60 Seconds of Hope with Horace McMillon

Send us Fan Mail Start Preparing For When Things Get Better  “For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land." - Jeremiah 32:15 Things were bad. Jerusalem was under siege. They were not going to be able to hold out for much longer. It was just a matter of time before the Babylonian army was walking down their streets and...

Send us Fan Mail A Short Prayer of Faithfulness and Devotion  Dear Lord, in a world that calls up-down, left-right, and crooked-straight… Help us to be wise as serpents and gentle as doves.  When our meager resources appear insufficient to the needs around us… Help us, nevertheless, to be faithful in the little things.  Where the world worships power, status, and money. Let our faithfulness and de...

Send us Fan Mail Practice Gratitude 24/7/365  “From the rising of the sun to its setting, the name of the LORD is to be praised.” - Psalm 113:3 This week’s lectionary readings dealt with some pretty heavy topics. But in the middle of them we find Psalm 113.  It reminds us that even the midst of our hard times, we still have a lot to be grateful for. We still have a lot to celebrate. We still have...

Send us Fan Mail How To Pray For People In Power In our anger and frustration, we sometimes like the disciples wish we could call down holy fire to destroy those who are doing wrong.  Like the Psalmist we are tempted to ask God to pour wrath and vengeance on the evil doers.  This is particularly true when we think about those in authority who misuse their power and influence.  The early Jesus move...

Send us Fan Mail When Facing Hard Times  “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved." - Jeremiah 8:20 The people of Israel were facing a bad situation and it wasn’t going to get better anytime soon. Sometimes life is like that for us. Sometimes it’s our fault, and sometimes not. Regardless of fault or blame, what do we do next?  The first thing Jeremiah does is acknowledg...

Send us Fan Mail The Difference Between Forgiveness and Reconciliation  “All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.” - 2 Corinthians 5:18 We have been called to forgive everyone preemptively, without preconditions, and unilaterally. We have also been called to the ministry of reconciliation. What’s the difference? Forgiveness does...

Send us Fan Mail Be Street-smart and  Gentle At The Same Time  “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.” - Matthew 10:16 There’s a big difference between living sacrificially, and being exploited, abused, and taken advantage of.  The first one means exercising our agency to give up something we value for something we value more.  The...

Send us Fan Mail Who Are We Serving?  “No slave can serve two masters, for a slave will either hate the one and love the other or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth." - Luke 16:13 It’s easy to get ourselves twisted when it comes to dealing with money. We all need money and material possessions to survive in this world. Many of the things we want to ex...

Send us Fan Mail When We Don’t Feel Supported  A few days ago I made a post called, “It Was Worth It” where I talked about giving up my previous life to answer my calling. A fellow TikToker asked about what happens when your family doesn’t support you.  I’ve been blessed to have pretty good support from my family even when they thought I was making a mistake. But Jesus went through this. His famil...

Send us Fan Mail What Does It Mean To Believe? “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” - John 3:16 What does it mean to believe in Jesus?  It means that we trust all our footsteps to the trail he blazed. We learn to think and speak, act and react, hope and desire as he did.  We trust that the power of lo...

Send us Fan Mail How Successful Will Jesus Be? “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world but in order that the world might be saved through him.” - John 3:17 If it is God’s desire to deliver the world, and if God has given Jesus this mission, how successful do we believe Jesus will be? In a short reflection, I cannot begin to fully address this ultimate question. I can...

Send us Fan Mail Show The World Something Different  “And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever trusts in him may experience eternal life.” - John 3:14-15 It’s not about the confessions we recite, or the speeches we make. Empty words have no power. It’s about lifting up a different example, a model of how to live, and be, and do. I...

Send us Fan Mail How to Change Our Toxic Environments  “And the LORD said to Moses, "Make a poisonous serpent, and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten shall look at it and live." - Numbers 21:8 The people of Israel had become tired of the seemingly endless journey from Egypt to their promise land. Many of them said they would have preferred slavery than to where they were. They...

Send us Fan Mail Life Giving Foolishness  “For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” - 1 Corinthians 1:18 The so called wisdom of the world has us killing ourselves and each other. The message of the cross in Paul’s thinking is one in which we crucify our old patterns of thought and behavior. This makes space f...

Send us Fan Mail When We Became Discouraged  “But the people became discouraged on the way.” - Numbers 21:4 The people of Israel had been liberated from slavery in Egypt, but they had not yet made it to their promise land. They lost faith in the process. They were tired and discouraged. In their discouragement they made foolish and self destructive decisions. Personal development is a process, and...

Send us Fan Mail It Was Worth It “So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.” -Luke 14:33 32 years ago I moved to Chicago to attend seminary. It wasn’t something I particularly wanted to do. But in my heart I knew I needed to.  I wanted to answer my calling and live my purpose. But I also wanted to live my life. So, I went to school full time, and...

Send us Fan Mail Finding Right When Everything Around You Is Wrong  Philemon is the personal letter that Apostle Paul wrote while in prison to Philemon a wealthy slave holding convert on behalf of Onesimus, an escaped enslaved convert who was about to be sent back to Philemon.  What does one do, when everything around you is wrong? That’s the question early Christians in the Roman Empire faced the...

Send us Fan Mail Learning To Be Effective In Broken Systems  “I pray that the partnership of your faith may become effective as you comprehend all the good that we share in Christ.” - Philemon 1:6 Philemon is a personal letter that the Apostle Paul  while in prison, wrote to one of his wealthy slave holding converts, on behalf of a runaway enslaved convert.  How do we follow Jesus in broken world,...

Send us Fan Mail I Am Wonderful  “I praise you, because I am wonderfully made; wonderful are your works! My very self you know.” Psalm 139:14 (NAB) Some of us struggle with our self identities, self confidence, and self esteem. We may fear that we are not good enough, smart enough, or pretty enough. We may fear that no one will really love us or even like us.  The Psalmist wants us to put a perman...

Send us Fan Mail In response to the flooding in Pakistan I’m donating 100% of the royalties for the first 1000 copies sold of my new book: How to Pray: Devotions for Prayer, Spiritual Discernment, and Living a Life of Faith by Horace McMillon In just three minutes a day, for six weeks, you can transform your spiritual life. This 42-day devotional invites you to begin each day with spiritual reflec...

Send us Fan Mail Choose The Path That Leads To Life “I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live.” - from Deuteronomy 30:19 We are responsible. We are responsible for the thoughts we entertain, the words we speak, the plans we make, and the actions we take. We have the freedom to choose how we show up in the world and the respon...

Send us Fan Mail Don’t Be A Scoffer “Happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked or take the path that sinners tread or sit in the seat of scoffers,” - Psalm 1:1 If you’re reading or watching this far, chances are you think of yourself as a pretty good person who generally tries to do  good and treat people right. You’re not out here trying to follow the advice of the wicked.  So, l...

Send us Fan Mail We Are Works In Progress  “So I went down to the potter's house, and there he was working at his wheel. The vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter's hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as seemed good to him.” - Jeremiah 18:3-4 Another important spiritual principle is humility. None of us are fully finished products. We all need God to reshape us...

Send us Fan Mail 60 Seconds of Hope: When Is The Resurrection? “And you will be blessed because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous." - Luke 14:14 What is the resurrection and when does it take place. Many Christians think of it as something that happens at the end of the world as we know it, perhaps on judgement day. Others think of it as someth...

Send us Fan Mail 60 Seconds of Hope: How To Be Steady “They are not afraid of evil tidings; their hearts are firm, secure in the LORD. Their hearts are steady; they will not be afraid” - from Psalms 112:7-8 Fear of change, fear of the unknown, fear of hardship and suffering, fear of being laughed at and ridiculed, fear of not having enough or being enough… At some point, life is going bring most o...