You have likely heard the question, “What would you do differently if you knew you had a limited time to live?” Various answers have been given. One answer heard fairly frequently is, “Nothing would be different. I would just keep doing what I always do.” Today is the first official day of my “retirement” from …
Category Archives: Christian living
Welcome to Life!
I suppose you have noticed….the nature of life…life is full of problems. We returned home earlier this week to find the air conditioning unit not functioning. Fortunately, the fix was an easy one–new fan motor and relatively inexpensive (as AC repairs go!). Jan’s car stopped last month–then it started up again. After driving the car …
Celebrating Each Day
It is no easy thing to celebrate each day. Days are filled with challenges, difficulties, and so many little things that they sometimes all run together. It is not easy to take time and relish the full moon illuminating the early morning sky today, the puffy clouds sailing past, the refreshing breeze that says fall …
You are Lucky
Are you lucky? Whether your answer is “yes” or “no”, why did you respond as you did? Since I do not particularly like the concept of “luck”, let me rephrase the question. Where do we see the unique blessings of God in our lives? Our grandchildren were with us over the past weekend. One of …
Shine
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus’ first recorded discourse, Matthew’s Gospel records these words of Jesus, “You are the light of the world” (Matt. 5:11-16). Although Jesus is the light of the world (John 8:12), we are the light of the world as we imitate him. We seek light so we will not walk …
A Building for God
The Old Testament prophet, Haggai, urged the people to get about the task of rebuilding the temple with these words: “Give careful thought to your ways! You have planted much, but harvested little. You eat, but you never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put …
Pronounced Victorious
I just came from the hospital and a brief visit in the Grimes’ home. Ray passed away this afternoon, about 45 minutes after Jan and I arrived at the hospital. We were blessed to be there with a faithful family able to rejoice that Ray was getting his wish to escape the hurt he was …
Project Heaven
I came back from Honduras with a sore throat and cough which worsened through the week. Slowed me down considerably, even though I found enough office time to do what absolutely had to be done (obviously, not blogging!). My visit to the doctor yesterday yielded antibiotics and cough suppressants which should do the trick and …
No “Kingdom People” Without Gratitude
My conclusion may seem a bold statement. “Genuine ‘kingdom people’ are always grateful people.” The Gospel of Luke contains a significant amount of material not found in the other two Synoptic Gospels (Matthew and Mark). Much of the material unique to Luke appears after the second prediction of Jesus’ death (Matt. 17:22; Mark 9:31; Luke …
Am I wise?
“But Rehoboam rejected the advice the elders gave him and consulted the young men who had grown up with him and were serving him” (2 Chr. 10:8). Age and wisdom do not always go together. One may become old and not wise, one may be wiser than his years. In our text, Rehoboam, the son …