C.H. Spurgeon's Morning Devotional
Monday August 11, 2025

"Oh that I were as in months past."-Job 29:2
    
    Numbers of Christians can view the past with pleasure, but regard the present with dissatisfaction; they look back upon the days which they have passed in communing with the Lord as being the sweetest and the best they have ever known, but as to the present, it is clad in a sable garb of gloom and dreariness. Once they lived near to Jesus, but now they feel that they have wandered from Him, and they say, "O that I were as in months past!" They complain that they have lost their evidences, or that they have not present peace of mind, or that they have no enjoyment in the means of grace, or that conscience is not so tender, or that they have not so much zeal for God's glory. The causes of this mournful state of things are manifold. It may arise through a comparative neglect of prayer, for a neglected closet is the beginning of all spiritual decline. Or it may be the result of idolatry. The heart has been occupied with something else, more than with God; the affections have been set on the things of earth, instead of the things of heaven. A jealous God will not be content with a divided heart; He must be loved first and best. He will withdraw the sunshine of His presence from a cold, wandering heart. Or the cause may be found in self-confidence and self-righteousness. Pride is busy in the heart, and self is exalted instead of lying low at the foot of the cross. Christian, if you are not now as you "were in months past," do not rest satisfied with wishing for a return of former happiness, but go at once to seek your Master, and tell Him your sad state. Ask His grace and strength to help you to walk more closely with Him; humble yourself before Him, and He will lift you up, and give you yet again to enjoy the light of His countenance. Do not sit down to sigh and lament; while the beloved Physician lives there is hope, nay there is a certainty of recovery for the worst cases.
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Monday, July 6, 2015

The Poofiest Pong by Katherine Graham

 


The Poofiest PongTitle: The Poofiest Pong
Author: Katherine Graham
Publisher: Katherine Graham
Pages: 18
Genre: Children’s Picture Book
Format: Kindle
How do you measure the poofiness of your pongs? This is a question that baffles Max, the budding inventor. But with the help of his pong-o-meter and his little brother’s farts, Max and Billy are well on their way to blasting off for an adventure in outer space.

Excerpt:
Billy Burnham makes the poofiest pongs. I should know, he’s my little brother.
Now I know what you’re thinking. How can you tell if a fart is stinkier than somebody else’s?
Is your fart stinkier than mine or is my fart stinkier than yours?
Mom only occasionally farts. She is loud and proud. When she’s made one, she giggles and says, “Sorry”. But we don’t actually mind because they don’t really stink.
Mine are also quite mild. There’s a bit of a pong, but it doesn’t hang around very long, and I always move into another room before anyone can pick it up.
But Dad’s farts – boy, are they something! They are the kind of stinks that you can’t get away from. He is silent but violent. If you’re in a room full of people, they start to look around and screw up their noses. “Who did that?” they ask with questioning eyes. Dad’s stinks are bad.
But Billy, my brother, takes the cake. He may not be very big, but his baffs pack the meanest punch. They are toxic. They are like stink bombs that go off and color the air green. Like sodium sulfide, Dad says. If Billy toots at the dinner table, you may gag on your food. They are his nuclear weapon.
One day I get an idea. “Eureka!” I shout. “There must be a way to measure farts. I know, I’ll invent a machine… a pong-o-meter!”

A journalist by training, Katherine Graham writes regularly for a number of South African magazines. She has published three children’s e-books, The Dummy Fairy, Alfonso the Tooth Mouse and The Poofiest Pong. The Lemon Tree, which was longlisted for the Golden Baobab Prize in 2014, is due to be published by Penguin Random House next year. She lives in possibly the world’s most beautiful city, Cape Town, is married with two boys and a ginger cat, and loves peaceful, uninterrupted moments sipping tea and reading.


For More Information

Her latest children’s picture book is The Poofiest Pong.


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