Pain changes us. And for the child of God, those words can breathe hope and promise. We who believe Romans 8:28, “Know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”

When Terrie and I came to Lancaster in the summer of 1986, our goal was not to build a large church but to reach people for Christ. Over the past thirty-two years, the Lord has done more than we ever could have dreamed, and we praise Him for that. But our goal has not changed. We still want to reach people for Christ and to invest ourselves in Christ’s church.

If you could only remember about six to ten Bible verses, what would you want them to be? What if you could only remember about ten minutes worth of material, what would you want that to be?

Last year my husband and I were given a wonderful opportunity. We were asked if we would like to go on a trip to the Holy Land; Israel, God’s land, and God’s people. We worked through a couple of scheduling conflicts and said, “Yes!”

For me, it was a dream come true; for my wife, it was an act of love toward her husband. On our first day of fishing, she seemed to revel in the fact that she caught the biggest fish: a twenty-seven-inch Northern Pike! We enjoyed a beautiful cabin on the shores of a beautiful lake and heard the enchanting call of the loons.

There are ongoing efforts today to remove every semblance of God from our society. Ironically, those who are pushing these efforts from a platform of “tolerance” are increasingly intolerant of Judeo-Christian values and beliefs.

When I was sixteen years old, I encountered my first Bible skeptic. As student at Bob Jones Academy, I was passing out tracts and witnessing to people in downtown Spartanburg, South Carolina. It was the last Friday night before Christmas break and unusually cold for South Carolina.

It is no surprise that America has become a post-Christian nation dominated by secularism. The news media, major universities, and elite institutions control the conversation of our culture. Skepticism is growing in power and influence.

Sometimes I imagine a conversation between an Israelite woman and a foreign guest in the Promised Land. The Israelite woman (whom we’ll call Sarah) was among those who spent four decades in the wilderness, and her new companion (we’ll call her Fatima) has recently trekked the same territory. They are eager to swap stories and compare experiences:

This important passage in the book of Ephesians reminds us of what we are, and admonishes us to live accordingly. It says that we are “light in the Lord” (remember Matthew 5:14–16), and tells us to live like it! Just as there is a great difference between light and darkness, Ephesians 5 teaches there should be a vast difference between the way Christians live and the way unsaved people live.