Several years ago, I was heading up a USAID project in Southern Africa and I found myself in Mozambique at an agricultural experiment station. The grant I had contained little room for unplanned expenses. But with that grant, we trained more than 15,000 farmers in Lesotho, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe and greatly improved corn yields for those farmers.

But on this day, I needed to go to another location. I found a minibus going that way, and I paid the equivalent of about $5, and got in. Occupancy should have been twelve, but I counted more than 20 people. It took us 5 hours to go about 130 miles.

I got the seat on the hump next to the driver and had to put my arm around him so I could breathe. The bus was hot, everyone was sweaty, and the smell of the disinfectant used to clean wounds was thick. Many on the bus had bandages on extremities and eyes. But everyone had a smile.

The driver said that just about all the passengers were going to a hospital for surgery or follow-ups, Many made the trip weekly. The road was awful. The potholes were huge and could be more than 4 feet deep. We hit one and had to sit on the edge of the pothole and to wait for the water to evaporate so the engine would start. The temperature climbed past 100..

I was hungry. My breakfast had been gone for hours. In my backpack I had two packets of cookies.. I got a package out, opened it, and then handed them back to the seat behind me. I did the same with the other package. I had just given away all of my food and had kept nothing for me.

Soon there was a tap on my shoulder and a small bag of potato chips to share, some salty crackers followed, and some homemade food and there were always smiles and thank you’s given. Then one of my cookie packets came back with one cookie left in it. The lady behind me took it out and handed it to me. And then the other one came back with one left, and it was handed to me. The kindness brought tears to my eyes.

I have so much to learn. And that day I learned the lesson Mom and Dad tried to teach me. If you put others first, good things will happen.

Dear Lord, help us to remember that practicing generosity is what you expect of all who walk with you. Amen.

This devotion was written by Neal Esh and read by Jim Stovall.

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: podcasts@1stchurch.org.

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.

As I write this, it is the morning after the total lunar eclipse of March 2025. I stayed up all night watching and photographing it.

I have photographed astronomical phenomena over the years, and my pictures have one thing in common: They rarely adequately represent the actual event. Technically, the images are fine, but they seldom have the impact of what I saw with my own eyes.

In addition, I often cannot explain or express what I saw in words. I don't know whether the words don't exist in our language or if I'm just not eloquent enough to find them. Either way, I can't do it.

Psalm 19 is David's attempt to do that, and it is a good one. I picture him on the balcony of his palace, looking up at the sky. Maybe he remembered his youth as a shepherd. He probably saw his share of astronomical events, and I know he saw sunrises and sunsets.

David, whom God called "a man after his own heart," quickly compares the majesty of the skies to God's glory, and that is an excellent metaphor.

God is bigger and greater than we can see or understand, like the universe. The planets and stars have inhabited space since creation, and their movements and actions will continue long after we are gone, and so it is with God. Although the science behind the universe is complex and unknowable, I don't have to be a scientist or engineer to appreciate it. God is infinitely greater in knowledge and awareness than I could hope to be, but I don't have to be a theologian to know him. I know he loves and cares for me, and I can worship Him.

Verse 1 says that "the heavens are telling the glory of God," not "have told" or "will tell." Like daily sunrises and sunsets, God is consistently and eternally present.

Although much is known about the universe, and mankind has gone past the limitations of our planet to travel into space, the more we learn, the more we realize how unfit we are for living in space.

In the remainder of Psalm 19, David writes about God's laws and points out that they are as glorious as the skies. But like studying the universe, the more we try to keep God's law, the more we realize we can never do it. God's law demands perfection, and we are not perfect. We are sinners, and we cannot be in a relationship with God in our own power.

What we need is a redeemer to bridge the gap between imperfect humanity and perfect God.

God knew that and sent his son Jesus Christ to be among us and one of us. He gave his life on the cross, forever closing the gap between us and God. It is the greatest gift of all time, and because of it, we can live with God, starting now and for eternity.

Father, thank you for sunrises, sunsets, and other displays of your glory. Thank you for providing the gift of Jesus Christ and a relationship with you through his death and resurrection. May we never take your gifts for granted, but enjoy them and mirror them to those who do not know you. Amen.

This devotional was written and read by Cliff McCartney.

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: podcasts@1stchurch.org.

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the

Hello, and welcome to Grace for All, a daily devotional podcast produced by members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. I’m Grace Jonas, the reader and writer of today’s devotional, which I’ve entitled “Let Heaven and Nature Sing”. Thank you so much for joining me today!

When I was younger, I remember a song from either Vacation Bible School or a Children’s Play containing the lyrics “I’m not gonna let the rocks cry out for me” and “I’m not gonna let the hills bow down for me” in reference to praising God. I remember as a child, these lyrics seemed silly to me, which, even as an adult, they still seem a bit silly. But, not for the reasons you may think.

After all, the lyrics to the well-loved hymn “Joy to the World” contain the lyrics “let every heart prepare Him room, and Heaven and nature sing.” And refers to fields, floods, rocks, hills and plains repeating the sounding joy.

When I was young, I could not put a finger on why I thought the lyrics to that children’s song sounded silly to me, but now analyzing the lyrics to this hymn and this verse hand in hand, I know why that is: there are several hymns and church songs referring to creation singing of God’s love, but specifically in this context when we refer to creation, we refer to beings such as rocks, oceans, and other landmarks. In my mind, I feel this goes to show that while, yes, we shouldn’t let the rocks cry out for us or the hills bow down for us, we should fill the Earth with songs of worship and let all features of God’s wondrous Earth be alive with praise in harmony with our own.

Dear God, while we may believe the only things that can sing your praises are the beings with voices, help us be reminded that there is a beautiful Earth surrounding us that you painstakingly created that we should rejoice and be worship in harmony with. May we always love and appreciate the Earth you have created and fill it with the songs of your praise. In your name, amen.

This devotional was written and read by Grace Jonas.

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: podcasts@1stchurch.org.

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.