Posted: September 28, 2023
One day some friends of a paralytic man were so intent on bringing him to Jesus that they found out where Jesus was staying and carried the man there on a stretcher. But his house was packed and they could not get in the door. With dogged determination, the paralytic’s friends removed the roof top
Continue Reading “Questioning God”
Category: Blog
Posted: September 21, 2023
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart.”1 That is all God asks of us—to trust, to believe, to have faith in him. Specifically, then we are to trust that God (our creator) loves us (because he created us), and he knows what he is doing (because after all, he is our creator)! And so
Continue Reading “Not Understanding”
Category: Blog
Posted: September 14, 2023
The most important thing about having faith in God is understanding that we will never understand how God thinks nor will we ever comprehend the purpose of his ways—not until we can see clearly instead of seeing “through a mirror dimly.”1 Not until we reach the place that Jesus is preparing for us, in the
Continue Reading “Thoughts and Ways”
Category: Blog
Posted: September 7, 2023
The disciples cried out to Jesus, “Increase our faith!”1 But he did not! 😲 Instead, he rebuked them for having a faith so small that it was almost impossible to see! (Read the August 10th blog for more information.) The question is, then, if Jesus does not give us faith, or even help us grow
Continue Reading “Growing Faith”
Category: Blog
Posted: August 31, 2023
One time “a woman who had suffered from a discharge of blood for twelve years”1 touched the fringe of Jesus’ garment believing that if she did, she could be healed. And she was! Another time a blind man approached Jesus and said, “Rabbi, let me recover my sight!”2 And he did! And then there was
Category: Blog
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
