Rocky Mountain Voice

Menu

Tag: Jesus Christ

The Initiative Weapon: Look Up!
No Comments
Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, Top Stories

The Initiative Weapon: Look Up!

By Drake Hunter | Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice We've spent a lot of time with nursery rhymes lately. Today, let's trade Mother Goose for a swimsuit. Have you ever done something wonderfully weird? Nearly 14 years ago, while celebrating our twenty-fifth wedding anniversary, Sherrie and I traveled to Cozumel, Mexico. One morning we signed up for a snorkeling excursion in the beautiful Caribbean Sea. Our guide took us by boat to a coral reef two miles offshore, and before long we were floating above one of the most breathtaking displays of God's creation I have ever seen. It felt like swimming through the world's largest saltwater aquarium. Schools of tropical fish glided effortlessly through brilliant coral formations while strange sea plants danced with the rhythm of ...
Read More
The Thriftiness Weapon: A-Tisket A-Tasket
No Comments
Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, National, Top Stories

The Thriftiness Weapon: A-Tisket A-Tasket

By Drake Hunter | Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice A-tisket, a-tasket, a green and yellow basket. I wrote a letter to my love, and on the way I dropped it. Like most children, I never gave much thought to those words. I imagined a little girl happily skipping along with her colorful basket until, somewhere along the road, she accidentally dropped it. It wasn't until years later that I realized the basket wasn't really the tragedy. Baskets are replaceable. The real loss was what she was carrying. She dropped the letter to her love. The older I get, the more I realize that's exactly how life works. Most don't lose everything overnight. We lose it one misplaced treasure at a time. Looking back, I wish I had been a little more thrifty with the things that mattered most. I'd gi...
Read More
The Hidden Trust Weapon: Olly, Olly, Oxen Free!
No Comments
Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, Top Stories

The Hidden Trust Weapon: Olly, Olly, Oxen Free!

By Drake Hunter | Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice "Olly, olly, oxen free!" If you're smiling right now, you're probably remembering the same thing I am. Long before smartphones, video games, and streaming television, neighborhood kids had an amazing ability to entertain themselves. We'd ride our bikes until the streetlights came on, play baseball in empty lots, build forts out of scrap lumber, and, when the evening shadows grew just a little longer, someone would shout, "Let's play hide-and-seek!" The seeker would cover his eyes and begin counting while the rest of us scattered in every direction—behind bushes, under porches, between parked cars, anywhere we thought no one would ever find us. Of course, we weren't nearly as hidden as we imagined. Looking back, I can still ...
Read More
The Sincerity Weapon: Jack Be Nimble
No Comments
Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, Devotional, Top Stories

The Sincerity Weapon: Jack Be Nimble

By Drake Hunter | Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Jack be nimble. Jack be quick. Jack jump over the candlestick. As children, we rarely stop to think about what this little rhyme means. We simply picture a boy leaping over a candlestick with speed, courage, and just enough daring to make us smile. Maybe that's why it has endured for generations. Every child dreams of jumping over something exciting. I know I did. Growing up in Southern California during Evel Knievel's heyday was nothing short of inspiring. Every bicycle became a motorcycle, every curb became a canyon, and every homemade plywood ramp became another opportunity to attempt the impossible. Like millions of other boys, I dreamed of flying through the air, sticking the landing, and hearing the applause. Evel was...
Read More
The creativity weapon: Loving the crooked man
No Comments
Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, Devotional, National, Top Stories

The creativity weapon: Loving the crooked man

By Drake Hunter | Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice When I was little, one of my favorite people ever was Grandma Ivy, still is. She wasn't famous. She never stood behind a pulpit or wrote a book. But she was a superhero. During many of my toddler and elementary years, she was my guardian, my safe place, and my greatest teacher. Like so many grandmothers, she had a way of turning ordinary moments into lasting memories. One of those memories was a simple nursery rhyme she taught me: "There was a crooked man, and he walked a crooked mile. He found a crooked sixpence against a crooked stile. He bought a crooked cat, which caught a crooked mouse, and they all lived together in a little crooked house." Back then, I thought it was just a funny rhyme. I smiled because everything in...
Read More
The Deference Weapon: Ring Around the Rosie and the Second Mile
No Comments
Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, Devotional, Top Stories

The Deference Weapon: Ring Around the Rosie and the Second Mile

By Drake Hunter | Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Ring around the rosie, a pocket full of posies, ashes, ashes, we all fall down. Most of us learned Ring Around the Rosie before we learned how to tie our shoes. We held hands, spun in circles, laughed, and then intentionally fell to the ground together. Nobody was trying to win. Nobody was competing for attention. Nobody was demanding their rights. For a few brief moments, everyone moved together…Then we grew up! Today, it seems we've forgotten how. Everywhere we look, people are fighting for position. We fight for attention, recognition, influence, and control. We fight to be heard, to be right, and to make sure no one gets ahead of us. The cultural message is clear: stand your ground, protect your rights, and never let a...
Read More
The Self-Control Weapon: Don’t Pull the Plum Yet
No Comments
Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, Devotional, Top Stories

The Self-Control Weapon: Don’t Pull the Plum Yet

By Drake Hunter | Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Little Jack Horner sat in a corner, eating his Christmas pie. He put in his thumb, pulled out a plum, and said, "What a good boy am I." Most of us learned that nursery rhyme as children and never gave it another thought. But through the lens of Jesus, Little Jack Horner tells a familiar story. Jack sees something he wants, reaches for it, takes it, and congratulates himself for getting it. That sounds a lot like us. We live in a world of immediate gratification. We want answers now, comfort now, success now, relief now, and pleasure now. Yet one of the greatest lessons Jesus teaches is that strength is often found in waiting. You see, before Jesus preached a sermon, healed a disease, or called a disciple, the Spirit led hi...
Read More
The joy weapon: Rowing with Jesus through the battles of life
No Comments
Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice, Top Stories

The joy weapon: Rowing with Jesus through the battles of life

By Drake Hunter | Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice "Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream…merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream.” Children sing this rhyme with a smile, but adults sing it exhausted because life feels like a battlefield. Bills, relationships, politics, and bodies weaken. Expectations come and go, betrayals and drifting dreams make us row harder and angrier. Then Jesus steps onto the shoreline and says, “Follow Me.” That command truly shifts everything. Jesus never guaranteed His followers a life free of storms; instead, He assured them of His presence right in the middle of them.  That’s where the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-16) come into play. They’re not just gentle religious sayings meant for pillows or sentimental Hallmark moments. No, th...
Read More
You’ve been praying all along — you just didn’t know it
No Comments
Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, National, Top Stories

You’ve been praying all along — you just didn’t know it

By Drake Hunter | Rocky Mountain Voice From Billy Graham’s Capitol steps to Ronald Reagan’s national call, the National Day of Prayer reminds us: prayer isn’t just something we do—it’s who we become. Prayer sometimes gets a bad reputation for being formal. Folded hands, bowed heads, the right words in the right order. But walk into any coffee shop on any morning and listen carefully — and you'll hear it everywhere. And once a year, a whole nation does exactly that — together. There's something so inspiring about a nation coming together to pause, even just for a moment, to reflect beyond ourselves. Back in 1952, a young evangelist named Billy Graham stood on the steps of the U.S. Capitol with thousands of people, calling a nation to seek God during uncertain times, m...
Read More
Easter Message: He Was Canceled So You Wouldn’t Be
No Comments
Rocky Mountain Voice, Devotional, Top Stories

Easter Message: He Was Canceled So You Wouldn’t Be

By Drake Hunter | Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice An Easter Reflection on Cancel Culture, the Cross, and the Power of Restoration There was a time when canceling someone involved wood, nails, and a watching crowd. Before social media, headlines, and hashtags, there was the cross. And before the cross, there was something else—the pillory—a public spectacle of shame. A person was locked in place, exposed to ridicule. The crowd didn’t gather to restore; they gathered to condemn—throwing rotten food, shouting loudly, delivering public judgment. The message echoed through the square: You are no longer one of us. We like to think cancel culture is new. It’s not! It’s ancient. Only now, instead of wooden frames in a town square, we use platforms, posts, and public opinion. The tool...
Read More