This may qualify for one of the world’s shortest posts. I’m fairly certain that it may qualify for my shortest post. The reason for it being short is that I challenge you to do what I do when I read or even think about the words reproduced below.  The challenge is to not merely read them. It is certainly not to read about them – especially if what you are reading about them tends to lessen their impact. The challenge is to read them as if you had never read them before, to consider the authority of the One Who said them, to do some very serious self-examination, and to…

It finally feels like fall! Wonderful, wonderful fall. The evening air is more crisp. Football is being played. And colors are beginning to change. Today, I noticed a beautiful combination of colors that renewed a thought I’ve had before about God’s beautiful creation: When one is trying to make a color palette decision, just look in nature! Forget the color wheel. Look around!  This should come as no surprise! God is the ultimate Designer. His choice of colors is always perfect, as is everything He creates. There have been several times when I have put colors together that I have later seen in a design and I realized that the…

This is going to be a shorter article, but one that I hope is meaningful. The first time that God is mentioned in the Bible, He is mentioned as the Creator of the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1). The implications of this are that God is all-powerful and all-knowing (given that the universe He has created contains all of our knowledge and then some) and that His authority is at the core of the universe’s structural integrity (see Colossians 1:17). The first time that mankind is mentioned in the Bible, we are mentioned as the only parts of God’s creation that bear His image and have dominion over the…

How strong is your faith? This is not a question that is asked very often, but maybe it should be. You see, our faith is only as strong as we allow it to be. Many have proclaimed to have a strong faith in the God of the Universe, but when put to the test, they/we often fail.  Our Tuesday afternoon Ladies’ Bible Class has been studying the book of Daniel. It is the account of the carrying away of some prime young men who were taken to Babylon to serve in King Nebuchadnezzar’s court. You probably remember the description of those young men – “youths without blemish, of good appearance…

As the summer of 1655 drew to a close, England’s greatest poet had a problem that left him restless. The legendary John Milton, who was then serving under Cromwell’s Protectorate government and would later become most well known for his masterpiece, Paradise Lost, was going blind. It was and remains unclear why the poet lost his sight at such a young age (he was not yet 50 by the time his blindness was complete), though he himself attributed his ailment to overworking. His writings from this period make clear his frustration and fear as a result of this development. How will the poet to the nation, known for his writing,…

I was recently given an opportunity that, as a history buff, I’m glad I took. One of the other men at church works at the Virginia Museum of Transportation in Roanoke, and he graciously offered to give me a private tour on a day when visitors would be slim. I spent the morning getting up close and personal with various vehicles from throughout American history – everything from an 1890s steam engine to one of the first “professional” racecars to a standard semi-truck from the ‘70s, plus a visual guide to the history of aviation. If you’re ever in the Roanoke area and interested in either history, trains, or cars,…

If you are even slightly familiar with the life of Paul and his writings, you will probably agree that, after his conversion to the Lord, his commitment was unwavering. He states that fact in so many ways in his letters and exemplifies it repeatedly as we read about his life.  I’ve been doing some thinking lately about what I consider to be an amazing and important statement that was penned by this wonderful servant of Jesus. As you will see if you continue reading this, my thinking has taken some interesting and challenging twists and turns. You will find that statement in Philippians 1:20. That verse states something about Paul’s loyalty…

During a telephone call a few months ago with a preacher, he used an expression that caught my attention and led to this post. He lives in Nashville, Tennessee. In fact, he grew up in Nashville and has been in Nashville for most, if not all, of his life.  At one point in the conversation, we were discussing how the population of Nashville has been increasing in recent years. According to one source I consulted, the population of The Nashville Metro Area in 2000 was about 750,000 and now about 1,350,000 people live there. If my math is correct, that means that the population has increased by an average 24,000 people each…