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The Kandel Sisters The writings of Kris Kandel Schwambach, Karen Kandel Kizlin, Kathie Kandel Poe and Linda Kandel Maso

16/12/2025

John
How often do we look at the limitations rather than the possibilities? We merely see with physical eyes and not with spiritual eyes. Many times, we see what we don’t have rather than what we do.
“When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, ‘Where
shall we buy bread for these people to eat?’ He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do. Philip answered him, ‘It would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!’ Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, ‘Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?’” John 6:5-9
Jesus already knew what He was going to do, but he questioned Philip about a location to buy bread. Immediately Philip looked at the resources they had in hand. Instead of looking to Jesus, Philip judged the money at their disposal. His assessment was that they couldn’t buy a bite of bread for everyone.
So why would Jesus ask Philip to come up with a solution if He already knew what He was going to do?
Tests are actually a reality of life. Jesus already knew what was inside of Philip. But Philip didn’t know what was inside of him.
When we face tests, it should help us understand our faith but also bring to light our lack of faith.
And then Andrew stepped in introducing a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish. A tiny amount of food, just enough to feed a child.
But how big is little?
The disciples, the crowd, and the boy were about to find out.

15/12/2025

John
Throughout His ministry, Jesus was followed, watched, and questioned by the religious leaders. They wanted so badly to catch him in something to accuse Him before the Sanhedrin. Often after these encounters Jesus would leave the area for a while. It is where we find Him in this passage.
“Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the signs he had performed by healing the sick. Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. The Jewish Passover Festival was near.” John 6:1-4
It was springtime.
How do we know?
Because this passage tells us that the Passover was near and that happens on our calendars sometime in March or April. A crowd gathered. The Bible even tells us why the multitude came. Jesus healed the sick. Many had watched as the lame walked, the blind had their eyes opened, the deaf could hear, and the lepers were cleansed of their debilitating disease.
They saw amazing things, signs they had never seen before, and the people followed. They wanted to be where Jesus was.
That is a very good place to be.

12/12/2025

John
“If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true. There is another who testifies in my favor, and I know that his testimony about me is true. You have sent to John and he has testified to the truth. Not that I accept human testimony; but I mention it that you may be saved. John was a lamp that burned and gave light, and you chose for a time to enjoy his light.
I have testimony weightier than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to finish—the very works that I am doing—testify that the Father has sent me. And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me. You have never heard his voice nor seen his form, nor does his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent. You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life. I do not accept glory from human beings, but I know you. I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts. I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him. How can you believe since you accept glory from one another but do not seek the glory that comes from the only God? But do not think I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom your hopes are set. If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?” John 5:31-47
Jesus wanted the religious leaders to understand the truth. They had their traditions. They had the keeping of their many laws, but they were missing the Truth. Jesus, the Truth, was standing in front of them. God used Moses to write down the Torah, the first five books of the Bible. Jesus told them that those words, penned by Moses all those years ago, were about Him. They needed to look, see, and believe. The same is true for us. He’s standing in the shadow of every page. The adventure is there for us to discover.

11/12/2025

John
Jesus saw the religious leaders’ hearts. He understood they were plotting to eventually kill Him, but out of His heart of love He spoke the truth of salvation to them.
“Jesus gave them this answer: ‘Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, and he will show him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed. For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it. Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him. Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life. Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man. Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out—those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned. By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.’” John 5:19-30
Jesus spoke the very words of life. They simply needed to have eyes to see and ears to hear. So do we.

10/12/2025

John
“So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him. In his defense Jesus said to them, ‘My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.’ For this reason they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.” John 5:16-18
Jesus was not the Jewish leaders’ idea of what a rabbi should be, and definitely not Messiah material. He was in reality a thorn in their flesh. They knew who they were. They knew their legalistic dedication to the smallest of the laws, and they also saw that Jesus didn’t line up with their theology. He didn’t follow their rules. He didn’t keep all their laws. And what made this even worse was that Jesus was calling God His Father. That was so foreign to their ears, and they understood what it meant. Jesus was telling them He was equal with God.
And so, they reacted violently. Persecution, anger, they were even plotting His death. The goal became to remove this new rabbi from their carefully crafted ideas of what the Jewish religion should be and who the Messiah should be.
Keep in mind, these were their ideas, not God’s.

09/12/2025

John
The man walked. He picked up his mat and strength and health surged through his crippled limbs. Miracle of miracles, he could run, leap, jump. Invalid no more, he was set free. He would have been overjoyed, but not everyone. You see, this was a Sabbath.
“The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, and so the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, ‘It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.’ But he replied, ‘The man who made me well said to me, “Pick up your mat and walk.”’ So they asked him, ‘Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?’ The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there. Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, ‘See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.’ The man went away and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had made him well.” John 5:9-15
The Jewish leaders reacted. By this time in history the keeping of the Sabbath had become a challenge. The many, many laws created by the Jewish leaders and governed the Sabbath were hard to keep. They were a burden. Carrying things was considered work, and this newly healed man had the audacity to carry the mat he hadn’t left in thirty-eight years.
All the religious leaders were able to see was the letter of the law. What was so sad was that they missed the miracle.

08/12/2025

John
We are so blessed to live in a world where we have access to great doctors, good medicines, and nice hospitals. Not so much for the people in Jesus’ day. There was a place, though, where it was believed healings could happen. It was the pool of Bethesda. The belief was that if the pool got stirred up, the first one in the water received healing. So, the sick, infirmed, crippled came to watch and hope for a miracle.
“Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, ‘Do you want to get well?’ ‘Sir,’ the invalid replied, ‘I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.’ Then Jesus said to him, ‘Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.’ At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.” John 5:1-9
The man had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. That’s a long time to hope and pray for a miracle. Jesus asked him an important question. Did he want to be healed? There were good reasons why he wasn’t healed at the pool but standing before him was one incredible reason why he could be healed. Jesus Christ, the Creator of all the world was right there. It only took a word from the Lord and suddenly health and healing were his. The water of the pool paled next to The Living Water.

05/12/2025

John
These are verses about a desperate father. Most of us can relate.
“After the two days he left for Galilee. (Now Jesus himself had pointed out that a prophet has no honor in his own country.) When he arrived in Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him. They had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, for they also had been there. Once more he visited Cana in Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine. And there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum. When this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and begged him to come and heal his son, who was close to death. ‘Unless you people see signs and wonders,’ Jesus told him, ‘you will never believe.’ The royal official said, ‘Sir, come down before my child dies.’ ‘Go,’ Jesus replied, ‘your son will live.’ The man took Jesus at his word and departed. While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living. When he inquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to him, ‘Yesterday, at one in the afternoon, the fever left him.’ Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, ‘Your son will live.’ So he and his whole household believed. This was the second sign Jesus performed after coming from Judea to Galilee.” John‬ ‭4‬:‭43‬-‭54‬ ‭‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬
Can you imagine? Your son is dying. You are nearly past hope when you learn of Jesus. You go and beg. His answer is to go because your son will live. How much faith did it take for this father to turn to go back home when he probably wanted Jesus to go with him? But the Master had said “go”. This man turned and went.
His servants met him. His son was well. It was the exact moment. This man had the faith to ask He had prayed big.
What do we need to pray for right now? Pray big.

04/12/2025

John
“Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, ‘He told me everything I ever did.’ So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. And because of his words many more became believers. They said to the woman, ‘We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.’” John‬ ‭4‬:‭39‬-‭42‬ ‭‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬
I love the way Jesus covered “everything” she ever did. We do not have a running list of every thought, lie, angry word, action in her life. She was a sinner. That was the confrontation Jesus brought. The Bible doesn’t just speak of sin in our lives. It tells us that we are sinners. It isn’t just something we do. It is who we are. When we come to Him and confess our sin, He is faithful to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. He erases our sin. He pays the wages for our sin and declares us free. We can begin to live for Him. This woman from Samaria believed and met Jesus. We can too. We simply ask Him to come into our lives.
Jesus stayed in the town for two days. Can you imagine? Two days under the teaching of Jesus as they began their discipleship journey. What a gift!
But wait, we do have that gift. It’s called opening the Word and meeting with Him on every page.
Why not try it right now?

03/12/2025

John
“Meanwhile his disciples urged him, ‘Rabbi, eat something.’ But he said to them, ‘I have food to eat that you know nothing about.’ Then his disciples said to each other, ‘Could someone have brought him food?’ ‘My food,’ said Jesus, ‘is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. Don’t you have a saying, “It’s still four months until harvest”? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. Thus the saying “One sows and another reaps” is true. I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.’” John‬ ‭4‬:‭31‬-‭38‬ ‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬
The food Jesus had that the disciples knew nothing about was a mystery to them. They wanted to bring Him lunch. He wanted to do the work. He was trying to help them to understand that working in the fields of God’s Kingdom is the most rewarding mission we can ever have. ‭‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬
Why?
Because it lasts eternally.
It can make an immediate difference in people’s lives.
Each life can affect many more.
Think about it. Today, we are still talking about a woman who met Jesus at a well in Samaria. How long will our stories be told?

02/12/2025

John
“Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, ‘What do you want?’ or ‘Why are you talking with her?’ Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, ‘Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?’ They came out of the town and made their way toward him.” John‬ ‭4‬:‭27‬-‭30‬ ‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬
It was an ordinary day. At least it started out that way.‭‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬
She had arrived alone. It was not the normal time to arrive at the well. But it was her normal. And no wonder. Five husbands and the man she was living with was not her husband. That was unheard of in those days. She carried an invisible letter written across her life that announced to the entire community that she was THAT kind of a woman. She probably lived every day with a whisper campaign behind her wherever she went. There were most likely laughs and giggles.
But today was different. Today she would encounter Jesus. He didn’t see her that way. He saw her sin, but sins can be erased. And hers were. It didn’t take long, but meeting Jesus often doesn’t. She went back to the town with a message. “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?”
Day after day she had been mocked, condemned, ignored.
But not that day. No, that day was different. When she went back to town, she spoke. They listened. She wasn’t mocked, condemned, ignored. She was seen and her message was heard.
The entire town heard her story and wanted to hear more.
Here is the message for us: it does not matter what the past has been. It matters that we have met Jesus and what the story has become. Because it’s that story that can make a difference. It did in this town. “They came out of the town and made their way toward him.”
What a difference a day makes.

01/12/2025

John
“‘Woman,’ Jesus replied, ‘believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.’ The woman said, ‘I know that Messiah’ (called Christ) ‘is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.’ Then Jesus declared, ‘I, the one speaking to you—I am he.’” John‬ ‭4‬:‭21‬-‭26‬ ‭‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬
Was it at that moment that she suddenly realized that she was speaking with the great I Am? That is the incredibly powerful name of God from the Old Testament and throughout the New. And here He had just spoken it to her. She was sitting in the presence of Messiah.
Open the Word. Begin to pray. Listen to a message of salvation. We are sitting in the presence of Messiah. Are we are listening?
He is speaking. “I am He.”

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