Episodes

  • M.I.B.

    M.I.B.
    Sep 7 2026
    We’re back! After some heavenly vacation time, The Up Daily Devotional is back to your email inboxes, social media feeds, and podcast platforms five mornings a week. There’s a book by Daniel J. Brown called The Boys in the Boat. It’s about Americans who went to the Berlin Olympics for rowing. I haven’t read it […]
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    2 mins
  • Maybe

    Maybe
    Sep 8 2026
    A story is told by Mitch Albom. ‘A farmer wakes up to find that his horse has run off. The neighbours come by and say, “Too bad, such awful luck.” The farmer says, “Maybe.” The next day, the horse returns with a few other horses. The neighbours congratulate the farmer for his reversal of fortune. […]
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    2 mins
  • Only when the eyes are closed

    Only when the eyes are closed
    Sep 9 2026
    Like many others, I grew up thinking Obi-Wan Kenobi was pretty cool. He was one of the good guys on Star Wars. In a recent spin-off series, he said: “Only when the eyes are closed can you truly see.”* If you think that sounds decidedly biblical, you’re right. It’s very reminiscent of what the apostle […]
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    2 mins
  • Prayer and the bigness of God

    Prayer and the bigness of God
    Sep 10 2026
    Matthew 19:26 includes one of Jesus’ most famous sayings: “…with God all things are possible.” We often appeal to that verse when praying for a something super-big, like a miracle. When we want a dramatic healing, or when we want people who absolutely hate each other to reconcile, or when we want a hurricane to […]
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    2 mins
  • Sunday mornings

    Sunday mornings
    Sep 11 2026
    Summer schedules can become unpredictable. When that happens, it’s easy to let certain practices slip, like having meals together, like regular exercise… And like going to church. Consider this. The average educator spends five thousand hours studying child development before they teach a class. The average paediatrician spends ten years and $500,000 to practice medicine […]
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    2 mins
  • Give careful thought to the paths

    Give careful thought to the paths
    Sep 14 2026
    Proverbs 4:26 says: “Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways.” In the Bible, various writers speak about a level path. Picture a hiker on a trail making her way up a mountain. If the path is level, that’s good. If it’s rocky, she could roll over […]
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    2 mins
  • Things you have, and things you treasure

    Things you have, and things you treasure
    Sep 15 2026
    The start of the biblical book of Ecclesiastes is not what I would call “positive.” “Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity” (Ecclesiastes 1:2). In case it’s not obvious, he’s thinks everything is vanity. His keyword in Hebrew is “hevel.” It’s hard to translate because there isn’t an exact English […]
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    2 mins
  • Under the sun, or for the Son?

    Under the sun, or for the Son?
    Sep 16 2026
    In Ecclesiastes 1:3 the teacher asks a question: “What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?” Let’s note a few things. First, when he says ‘man,’ he means ‘humankind.’ He’s not just talking about himself. He’s asking a question of all of us. Second, when he says ‘toil,’ […]
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    2 mins