The thoughts I’m about to share are not about those Japanese wrestlers who make me feel good about my weight and who could use a lot more clothing as they compete. At the same time, what I have on my mind could be just about as dangerous for me as getting into that circle with one of those guys.   At the risk of making some people very upset with me, I am actually writing about another group of people. I’ve never met the first type of sumo wrestler. I have, however, met quite a few of the kind of people I’ve been thinking about lately.  Actually, I’ve not just been thinking about these…

I’m going to get in trouble for this article. I know I am. But, at some point, you have to just step out of your comfort zone–for me, my comfort zone is being non-confrontational–and say what needs to be said. This post really has been in my mind for awhile, and it wasn’t nerves that kept me from writing it, but it was just how to start it. I knew where I wanted to go…I just wasn’t sure how to get there. Then I watched a little TV and checked social media for just a few minutes over the weekend, and it clicked. Late on Saturday afternoon, I watched the…

I’ve been doing some study lately about the names for God in the Bible. The book entitled God, Pass By Me: Seeing God’s Glory through His Names, Titles, and Descriptions by Casandra Martin is a great study of this topic. Jehovah-Nissi is one name that really caught my attention. Lately, it seems as though every direction I turn there is something to raise my stress level. There are health issues, time crunches, people who claim to be Christians who are sowing discord in the church, people are grumbling and complaining. Along with all of this there are national disasters, loss of life, and the list could go on and on.…

I’m so thankful God is in charge of making the big decisions! I just know how I often I get smaller ones wrong. In particular on my mind today, is the concept of God knowing who deserves rewards versus punishments.  Everyone likes to think about the rewards and very few like to think about the punishments, but I would argue those have to handed out correctly for things to go well. What if there were no judges who fairly handed out even the most straightforward of sentences? Our roads would be even more full of drunk, reckless drivers. Our streets would be filled with known murderers and worse!  We are…

I was recently involved in a conversation with a brother in the Lord. We used to live in the same town, but that is no longer the case. In fact, it has not been true for over a quarter of a century. Thankfully, we haven’t let a “little thing” like geography keep us from having a close relationship with one another.   Part of that conversation had to do with a congregation with which both of us are very familiar. As the conversation moved along, the name of one particular man came up. He is now in eternity and has been for some time. Even though he is no longer a member of that congregation, his…