Beacon2Light

National Day of Prayer -- Thursday, May 2 For those of you like me who are not yet ready, there are downloadable resources at http://nationaldayofprayer.org/shop/ Humankind Water - provides clean drinking water and can be bought at Walmarts in CT, NJ, NY, PA, DE, MD and VA   One Lane Bridge by Don Reid -- Free on Kindle for a limited time!  David C. Cook Publishing Nick Gilbert reports: The eBook edition of Simple Church: Returning to God's Process for Making Disciples by Thom S. Rainer and Eric Geiger is FREE today at several online retail sites. This is a one-day only thing, so get this best-seller at no cost while you can! Barnes & Noble ChristianBook.com iTunes Amazon (99 cents)   Antidote to Poison I was haunted by failure to the edge of suicide—and then came life. Ravi Zacharias' testimony  The book Ravi Zacharias mentions in his testimony that he still has: St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans by W. H. Griffith Thomas Leag

pic of Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr. from his blog:  http://rcsprouljr.com/blog The story behind this post: He lost his wife to cancer and his daughter with disabilities less than a year apart. His wife Denise died of cancer on Dec. 18, 2011 .   Daughter Shannon died October 3, 2012 at the age of 15.   She was born with a condition called Lissencephaly, a condition that left her disabled.  Lissencephaly , literally meaning smooth brain, is a rare birth abnormality of the brain that results in profound mental retardation and severe seizures. R.C. Sproul, Jr. Demonstrates that It's Okay to Be Sad When Mourning Loss It's okay to be sad and lonesome months and even years after your loved one's passing.  This is what a fellow traveler in that pain had to say.  It's from someone who believes in God's sovereignty and His purposes even in our earthly struggles. It’s the Little Things; OK, It’s the Big Things Too   from R.C. Sproul Jr. Apr 27, 2013 Joni Earekson Ta

As I was surfing the net this morning I came across this lovely story:  Granny's $8 Gift To Cash-Strapped Granddaughter Goes Viral It provoked in me the following: I don't remember any of my grandparents but I had a spiritual grandmom, to be sure, in Anne Sayre.  She used to send my wife and me a nice note and $5 from time to time.  Mrs. Sayre was the first one to bring me to a knowledge of God when I was 5, prayed for my biological family and me for all of my years since then, was cheering me on and praying for me as I went to college, graduated, participated in the Persian Gulf War, as I married and began a family, when I was ordained, began ministry as a pastor and on and on.  She went home to be with the Lord but those notes and $5 bills will always be a treasured memory.  How will you and I be remembered?  Let's not forget the power of small kindnesses and remembering those we love over the long haul.  I leave you with this verse: Even when I am old and gray,

Most families, I reckon, struggle with family devotions. In the busyness of life, finding a good devotional that spans the age ranges and interest of their families and disciplining themselves to do them each day seems quite an obstacle to overcome. However, I found these devotions to be so enjoyable for the family that my youngest child often retrieves the book and makes sure that we do the latest one. Whit’s End Mealtime Devotions is a surprisingly small book. After all, it does contain 90 devotions! The positive thing about this is that it doesn’t take up much room on the bookshelf. True to the effort put into all Focus on the Family/Adventures in Odyssey products, the cover art is superb. It features a family of four sitting around a dinner table with an open Bible. A depiction of Mr. Whittaker, an affable and wise character in the Adventures in Odyssey series, also graces the cover. The primary color is a glossy red. Inside are three categories of devotions. U

Miscellaneous: Gospel Tract in Pdf with Funny Statements/Jokes page 4 Bible Study Steps by Howard Hendricks Billy Graham pray for our leaders guide :  For President, members of Congress, the Senate and other elected officials Creation for Kids - Creationist website for kids that includes online games, activities (crosswords) and articles   Kindle Deals:   Hurry on these.  One I had to eliminate and another move to the great deal section since I didn't publish them yesterday, so they do change fast. Free, Take a Chance, if You Will (I don’t know enough about the authors to render a judgment):   The Jesus Experiment: What Happens When You Follow in His Footsteps? By Bill Perkins What I Can Recommend that is Free: All About Jesus: The Single Story from Matthew, Mark, Luke, & John by Roger Quy Roger Quy Ph.D. is a layman. He serves as the Vice Chairman of Biblica. "We used this book as a resource to help Christians reach their friends."-Chip Ingram, Living

(Charles Krupa/AP photo, as found at:   http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/04/16/17773869-the-man-in-the-hat-at-boston-marathon-finish-line-carlos-arredondo-didnt-set-out-to-be-hero#.UW0xKQRT41Q.twitter ) There he was in a cowboy hat on the sidelines, handing out American flags. Carlos Arredondo was waiting at the finish line for those who were running for fallen soldiers, one of which was his own son. Rewind to 2004 when Marine Lance Cpl. Alexander S. Arredondo, died in battle half a world away in Najaf, Iraq. It was Carlos’ 44th birthday when Marines pulled up to bring the news. Distraught, he grabbed a can of gasoline and something to light it with from his garage, got inside the van, doused it and set it on fire, severely burning himself as well. The Marines got him out and put out the flames on his body while suffering no injuries to themselves. ( Read about that here ) (Alexander and Brian before Alexander's death in Iraq) That was not the end of his pers

Joni Eareckson Tada has a great little tract online for helping children process suffering and death Why Bad Things Happen For teens and adults:  Randy Alcorn's If God is Good, chapter 4  Why Doesn't God Do More to Restrain Evil and Suffering? (also by Alcorn) Why Is There Death and Suffering? by Ken Ham and Mark Looy Ultimately, how do we make sense of the senseless?  All we can do is mourn with those who mourn, pray with and for those who hurt, spend more time with our loved ones and look to God for a future with Him without suffering and death. Update: A person briefed on the Boston Marathon investigation says the explosives were in 6-liter pressure cookers and placed in black duffel bags. The person says the explosives were placed on the ground and contained shards of metal, nails and ball bearings. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation was ongoing. The person says law enforcement officials have some of the bomb components bu

Brothers Ryan and Josh Shook confront the crisis of secondhand religion.  It is a "faith" that is passed down and ill-equipped to deal with life.  The answer, the brothers believe, is to do what they did by arriving at a firsthand faith. Have doubts?  So did they.  Made some bad choices?  They did as well.  Have you become a critic of the church?  Become disenchanted?  Check and check again.  Josh and Ryan explain where they've been and how they came to revitalize and awaken their faith and how you can too. A unique feature of this book is an accompanying website that has web pages with video supplements and the ability to interact with others over Firsthand.  There are also ways to link with the brothers on Facebook and Twitter.   Free First Chapter

AP photo by Yong Kim found on  http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2013/04/10/philadelphia-abortion-clinic-horror-column/2072577/ Focus on the Family's Citizen Link provides these crucial details from Michael Geer of PA Family Institute: The trouble, Geer said, started when pro-life Gov. Bob Casey, a Democrat, was succeeded by two abortion-rights supporters: Gov. Tom Ridge, a Republican, and Ed Rendell, a Democrat. Between them, they occupied the governor’s mansion for most of the years between 1995 and 2011. “In 15 years, not a single abortion clinic was inspected by the state,” Geer told Citizen. “That was a decision made at the highest levels of the Ridge and Rendell administrations.” The grand jury report backs Geer up. It tells of how the health department under Ridge “decided, for political reasons, to stop inspecting abortion clinics at all,” holding that “inspections would be ‘putting up a barrier to women’ seeking abortions.” Likewise, the department’s senior couns