Daily Devotionals

Devotional: December 7th

Good Friends.

When I began this column two years ago I had already been writing it as a personal email to a cadre of friends and their friends. The sheer volume of emails was so great that AOL twice terminated me because they felt it was excessive and violated my agreement with them. When I was invited to join Study Light's family of contributors I was ecstatic at the thought of sharing the column on a world-wide stage. Funny thing is, my emails were already going around the world as they were being shared by the readers with family and friends stationed elsewhere on several different continents.

One of the things I have missed is the personal feedback from you the reader. From time to time I have gotten to hear from you and you have commented that you responded to the column by email to the address that was on the email you received from Study Light. Those comments never made it to me. I have missed the opportunities for correspondence and ministry that such feedback afforded me before.

At present there are some issues at work with me that are both requiring my time and robbing me of it. I am in a located ministry and am currently working on a number of projects related to that which demand much extra time to develop. Added to this are a couple of health issues which have evolved from my trying to be healthier. As a result of working at being healthier, i.e.,not taking as much medication, I have had some personal struggles with an ongoing medical situation which has resulted in the loss of normal hours of sleep. I have lost those precious early hours in which I wrote this column due to having to get some blessed rest.

With these things in mind I feel that I need to take a step back. Over the last few weeks and months I have not been as regular as I had hoped to be in filing this column. I have come to the decision that I must take a break from the weekday demand of meeting the daily pressure of writing. I do hope that, once things have leveled off, I can return to "Chip Shots" with full energy and capacity. For now, I feel this is the best thing to do.

Pray for me as I pray for you. A couple of items for you to consider. Two dear friends of mine are struggling right now with their own needs. Please be praying for the health of Karen Brandenburg. There aren't too many women much sweeter than. She and her husband, Kelly, and daughter, Stephanie, are precious friends. Also, pray for my dear friend Mike McCoy and his family as they are now dealing with the loss of his father, Corky. Mike and I have known each other for more than forty years. He and his family have been patiently and faithfully helping his father for the last year or so as he dealt with serious health issues. Corky will be laid to rest tomorrow in Ohio. Join me in prayer for these two wonderful faithful friends of God and their families.

Hope to be back soon.

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