Stephen De La Vega

  Why are we still here on earth? Wouldn’t it be nice to have a grand get-together in Heaven with our God? Yes, but wouldn’t it be better if it were grander, with more of our friends and family present, and others we may meet? Well, that’s why we haven’t had our grand gathering yet. God wants more people to enjoy it with Him ( 2 Peter 3:9 and 15 ). This really speaks to our purpose on earth: As a unified body, preach and teach the gospel, and help people follow Jesus well, so they in turn will do the same ( Matthew 28:19-20 , Acts 1:8 ). The Disciples wanted to head straight to the grand get-together, too. They’d been waiting for God’s kingdom for far too long. They were ready for the resurrected Jesus to begin His great reign and free them from their uncomfortable lives after generations of war and oppression. “Yes, Jesus. Let it be now,” they yearned. But it wasn’t now. This is what Jesus told them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his...

  COVID-19 hit us like a giant brick. Its presence changed the world. It disrupted our lives. Many of us were hit hard. How can our everyday normal be so overturned by something we can’t even see!? It’s my pleasure to introduce Alynda Long. She is an Energizer bunny …and a writer, blogger, editor, wife, homeschool mother, grandmother, graduate student, and, most importantly, Christ-follower. She endured a month-long battle against COVID-19, and she had never experienced a viral infection like this one. COVID-19 is a beast! But Alynda ‘kept on going’ as well as she could and she maintained a productive faith in God who is greater than this virus and in full control. I was encouraged by her story of victory as she suffered through the invasion of COVID-19 in her body and her household. It’s God’s story of victory, really, through Alynda’s faith, and I want to share it with you. Here is an interview with Alynda about her experience. Hi Alynda. Thank you for agreeing to tak...

Paul was a man on a mission. Why wouldn’t he be? He was commissioned by God. God chose Him, told Him what to do, and empowered Him. Paul committed to God’s plan and got it done. He was a doer and he pursued God’s plan with boldness and tireless passion. The sobering truth is God also commissioned us… Maybe we see Paul as a superhero, or, humanly speaking, a really, extraordinary person.   The one-of-a-kind guy we’re tempted to emulate using the social media shortcut.   He’s a luminary we might celebrate in history books, but maybe not the type we’d ever attempt to become ourselves.   He’s just too far off the charts.   I mean, it’s nice to dream, but we’re not Jesus, right? No, we’re not Jesus and we really are severely handicapped when it comes to living as He did.   We are “prone to wander…to leave the God [we] love,” as Hymnodist Robert Robinson penned in 1757 ( Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing ).   But Paul, though human like us, someh...

  Gone are the days when I was regularly seen with an infant in my arms. I remember before my firstborn turned 1, my church invited all the dads to the stage on Father’s Day. We were asked to share what we like most about being a dad.   I wasn’t very sappy back then, so when I got the mic, I declared, “What I like most…is not having to give birth!” Before my son was born, many asked, “Are you ready to be a father?” Ready to be a father?   Everybody say it with me:   “No!” We’re probably never ready. We can read parenting books, articles and new discoveries on child development; and we can memorize pertinent Bible verses. But I say ‘never’ because fatherhood is much more than we might expect.   Even with profound fatherly role models, I think we naturally overlook some things, even key things, as we gear up for fatherhood. You see, at some point we realize: A father may be Superman to his young kids, but Superman exists only as long as his c...