3/12/24 Lent Psalm 78:40-32 “I likes to be chosen.” Bob Benson is a name well-known to older Nazarenes. He and his family were giants in the gospel publishing business in the early 1970s when I was in college. (I started to just write 70’s but I knew some of you would be confused whether I… Continue Reading
My friend Chris says I bring up two things all the time, the fact that I had shingles 2 years ago and the fact that Doris and I went to Italy last fall. I don’t think that is true, but both of those things had a profound impact on me. When we were in Italy… Continue Reading
I like old Asaph. He just tells it like it is. He asks the questions that we all want to ask but are afraid to. “God, I know you have done good stuff for us but, why have you let the bad guys prosper?” I admit, I ask that all the time. God, how come… Continue Reading
https://youtu.be/k6jX0fadP0g?feature=shared Life can turn on a dime, change in an instant, be different at the drop of a hat. We have all kinds of phrases to describe the sudden happenings that we face in life. The question is not, “Will you face the suddenly’s.” The question is how well. Here are some thoughts the sudden,… Continue Reading
2/23/24 Lent Psalm 60 Remember this is Lent, a season that Christians have traditionally “tried” to identify with the passion and pain of Jesus as He made His way through the last weeks of His earthly, pre-resurrected ministry and life. We give something up. We fast. We take on an added spiritual discipline, in part,… Continue Reading
2/22/24 Lent Psalm 59 Look! I’m trying to give David the benefit of the doubt, but he is wearing me out. These middle psalms, Psalm 50-70, are just one rant after another against David’s enemies. “Deliver me from my enemies, O God; be my fortress against those who are attacking me. Deliver me from evildoers… Continue Reading
2/20/24 Lent Psalm 57 Poor old King David. His middle name could be Whiplash. He is as up and down as anybody I know. All you have to do is read the Psalms to see that. One minute he is despairing he ever lived. “Nobody likes me. Everybody hates me. I think I’ll go eat… Continue Reading
2/19/24 Lent Psalm 56 During Lent we are reading a psalm together and letting it direct our prayers. For a list of our selected psalms got to the blog for 2/16. There’s an old joke about two friends hiking in the mountains. All of a sudden, a huge bear steps onto the trail and… Continue Reading
Yesterday was Ash Wednesday. Many of us took on the mark of sorrow and mortality in anticipation of the suffering Christ did for us at Easter. We did that at our church last night. Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent. Lent is the season of the spring where Christians all over the world focus… Continue Reading
“The LORD is my light and my salvation– whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life– of whom shall I be afraid?” Psalm 27:1 For many of you the fast has just ended. You started January 3 and went 21 days. For those that go to church with me the fast… Continue Reading