Unlocked Archives: November 2023

  • November 30, 2023

    READ: PSALM 1:1-3; JEREMIAH 17:7-8; JOHN 7:37-39; 15:4-17 Minutes before sunset was my favorite time of day. I sat on an outcropping of rock, dangling my bare feet above a crystalline spring of water. My home, this floating island in the sky, was level with the setting sun precisely at this time. Golden light skimmed [...]

  • November 29, 2023

    READ: EXODUS 29:38-45; MATTHEW 27:45-53; JOHN 19:30 When I’d hear the bell go off in school, I knew that class was done. Because we heard the bell every day, we were conditioned to react to this particular sound. Something similar happened in ancient Israel. Twice a day, a priest would kill a one-year-old lamb. Some [...]

  • November 28, 2023

    READ: PSALMS 32:6-8; 86:1-7; 120:1 Lifeguards are pretty amazing. Even when they’re stationed at a crowded beach or a noisy pool, their eyes and ears are trained to see people in trouble. Before anyone can work as a lifeguard, they have to take a lifesaving course where they learn how to rescue struggling swimmers from [...]

  • November 27, 2023

    READ: PSALM 116:1-7; MATTHEW 11:28-30 Lord, I need Your help Come I don’t know where else to go Come to me I’m so tired All who are weary This burden is more than I can handle All who are burdened Can You help me? And I will give you rest I want to believe You [...]

  • November 26, 2023

    READ: PSALM 19:1-6; JOHN 1:1-14; COLOSSIANS 1:15-20 Have you ever gone to an art gallery? For a graphic design class I took this year, I went on a field trip to a large art gallery, and it got me thinking. Art can be difficult to understand at times, especially abstract art! However, as I learned [...]

  • November 25, 2023

    READ: EXODUS 16:4-16; JOHN 6:1-15, 25-59 Where I live, making homemade bread was more of a trend during the earlier days of the pandemic, but I’m a little late to the trend. I’ve started making my own bread more recently, and even though I’m new to the hobby I’m growing to love it more each [...]

  • November 24, 2023

    READ: MATTHEW 6:19-34; 22:36-40 What’s your greatest treasure on earth? Maybe it’s a prized collection of vintage postcards, or a beautiful and rare electric guitar, or maybe it’s a sizable bank account. None of these things are wrong or bad—things like these can help us enjoy life and take care of ourselves and our loved [...]

  • November 23, 2023

    READ: PSALM 104; COLOSSIANS 1:15-23 I love seeing the fall colors as the trees turn in autumn, the white snow that falls to the ground in winter, the new sprouts and flowers that come in spring, and how beautiful the lakes look in summer. All the seasons make it easy to see God’s amazingness in [...]

  • November 22, 2023

    READ: PSALM 102:25-28; HEBREWS 13:5-8 It can be comforting to have something in your life that always stays the same. You might have dinner with your grandparents every weekend, or you might have a pet who meets you at the door every day when you get home from school. No matter what goes on in [...]

  • November 21, 2023

    READ: DEUTERONOMY 30:1-10; JEREMIAH 29:4-19; MATTHEW 28:18-20 Imagine being exiled from your home where you’ve lived all your life and forced to move to a faraway land…for seventy years. Would you panic? Complain? Would you keep your bags packed just in case you’re allowed to go home earlier? In the Bible, God warned His people, [...]