Author Archives: paulschwabe77

If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people; if my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will IContinue reading “A New Life for a New Year”

On Christmas Eve, the throngs jamming the streets of Saigon will have a temporary reprieve from the staccato of machine gun fire, and bursting of cannon shells. Instead, the night air will be filled with the melodies and carols of Christmas. Saigon’s Roman Catholic cathedral will have strange bells to ring out the joyous messageContinue reading “Christmas Bells from Cannon Shells”

There is a marvelous description of God, in the Book of Deuteronomy Chapter 32 verse 11: “Like and eagle that stirs up its nest that flutters over its young spreading out its wings catching them bearing them on its pinions.” The picture that the verse presents is really this. The mother eagle builds a nestContinue reading “Reflections On Being a Saint”

The saddest thing in life is to feel we have no gifts, or the gifts we have are slowly oozing out from our grasp. We all know our “Dear Friend” who intrudes obnoxiously into every conversation and sets himself up as somebody he really isn’t. The gifts he gives, the contributions he makes, are mostContinue reading “Discovering the Gifts of God within Us”

Ralph W Sockman once said: “The hinge of history is on the door of Bethlehem’s stable.” This statement almost blows your mind with its possibility. Today, I would like you to go with me and make the hinge squeak and open the door to explore these possibilities. First of all, I liked the article inContinue reading “The Manager is the Message”

Christmas can never live in past tense. Advent means “the coming” and is in the future tense, which represents the set of mind of the Christian. Advent is not a return to the manger and to stay there. The manger is the place where we find our bearings to begin our pilgrimage. We are onContinue reading “Christmas is in Future Tense”

There are times when the best laid plans of mice and humans go awry. There are also times when the best laid plans of preachers go awry. That time comes when one is ready to prepare the sermon only to find that he is grasp by another sermon. He is grasp so firmly by theContinue reading “Herod’s Story and Our Story Or A Viable Response to Wooden-Headedness”

I shall never forget the first time I stood at the point where the Metolius River is born. Suddenly, before my very eyes, a full-grown river burst out of the mountainside. I could hardly believe my eyes. I climbed down the steep bank to the very source of the river. I knelt down and drankContinue reading “20/20 Spiritual Vision”

The world was looking for a kingTo slay their foes and lift them highThou earnest a little baby thingThat made a woman cry.   George MacDonald Every baby-thing is brought into the world by the birth pangs and tears of a mother. With the coming of each new baby, the future of humanity is born. The painContinue reading “The Christ Child and Other Babies with Possibilities”

I am the stable boy at the Bethlehem Inn in Jerusalem. It was my job to take care of the camels and donkeys of the guests in the Inn. I would take the camels to the stable and securely tie them in a stall and see that they had hay to eat and fresh strawContinue reading “Through the Eyes of a Stable Boy”