This new shoeleatherfaith.com series will use the book, “Journey Through the Bible and Your Story”, (available on Amazon books later this summer) as an introduction to major biblical characters and themes in chronological order, providing a clearer picture of history, from the world's creation to the end times. Whether you approach the Bible with strong faith or curiosity, you are invited to explore its living and powerful message—one that is essential for navigating this complex and often challenging world.

During these weekly articles we will be taking short excerpts from this book for our journey together. This journey most definitely includes your story which started many centuries before you were born and will continue through eternity.

As this completes the 52 Weekly articles of the Spiritual Nutrition series (all available on the shoeleatherfaith.com website), this most important question needs to be asked. “Would you like to know God personally?”

In John 17:3 Jesus states, “And this is life eternal that they know You, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” The word “know” in this verse is not to have an intellectual knowledge about God but instead it means to get very intimate with God in a love relationship where we truly know Him with our heart, soul, and mind. This verse gives each of us the primary focus of our Christian life; that is, to develop a more and more intimate personal love relationship with God for eternity.

The worst does come. In life, things do not go according to plan. Catastrophic

circumstances, tumultuous times, and perilous predicaments arrest our attention as they

zigzag across the landscape of our national and individual horizons.

The worst does come. There are bumps in the road. There are detours up ahead. There are problems to go through. There is trouble to go through and there is a death to die.

Memorial Day is a U.S. holiday honoring those who lost their lives in military service. It falls on the last Monday of May, marking a time for remembrance, reflection, and gratitude for the sacrifices made.

The word sacrifice can carry different meanings depending on the context:

In a historical or military sense, it symbolizes the ultimate price—where people have laid down their lives for their country, beliefs, or loved ones, like those honored on Memorial Day.

The one thing that must be hand in hand with all leadership is having a servant’s mindset: in essence, being a servant leader. “It will not be so among you, but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave, just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:26-28)

A servant leader is someone who prioritizes serving others before seeking personal gain or authority. Instead of leading through command and control, they empower, support, and uplift those around them. It’s a powerful leadership approach that fosters respect, innovation, and loyalty.

Suzanne Werlein is a gifted writer and shares the following article with all of us who have mothers and many who are mothers. Through the ups and downs of parenting, God has given Suzanne a passion to help the next generation of mothers embrace their unique roles as wives and mothers. Suzanne is the founder of Faithbridge Moms, a ministry that strives to provide biblical encouragement, mentoring and Christian community for young moms as they begin their own parenting journeys.

My loving wife of 55 years suffered the last 13 years of her earthly life with nonsmoker’s lung cancer with surgeries, radiology treatments, and chemotherapy. Her last two years were so painful that she begged God daily to bring her home to Heaven.

During those times I was prone to ask God: Why? Why her, she loves You so much? Why must she suffer so much? Why do my prayers for healing seem to go unanswered? Why would someone who has taken such good care of her body with good nutrition and exercising be stricken with such a cruel disease? Why would someone who was used by You to lead so many to Christ have to endure this?

Having just celebrated another birthday, I reflect back on the long journey in my life. Many of the happenings have made little sense in my earthly temporal understanding until I looked back with an eternal perspective (sometimes years later). Jeremiah 29:11 has certainly given me additional insight into God’s personal attention for each of His children; He declares to us, “For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future”.

In those plans I, along with most of you, mentally believe that a loving Father wants the best for His kids. Where we struggle is in God’s definition of BEST that appears to have some negative temporal components.

Virtually all scholars of antiquity, both Christian and non-Christian, accept that Jesus of Nazareth was a historical figure and attempts to deny his historicity have been consistently rejected by the scholarly consensus as a fringe theory. There is just too much evidence to the contrary.

Every major religious movement considers Jesus to be an important religious figure including Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Baha’i Faith and Druze Faith. In addition, some high-level Buddhists have drawn analogies between Jesus and Buddhism.

One of the strongest facts of Christ is that he fulfilled over 300 Old Testament prophesies including his death. It has been calculated that the odds of one man fulfilling just 8 of these would 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000. This is certainly not fiction.

An enthusiastic admirer is the guy who goes to the football game with no shirt and a painted chest. He sits in the stands and cheers for his team. He’s got a signed jersey hanging on his wall at home and multiple bumper stickers on the back of his car. But he’s never in the game. He never breaks a sweat or takes a hard hit in the open field. He knows all about the players and can rattle off their latest stats, but he doesn’t personally know the players. He yells and cheers, but nothing is really required of him. There is no sacrifice he must make. And the truth is, as excited as he seems, if the team he’s cheering for starts to let him down and has a few off seasons, his passion will wane quickly. After several losing seasons you can expect him to jump off the fan wagon and begin cheering for some other team.