We live in a time when many people don’t seem to have hope in this world. They are faced with illnesses, financial difficulties, housing difficulties, family issues, marital problems, age-related issues, and the list could go on and on. Our world seems broken with all of the national and international problems we see on the news. It seems as though many have turned their back on God, just like those Jews of old who did not obey God, but bowed down to idols. There are times when I see and feel the pressures of this life, and even though I am a firm believer in God and His plan for my life,…

How quickly time flies these days! I’ve heard it several times from friends who are in my same age bracket: “The years just seem to fly by…,” “I can’t even keep up with the days when time is going by so quickly,” “Another year has flown by,” “Is it Christmas already? What happened to Autumn?” These are just a few of the comments I have heard recently. And I have to admit that I have felt the same way. The older I get, the faster time seems to go! As this new year begins, I have decided to look at time differently. I’m planning to have a list of those things…

Once again, a small statement included within a sermon chock full of thought-provoking truths is the inspiration for today’s article. Michael Grooms, Willow Avenue’s pulpit minister, recently made the simple statement noting that, in the list of our Christian armor (found in Ephesians 6:10-18), there are no pieces of the armor for the back of our bodies. He went on to point out that we are to constantly be moving forward toward our goal of heaven and taking others with us, not retreating. I don’t know about you, but many times in today’s world, I feel like I am on the defensive. My morality doesn’t fit with the crowd. My…

This is scheduled to be posted on the Monday of what promises to be a very busy week for most of us. For that reason, I will not be as “wordy” as I normally am. At the same time, I want to accomplish a couple of things. I want to use Thanksgiving Day as a springboard for my thoughts. I also want to use this space to get all of us (yes, including me) to think. You may already be very well aware of the passage in the first chapter of Romans in which The Holy Spirit inspired Paul to depict how depraved many people had become. Both the practice…

Very recently I turned on a news program on TV and, of course, most of the news had to do with the war in Israel. The video, the comments, the sad faces, the rubble, and the commentary on this war were hard to watch and listen to. I did hear one commentator make some statements that caused me to stop and think for a few moments. Now before I tell you what he said (to the best of my memory), I want to tell you that this post has nothing to do with me taking sides in this war. It has nothing to do with the leaders of these nations and…

If you have lived very much of your adult life, you have been through some “highs” and some “lows” in life. Even teenagers go through these periods of being on top of the world one day and down in the pits the next. Sometimes senior citizens feel as though all they have left are the lows of life and that all of the high points in life are passed and gone. This topic came to my mind as I have been studying through the book of Jeremiah, the prophet of God. You remember him, don’t you – the weeping prophet? God, in His infinite wisdom, knew Jeremiah before he was…

I use 1 Peter 5:7 in sermons and lessons a lot, probably because I need the reminder as much as (if not more than) anyone else. In that famous verse, Peter reminds us to be “casting all your anxieties on Him; He cares for you.” That verse is often used in lessons on prayer, worry, faith, and many other subjects. But, just for a moment in this post, I want to ask you: have you ever considered what the word “anxieties” means in that verse? Obviously, Peter was not specifically addressing what we might call “clinical” anxiety. He wasn’t writing about taking some diagnosis to God. Instead, the original word…

I was blessed to sit in Adam’s Sunday morning Bible class this week where he began leading a study of Ruth. This great book is set during the time of the Judges. As part of our discussion, he mentioned the idea of a roller coaster with the ups and downs during the days (years) of the judges in Israel. I would like to expand that thought a bit and then make application to our lives. Any good roller coaster rider knows that in between the super highs and low lows, are times that are essential to make those occur. The good old-fashioned coasters are the best with the buildup of…

I just recently became aware of the question that serves as the title of this post, but I discovered that it has been around for quite a while. Apparently, it is used in many circles to assist people in finding purpose in their lives, to provide motivation, and to do a host of other things. The question is even used in some circles to help people discover what they are really, truly passionate about. The idea seems to be that we all need to examine our purpose for doing what we are (or are not) doing. I suppose that this could be illustrated by two people working for the same…