4/29/19-5/3/19 Devo One - Mark Lodewyk

This is the first devotional for the week of April 29-May 3. This video is a devotion by Mark Lodewyk given on a Wednesday morning HS devotional time in the theater on April 24, 2019. He was on the team that went to Mexico over the break. Watch this video and let us know what you think by leaving a few sentences as comment below the post.

You can click on the video above or click on this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ALPdSO2k9w

4/23/19-4/26/19 Devo Two - Serving the Smallest

This is the second devotional for the week of April 23 through April 26. This is a devotional from the Our Daily Bread website. Read this devotional and let us know what you think by leaving a comment below the post. Three or four sentences would be good. Your comments give you devotion credit.

Serving the Smallest

"God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things."
1 Corinthians 1:28

The video showed a man kneeling beside a busy freeway during an out-of-control brush fire. He was clapping his hands and pleading with something to come. What was it? A dog? Moments later a bunny hopped into the picture. The man scooped up the scared rabbit and sprinted to safety.

How did the rescue of such a small thing make national news? That’s why. There’s something endearing about compassion shown to the least of these. It takes a big heart to make room for the smallest creature.

Jesus said the kingdom of God is like a man who gave a banquet and made room for everyone who was willing to come. Not just the movers and shakers but also “the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame” (Luke 14:21). I’m thankful that God targets the weak and the seemingly insignificant, because otherwise I’d have no shot. Paul said, “God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things . . . so that no one may boast before him” (1 Corinthians 1:27–29).

How big must God’s heart be to save a small person like me! In response, how large has my heart grown to be? I can easily tell, not by how I please the “important people,” but by how I serve the ones society might deem the least important.

By Mike Wittmer

Today's Reflection

What types of people do you have a hard time valuing? In what ways might God want you to change that?

4/23/19-4/26/19 Devo One - Seeing the Light

This is the first devotional for the week of April 23 through April 26. This is a devotional from the Our Daily Bread website. Read this devotional and let us know what you think by leaving a comment below the post. Three or four sentences would be good. Your comments give you devotion credit.

Seeing the Light

"On those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned."
Isaiah 9:2

On the streets of Los Angeles, a homeless man struggling with addictions stepped into The Midnight Mission and asked for help. Thus began Brian’s long road to recovery.

In the process Brian rediscovered his love for music. Eventually he joined Street Symphony—a group of music professionals with a heart for the homeless. They asked Brian to perform a solo from Handel’s Messiah known as “The People That Walked in Darkness.” In words written by the prophet Isaiah during a dark period of Israel’s history, he sang, “The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined” (Isaiah 9:2 kjv). A music critic for The New Yorker magazine wrote that Brian “made the text sound as though it had been taken from his own life.”

The gospel writer Matthew quoted that same passage. Called by Jesus from a life of cheating his fellow Israelites, Matthew describes how Jesus fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecy by taking His salvation “beyond the Jordan” to “Galilee of the Gentiles” (Matthew 4:13–15).

Who would have believed one of Caesar’s tax collector thugs (see Matthew 9:9), a street addict like Brian, or people like us would get a chance to show the difference between light and darkness in our own lives?

By Mart DeHaan

Today's Reflection

How has the light of Christ affected you? In what ways are you reflecting it to others?

4/8/19-4/12/19 Devo Two - Being Consumed

This is the second devotional for the week of April 8 through April 12. This is a devotional from the Our Daily Bread website. Read this devotional and let us know what you think by leaving a comment below the post. Your comments give you devotion credit.

Being Consumed

"When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long"
Psalm 32:3

In his book The Call, Os Guinness describes a moment when Winston Churchill, on holiday with friends in the south of France, sat by the fireplace to warm himself on a cold night. Gazing at the fire, the former prime minister saw pine logs “crackling, hissing, and spitting as they burned. Suddenly, his familiar voice growled, ‘I know why logs spit. I know what it is to be consumed.’”

Difficulties, despair, dangers, distress, and the results of our own wrongdoings can all feel consuming. Circumstances slowly drain our hearts of joy and peace. When David experienced the consuming consequences of his own sinful choices, he wrote, “When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. . . . My strength was sapped as in the heat of summer” (Psalm 32:3–4).

In such difficult times, where do we turn for help? For hope? Paul, whose experiences were filled with ministry burdens and brokenness, wrote, “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed” (2 Corinthians 4:8–9).

How does that work? As we rest in Jesus, the Good Shepherd restores our souls (Psalm 23:3) and strengthens us for the next step of our journey. He promises to walk that journey with us every step of the way (Hebrews 13:5).

By Bill Crowder

Today's Reflection

What are some of the consuming struggles you’ve experienced? How did you respond? How did God meet you in those difficult times?

4/8/19-4/12/19 Devo One - Unexpected Winners

This is the first devotional for the week of April 8 through April 12. This is a devotional from the Our Daily Bread website. Read this devotional and let us know what you think by leaving a comment below the post. Your comments give you devotion credit.

Unexpected Winners

"Many who are first will be last."
Matthew 19:30

Perhaps the most preposterous, spellbinding moment in the 2018 Winter Olympics was when the Czech Republic’s world champion snowboarder Ester Ledecka won an event in a completely different sport: skiing! And she took the first-place gold medal even though she had the unenviable position of skiing 26th—a feat believed to be basically impossible.

Amazingly, Ledecka qualified to race the women’s super-G—an event that combines downhill skiing with a slalom course. After she won by .01 of a second on borrowed skis, she was just as shocked as the media and other contestants who had assumed the winner would be one of the top skiers.

This is how the world works. We assume the winners will keep winning while all the others will lose. It was a jolt, then, when the disciples heard Jesus say how “hard [it is] for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 19:23). Jesus turned everything upside down. How could being rich (a winner) offer a roadblock? Apparently, if we trust in what we have (what we can do, who we are), then it’s not only hard but actually impossible to trust God.

The kingdom of God doesn’t play by our rules. “Many who are first,” Jesus says, “will be last, and many who are last will be first” (v. 30). And, whether you’re first or last, everything we receive is purely by grace—by God’s unmerited favor.

By Winn Collier

Today's Reflection

Consider how you view people, or how you view your own life. How does Jesus’s way of seeing so-called losers and winners change your perspective?

4/1/19-4/5/19 Devo Two - Windows

For this devotional, Reggie Coates shares a story illustrating the empowering truth that Jesus Lives in us, "...Christ in you the hope of glory" (Colossians 1:27). Please watch the first YouTube video where Reggie shares, then watch the second YouTube video which is Reggie singing his song Windows. Write a comment (at least three sentences) to receive CEU credit for participating.

Devotional Video

The song Windows, by Reggie Coates

Here are the lyrics to follow along:

WINDOWS

There’s a sun in my life

Chasing shadows away

There’s a light in my life

Brighter than a sunny day

There’s a warmth in my heart

Seems like summer's here to stay

There’s a joy in my heart

It’s never going to go away

Transformed and changed

My life is not the same

Windows, come take a look

There’s joy now in my life

Windows, the Son of God

Has come into my life

I don’t mind if you may see

What’s going on inside of me

'Cause I am confident that He’ll

Complete the work that He's begun

There’s a strength in my life

God’s great power flows in me

There’s a hope in my life

I’m sure of my destiny

There’s a peace in my heart

Chains are gone and now I’m free

There’s a love in my heart

I’ll share it for eternity

Transformed it changed

My life is not the same

Shine, shine, shine, shine

Take a look what’s going on

Shine, shine, shine, shine

In my weakness He is strong

Shine, shine, shine, shine

Let His spirit flow now through me

Shine, shine, shine, shine

I want the whole world to see you Jesus

Transformed and changed

My life is not the same

4/1/19-4/5/19 Devo One - Students Give Thanks to COA Faculty

This is the first devotional for the week of April 1-5. This video is a sampling of students giving thanks to the Conservatory Faculty. Watch this video and let us know what you think by leaving a comment below the post (at least three sentences). This will give you devotional credit.

You can click on the video above or click on this link: https://youtu.be/lNzFvdzrhjs