Posts with the tag “pastor-jim-cecy”

We do have a great cloud of witnesses who have walked in Christlike endurance. One of those witnesses is Job. Here was a man who lost not one but ten children. He lost all his wealth and his workers. ...  Read More

Under the cruel Roman Empire of the first century AD some who committed a crime, depending on their social status, could be fined, disgraced publicly, enslaved, or banished. Sometimes they were shackl...  Read More

In ancient times it was routine for a Roman soldier to demand a civilian—especially a Jewish male—to carry his load for up to a Roman mile—actually a distance of 1,000 paces (in Latin: mille passus), ...  Read More

In the late 1800s, the three founders of The Gideons International sought to meet a need among their peers. They wanted to create an Association for Christian traveling men to identify  and support ea...  Read More

In the spirit of Acts 14, in the last few devotionals I have been sharing an actual report I presented to my local church after a dramatic series of events on a trip to the Philippines just days after...  Read More

One can only imagine being in the Church of Antioch as the Apostle Paul and his missionary companions shared about the ups and downs of their missionary journey. Missionaries do the same today. Some c...  Read More

Missionaries like Paul often report to their churches how they progressed in presenting the gospel to unbelievers and encouraging believers. I have often heard them called “tiger stories.”In the last ...  Read More

I’m told that missionaries call dramatic events on the mission field “tiger stories.” The Apostle Paul and his companions traveling with him on their missionary journeys had plenty (Read Acts 13-27). ...  Read More

Karon and I have a 3,000-year-old bronze-age juglet from the time of King David. It was given to us by the grandson of the cobbler who first recognized the Dead Sea Scroll from a little Bedouin boy. Y...  Read More

Fresno Is My Present HomeIn my first eleven years in Toronto, Canada, we lived in several apartments in York Township. Over the rest of my life (with the exception of my Navy days), I lived in Califor...  Read More

I have been known to wake up with “a tude”—attitude! In Psalm 73, Asaph the Psalmist is complaining about unbelievers and how they seem to have everything going for them, while his life seems so full ...  Read More

“Man overboard! Man overboard! This is not a drill.” I was around twenty years old when I first heard these words while on the way to “Yankee Station”—the place off the coast of Vietnam where we launc...  Read More

I was a typically naïve, young sailor on his first training day on a ship at sea. I was ready for the salty crew to treat us with their typical disrespect. I stood back as one of my fellow newbies was...  Read More

I am a military veteran. A Navy veteran. A Vietnam War veteran.On November 17, 1971, the very day I left for home after serving on active naval service, I trusted in Jesus Christ alone for my salvatio...  Read More

I am not a farmer nor a rancher, so anything related to these subjects flies far above my thinking. Yet, the world in which Jesus walked was agricultural and agrarian. He spoke much about seeds, trees...  Read More

Psalm 24:3–4 - “Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? And who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood and has not sworn de...  Read More

I am Italian through and through. As such, it has been ingrained in me to greet anyone who crosses my path—on the street, in a store, and especially in the church gathering. It has been four years sin...  Read More

In the early years of my Christian life, my prayers had a ring of the “too familiar,” even bordering on being monotonous. In His Sermon on the Mount Jesus warned us about using many hollow words and v...  Read More

I was in the Chicago area, teaching a community-wide leadership conference. During one of the sessions, a distraught woman approached me and asked, “Dr. Cecy, can you recommend a book for me? My life ...  Read More

God has a way of reminding me how human I am. I call them pastor-bloopers. Let me share one of many:It had been a very long day of travel home from the Philippines. I arrived at Los Angeles Airport, e...  Read More

My family has always known they have immediate access to me no how busy I am. When they were young my secretaries were told to inform me whenever they stepped into the office. No matter what I was doi...  Read More

I love the story of the man, walking by a blind man and noticing he had only a  few coins in his cup. He dropped in more coins and, without asking for permission, took the sign and re-wrote it. He ret...  Read More

As I reflect on these verses my mind rushes to a special memory of John Fischer, singing a song he wrote when we were both starting in the ministry. It is called the “All-Day Song.” Perhaps you rememb...  Read More

I was in the Chicago area, teaching a community-wide conference. During one of the sessions, a distraught woman approached me and asked, “Dr. Cecy, can you recommend a book for me? My life is falling ...  Read More

In my travels I have visited several ancient ruins, including the Flavian Amphitheater in Rome, more commonly known as the Colosseum. During those ancient battles, the gladiators would sometimes fight...  Read More

As I reflect on these verses my mind rushes to a special memory of John Fischer, singing a song he wrote when we were both starting in the ministry. It is called the All-Day Song. Perhaps you remember...  Read More

I was in the Chicago area, teaching a community-wide conference. During one of the sessions, a distraught woman approached me and asked, “Dr. Cecy, can you recommend a book for me? My life is falling ...  Read More

 I once read, “He who smiles rather than rages is always stronger.” This became dramatically clear when, as a newlywed college student, I was working in the photo department of a popular drugstore.An ...  Read More

We homeschooled two of our children through high school. I took the time to teach one of my daughters Greek, the language of the New Testament. She did very well her first semester, easily earning an ...  Read More

I was blessed to have an apartment-dwelling mother who knew nothing about growing fruit and everything about enjoying it. So, it was not unusual for me, a week after her death, to plant an apple tree ...  Read More

While serving in the U.S. Navy, I embarked on a nine-month WestPac (Western Pacific) Cruise, ultimately to Vietnam. There was one grueling stretch of time during which we did not see land for fifty-se...  Read More

I have a large aquarium next to where I sit every morning reading my bible and praying. Most of my grandkids have picked their favorite of the two dozen fish. Every morning, those little creatures com...  Read More

I started out not being prepared—for anything, especially emergencies—that is, until I got married and had a family. My family and I going through some tough times certainly got my attention. For exam...  Read More

As our girls were growing up, I enjoyed pretending to be the “king of my castle.” I would sit on my throne (i.e., my easy chair) and bark orders to my “subjects.” One day I shouted to my pre-teen daug...  Read More

I was raised in a California coastal community called Santa Cruz, a town that was nicknamed Surf City U.S.A. (along with Huntington Beach). I spent many of my days, body surfing at the river mouth of ...  Read More

 Like many of my youthful peers, I had my share of visions of grandeur. I grew up wanting to become a famous this or a world-renowned that. Later in life, I met some people “at the top of the heap”—th...  Read More

June 8, 2023 is the 9th anniversary of our merge with Palm Avenue Community Church. Here is the story:Many years ago I became aware of a small local church in our area that was standing alone against ...  Read More

It is not uncommon for loved ones to save boxes of some of the most seemingly worthless things:A tattered baby blanket with the smooth edges worn off.Hand-crafted greeting cards with silhouettes of to...  Read More

Even as a child I struggled with the question, “Why am I here?” I remember one “dark night of the soul” at the age of nine when I was afraid I was going to die. I wept before God: “Lord, what do you w...  Read More

There was a time in my life when I thought I was surrounded by death: My father died young, one of many in his family.I was in a war zone at the age of twenty.Four of our babies died in miscarriages.A...  Read More