The Daily Memo

In August 2020, residents of Olten, Switzerland, were startled to find that it was snowing chocolate! A malfunction in the ventilation system of the local chocolate factory had caused chocolate particles to be diffused into the air. As a result, a dusting of edible chocolate flakes covered cars and streets and made the whole town smell like a candy store. When I think of delicious food “magically” falling from the heavens, I can’t help but think of God&rsquo…

We all fight battles in life, but do we really know who we are fighting? The truth is, there are two forces at work in the world—good and evil. God is good, and Satan is evil. Since Satan cannot hurt God, he fights against His children—those who have believed in Jesus as their Savior. He hopes to hurt God through hurting us. You see, your fight is not against people or even with circumstances, but against the devil. First Peter 5:8 says, That enemy of yours, the,…

Now for one of the most beautiful mysteries of the feminine heart: women minister something to the heart of God that men do not. Look at the record. There was an event that took place in the life of Jesus that he said should be told whenever the gospel is proclaimed around the world. It was when Mary of Bethany came and anointed him with the perfume, which cost a year’s wages. It was an extravagant act of sacrificial worship, and the aroma of it filled the room. Jesus…

After receiving the devastating diagnosis of a rare and incurable brain cancer, Caroline found renewed hope and purpose through providing a unique service: volunteering photography services for critically ill children and their families. Through this service, families could capture the precious moments shared with their children, both in grief and “the moments of grace and beauty we assume don’t exist in those desperate places.” She observed that “in…

I’ve been mostly silent on Facebook for some time. Originally, I thought it would be a great way to stay in touch with friends and family to see just what was happening in their collective lives. It turned into a time toilet that had to be moderated. It also had turned into a place that builds tribes and silos. The algorithms only allow me to see those feeds of the folks I interact with on most occasions. I’d have to hunt down any other interesting parties. BUT……;.…

In 1799, twelve-year-old Conrad Reed found a large, glittering rock in the stream that ran through his family’s small farm in North Carolina. He carried it home to show his father, a poor immigrant farmer. His father didn’t understand the rock’s potential value and used it as a doorstop. The family walked by it for years. Eventually Conrad’s rock—actually a seventeen-pound gold nugget—caught the eye of a local jeweler. Soon the Reed…

God has given each of us an inheritance in Christ. Jesus came that we might have life and life to the full. When we get into relationships with people or institutions or into patterns of behavior or addictions that are not God’s highest for us, they get in the way of our being able to receive what God has for us. We are to deal strongly with areas of bondage in our life. We are not to make excuses for them but cast them out. Make them leave. We say no to bondage, no…

The Evil One lied to us about where true life was found...and we believed him. God gave us the wondrous world as our playground, and he told us to enjoy it fully and freely. Yet despite his extravagant generosity, we had to reach for the one forbidden thing. And at that moment something in our hearts shifted. We reached, and in our reaching we fell from grace. So Helen betrayed Menelaus and her native Greece, and ran off to Troy with her lover. So Edmund betrayed his…

I remember so well praying for a baby called Craig. I had been asked to visit a woman in the Brompton Hospital. Vivienne had three children and was pregnant with a fourth. Her third child, who was eighteen months old, had a hole in his heart that had been operated on. The operation had not been a success and, not unnaturally, the medical staff wanted to turn the machines off. Many times they asked Vivienne if they could turn the machines off and let the baby die. She said,…