Blog (Page 4)

I caught my first fish on a bamboo pole cut from the back of our neighbor’s privacy screening. As fish stories go, it was a whopper. Evidence from Dad’s Kodak Instamatic (the one with a flash cube on top) proved the giant to be about the size of Mom’s cast iron frying pan. I caught him on a rusty hook baited with leftover liver from the fridge at the family lake cabin. The great-grandparents stayed over the days before our…

A king wished to settle his accounts (Matthew 18). One of his subjects came before him owing $12,000,000. A zero percent interest thirty year mortgage would cost over $33,000 monthly. If he did not pay this impossible debt, his property and family would belong to the king. The National Debt Clock in New York City ticks rapidly upwards, calculating the current debt of our spendthrift government. Last I looked, the share of debt per taxpayer was more than most modest…

Twice I’ve travelled to Jordan, Israel, and Egypt to visit those places where biblical history unfolded. I was young, barely a teenager, when I tagged along on a couple of church trips to the Holy Land. Those journeys were action packed and I’d love to take them again with several more decades of appreciation and knowledge. For now, memories and Rick Steves will have to suffice! I recall the fun of visiting the Dead Sea and floating on the thick…

To obey or disobey, that is the question. King David says, “I will keep your law continually, forever and ever, and shall walk in a wide place, for I have sought your precepts. I will also speak of your testimonies before kings and shall not be put to shame, for I find my delight in your commandments, which I love. I will lift up my hands toward your commandments, which I love, and I will meditate on your statutes.” The…

Our prayer lists can be lengthy. Many names, several ailments, multiple causes, and endless spiritual desires may fill a paper with requests to make known to God. Our prayer lists include small and great items. Salvation to the ends of the earth to errant microscopic cells being eradicated from our body may bookend our lists. Our prayer list from Jesus in the Lord’s Prayer (Luke 11), contains a request with very few words but many concepts. “Thy kingdom come” is…

When your eyelids pop open each morning and you are conscious of the new day, what is your first priority? I have a few and coffee is among them! After you really wake and gain full consciousness, you should begin to think, “How can I glorify God?” Your consuming desire as a Christian should be to make God’s name glorious (Psalm 96). Every act of your being and life is to glorify God (John 12, 1 Corinthians 10, Colossians 3).…

When the rag tag band of disciples asked Jesus to pray, He gave them the form and content of the Lord’s Prayer. He then added an important lesson on the goodness and trustworthiness of our Heavenly Father. “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11:13) It is natural for a dad to give children the…

Jesus gathered a rag-tag group of disciples. They weren’t the best and brightest, though that’s who we’d choose. Remember the selection of David as king? The Lord told Samuel nope, nope, nope…until the runt of Jesse’s litter came in from the fields. God looks at the heart, while we consider resumes and outward appearances. His redeemed tax collectors, fisherman, and tradesman followed Jesus throughout his ministry and through their own sufferings and deaths. Probably accustomed to apprenticeships, they followed the…

Reports and statistics have been telling us for a while that churches are emptying for various reasons. Some generations are fiercely loyal to an institution but they also age or die out. Other generations do not trust institutions and are repelled by organized church life. Some will say they are spiritual, with organized religion unnecessary. People are busy and Sunday has become Saturday, part two. We chase our work and children all week, follow them into weekend activities, and there’s…

Many of us consider the angel Gabriel’s visit with young Mary to be the first announcement of the birth of Christ. “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you! Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will…

Waiting. Waiting rooms. Distant dates and deadlines. Backordered. Two years out. Can we push back 30 minutes? Delayed. These are words I don’t like to hear. They are, however, our reality since we live in this sin-filled and cursed world. We must wait. We submit to time and delays. Someone once said that an average person spends five years of their lives in various forms of waiting. Grocery lines, bus stops, airport terminals, on hold. We do a lot of…

David was a shepherd of sheep before he was the shepherd-king of Israel. Caring for animals meant a nomadic life. No doubt he left home for stretches of time, moving from place to place, ensuring his sheep had food, water, and safety. His Psalms are full of imagery from the landscape and life of husbandry in the Promised Land. He experienced seasons, deserts, farmlands, wet, dry, mountains, and flatlands. He slept under the stars, observed cycles of the moon, and…