By Elizabeth Yeamans Simrell (Guest Blogger) Week 45 Scripture Readings: Ecclesiastes 5-6 Key Scripture Verses: Ecclesiastes 5:15 (NIV, Life Application Bible) “Everyone comes naked from their mother’s womb, and as everyone comes, so they depart. They take nothing from their toil that they can carry in their hands.” We come into the world as vulnerable,… Continue reading Week 45 How To Have A Meaningful Life
Author: Paul Simrell
The Reverend Paul W. Simrell has served for over thirty years in a variety of congregational and institutional settings. He is a recognized minister with standing in the Virginia region of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the United States and Canada and is nationally endorsed by the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) for specialized ministry in both pastoral counseling and chaplaincy. Ordained in 1982, he has served congregations in Kentucky, Texas, Florida, and Virginia. He currently serves as the pastor of Elpis Christian Church, a small, historic congregation located just a few miles west of Richmond, Virginia. Elpis is the Greek word meaning “expectant hope.” He also serves on the associate clinical staff of the Virginia Institute of Pastoral Care, Richmond, Virginia, both as a pastoral counselor and a ministerial assessment specialist, specializing in executive, clergy and relationship coaching. He is a graduate of the University of Florida and Lexington Theological Seminary and has done advanced clinical training in chaplaincy and pastoral counseling at the University of Kentucky Medical Center in Lexington, Kentucky, Children’s Medical Center and Parkland Hospital in Dallas, Texas and the Virginia Institute of Pastoral Care in Richmond, Virginia. He is a Certified Pastoral Counselor, an ACPE Practitioner, and a member of the American Association of Christian Counselors. He is a Certified Facilitator of the Prepare-Enrich relationship assessment and skills-building program and served as a volunteer chaplain for over twenty years with the CJW Medical Center campuses in Richmond, Virginia. His avocational interests include playing the piano and drawing. He is very happily married to his wife Elizabeth Yeamans Simrell, a free-lance writer, who is also a Certified Facilitator for the Prepare-Enrich program.
Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton
Week 45 The Encourager
By Elizabeth Yeamans Simrell (Guest Blogger) Week 45 Scripture Readings: Acts 13-14 Key Scripture Verses: Acts 13: 2-3 (NIV, Life Application Bible) “While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.’ So after they had fasted… Continue reading Week 45 The Encourager
Week 45 When God Gives Us Our Marching Orders
By Elizabeth Yeamans Simrell (Guest Blogger) Week 45 Scripture Readings: Haggai Key Scripture Verses: “’But now be strong, Zerubbabel,’ declares the Lord. ‘Be strong, Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land,’ declares the Lord, ‘and work. For I am with you,’ declares the Lord Almighty.” Haggai was… Continue reading Week 45 When God Gives Us Our Marching Orders
Week 45 If God Himself Gives Us Life, Who Can Take It From Us?
By Elizabeth Yeamans Simrell (Guest Blogger) Week 45 Scripture Readings: Psalms 128-130 Key Scripture Verses: Psalm 129: 1-2 (NIV, Life Application Bible) “’They have greatly oppressed me from my youth,’ let Israel say; ‘they have greatly oppressed me from my youth, but they have not gained the victory over me.’” The author of Psalm 129… Continue reading Week 45 If God Himself Gives Us Life, Who Can Take It From Us?
Week 45 Our Loving and Forgiving God
By Elizabeth Yeamans Simrell (Guest Blogger) Week 45 Scripture Readings: 2 Chronicles 33-36 Key Scripture Verses: 2 Chronicles 33:12-13 (NIV, Life Application Bible) “In his distress he sought the favor of the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his ancestors. And when he prayed to him, the Lord was moved… Continue reading Week 45 Our Loving and Forgiving God
Week 45 How Do We Teach Our Children To Love Jesus?
By Elizabeth Yeamans Simrell (Guest Blogger) Week 45 Scripture Readings: Deuteronomy 10-12 Key Scripture Verses: Deuteronomy 11:18-20 (NIV, Life Application Bible) “Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit… Continue reading Week 45 How Do We Teach Our Children To Love Jesus?
Week 45 Together We Build Our Spiritual Household
By Elizabeth Yeamans Simrell (Guest Blogger) Week 45 Scripture Readings: 1 Peter 1-3 Key Scripture Verses: 1 Peter 2:4-8 (NIV, Life Application Bible) “As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him—you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a… Continue reading Week 45 Together We Build Our Spiritual Household
Week 44 Death By Pride – and Worms!
By Elizabeth Yeamans Simrell (Guest Blogger) Week 44 Scripture Readings: Acts 11-12 Key Scripture Verses: Acts 12:1-23 (NIV, Life Application Bible) “Immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died.” The Old Testament and the New Testament are both… Continue reading Week 44 Death By Pride – and Worms!
Week 44 God Will Rejoice
By Elizabeth Yeamans Simrell (Guest Blogger) Week 44 Scripture Reading: Zephaniah Key Scripture Verses: Zephaniah 3:14-17 (NIV, Life Application Bible) “Sing, Daughter Zion; shout aloud, Israel! Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, Daughter Jerusalem! The Lord has taken away your punishment, he has turned back your enemy. The Lord, the King of Israel,… Continue reading Week 44 God Will Rejoice
Week 44 A Time For Everything
By Elizabeth Yeamans Simrell (Guest Blogger) Week 44 Scripture Readings: Ecclesiastes 3-4 Key Scripture Verse: Ecclesiastes 3:1 (NIV, Life Application Bible) “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.” In the first two chapters of Ecclesiastes Solomon showed us that our activities and hard work are meaningless if… Continue reading Week 44 A Time For Everything