By Carol McClain “What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask” James 4: 1-2. …[ read more ]

By Carol McClain @carol_mcclain Sin. Oh, our God is a big meany, you think. “Don’t do this. Don’t do that.” We can never do anything that’s fun. Sin proves God doesn’t love us. But what exactly is sin? Is it a list of do nots given willy-nilly by a capricious diety? No. When you consider sin, …[ read more ]

By Carol McClain @carol_mcclain God’s love surrounds us when blessings flow like glitter at a party. No one would be naive, though, to believe if we love and serve God we would never suffer. We need only look at our lives and realize it exists. How do we know God loves us even when we suffer? …[ read more ]

By Carol McClain @carol_mcclain “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16. Years ago God I learned a valuable lesson. I love tomatoes, and I hoard the the end of summer bounty until the last one …[ read more ]

by Carol McClain      @carol_mcclain   Fifteen fourth graders crowded my classroom eager to make a stained glass heart. I gulped. Fifteen nine-year-olds. Then I stopped breathing. Fourteen active, normal nine-year-olds and one older, disabled child. How can the teacher instruct him along with all the others? I exhaled and breathed normally. In one day I had to send …[ read more ]