Chapter 5: A secret about bread; the story of Bundt the baker In the middle of the Cranberry Village, there is a tiny, barely noticeable shack that sits by the street in the middle of a long row of shops. And hanging over the door is a crooked sign on which, if you look closely enough, you can barely make out the words “Bundt’s Bakery.” For Bundt the groundhog is far too busy making the best bread in the country to worry about making the outside of his shop fancy. He doesn’t

Have you ever wondered to yourself, “What if I sin after I become a Christian?” The Resurrection of Christ plays a role in helping to answer this question. Whereas last month  we studied why the Resurrection of Christ is such a crucial part of a Gospel presentation, in this devotional I hope you will be encouraged by how that historical event of over 2,000 years past affects you personally today. When Christ died on the Cross, He atoned for your sin and became your propitiat

This year we were blessed to spend several weeks on the Oregon Coast, and we are excited to publish our first video in what we are calling the "Ad-Venturos" series! Join us in a hilarious--and sometimes death-defying--adventure among the rocks and tide pools of the southern Oregon coastline! We hope you will be entertained and challenged to explore God's incredible world.

He knew we were in the water. On the four different occasions that Kelly and I came to swim in the sheltered cove on the coast of Oregon, we saw this same seal. He was watching us carefully. He would poke his head out of the water to peek at us, and when a wave came he would stretch his neck so that he could still see over the crest of the wave. Back and forth he went, popping up on one side of us and then the other. Maybe he was curious? Or maybe he was irritated that we wer

©2025 by Daniel Venturo It was a nice evening on the Oregon coast, and we had decided to take a tide pooling excursion before cleaning up and having dinner. We climbed through the rocks and started finding things—mammoth green anemones, orange and purple starfish, and spiny sea urchins. We called each other over to see tubeworms , new kinds of starfish, or strange gelatinous blobs. Then, as we peered under a large boulder, we saw a lemon! As we gathered around to examine the

“It will let up any minute now!” – a statement we now view as more of a joke Bivouac. Or bivy, for short. Because few of us can actually pronounce “bivouac” properly. Either way, it is just a fancy word for waiting. And yet, it is more than waiting. It is waiting on steroids. Take normal waiting, say, before a doctor’s appointment or standing in line at the DMV, and add wind, rain, mosquitos, hail, or snow. Or all of the above. Lower the temperature to a level that you can ba