This issue marks the beginning of a new column entitled Feed My Lambs, written by Mrs. Laurie Vanden Heuvel. Although the word “lambs” is commonly understood to mean little children, this column is for all ages because all believers are children of God. The focus of this column will be on Christian nurture particularly in […]

There has never been a time in world history when people in developed countries have been so carefully and well fed physically. Nutrition is a subject which fills pages of every homemaker’s magazine and captures the spotlight of many television ads. Careful studies and experiments have been conducted by experts in many professions, and a […]

My husband and I live in a luscious fruit belt on the western side of Michigan, bordering Lake Michigan. Among the many acres of mature fruit trees, one will often see a new orchard with row upon row of twigs tied to wooden stakes which are standing straight and tall. These tender shoots are attached […]

Last month we observed the fact that just as a young fruit tree needs to be attached to a stake in order to grow straight and tall, even so a child needs to be attached to the standard of the Word of God applied. I say applied because, although it is essential to teach the […]

Last month, we observed that, even as a young tree (twig) needs to be attached to a stake (rod) in order to grow and tall, so too a child needs to be attached to a rod — the Word of God applied — to grow straight and tall spiritually, because his nature is sinful and […]

As a child I often drifted sleep to the sounds of a pounding hammer and a purring sewing machine. Days later, we children would stand in amazement at the transformation done by dad in a remodeling job, or a dress or suit made by mom. Many evening hours had been invested by the carpenter and […]

Pottery-making is one of the oldest human crafts, one which has remained basically unchanged in procedure throughout the centuries. The potter takes soft clay which will yield to his molding and “throws” it on a wheel which he can turn by means of a foot pedal. Slowly and carefully he pushes here and presses there […]

We have looked at a variety of ways in which parents can cause their children to harden their hearts against the Lord by their personal conduct: a divided home, making of demands we do not fulfill ourselves, playing favorites, belittling our children or discussing their faults with others. But parents can also harden their children […]

If we were to select two dominant themes of discussion in the world and church today, no doubt the current breakdown of the home and the work of the Holy Spirit would rank high. At first glance these two topics seem to be picked at random, but actually there is a very close relationship between […]

When God made man He did not make him a robot—a mechanical man who could perform tasks automatically at the push of a button. Nor did God make a wax figure with the appearance of flesh, but void of mental or physical power. When God decided to make man, He said, “Let us make man […]