In Memoriam
Editor’s Note: It is with deepest sorrow that we share that our beloved friend Dr. Nelson Price was called home to be with Jesus on August 30, 2025, at the age of 94. Though our hearts grieve his absence, we rejoice that he now rests in the presence of his Savior—face to face, where there is no more pain or death.
Dr. Price’s life was a testimony of faith, wisdom, and an unwavering devotion to God and his precious family whom he loved dearly. His legacy will continue to bear fruit for generations to come, in ways known and unknown, as the seeds he sowed in countless lives continue to grow.
Dr. Price was a prolific writer and this website contains only a small sampling of his prose. This website will continue to be updated as his writings are collected, so please check back often. For more collected writings on the legacy of our dear friend, please visit the In Memoriam tab at the top of this webpage.
Also please be blessed by Dr. Price’s newest book, Uplifted: A Journey Through Acts: A Study of the Early Church and its Timeless Lessons for Today. Now available on Amazon for Kindle.
May Hope Be Your Anchor – Part Five
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God” (II Cor. 1: 3, 4).
The God who is depicted as “the God of all comfort” has a monopoly on all comfort. He uses it to comfort us in “all our tribulation. What is the operative word in those two statements? It is “all.” Therefore, if you need comforting, go to the source, God.
When you are comforted that is not the intended end of the act. Sure, it is for your good, but you are to pay it forward to others. There are people all around needing the same comfort you have received. Share what you have received. Their acknowledgment of a need is not an invitation for you to play “Can you top this?”
It is not the least bit comforting if when someone exposes a need you respond by telling them you have a bigger one. If they reveal an injury don’t reply that you had that same need only greater. Do assure them the doctor said of yours, “I have never in all my life ever seen anything like that.” Don’t dump on a needy person. Accent how the Lord comforted you. Emphasize His comfort not your consternation. Assure the needy person the same God who comforted you can comfort them.
Biblically Barnabus, “the son of Encouragement” (Acts 4:36) built up Paul and John Mark. You can do the same for others.
You can only give to others what you have. Hope, love, mercy, grace, and assurance are qualities needed by most people who are carrying a burden.
I collect little $100 flashlights. I have them all over the house. There is almost one within reach wherever I am. They have one common characteristic, not a one shines without a battery. Neither can you offer the comfort of the Lord unless you have it. Let “This Little Light of Mine” be your theme song.
“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching” (Hebrews 10: 24, 25).
This does not mean we will always agree on all things. Unity doesn’t mean we always agree, but that we remain bonded in love and truth. It’s not about liking the same things, but loving the same Lord.
The counsel to “not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together” is instruction to be involved in a church. One of the many intended functions of the church is to “edify” one another. In the word edify can be heard the word edifice, meaning a building. To edify a person is to build them up. The God of all comfort is the project Foreman.
May Hope Be Your Anchor – Part Four
“Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day” (II Corinthians 4: 16).
A secular song from the musical “Damn Yankee” carries these words worthy of a spiritual application.
You’ve gotta have heart
All you really need is heart
When the odds are sayin’ you’ll never win
That’s when the grin should start
You’ve gotta have hope
Mustn’t sit around and mope
Nothin’s half as bad as it may appear
Wait’ll next year and hope
When your luck is battin’ zero
Get your chin up off the floor
Mister you can be a hero
You can open any door, there’s nothin’ to it but to do it
You’ve gotta have heart
Miles ’n miles n’ miles of heart.
There are a couple of lines in that which are inappropriate, but the theme is relevant to life. You have got to have heart, that is, a good spirit, a great attitude.
Admiral William H. McRaven writes about what he learned during Navy SEAL training that has helped him and could help anyone live a better life. Hope. He said: “Hope is the most powerful force in the universe. With hope you can inspire nations to greatness. With hope you can raise up the downtrodden. With hope you can ease the pain of unbearable loss. Sometimes all it takes is one person to make a difference.”
There is a toothpaste commercial on TV that simply says, “Be the first to smile.” Doing so inspires others to smile. Evidence hope and you will inspire others who have no hope to develop it. All around there are those who need it.
Neuroscientist Tali Sharot argues hope is so essential to our survival that it is hardwired into our brains, arguing it can be the difference between living a healthier life versus one trapped by despair.
The inward person must not stay the same. Growth is indispensable. Growth in grace and knowledge enables a hopeful outlook.
Hope is the outstretched hand in the dark—an act of faith that someone will take it and share their strength.
Hope is like a lighthouse guiding a storm tossed vessel to a safe haven.
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11: 1). Partnered with its companion “faith” they are eyes that see the unseen as reality.
Don’t be bullied by your fears. Have heart and be emboldened thereby.
In the Beatitudes Jesus taught that those “pure in heart” would “see God.” That is an ultimate truth with a present challenge. You ‘gotta have heart.
God is eavesdropping for sounds you have heart in facing your life’s challenges. Don’t let the passing of time cause your spiritual heartbeat to grow faint.
May Hope Be Your Anchor – Part Three
“Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day” (II Corinthians 4: 16).
This is no complaint, but those who have been blessed know it is a summary of aging. Well, the part regarding “our outward man is perishing” no matter how much we exercise, what skin care is used, or how many vitamins we take age wins out. Can I get an “amen?”
However, there is another part of the verse noting a victory we can win if “we do not lose heart.” That is our part. Belief goes before hope springs forth. Don’t lose heart!
If most of us were objective we would look back and conclude these words from “O God, Our Help in Ages Past” by Isaac Watts speak truth:
“Our hope for years to come, Our shelter from the stormy blast, And our eternal home.”
“Lose heart” means to be exhausted, spiritless, or weary. We all are challenged at times not to lose heart. It is then spiritual attributes are the only thing that sustain us.
To lose heart is to grow fainthearted to the point of giving up. Luke 18:1 says, “They ought always to pray and not lose heart.” Galatians 6:9 says, “And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.”
Two antidotes are noted thereby. Prayer is an expression of hope. Offering a prayer indicates hope in the answer. Who wants to snivel and grumble in God’s presence? In talking to Him evidence your hope His answer will afford your need.
The second antidote is to “not grow weary in well doing.” As best as you can, stay busy in doing constructive things. To gain strength helpfully reach out to others in need.
During a flight from Portland, Maine, to Boston, pilot Henry Dempsey heard a noise at the rear of his small aircraft. As he went to investigate, the plane hit an air pocket, and Dempsey was tossed against the tail section. The rear door had not been properly latched. As it flew open, Dempsey was sucked from the jet. When the co-pilot made an emergency landing, they found Dempsey holding the outer ladder of the aircraft. Somehow, he caught the ladder, held on for ten minutes as the plane flew 200 mph at 4,000 feet, and survived the landing. It took several minutes to pry his fingers from the ladder.
That is the type of grip on life we need as the outer man is perishing. Thereby the inner man can be renewed.
With our outer self “perishing” followers of Jesus long for the day when the words from “It Is Well With My Soul” by Horatio Spafford herald our optimum rejuvenation. “And Lord, haste the day when the faith shall be sight,
The clouds are rolled back as a scroll.” There on the distant shore will be the Lord of Life.
May Hope Be Your Anchor – Part Two
“Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15: 13).
God does not give us enough just to enable us to survive. He wants to fill us with all “joy and peace” that we may abound in hope. Such often can’t come from within us, but by the “power of the Holy Spirit.”
Everyone struggles. Got that, everyone struggles. As undesirable as your struggle is, it may be purposeful.
The struggles of Isaac Watts led him to write “Am I a Soldier of the Cross:” “Must I be carried to the skies On flowery beds of ease, While others fought to win the prize And sailed through bloody seas?” Oh no, you are not alone is your struggle. Your struggle can be uplifting if you, knowing others are struggling, reach out to aid them as an agent used by the Holy Spirit. It dispels self-centerness and gives you a sense of purpose.
At times you may be so challenged you feel you are personally in a confluence of turbulent seas where there is beauty and danger. Hope is your spiritual GPS.
A boy once tried to help a butterfly emerge from its cocoon by cutting it open. The butterfly came out weak and never flew because the struggle was what gave it strength.
Hope helps us endure the struggle because we trust it’s preparing us for flight. Hope enables us to look beyond the cloud of the struggle of a moment to envision how it can strengthen us. Hope keeps the dream of tomorrow alive. It is like a candle shining in the darkest night. It keeps giving its light knowing it can’t dispel the darkness, but it can show the way till the sun shines.
In the text God is spoken of as “the God of hope.” He is the Author from which it comes, not the Subject to which it is expressed. It is He who wants to fill us with hope. He does so when we believe.
A small town was selected for the site of a hydroelectric plant. A dam would be built across the nearby river, submerging the city. When the project was announced, the citizens were given ample time to arrange their affairs and relocate. During those months, a curious thing happened. Home improvements, neighborhood upkeep, and infrastructure repairs ceased. The city looked and felt abandoned long before the citizens moved away, and the waters came. One resident explained: “When there is no hope for the future, there is no power in the present.”
In the New Testament three adhesives are descriptive of hope: “good” ( II Thessalonians 2: 16); “blessed” (Titus 2: 13); and “living” (Titus 2: 13).
Hope is the golden key that opens each of them. Belief turns the lock.
May Hope Be Your Anchor – Part One
“For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope” (Romans 15:4).
Hope is the word receiving the most inquiries of any topic on the web. It is an indication people are looking for something more and/or better. They are hoping to gain something that will make life better. There is a volume the principal insight is to inspire hope. It is the Scripture that gives hope. It is replete with accounts of persons who were rescued from the slough of despond by the strong cords of hope,
Immediately after the crucifixion of Jesus His followers were depicted as having lost hope: “But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel” (Luke 24: 21). Had they had a fuller understanding of the written word of God their hope based on it would have flourished. The applied word would have sustained their hope. It does the same for us today. It stimulates “patience and comfort.” giving the tincture of time to engender hope.
At times our hope wavers, but the principles of Scripture are there to comfort us. To do so it must be known and applied. Therefore, studying the Scripture for it may give the truth you will need tomorrow to apply to a life situation. It gives hope. For it to do so it must be known.
Are you in the valley of despair? There is hope.
These words from the old hymn “How Firm a Foundation” by John Rippon are not only worthy of being sung, but lived. “When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie, my grace, all-sufficient, shall be thy supply.”
Imagine a cup placed under a running faucet. As it fills to the brim, it starts to overflow—not because it’s broken, but because it’s full.
“May the God of hope fill you… so that you may abound in hope.” God doesn’t just give enough to survive—He gives enough to overflow. This is the life of someone who trusts and believes, filled by the Spirit.
In 1941, Winston Churchill addressed a school and famously said, “Never give in. Never, never, never—in nothing, great or small, large or petty—never give in.” Hope is the refusal to give in when things fall apart and everything tells you to quit. It’s trusting that God has the final word.
Sailors drop anchor during a storm not to stop the storm, but to stay steady through it. Hope in Christ is the anchor of our soul (Hebrews 6:19). It doesn’t remove the storm, but it holds us firm while we persevere through it.
Drop your anchor that you might be stable even in your storms. We all know there are storms on our life’s horizon. Search the Scripture today that you may be firmly anchored tomorrow in the hope that gives life its meaning.