The Daily Memo

“Most people carry scars that others can’t see or understand.” Those deeply honest words came from Major League Baseball player Andrelton Simmons, who opted out of the end of the 2020 regular season due to mental health struggles. Reflecting on his decision, Simmons felt he needed to share his story to encourage others facing similar challenges and to remind others to show compassion. Invisible scars are those deep hurts and wounds that can’t be seen…

In the Garden of Gethsemane, hours before His arrest, Jesus prayed for the disciples: “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth” (John 17:17). A little later, when questioned by Pilate, Jesus replied that He’d come into the world to testify to the truth. This prompted Pilate’s philosophical question that people today still ask: “What is truth?” (John 18:37-38). The meaning of the word corresponds to what actually is, not what we…

Brokenness is God’s requirement for maximum usefulness.Who do you trust in more than the Lord? What is God stripping away from your life? The answer to these questions may explain why God is working so hard to break your dependence upon anything other than Himself—no matter how long it takes or how difficult the process may be. He’s committed to bringing you to a place of wholeness and spiritual maturity—conforming you to the likeness of His Son .…

Everything in you may be saying, “But you don’t understand. I want to eat that whole box of chocolates (or sleep with my boyfriend, or let my anger really fly). That’s what really seems like life to me right now.” God says, “I know you do, but it’ll kill you in the end. What you think is life is not. That’s not the comfort (or the love, or the significance) you are seeking. You’ll wind up destroying yourself.” The…

Before baseball’s 1906 World Series, sportswriter Hugh Fullerton made an astute prediction. He said the Chicago Cubs, who were expected to win, would lose the first and third games and win the second. Oh, and it would rain on the fourth. He was right on each point. Then, in 1919, his analytical skills told him certain players were losing World Series games intentionally. Fullerton suspected they’d been bribed by gamblers. Popular opinion ridiculed him. Again, he…

The Bible tells us to “Consider it all joy, my brothers and sisters, when you encounter various trials” (James 1:2). What a preposterous statement! Do you know anyone who thinks joy and trials fit together? But James is presenting God’s perspective—not a human one. Suffering has some surprising benefits that aren’t readily apparent to most people. It’s important to realize these verses are not telling us to be happy in our pain but rather…

A Times columnist Bernard Levin spoke of how there is a hole inside each of us. However much you try to fill it with food, drink, relationships, possessions, ‘it aches’. You were created for a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Without that relationship we ache.People try to fill this hole with different things. For some, it is alcohol, and although there is nothing wrong with drinking wine, it does not satisfy the deep inner thirst we have in our hearts…

It’s so peaceful here. It’s called Togus Pond but I’ve never seen a lake-sized pond like this one. It’s beautiful. Tree-lined shores surrounded by nature and a few lakehomes dot the landscape. The sounds of God’s creation are all around, starting with the unique call of the Kingfisher and Loon. Add in a couple Pintail ducks and the symphony begins. What could be better than this? Heaven, I’m sure, but this feels like a close second. We…

We long for beauty, and when the biblical writers speak of heaven, they use the most beautiful imagery they can. You can almost hear the agony of the writer trying to get it right while knowing he falls far short of what he sees. In the book of Revelation, John uses the word like again and again. “And He who was sitting was like a jasper stone and a sardius in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, like an emerald in appearance ... Before the throne…