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.

I can honestly say I have never heard anyone say that they wanted to be in the middle of a storm in their lives. I don’t recall ever hearing someone say, “I have things too easy right now and I just want God to put me into a storm so life will not be so easy.”

The truth is that storms are a natural part of life both physically and spiritually. We do not always know when the storms of life may come our way, but you can be assured one will. I once heard it said that you are either about to go into a storm, in the middle of a storm, or coming out of a storm because they are a guarantee of our spiritual walk of life.

April Fool’s Day is observed in most of the countries of the world. Although it is not a formal holiday in any country, it’s a day for jokes, pranks, and hoaxes. On April 1st, people “stretch” the truth and then announce, “April Fools.”

Are we trying to fool the one who loves us the most? Are we guilty of trying to fool God? Are we guilty of trying to keep secrets from God? There’s no fooling God. There is no place we can go where He does not see our every move. Proverbs 15: 3, says: “The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.” Those who think they have God fooled are only fooling themselves! God sees all things! He hears all things! Nothing escapes His attention!

“Everyone who makes themselves important will be made humble. But everyone who makes themselves humble will be made important.” Luke 14:11

Admittedly, humility and the humbling of oneself is out of fashion in today’s world and seems unappealing to most of us. However, as Jonathan Edwards said, “We must view humility as one of the most essential things that characterizes true Christianity.” Our perspective on humility can be radically changed if we will ponder and meditate on the greatest example of humility in history: Jesus Christ. By the very act of leaving heaven, coming to earth, and taking the form of man, he demonstrated an unfathomable humbling of himself. Throughout his life on earth, Jesus demonstrated a spirit of profound humility, saying that he came “not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28). On his last night with the disciples, he took a towel and basin and washed their dirty feet (John 13:1–11), instructing them to follow his example of servanthood with one another (John 13:12–17). Andrew Murray captures it well, “Christ is the humility of God embodied in human nature; the Eternal Love humbling itself, clothing itself in the garb of meekness and gentleness, to win and serve and save us.”

Time moves so quickly. When you are young, you never give death much thought; then you wake up and you are old. James 4:14 “For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.” God gives man a short time here upon earth, and yet upon this short time eternity depends.  “For death is no more than a turning of us over from time to eternity.” William Penn

God allows us the choice during this time to live with Him in eternity in Heaven or choose not to. It is through a choice to accept Christ as the only “Way” (John 14:6), “Grasping what the Bible teaches about Heaven shifts our center of gravity and radically alters our perspective on life. Therefore, we should always seek to keep Heaven in our line of sight. Those who know Jesus should realize that death is the gateway to never-ending joy.” Randy Alcorn, founder of Eternal Perspective Ministries

From my teenage years up through my late 60s I diligently did strength training for my physical body. I could bench press 300 lbs. even being an old dude.

We live in a time and culture chasing after strength. The world’s definition of strength and God’s definition are not the same.

The world would define strength as power through our own ability to overcome that which we are almost impotent. Power is sought, looked up to, and praised. It’s taught, emulated, and admired. Media and books tout and idolize strength. Every age, gender, and ethnicity exalt power and debase weakness. The quest for power weaves its influence into strength training, diet, clothing, relationships, and purpose.

None of us like to suffer but every person who has ever lived has suffered. Looking back on my life I have experienced many occasions to be overwhelmed by suffering. A few of these include a neck injury ending a potential pro football career; being on the verge of bankruptcy after the real estate market crashed; our primary profitable business wiped out by COVID; my wife suffering with cancer for 13 years which ended her earthly life after 55 years of marriage; and other current struggles.

All of God’s people who are revealed in the Old and New Testaments have had struggles and suffering including Jesus Christ. So, why does our loving Heavenly Father allow suffering of His loved ones?

Scripture is abundant with tales where adversity does not have the last word; instead, it serves as a catalyst for growth, transformation, and often- unexpected goodness. It emphasizes that even in the midst of trials, there’s always a nugget of hope to cling onto.

Indeed, the Bible encourages believers to view their struggles from an entirely different perspective. Rather than being pointless or punitive experiences, these challenges are opportunities for personal development and deepened faith. This isn’t just about turning lemons into lemonade—it’s about recognizing that every situation serves a purpose in our spiritual journey. God is always working even when you don’t see it.

The evolution of Valentine’s Day has followed a course similar to the evolution of Santa Claus. It began with legends surrounding an obscure saint (actually, there’s more than one St. Valentine) from early Christian history that oddly morphed over the centuries into something else entirely. Then it exploded into a pop culture and commercial phenomenon in Victorian England (thank the Brits for greeting cards, flowers, and “confectionaries”), with the United States quickly jumping on the bandwagon.

Here are 4 facts about Valentine’s Day: (1) The first Valentine was posted around 1806. (2) Almost one billion Valentine’s Day cards are sent each year on or near February 14 with females purchasing 85% of the cards. This is second only to the number of Christmas cards sent. (3) Americans spent $20.7 billion dollars in 2019 on Valentine’s Day (4) 3 in 10 people don’t celebrate this holiday in America.

Can you imagine nothing? I cannot. I always have to put it into the context of “something”.

A vast number of scientists, astronomers, and cosmologists believe the “Big Bang Theory” was the beginning of our universe with a current estimate of 200 billion trillion stars and planets. (They also put this theory in the context of an understandable “something”.)  

We have an intimate Heavenly Father that trains His kids to become like Jesus.

Earth is God’s training ground for each of us. God uses grace in His training. God’s grace is His unmerited love. Grace means that God showered love and blessing on those who did not in any way deserve or earn it. They deserved His judgment and wrath. But He showed them love.

If I drew a long horizontal line upon which I drew a small dot and asked, “If that is a timeline, what do you think the dot represents?” You might answer that is your life in comparison to human history!”

However, that is incorrect. You immediately may ask, “What else could it be?”

“The line is all of eternity, the dot is human history,”

 “So where is your life?”  “It is just a little tiny speck on the dot, so little one can’t see it.” Counting all the years in the Bible since Creation up to the current time adds up to less than several thousand years which is a very small dot on the line of eternity. Even if your life span on Earth is 100 years, it is a very tiny speck on the dot.