s only daughter, and a pair of sisters’ only brother. Jesus didn’t raise them to compensate

Their own strength is their god.          —Habakkuk 1:11 God showed up out of the blue and commissioned Gideon to save Israel from their seven-year Midianite oppression. Talk about a lopsided fight—the Midianites had 135,000 soldiers; Gideon was able to round up 32,000: four to one odds. God told Gideon he had

Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.                             —James 4:7 Jesus answered each of Satan’s wilderness temptations with scripture: three temptations; three scriptures. Game over. Old Scratch glanced at the scoreboard and hightailed it for the Exit. Abraham, “the father