—Message, circa October, 1979, “A Time to Expect Great Things,” by Dr. Gardner C. Taylor

ngel, with the blue eyes, lurked on the outskirts of our Chester, Pennsylvania Message Community Infusion in July. I don’t necessarily blame him for being wary of our enthusiastic bunch. How desperate do you have to be to clean up an empty city park, trim the trees, set up the praise team and band, bring in free food and give away free COVID shots—all so we can attract a potential contact who needs Jesus?

Very desperate. And I’m down with it. It’s not a pretty scene, ever. People with things to do and places to go have little time to stop and assess their existential predicament. It’s the people parked on the bench, who need everything—now—that gravitate toward any light of life.

wenty-five years ago, when I was diagnosed with invasive, aggressive, metastatic breast cancer, doctors gave me the prognosis of two to five years to live, at most, with or without treatment. My expert surgeon and radiation oncology team, however, knew little of the value of healthy lifestyle and plant-powered living, and they were uninformed about its effects.

In the many years that have passed, more health professionals are becoming aware of the science behind diet and health and are beginning to incorporate it into their patient care plan. I spoke with two such professionals who shared their views on this practice.

ou’ve probably heard it said that the number one thing that husbands need is respect, and that is correct. However, our understanding of respect is often basic and rudimentary. We know men want respect on their job, at church, from other men, and from their wives. But respect for a man is so much bigger than not talking down to him in public or not treating him like a child.

If you want an advanced-level understanding of respect, you must level up to Respect 2.0. So we’d like to reframe it for you. Here it is—husbands want their wives to believe in them. It’s that simple. If you believe in him, it will empower him to achieve more than he ever could without your belief.

hen the R&B group, the O’Jays, recorded the hit song “For the Love of Money” in 1974, I’m not sure they knew how evergreen the lyrics were: “For the love of money…people will steal from their mother; for the love of money….people will rob their own brother.”

Given the power of money and its impact on families, it seems only fitting to discuss some helpful financial practices when dealing with family finances. Should I lend to my cousin? What is my spouse going to think when she finds out I loaned some money to my sibling? Family dynamics can get really interesting with funny money.

hether we are sensing increased racial conflict and misapprehensions, or recognizing the ever widening gap between the old and young, our relationships have been strained even before COVID-19 sent us all to our rooms. The church, for some, creates a refuge of support. For others with challenges, the church misses an opportunity. The data, says Brooke Hempell, Senior Vice-President for Research at Barna, informs our approach to actually addressing these challenges.

Recent studies indicate declines in church attendance and spiritual practices. The data indicate a steady decline in faith and beliefs. Hempell acknowledged in an interview that the Christian polling organization sometimes carries the reputation of “Bad News Barna.” However, the methodology and analysis is prophetic, as the research holds a prophetic mirror up to the Body of Christ.

Teams of Habitat volunteers came back out. Now that the father of this young family was gone, the work loomed in the haze. The home needed a garage for storage and security purposes. The firepit he started needed finishing, and the sod for the sideyard needed to be installed.

Alice Dent, a CEO for Habitat, and also a member of the state board for housing in Michigan, coordinated the build, and the second wave of support. Even her board and colleagues accuse her of getting “too involved,” or being “too subjective.” Dent, however, checked off every box she could to ensure Olivia Boddie, and her kids leverage the love, wordlessly extended during this time of grief.

It happened on an official level around A.D. 300. The emperor Constantine converted to Christianity. In this act, he sought to merge his empire, a mixture of pagans and Christians, into one unified system by making Christianity the official state religion.

History tells us that one of the ways Constantine mingled paganism with Christianity was by merging pagan festivals with Christian meaning. This had a direct impact upon the observance of the Ten Commandments, and for purposes of this discussion, the Sabbath of the Bible.

he Saviour gathered His disciples about Him, and said to them, “If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all.” There was in these words a solemnity and impressiveness which the disciples were far from comprehending. That which Christ discerned they could not see. They did not understand the nature of Christ’s kingdom, and this ignorance was the apparent cause of their contention.

But the real cause lay deeper. By explaining the nature of the kingdom, Christ might for the time have quelled their strife; but this would not have touched the underlying cause. Even after they had received the fullest knowledge, any question of precedence might have renewed the trouble. Thus disaster would have been brought to the church after Christ’s departure.