In years past, I have chronicled the development of the PresbyCan Daily Devotional in devotionals like "Bread On The Waters“, “Death Of A Vision“, and “What God Has Prepared", but each of them has focused on what happened in my life. On this twentieth anniversary of Daily, I want to draw attention to the fact that Daily depends on a lot more than me: writers, readers, prayer warriors, and staff.

1 Corinthians 12:12 – For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. (NKJV)

Without our dedicated writers, we would have nothing to publish. One of the things that I notice regularly when I am preparing devotionals for publication, in line with today's Scripture, is that more than one set of eyes is essential for the editing of a good devotional — each person sees things that others have missed. Writers send in their submissions; some run without any changes; others go through several revisions. Then, off they go to James T. Hurd, our discerning Devotional Editor, the final set of eyes. Sometimes, he flags issues that I had never considered — a real life-saver!

Then, there are our faithful readers — 6,200 or more of them, by e-mail, website, and Facebook. Without them, there would be no point in writing. By sending encouraging notes, they, in turn, inspire and motivate the volunteer writers and staff to continue. These notes are collected at the end of every day by Jane Anne Waller, our dependable Feedback Editor, who posts them on the website for all to read. She also looks after subscription inquiries. A subset of our readers has developed a community around the PrayerLine, which is looked after by its committed moderator, Garnet Schenk. The server that runs the website and sends out the daily e-mails is provided by The Presbyterian Church in Canada and its staff, James Laurenson and Michelle Kortinen. Together, all of us are necessary to make this work.

Most important of all, however, is the undergirding of God Almighty. We see His hand regularly when, without anyone but Him knowing the needs of our readers, particular devotionals run at the exact time when a reader needs to hear a certain message from God. Readers also report wonderful "Yes" answers to their PrayerLine requests. There are also times when many prayers have gone up for wisdom in solving the problem when a computer glitch interrupts our schedule!

The bottom line is that, like any ministry, Daily needs many voices, many eyes, to do its task. All of us together are the body of Christ, doing His work here on earth. God provides exactly the people who will be able to accomplish the purpose that He has, to develop Christ-like character in each one of us. We can certainly celebrate what God has done through Daily!

Prayer: Today, Lord, we give You thanks for Your wisdom in making us part of the body of Christ. We rejoice in the volunteers that You have placed in the Daily family: writers, readers, prayer warriors, and staff. May our lives together give You the glory that You deserve above all others. In Christ's name, we pray. Amen.

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About the author:

Robin Ross <rross@telus.net>
Mission, British Columbia, Canada
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