Category Archives: Uncategorized

God’s Redeeming Curse (1)

Mankind was cruising along in the garden and it was great! There was uninterrupted fellowship with the Father, perfect companionship with a special partner, and a an uncursed creation in which to live (who can really say what that was like?).  All we had to do was follow God’s loving directions given for our ownContinue reading “God’s Redeeming Curse (1)”

Fresh Faith (1)

In Matthew 9:14-17, Jesus refused to mix the new wine (teaching) He brought with the toxic stuff the Pharisees were dispensing.  Whether it was His teaching on fasting or some other issue, He wasn’t going to try to fit HIs teaching and ministry in with theirs (as perhaps the disciples of John were attempting to do). Continue reading “Fresh Faith (1)”

Forward By Backward

The Torah (law) came through Moses.  The call to return to the law came through the prophets.  Men such as Elijah called Israel away from their idols and back to God (see 1 Kings 18).  It’s no coincidence that after John appeared on the scene, Jesus identified him as the Elijah who was to come and restore all things (Matthew 17;Continue reading “Forward By Backward”

Exploring Off The Coast

Our planet is a remarkable place. It is home to almost eight billion people living on six continents (seven if you count the few hearty souls in Antarctica). In addition to human life, it is populated by all sorts of amazing plants and animals.  But most of the life on this planet isn’t visible toContinue reading “Exploring Off The Coast”

Coming Apart At The “Seems”

Joshua 22 contains the first of three farewell speeches Joshua makes to Israel (Dallaire). He’s addressing the 2 ½ tribes who are to take up residence on the eastern side of the Jordan—away from the rest of Israel. If you remember the story, these people had decided during the time of Moses that they wantedContinue reading “Coming Apart At The “Seems””

A Roman Cross And A Jewish Carpenter (1)

We’re accustomed to thinking about the gospel in terms of the conflict and conquering experienced by Jesus. Whether His opponent was Satan, death, or sin, Christ met with and triumphed over them all. We’ve traveled down the paths of Scripture that develop these truths many times and have benefitted greatly from the journey. But thereContinue reading “A Roman Cross And A Jewish Carpenter (1)”

What About The Amalekites? (3)

Understanding that God doesn’t punish the innocent is helpful, but it doesn’t completely clear things up, does it? In fact, it just merges us into the much larger question:  Why do the innocent suffer have to suffer at all?  Why doesn’t God simply punish the wicked and spare the righteous?  Wouldn’t that send a much clearer message toContinue reading “What About The Amalekites? (3)”

Sunshine Or Storms

As I write this, Isaac has been downgraded to a tropical storm and is headed toward Mississippi and Arkansas. If you pay any attention to these storms, you come to the realization (sooner or later) that unpredictability is one of their central features. For all of our tracking and technology, our models and projections, weContinue reading “Sunshine Or Storms”

Minding Our Mouths

Talk radio is what happens when entertainment and civility loses. I’m painting with a big brush here so make whatever qualifications you need to but after you’ve done that, I think the truth will remain that, on the whole, the medium currently trends toward the following values: scoring points is more important than treating peopleContinue reading “Minding Our Mouths”