Our hearts are are so full and grateful as we reflect on 2022 and greatly anticipate 2023. God has been so good to us. We are so grateful for the privilege of serving our Savior at home and abroad. Looking to the future without fear is only possible with the saving grace of God and…
Tag: Israel
The Common and the Holy
I love the almost holy tranquility of this old photo. This morning while preparing my thoughts for a teaching on understanding the purpose and place of Sabbath rest as Gentiles tonight at Queen City Church in Cincinnati, I meditated on the differences between the common and holy things of life. Sabbath is the first thing…
Dilemma of Joy
My treasured keepsakes bulge in pockets of time—rather moments—that are tucked hard against the bones of my heart. They remain as fresh and life-giving as the first-offerings of spring rosesbuds, tight with fragrance and bleeding of crimson that smears across my fingers as I pull them out one petal at a time. The edges are…
Ukraine, Israel, and More
The criminal, deathly Russian aggression against Ukraine in the last week has touched a deep place of both shock and compassion in hearts around the world, especially Wayne and me. We moved our family to Odessa, Ukraine some years ago to start Bible schools and congregations. When the flames of Communism went underground, the gospel…
Go, and Keep Going
I responded to a call to go into all the world to preach the gospel in my early 20’s. Eagerly, I went to Bible school to prepare. This hope became my bread and butter as I studied, dreamed, and planned to go. I didn’t exactly know where God would send me, but I knew international…
Maybe
The holy mystery of Christmas is not hidden. It shouts in the streets like a vendor and blocks the highway like a barricade. It’s the crazy unexplainable that flashes with bright clarity for a second and collapses in the warm arms of hope that yearn for home. It’s the beauty of heaven that falls with…
Stop and Breathe, It’s Sabbath!
John 30:22 And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. When I am pressed and overwhelmed in my daily life, there is one thing that brings immediate relief. It’s a very old remedy and technique, but is well proven to be effective. And that is to intentionally come to full…
Yom Kippur 5782
It was a bloody affair. For the High Priest, and the people waiting in the balance of heaven’s mercy, the Day of Atonement as prescribed in Leviticus 16 was a bloody affair. Each year on the tenth of Tishri, the priest first sacrificed one bull to cover his own sins. This prepared the way for…
Blueness
Blueness Six million dead and the blueness of a wound, scars in the inward parts, is there a blueness to revive us? None. But the bruises of a perfect lamb chastised for peace, for justice, for mercy. His blue bruises mingled with scarlet cleanses white, weightless white. See hidden here in the prophets’piercing pages of…
Mediocer to Powerfully Effective!
a Ever-Increasing Light Sabbaths, Feasts, and More Marking Jewish Themes with Distinction “If you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay fulfilling it, for the Lord your God will surely require it of you, and you will be guilty of sin. But if you refrain from vowing, you will not…
Bonnie Saul Wilks 