Devotionals

A Christmas Meditation with Elizabeth Rice Handford It was late October, and I was delighted to read that the Orionid meteor shower would be visible again in the Carolina sky that night, with perhaps as many as 20 “falling stars” an hour. I got up in the middle of the...

A Word of Encouragement from Elizabeth Rice Handford Joe DiMaggio still holds the MLB record for his 56-game hitting streak in 1941. His motivation to play well is interesting: “There is always some kid who may be seeing me for the first time or the last time. I owe...

A Word of Encouragement from Elizabeth Rice Handford I have a dear friend, a high school boy, who is interested in flying. So I invited his family and another family to dinner. The husband in that family is a seasoned professional pilot and earnest Christian, and I...

A Word of Encouragement from Elizabeth Rice Handford It had been discovered that a child in the fourth grade at a Christian school—nobody knew who—had head lice. So everybody in school had to be examined by the school nurse for those blood-sucking critters. “It’s...

A Word of Gratitude from Elizabeth Rice Handford Back in 2006, Joy Martin’s daughter, Marilou Lyons, asked me if she could reproduce on the JCM website the devotionals I write each week for Greenville SC Interim Health Care. So for the last 17 years I’ve been writing...

A Word of Encouragement from Elizabeth Handford “Ain’t Nobody Gonna Tell Me What to Do,” Van Zant sang. Fifty years ago Frank Sinatra sang, “I Did It My Way.” It’s the theme of most of Rock music, and expresses the attitude of our culture today. “I will do what I want...

A Word of Encouragement from Elizabeth Rice Handford Events this week have been heart-breaking: another mass shooting, a crisis in the middle east that could engulf our world in flames, our country perhaps more fragmented politically than other time since our...

A Word of Encouragement from Elizabeth Rice Handford Recently I enjoyed talking with a group of junior-high girls. In a note of thanks from the group, Jennifer signed herself, “I’m the Unique One.” (Remember your English teacher’s warning? There’s no such thing as...

A Word of Encouragement from Elizabeth Handford We buried my son-in-law today. It was a crisp, suddenly cool October day. The Marines folded the flag from his casket with meticulous care, and taps echoed across the low hills. We said “good night, not “good bye,” to...

A Word of Encouragement from Elizabeth Rice Handford The doctor asked me, “Have you had an asthma attack since your last check-up?” “No,” I said glibly. “Haven’t had one probably for the last four years.” “Then you need to check if your emergency inhaler is expired,...