A recent Bible class I attended prompted this post. There was some discussion about what kind of understanding – if any – Job might have had about his (or our) existence after death.  As I listened to that discussion, I thought about a subject for what might be the shortest post I will ever produce. I hope that you will not mistake being brief for being inconsequential or unimportant. I think that what I started thinking in that class and have been thinking a lot about since then is neither of those two things. Since my first career was that of a school teacher, I will go back to those days and…

By the time you read this, I will already be a few days into a practice I started a few years ago. I am not really sure about the number of times I’ve read and/or listened to the entire Bible in a year. When I began that again a few days ago, I was, as you might expect, reading the biblical account of creation. Coincidentally, a few days earlier I was thumbing through the pages of a Bible that belonged to my late father. He had made a practice of writing notes in the margins of the text of scripture, but he also used just about any space he could…

Today’s post is short, but I hope it hits you as hard as it hit me. In our Wednesday evening devotional, the speaker talked about the account from Matthew 8 where the centurion asks Jesus to heal his servant. When Jesus offers to go, the soldier shows both humility and great faith in his response.  What stood out to me was Jesus’s response in verse 13: “And to the centurion Jesus said, ‘Go; let it be done for you as you have believed.’ And the servant was healed at that very moment.” As you have believed. What if the centurion hadn’t been sure? What if he thought Jesus could only…

I understand that most of us are fairly (or quite) busy this week. We are doing things that, hopefully, will enable us to enjoy the day on our calendars designated as Thanksgiving Day. For that reason, I won’t write something here that will take much of your time to read. It might suggest something to all of us, though, that we might want to take some time to consider. The phrase I have in mind and which shall serve as the concussion to my thoughts is included in some very direct statements found in the Bible. None of them appear to be suggestions. During this time of the year, we…

Some of you reading this know that my life has been consumed with a theater production lately, as my daughter has been Maria in “The Sound of Music.” Although that has been an amazing experience and is related to the catalyst for this article [read exhaustion], it is not the inspiration. Last week, the only time I could fit my monthly hair appointment in was at 7:00 a.m. on Saturday morning. For those of you who know me, you know this was truly a sacrifice. I don’t give up my Saturday mornings for very many things … especially to be somewhere by 7:00. That morning, as I was driving, some…

Well, all the votes have been made. There’s no way to know as I write this if they have been counted yet, or even if we know the outcome. But the work of the public is done. For months, data has flowed. Hundreds upon hundreds of polls have been conducted. People have paid attention to markets, movements in geopolitics, the comments of pundits, and a seemingly endless avalanche of ads. I must admit, I’m a nerd for this stuff. I look at data for months on end because I find it tremendously interesting. From hundreds of polls to thousands of articles and posts, I’ve looked at data, just for my…

Philippians 4:5-7 has long been one of my favorite scriptures. I love the connections made between God being near, not being anxious, and our thankful communication with God, making our requests known to Him. As I was studying for a recent ladies’ day, I was reminded of something we noticed in my Wednesday night Bible class some time ago that, to me, is the best example of that peace in the Bible. It should come as no surprise that the perfect example comes from our Lord, but maybe not a time when you would expect it. In the gospels we read of His pleading with God to allow the cup…

After a kingdom that was once united divided into Israel and Judah, a man by the name of Jehoram became the fifth king of Judah. It would be an understatement to suggest that he was not one of their better kings. The book of 2 Chronicles is not the only place in The Bible that has information about him, but I will confine my thoughts here to what we find there.  The twenty-first chapter of 2 Chronicles uses only twenty verses to sum up the entire reign of this man. The verbal picture it paints is (again to use another understatement) not at all pretty. If you have the interest…