Church Life
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What is Our Greatest Joy?
I’m going to get in trouble with this post. I know I am. But I want to speak to something that, it seems, the pandemic is not causing, but is exposing at a deeper level. Christians are praying people. It is a beautiful thing when Christians pray for one another. Sometimes, that is done in private time, in our “prayer closet,” alone with the Lord. Often, however, it is done as a congregation. We believe in prayer and we pray fervently because we know that prayer is effective in aligning our hearts more closely with the will of God. And we pray about all sorts of things. Hopefully, we spend…
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Nobody Wins
I recently heard a country song from a few years ago that I had never heard before. That’s not too unusual since I’m not a huge country music fan. It’s also not too unusual that the subject of the song was the breakup of a relationship. The nature of the relationship is somewhat unclear, but what is clear is that the relationship is one of a romantic nature. Two people who have spent time together, who had shared a number of experiences, and who may have even shared a name were “calling it quits.” The song expresses a lot of emotions including, but not limited to, sadness, regret, frustration, and resignation. The name of…
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A Simple Solution for Racial Strife
Recently, I overheard a conversation. I promise I was not eavesdropping; the participants were speaking so loudly that I could hardly help hearing almost every word. One participant was older, and was a man. As the conversation went on, he revealed that he was 80 years of age. The other was somewhat younger, and was a woman. She told the man the year she was born, and it was in the 1960s, so she would be in her 50s; a full generation younger. Oh…the man was white and the woman was African-American. They talked about everything. (They made it rather difficult to read my book!) But, at one point my…
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Preparing for a Successful Migration
For some reason, we have fickle hummingbirds. Some of our friends put up hummingbird feeders and have plenty of “customers” all summer long. That’s not the case with us. We have a few at our feeder in the spring when hummingbirds first start appearing in our part of the world and then they disappear. Actually they disappear only to reappear much later in the summer or very early fall. I don’t understand, but that is the way it is for us. As I’m typing these words, we once again have hummingbirds. It is a joy to watch them. They are amazing creatures. Thanks to a comment made by Donna the other day, they can also give me…
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You Find What You are Looking For
I recently got to spend some unexpected one-on-one time with my middle child while he was in a rare talkative mood. I heard a lot about Star Wars, Harry Potter, and certain musical aspects of the Sonic video games. However, my favorite part was when he got around to telling me about connections he has made in his Bible study. You see, Daniel looks for connections in his study. In fact, I think he already has an idea for a pretty amazing study book at the ripe old age of 16. If you know him, you know he loves the Old Testament books that detail the lives of the kings.…
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Maybe We Need a Zookeeper on Social Media
Early in the pandemic in England, one wildlife park had five parrots donated within just a few days of each other. Pressed for space, the park put the five birds in the same area and the birds got along well. However, when the park recently reopened to the public, the zoo had a problem: the birds had spent the last few months alone, and had “taught” each other to use rude and profane language. So, in an attempt to keep things family-friendly, the zoo recently had to take the birds off of display. For about seven months now, we have been holed up and, even if we are out and…
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He Chose Twelve
Have you ever begun a part of a baseball game that began with what I guess could be called an unusual ceremony? The ceremony begins with two people who are chosen as captains of the teams. Without going into detail, the two people grasp one baseball bat “hand over hand” until the person whose grip is the highest on the bat gets the first choice for his team. The captains then alternate making choices until all the positions on the team are filled. Believe me, I know how it felt years ago to be standing there while name after name was called, but none of those names was mine. After all these years, I…
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The View from My Chair
On September 15th I had a new knee joint put in my right leg. It is amazing to live at a time when a two-to-three hour surgery and a two day stay in the hospital results in having a joint that will eventually be pain free if you follow the doctor’s orders and do what the physical therapist asks you to do. In just a little over two weeks I have made great strides in my balance and walking. I’m so grateful for the home health care nurses and the physical therapists who have helped me tremendously, but that’s not what I want to talk about in this post. When I…
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Satan Loves Our Fear
“I’m just scared…” How many sentences have you heard over the last few weeks and months that start with that phrase, or something very similar? “I’m scared about what will happen if Biden gets elected.”“I’m scared about what will happen if Trump gets reelected.”“I’m scared about what this virus is doing to our country.”“I’m scared that some people will never come back to church, even when the coronavirus has a vaccine.”“I’m worried about kids not having a regular school year again.” Certainly, we could go on, but are these–and many, many other similar sentiments–commonly heard and shared with the world right now? And I want to suggest that our enemy,…
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Children of God…Online, Too
It may seem to be a little (or a lot) disingenuous to see a post on social media from somebody who has fairly recently limited his exposure to social media, but that is what is going on here. Sometime in the distant past I signed up for an Instagram account and a Twitter account. I have no idea why I did that because I may check Twitter once every month or so and cannot remember the last time I “just browsed through” Instagram. About the only social media platform I still use on a somewhat regular basis is Facebook. Not long ago, I made a significant change in how I use it. I made…
