http://madetomatter.org/apps/articles/default.asp?blogid=0&view=post&articleid=75313&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0

George Lacy was a public school teacher when he and his wife Minnie decided to take their vocational skills to the mission field. In 1903, the couple and their five children journeyed to Saltillo, Mexico to organize and operate a school for girls, the Madero Institute.

Joy turned to sorrow in December, 1904, when a daughter fell ill with Scarlet fever.

http://madetomatter.org/apps/articles/default.asp?blogid=0&view=post&articleid=75110&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0

Did God make that ball skid on the Astroturf so Bobby Bonner couldn't reach it? Or did God merely let it slide by, knowing it would be used by others to question Bonner's ability? Is God's plan for your life-our lives-felled at the whim of a shift in the wind or someone else's sinfulness?

http://madetomatter.org/apps/articles/default.asp?blogid=0&view=post&articleid=74996&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0

God never honors laziness, selfishness or self-indulgence; His call to Christians is one of action and activity in sacrificial pursuit of service. Yet none of that is why we were created; nor is it how He measures our worth. For God loves us more than our most noble labors.

http://madetomatter.org/apps/articles/default.asp?blogid=0&view=post&articleid=74902&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0

Even the darkest moments in human struggles are often lit by selfless acts.

http://madetomatter.org/apps/articles/default.asp?blogid=0&view=post&articleid=74783&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0

Shortly before 10 a.m. on Saturday, May 21, the sun burst out of the clouds, blessing the courage of a risky decision by Gordon College's leadership to host their graduation ceremonies outdoors. Given the nearly unbelievable stretch of sunless, rain-swept days of the prior month, it seemed incredibly brave. But indoor graduations severely restrict who may attend, and this was to be a celebration unfettered by those restraints.

http://madetomatter.org/apps/articles/default.asp?blogid=0&view=post&articleid=72860&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0

"They're never going to be able to forgive me, are they?"

--The man who years earlier murdered a neighbor in a drunken stupor;
--a recovering alcoholic whose family refuses to believe "this is the time I really mean to change";
--a daughter whose last words to her father were venomous and hateful, spoken only hours before a hemorrhage claimed his life.

What do we do when we realize someone we've wronged will not forgive us? How do we cope with mistakes we've made that destroy relationships, and even lives? How do we keep them from disabling us spiritually; how do we keep others (including Satan) from using them to disable or discourage us?

http://madetomatter.org/apps/articles/default.asp?blogid=0&view=post&articleid=72052&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0

"We were created to be careful keepers of the place where God puts us, whether that place is ten square feet of assembly line or ten square feet of cubicle or ten thousand square feet of a manufacturing facility. We were also created to enjoy the work we do because we're doing it alongside God."...

..."As Christians, our problems begin when we think we're smarter than God. When we think old rules (the Bible) don't work in new cultures. When we think getting our share of the pie comes before making sure everyone else has enough. When we think the world exists to make us comfortable, happy, and prosperous."...

..."On this side of heaven we work to fix the things our sinful natures broke. We work to fix lives physically, emotionally and spiritually. We work to fix Creation environmentally, economically and spiritually. We work to fix ourselves and our families and the tiny place where God has us laboring."

http://madetomatter.org/apps/articles/default.asp?blogid=0&view=post&articleid=71078&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0

One of my favorite ways to kick off adult retreats-especially men's retreats-is to have them sing the children's song Jesus Loves Me. Grins and groans always greet me when I try this, but I know a secret: Most of the adults in the room no longer feel like Jesus loves them, if they ever did.

It isn't that these adults (including, probably, most of you reading this devotional) doubt Jesus, or the Bible; it's that they feel too hypocritical or too unworthy or too distant or too flawed or too sinful to believe Jesus could love them. From the front of the crowd it's truly amazing to watch as the song's simple truth plows through years of stress and hurt, leaving some even fighting back tears.

http://madetomatter.org/apps/articles/default.asp?blogid=0&view=post&articleid=70013&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0

In an effort to get her boys to stop eating the core of the apples she gave them, a young mother finally told them the apple seeds in those cores were poison, and if they swallowed one of them they would die. To her delight, no more cores were consumed. Weeks later, however, one of the boys accidentally swallowed a seed while eating an apple...

http://madetomatter.org/apps/articles/default.asp?blogid=0&view=post&articleid=69294&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0