I will share about Christian books I have read or listened to.
I will be sharing about my life before and after Christ. I will include stories about my pet and other pets I have encountered.
Loving Your Family
The word family can carry a lot of different meanings, depending on who you ask. But, the command to love your family comes straight from God.
In the Old Testament, the command to honor your father and mother was included in the Ten Commandments that God gave to Moses for the people of Israel:
Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
Exodus 20:12 NIV
As Paul, the author of Ephesians, is teaching the church in Ephesus about the implications of following Jesus, he repeats this command from the Ten Commandments. Paul knew that if we are to follow Jesus then we need to learn to love everybody, even those who are closest to us—and especially our own family.
Now, everybody grows up in different family circumstances. Some are born into nuclear families, some are raised in situations of brokenness, and others are welcomed into adoptive families. Regardless of how or where we grew up, God calls us to love those who raised us.
That may be a hard thing to do. Sometimes a family member seems like our greatest enemy because of how they’ve hurt us. But even in that, Jesus encourages us to love our enemies and pray for them.
While learning to love those who are closest to us may be one of the most difficult things we do, it is also one of the most life-changing. It increases our capacity to see and love others, as well as honor God with our life. Consider how you can take steps today to better love those God has placed in your life.
A Calling to Prepare
Just days before He would die on the cross, Jesus spoke these words to His followers:
“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come."
Matthew 24:42 NIV
He knew exactly when He would die. He knew the hour of His resurrection. He knew the plan, the timing, and the weight of everything unfolding around Him.
But here, during a series of parables, Jesus shifts His focus to what’s still ahead: His return. And He makes one thing clear—we won’t know when it’s coming. No date on the calendar. No countdown clock. Just this charge: Keep watch.
Why? Because when we live with spiritual alertness and urgency, we prioritize what matters. We live awake to the work of God around us. We live watchful over our own hearts, refusing to drift into complacency.
If every day could be the day Jesus returns, then we must live every day with the same obedience to His calling for us.
Jesus isn’t calling us to panic; He’s calling us to prepare. He’s ...
