With thankful hearts, we share a brief update, quickly traveling through each month of the past year. Merry Christmas from our family to yours! January - Starting off the year with a life highlight for our entire family, we met little Autumn, our first grandchild/niece. (Our family has now grown to 13 in number!) It was … Continue reading Christmas Update 2025
The Bible is a book of books with varying types of literature throughout. Do you know how to read your Bible properly? One of the most important steps in strengthening both our own faith and the faith of our children is through learning to read our Bible's properly. The Bible, though one book, is a … Continue reading Reading Your Bible Properly
I had the opportunity to give the opening prayer at our local county board meeting recently. With all of our problems, what a blessing it is to live in a free nation where we can still openly pray to God, and invoke and lift up the name of Jesus in the public arena. May we … Continue reading Prayer at the County Board Meeting
It has most certainly been a very busy year for our crew, full of blessings, challenges, long days, answered prayers, new friends, and God's leading to unexpected places! For the purpose of this post, we decided to keep things simple and share 24 points of remembrance from 2024, in chronological order. #1 - Steve had … Continue reading Christmas Update 2024
You try not to cry at any wedding, but it’s really hard at the wedding of your own daughter. And then, how do you handle things when she chooses to play the theme to Anne of Green Gables, while you as the father of the bride are walking her down the aisle? Well, then there … Continue reading The Marriage of Jared and Katelyn
I am thrilled to be accepted by Christian Bible Church of Cissna Park, Illinois, as their pastor. When our family moved to Illinois in 2019, one of the first things we wanted to do was find a new church home. Eventually we visited a small church that I had discovered online, situated just outside of … Continue reading Another Chapter Begins
Grandparents are very special and can have a huge impact for good in the lives of their grandchildren. This must have been true of George Stiekes, grandfather of our daughter-in-law, Erin Hall. Erin just graduated from Bob Jones University, earning a degree in English. She entered an article she wrote into an English competition at … Continue reading A Granddaughter’s Reflection on the Loss of Her Grandfather
Nobody who is believing a lie knows or thinks they are. That is what it means to be deceived. And in truth, all of us are believing some things that are not true in some way or other. This is likely why the Bible tells us, over and over, that God resists the proud. The … Continue reading Are You Believing Either of These Lies?
"The Spirit of God possesses us to restore us for the new creation... Don't labor as if it's all meaningless in the end, and the goal of life is to escape creation. Go into the operating room full of the Spirit and resist the curse. Go into your children's bedroom and become a peace maker. Go … Continue reading Your Work and Vocation Matter
I have always loved breakfast. It is my favorite meal. One of my favorite things to have for breakfast is homemade sausage gravy and biscuits. Something I am known for around our home (other than the finest of Dad jokes) is occasionally making sausage gravy and biscuits. I have to admit that I have gotten … Continue reading The Best Sausage Gravy and Biscuits
We are told that this will be the most-viewed eclipse ever. According to NASA, “a solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between the Sun and Earth, casting the Moon's shadow on Earth. This only happens occasionally, because the Moon doesn't orbit in the exact same plane as the Sun and Earth do. Two things … Continue reading Is The 2024 Solar Eclipse a Sign?
I believe in revival. I believe God takes doomed and dead things and brings them back to life again. I believe this because I am a Christian—a Christ-follower. A photo one of our children took last spring. The essence of believing in Jesus Christ is knowing that He is all that we seek. The Way. … Continue reading Is This World Doomed or Redeemed?
A number of my children have worn braces over the years due to inherited crooked teeth. (An unfortunate trait from my side of the family.) We have been blessed to be able to provide this modern day miracle for our children, at least up to this point. It is amazing the difference braces make, and … Continue reading Setting Things Straight
Many devastating failures and falls happen, and even life-altering choices can be made, because the decision to do right is not made quickly. When facing temptation, a hesitation to make the right choice, a moment of yielding to wrong desire, a split second of indulging in a lust or giving thought to a fear—is all … Continue reading Only A Moment’s Hesitation
It must have been a terribly scary experience for those men in that storm. They had been rowing and pushing against the wind and waves all night, and by three or four o'clock in the morning, they were still only half way across the Sea of Galilee. And they were here only because they had … Continue reading Let’s Be Reasonable (and stay in the boat)
What does true love between a husband and a wife look like in the "real world"? During this Valentine's season I thought I would share an article that my wife Jennifer wrote back in 2018 on her blog. A special place we call "Windy Hill" in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. "Real life romance is … Continue reading Real Life Romance
We have had some very cold days so far this winter, even falling into the negative numbers. I love the variety of seasons, but when the winter gets really cold, it sure makes a person long for the warmth of spring! And, of course, spring brings new life to the world. Winter into summer. Night … Continue reading Life: A Reflection on my 48th Birthday
What kind of music is best for a church worship service? Do you prefer more modern Christian music, or are you the most comfortable with the old hymns at church? Church music is important. It can be an indicator of the spiritual condition of a society. It has, of course, been a source of much … Continue reading Old Hymns and New Church Music, Some Thoughts
Read to your children, and give them books to read. The need for children to read and hear stories is vitally important. But not just any stories will do. It is important that they read the right kind of stories. Just as children need to eat the right kind of food, they also need a … Continue reading Are Your Children Reading the Right Kind of Stories? (It’s more important than you may imagine.)
As a homeschooling family, my wife will occasionally take advantage of online videos as a tool of instruction in a certain subject. Videos can be especially good for peaking a child's interest in the sciences. The Moody Institute of Science produced a number of educational videos in the late 1940's and early 1950's that show … Continue reading God of the Atom (by Olivia Hall)
Steve Hall 