We receive guidance from our heavenly Father, but we don’t have to wait for it only once a year. Every time we hear a sermon, attend a Bible class, or open our Bibles and read, we receive instructions and clear direction. What we do with it is up to us.<\/p>\n
May God give us a clear vision that we may know where to stand and what to stand for, because unless we stand for something, we’ll fall for anything.<\/p>\n
“May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ<\/em>” (II Thessalonians 3:5).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"by Zeke Flores Who doesn’t love getting personal, hand-written letters? I read about a boy living in New Jersey who waits expectantly every year for the mailman to deliver a special letter to him on his birthday. When his father was dying of a terminal disease, he knew the youngster would not have the benefit…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[981],"class_list":["post-87957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-communication"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":94615,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/red-letters\/","url_meta":{"origin":87957,"position":0},"title":"Red Letters","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 17, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by John Guzzetta I'm sure you've noticed that in many editions of the Bible, maybe even the one you are holding, the editors have printed the words of Jesus Christ in red ink. The first red-letter edition was conceived and printed by Louis Klopsch in 1899, first titled (in the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Red-Letter-Bible-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":60572,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/unread-letters\/","url_meta":{"origin":87957,"position":1},"title":"Unread Letters","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 29, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"by Matt Hennecke via\u00a0Think on These Things, April-May-June, 2009 A childhood accident resulted in poet Elizabeth Barrett becoming an invalid and a recluse. Despite her isolation, her early poetry drew the attention of Robert Browning who began courting her. He eventually asked for her hand in marriage and Elizabeth and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/letter-300x200.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":659,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-happened-to-the-letter-to-laodicea-mentioned-in-colossians-416\/","url_meta":{"origin":87957,"position":2},"title":"What happened to the letter to Laodicea mentioned in Colossians 4:16?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 29, 2003","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What happened to the letter to Laodicea mentioned in\u00a0Colossians 4:16? Answer: Near the end of Paul's third journey, Paul visited churches and gathered funds for the relief of brethren in Judea suffering from a famine (I Corinthians 16:1-9). Several of the churches sent representatives to travel with Paul, not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2003\/10\/Asia-Minor-300x290.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1687,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/when-did-ahaziah-begin-his-reign\/","url_meta":{"origin":87957,"position":3},"title":"When did Ahaziah begin his reign?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 7, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: When comparing II Kings 8:26 and II Chronicles 22:2, which is the true age of Ahaziah when he began to reign? Answer: \"Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Athaliah the granddaughter of Omri, king of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":59644,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-black-type-in-the-red-letter-edition-of-the-new-testament\/","url_meta":{"origin":87957,"position":4},"title":"The Black Type in the Red-Letter Edition of the New Testament","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 1, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"by Garry Smalley Of course, it is extremely disturbing to read or hear destructive criticisms toward the Holy Bible as unbelievers state disparaging comments regarding the reliability of the God-breathed writings (II Timothy 3:16; cf. II Peter 1:16-21; I Corinthians 2:12-13). But even among Christians, there are some who seek\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Bible-Red-Lettered-300x200.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":12940,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-prison-letters\/","url_meta":{"origin":87957,"position":5},"title":"The Prison Letters","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 12, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Text: Colossians 4:7-18 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Near the end of Paul\u2019s third journey, he visited churches to gather funds to relieve the famine stricken brethren in Judea. - I Corinthians 16:1-9 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Several of the churches sent representatives to travel with Paul - II Corinthians 8:16-24 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Several of these men are named in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sermon"","block_context":{"text":"Sermon","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/sermon\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87957"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87957\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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I read about a boy living in New Jersey who waits expectantly every year for the mailman to deliver a special letter to him on his birthday. When his father was dying of a terminal disease, he knew the youngster would not have the benefit of his guidance and help as he grew into manhood. So, he wrote a letter for each year and left instructions for them to be sent, ensuring they would arrive annually on his birthday. A final envelope containing words of fatherly direction and advice was given to the son on his wedding day. I’m sure that son cherished those letters.<\/p>\n