Posted: August 22, 2023
The disciples responded to Jesus’ instructions on temptation and forgiveness by crying out “Increase our faith!”1 and a little later, Jesus healed the ten lepers and told them, “your faith has made you well!”2 So, my question is this: Did the lepers have more faith than the disciples? 🤔 Perhaps. Because after the leper
Continue Reading “Guarded Hearts”
Category: Blog
Posted: August 17, 2023
TRUE STORY Sad Stories I taught English for 25 years, and I loved teaching the tragedies of Shakespeare and the great novels of Charles Dickens and the Bronte sisters. I loved teaching the short stories by Melville, Tolstoy, Poe, Hemingway, James Joyce, Kate Chopin, Raymond Carver, Shirley Jackson, James Baldwin, Flannery O’Connor, and . .
Continue Reading “Sad Stories”
Category: Blog
Posted: August 10, 2023
“And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.”1 The parable is simple. A widow had an enemy and went to court to get justice. The judge probably considered her case insignificant, not worth his precious time, and ignored her requests. But she kept coming
Category: Blog
Posted: August 3, 2023
Let’s face it. Today’s headlines are yesterday’s headlines. And chances are they will be tomorrow’s headlines, too. As Solomon states, “What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun.”1 😒 Solomon’s world view is quite depressing. He exclaims, “Vanity
Continue Reading “The Lord’s Great Love”
Category: Blog
Posted: July 27, 2023
We read in Proverbs, “A hope deferred (unrelenting disappointment) makes the heart sick.”1 Langston Hughes, the great African American poet of the Harlem Renaissance, wrote about it. He asks the question, “What happens to a dream deferred?” And concludes, “Maybe it just sags like a heavy load. Or does it explode?”* I concur. Disappointment is
Continue Reading “Disappointment and Expectations”
Category: Blog
Posted: July 20, 2023
Jesus tells us to “Have faith in God.”1 And we do! But then . . . 😟 sometimes we don’t. Sometimes we doubt. We doubt that God will remember all his promises regarding us. Doubt will slip into our minds and settle in our hearts and cause the very ground beneath us to shift. Doubt
Continue Reading “Faith in Doubt”
Category: Blog
Posted: July 13, 2023
Scripture tells us that whatever is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, or worthy of praise—to “think about these things.”1 Paul mentions it again in Colossians. “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.”2 The KJV translates: “Set your affection on things above.” So . . .
Continue Reading “Think About These Things”
Category: Blog
Posted: July 6, 2023
Now and then most of us wonder (usually with frustration and anger) about why things are the way they are. But here’s what scripture says: “For we know in part.”1 In other words, we don’t know everything. And we won’t know everything until “then.” When is “then”? When we will see Christ “face to face.”2
Continue Reading “What Do We Know?”
Category: Blog
Posted: June 29, 2023
We are forever in a hurry and want everyone else (especially God) to understand the urgency of our requests! But you know what? It is quite rare that God tells us to hurry up! Even regarding repentance, he says, “In repentance and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your
Continue Reading “God is Waiting on Us”
Category: Blog
Posted: June 22, 2023
Before Moses and Joshua hiked up Mt. Sinai to receive God’s commandments, Moses said to the Israelites, “Wait here for us until we return to you. And behold, Aaron and Hur are with you. Whoever has a dispute, let him go to them.”1 And so the Israelites waited😕 . . . and waited 🤔. .
Continue Reading “Waiting On God”
Category: Blog
