I love finding characters in the Bible that I’m not familiar with and seeing what they have to teach us. I found one this week. It is the story of Asa tucked away in 2 Chronicles 14-16 and 1 Kings 15:9-24. These two passages relay the same story of Asa’s life.

Shadowboxing is defined as sparring with an imaginary partner. Boxers use this as a method of training to help build up muscles. Also, I’m sure you have seen this image depicted in movies and TV. It makes the boxer look tough to his opponent. It may also have merit as a way to build up muscles, but spiritual shadowboxing is of no use.

April 27, 2017, as I am writing this, is the 152nd anniversary of a little-known but fascinating story. While it has great significance in American history, I believe we can also gain spiritual insight from it. I would like to recount this story to you now.

I was at a women’s conference several years ago when the speaker passed out rubber bands. We were instructed to place them on our wrist, and every time we said something negative we were to pop ourselves. Needless to say, after a few days, our stinging wrists made us aware of how often we allowed negative words to slip from our lips.

Last Sunday, as I sat down in my church, I looked up to see a cross suspended mid-air at the front of the worship center. I watched as people one by one became aware that it was there. I also discovered later that some people went through the entire service without noticing the cross at all.

Palm Sunday is the beginning of Holy Week. It is a time when we celebrate the Jesus’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem leading to his arrest, crucifixion and ultimately his resurrection. It is the beginning of Holy Week we need to take care to not overlook this day on the way to Easter.

Have you ever walked into a room and tried to be invisible? Maybe, you have slipped into the back row at a conference or a church hoping no one sees you. Have there been other times when you wonder why no one is noticing you? It seems that no matter what you do you are unfairly overlooked.

In many jobs, an assistant trains under the leader. It was no different in Moses’ day. Moses assistant was Joshua, and when Moses died, God commanded him to take Moses’ place and lead the Israelite people to take possession of the promise land. So they began dividing up the land. By the time, we get to Joshua 18 seven tribes still had not taken possession of their land.

Even though it doesn’t feel like it yet, next week is spring. This season conjures up hope like no other. We watch and wait for the promise that each new bud and warmer day brings. Even in the years that we thought it would never come, the Bible promises, “As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night shall not cease.” (Genesis 8:22) (NIV)

I recently saw a production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at my local arts and enrichment center. Although many creative liberties were taken with this production, the basic story from the Bible was still present. Do you remember the story? It is in Genesis, chapters 37-50. Let’s see if we can find an easy way to remember part of this captivating story.

One of the things that we pride ourselves on is that we can multitask. We like to think that we can do several things at once and do them all well but we are easily distracted. Have you noticed the distractions swirling around you lately trying to pull you away from the work that God has for you to do? If so, you are not alone. Nehemiah knew the same feeling.

We have all at one point, or another uttered the statement, “I have nothing to wear.” We open the closet door and stand there trying to decide what put on and nothing we have appealed to us. On special occasions, we may get a little stressed out if we think that we don’t have anything appropriate for the event. Isn’t it great to know that we don’t have to worry about our spiritual wardrobe?

This week I want you to meet Shirley Crowder. Shirley is a fairly new friend that I met through our mutual friend Harriet Michael. I love the story of their friendship and how that it led to them being co-authors. God know how to connect us to just the right people for his purpose. So, please read about Shirley and her writing collaborations with Harriet and the other projects that she has in the works.