The Connection Corner

The Rust Bucket Good News

Romans 8:16 – “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.”

The cars were not pretty. Most looked like someone had bolted them together in their driveway with leftover parts and a lot of hope.

But I was eight years old, and it might as well have been Daytona.

Dad and I sat in the metal bleachers with concession stand hotdogs and sticky Coca-Colas. The sun dipped low over the track, and the first cars roared to life. He grinned, handed me my drink, and nudged me to pick my favorite. I chose the clunkiest one out there, paint chipped, muffler barely holding on. It had heart.

Then came the trash talk.

“My rust bucket’s gonna beat your rust bucket!”

I chanted, over and over, louder every time. The crowd was big, the engines louder, but I made sure my voice was the loudest. Even when the race paused and silence settled in, I kept going.

“My rust bucket’s gonna beat your rust bucket!”

People started to stare. Dad glanced around, and I thought for a second he might tell me to hush. Instead, he smiled. Then he leaned over and shouted it too—just as loud as me. We kept going until the cars fired back up and drowned us out again.

I think about that night more than you would expect. Because when I close my eyes, I can still feel what it gave me. It was this deep sense of being chosen, delighted in, completely at ease.

And if I am honest, that is what my adult heart still needs.

Somewhere along the way, most of us trade childlike joy for striving. We start to believe that we have to earn our place. That God’s love is measured by how well we hold it together, but it never was.

The heart of faith is not found in performance. It is found in trust. It is knowing that even if all you have is a busted-up rust bucket and an off-key chant, your Father still draws near. He sees you. He loves you.

You do not have to be impressive today. Just be His.

Come back to the bleachers, and let Him love you loud.

July 22, 2025/by David Hall

Serving Joy in a Jar

Daily Devotional, Linda Meyers

Philippians 2:4 – “Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.”

The car ride home from the hospital was quiet. Eleven-year-old Jessie Joy Rees was curled up in the back seat, her soft knit cap slipping down over her eyes.

Her parents were worn out. They had just watched their daughter endure another round of chemotherapy. No one spoke for a while. Then Jessie broke the silence with a question that changed everything.

“What about the kids who don’t get to go home?”

They had no answer. They were still trying to hold themselves together. But Jessie was not waiting for anyone else to lead. She had already decided what to do.

That evening, they found her in the kitchen, surrounded by toys from her room and five brown paper lunch bags. She was writing cheerful notes in bright marker.

“You are brave.” “Keep smiling.” “Never give up.”

At her next appointment, Jessie brought the bags with her. The hospital staff smiled and offered a few guidelines. The bags became jars—clear, colorful containers filled with new toys, crafts, and other kid-friendly treasures, all meant to brighten a long hospital stay.

That was how Jessie’s Joy Jars were born.

She packed more than 3,000 jars in just ten months. Their garage transformed into a joy workshop. Word spread. Families joined in. Hospitals took notice. And children who had stopped smiling began to smile again.

But the jars were never just about the toys. They told a deeper story—one of a little girl who refused to let a diagnosis define her. Her kindness did.

And so can you.

If you are walking through something dark today, remember: love does not need perfect conditions to show up. It only needs someone willing. Jessie was. And her life still says what words sometimes cannot.

There is always a way to give joy.

July 21, 2025/by Linda Meyers

From Wandering to Worship

Daily Devotional, Stories About Songs

Romans 5:8 – “But God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Robert Robinson had a reputation — wild, sharp-witted, never one to stay in the same place for too long.

He spent his teenage years chasing whatever kept the silence away. Friends, noise, drink, distraction — anything to stay out of his own head.

But the ache always followed him.

One Sunday, he decided to visit a local revival. He did not walk into that tent looking for anything holy. He was there because his friends were, and the noise inside him had gotten too loud. But something shifted when he heard the preacher speak — not about rules or guilt, but about a kind of love that did not flinch when it met a broken person.

That night, Robert believed. He took a step toward something better, and he gave his life to Jesus.

But change did not come easy. The old pull stayed strong. Doubt crept in. He still felt like the boy who could not get it right. So, one evening, he sat with all of it and wrote what he was too tired to pretend about anymore: “Prone to wander Lord I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love”

That line, honest and worn, became a hymn. “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” was not written from a mountaintop. It came from the valley and from a man who still wrestled with the weight of being human.

The hymn endures because it is true. Most of us, at some point, feel like we have wandered too far, but grace does not keep score. Grace stays put. It waits for you, steady as ever.

If you feel far off, hear this: you are not disqualified. You are not too late, and the One who loved Robert back home has not stopped reaching for you.

COME THOU FOUNT

Come, Thou fount of every blessing
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace
Streams of mercy, never ceasing
Call for songs of loudest praise
Teach me some melodious sonnet
Sung by flaming tongues above
Praise the mount, I’m fixed upon it
Mount of Thy redeeming love

Here I raise mine Ebenezer
Hither by Thy help I’m come
And I hope by Thy good pleasure
Safely to arrive at home
Jesus sought me when a stranger
Wand’ring from the fold of God
He, to rescue me from danger
Interposed His precious blood

And, O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter
Bind my wand’ring heart to Thee
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it
Prone to leave the God I love
Here’s my heart, Lord, take and seal it
Seal it for Thy courts-

Above all else, I adore Your name
Above all else, tune my heart to sing Your praise
Above all else, I adore Your name
Above all else, tune my heart to sing Your praise
Above all else, I adore Your name
Above all else, tune my heart to sing Your praise, oh
Above all else, I adore Your name
Above all else, tune my heart to sing Your praise

The highest praise, the loudest praise
To the Name above every name
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it
Prone to leave the God I love
Here’s my heart, Lord, take and seal it
Seal it for Thy courts above

July 20, 2025/by David Hall