Delay. Sometimes it’s divinely ordained, but most times it’s due to our negligence or obstinance. There are sins of commission (those we do) and sins of omission (when we fail to do as we ought).
Some delays are unconscionable. A heinous example of this is the slow enactment and delivery of the Emancipation Proclamation message that declared freedom for slaves in America.
Have we forgotten that the difference between America and dictatorships is we have the freedom to think and feel differently and choose accordingly? And we don’t have to cancel or kill each other because our opinions contradict.
I’m doubly blessed this week and pray you will be too. Blessed to share my salvation story titled “Three Men, Jesus, and Me” featured on the Heart of Flesh Literary Journal site.
2025 Selah Winner Essays Online | Three Men, Jesus, and Me by Rachael M Colby
“Heart of Flesh is a semiannual, online and print literary journal that seeks quality writing and art with Christian themes.” Owner, author, and editor Veronica McDonald publishes poetry, fiction, nonfiction, photography, and art, and features Christian salvation testimonies online throughout April and October..
Blessed to offer encouragement with my article “The Power of One In a Writer’s Life” on The Write Conversation.
The Write Conversation blog is a ministry of Edie Melson, author, editor, writing instructor, and director of the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference. The Write Conversation hosts encouragement and instruction for writers on the craft and in their faith from a variety of contributing authors including Edie’s frequent offerings.
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Resources to encourage for #PastorAprpreciationMonth
What an adventure, an education, and blessing to converse with the lively and jovial Rabbi Henry Morse of the Sha’ar Hashamayim Messianic Congregation in Stoughton, Massachusetts. I first encountered the Rabbi as he led his merry band of people down the hill after the If My People prayer event at the National Monument to the Forefathers in Plymouth, Massachusetts in 2021.
Darkness enveloped me. A chill gripped my chest, hope ebbed, and weariness set in. Obviously, I’d taken a turn off the favored road. I’d trudged the circuitous miserable miles to nowhere only to wind up stuck, deep in the mire, when someone called out to me.
“Hey, do you want help? Do you desire to be free?” the voice said.
We rob ourselves when we skim the surface of scripture rather than exert the effort to dig deeper for the treasures of truth embedded in God’s Word. Bible study leader and award-winning author Stephanie Pavlantos mined God’s Word to bring us a greater understanding of the intersection of Old Testament prophecies about Jesus, (God incarnate, the Messiah) and His New Testament fulfillment. Stephanie brings to light the fascinating Hebrew religious law and culture, the many intricate events leading up to, and the crucifixion, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
Did Jesus really die on Good Friday? What is the significance of the Passover feast and the Passover lamb? See God in the details, how He overlooks and wastes nothing and much more in this faith building thought provoking presentation. And there’s more!
Disappointment set in when there was no response, but I figured the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association had thousands of correspondence to monitor a day and probably wouldn’t see mine.
“Lord, I just want some of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association team to see my article and be blessed by what I said about Billy and their magazine.” I prayed when I tweeted the link to my 2018 blog post entitled What #BillyGraham Meant to Me in answer to a #HealthyFaith Chat question on Twitter.
Several days later, I was stunned to receive the following message from BGEA’s Twitter account:
“Hi Rachael! I’m a website writer at Billy Graham. My team recently came across your incredible testimony involving Decision magazine, and we’d love to have an interview with you and write an article. Is that something you’d be willing to do?… — Lizzy Long”
He calls himself “a sinner saved by grace. A pastor who has fought against dragons and won. A sojourner going from here to there with a story to tell.” I call him the master of the one-line sermon. Once again, I’m honored to host Pastor Duncan, husband, father, preacher, speaker, poet, musician, US Air Force Veteran, and author of the newly released book, For King and Crown: Conversations on the Christian Life. Don’t miss this video interview—it’s gold.
A disciplined life is born of effort, not excuses. — Pastor and author Michael Duncan
Think not yourself a Christian if you hate the righteousness God loves and love the sin He hates.— Pastor and author Michael Duncan
A friend and fellow writer put out the challenge
to fill in the blank in a Tweet with the following words, “Jesus
is______.”
I replied with my short answer. Here is my long list in progress. In these turbulent times we need to remember who God is and that He is in control. We can find calm amid chaos, comfort during crisis, peace in a panicked world because:
JESUS Is
ALPHA, He is Almighty, He is the Anointed One. — He is Alive! He is the Answer, and the Answer for All that Ails Us. He is my All-in-All. He is Adonai.
HE is the —
BURDEN Bearer and the Bondage Breaker. He is Beautiful and Blameless; He is Bulwark and Bastion. He is He is the Balm of Gilead. He is our Banner. He is the Bridge and the Bridegroom.
And HE is —
COMING!—Are you ready? — He is the Christ; He is the Cure. He is Creator and Cornerstone. And yes—JESUS is my Comfort and my Crutch. I like to lean on Him.
HE is the —
DESIRE of Nations, the Divine Deliverer, the Designer of our Destiny. Jesus is the Devil-damner and the Defeaterof Death and our great Defender. He is The Dayspring; He is The Door.
JESUS is —
ETERNAL, He is Everlasting, He is Emmanuel. He is the Exonerator, He is Everything We Need, He is Elohim. He is Enough.
JESUS is —
FATHOMLESS, He is Faithful, Friend, and Fortress, He is Faultless.
JESUS is —
GOOD and Glorious; He is the Gracious God. He is the Grave Robber, the Gateway, and the Great Physician.
HE is —
HOPE for the hopeless, Help for the helpless. He is our Healer and Hiding Place. He is the Hell-raider; He is our Hedge. He is Humble; He is Holy.
JESUS is the —
INITIATOR. He is the Intercessor. He is Indescribable, my Inspiration. He is Indomitable, Incomprehensible, Invincible. He is Infinite, He is Inimitable. He is the great I Am.
JESUS is —
JUST, He is the Judge. He is Jehovah. He is my Joy.
HE is —
KING of kings, He is the Key, He is Kind.
JESUS is the —
LOGOS, the Light of the World and a Lamp to our feet. He is Life. He is the Limitless Lamb of God, the Lion of Judah, the Lord of Lords and the Lilly of the Valleys. He is Lowly, He is Love and He is the Lover of my Soul.—Do you know Him?
HE is the —
MAJESTIC Messiah, Mighty God, He is our Maker He is our Master. He is the Mender of the Breach, the Mediator. He is Merciful; He is Mine. —Do you want Him too?
JESUS is —
NAME above Names; He is Never-failing, Never-ending.
HE is —
OMNIPOTENT, Omnipresent, the Omega, the Overcomer.
JESUS is the —
PRINCE of Peace, the Pardoner, the Propitiation. He is my Protector and Provider. He is the Purpose. He is my Passion and the Possessorof mySoul. He is Perfect.
HE is the —
QUALIFIER, the Quickener, the Quencher of Thirst, the Quaesitim.
HE is the —
RIGHTEOUS Redeemer and Restorer. He is Royal; He is Regal. He is The Rock and The Reason, our Ransom and Regenerator. He is the Rose of Sharon, He is my Resting Place. He is Risen!
HE is the —
SON of God. He is Sovereign. He is Servant and Savior and Sanctifier. He is The Steadfast Sustainor, a Strong Tower, a Shield. He is the Satan-stomper and the Storm Stiller. He is the Shepherd of my Soul. He is our Strength. He is Sufficient; He is Supreme. He is our Salvation.
JESUS is —
TRANSCENDENT, He is Triumphant. He is Truth, He is My Testimony.
HE is the —
UNDERGIRDER; He is the Underpinor. He is Unprecedented, Unparalleled, Unfathomable, Unfailing. He is Unmatched.
HE is the —
VINDICATOR. He is Victor. He is Virtuous.
HE is —
WORTHY, Wise, Wonderful. JESUS is The Way and the Way Maker, and the Wellspring. He is The Word.
JESUS is the —
X inCHRISTMAS. He is Xristos – Χριστός
HE is —
YESHUA and Yahweh.
HE is —
ZION and He is The Zenith.
JESUS is ____
This piece, Jesus Is, is an unfinished project. It’s going to take a while to complete all the ideas I have for developing it, but I decided to share it as is for now.
HE is Risen
1st Place 2019 Tar Heel Award – North Carolina Christian Writers Conference – Poetry- He is Risen
Inspired by a sermon on early Christian church history which tells of believers greeting each other with the words, “He is risen!” and their response of, “He is risen indeed!”
I tried to quell the yearning for a greater something, a purpose greater than the here and now
I chased all manner of both good and evil earthly pursuits
But nothing fulfilled. Not even religion
It was all vain distraction
But then, He found me
I met mercy and forgiveness on the way called grace
Mercy withheld judgment
Forgiveness wiped away my transgression
Grace translated me from servant to friend, from abandoned to adored
Do you want this?
God created you for Himself, for Heaven
That is why everything else misses the mark—just as we do
I fall short, but Jesus is the difference maker
Yes! My Creator is my crutch. I like to lean on Him
He is my healer, redeemer, restorer.
He is the Way and the way maker.
He wants to be yours too
I am a riverbed whose banks cannot contain the rushing water
The Chosen TV Series – A good choice for the whole family!
The Chosen | Official Trailer HD “The Chosen is the first-ever multi-season series based on the true stories of the gospels of Jesus Christ. It is the #1 crowd-funded media project of all time.”
It’s not enough to just be right if we want God to use us to reach people with the Gospel. Our rightness only serves ourselves if we alienate people by our attitude and choice of words. Failure to show interest in people as individuals comes across as an attempt to propagate one of a myriad of doctrines and treating people as another notch on our belt.
We live in a world where many are talking, but few listening, all while broken hearts cry out, “Does anyone hear me?”
I’m no trained apologist or theologian, just small fry in a sea full of big fish—but I couldn’t resist participating in this writing competion on apologetics with the topic of: Why is it so important to answer not only the question, but also the questioner?