Faith

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Rescue the perishing

RESCUE THE PERISHING

The path we travel through life is perilous. We begin this journey crawling on hands and knees as an infant, and if we live long enough, we eventually lose the fundamental physical abilities we developed when we took our very first steps, relying, instead, on a cane or walker (if we can still walk at all.) For this is the riddle of the Spinx: “What goes on four feet in the morning, two feet at noon, and three feet in...

Eustace as a dragon

EUSTACE SCRUBB

This is a case study on the consequence of sin and the pain of recovery, based on the adventures of Eustace Clarence Scrubb while on holiday in Narnia. For those few who never heard of Narnia, Narnia is a mythical land like Middle Earth, created by JRR Tolkien’s friend and colleague, C.S. Lewis. The premise contemplates what Jesus would look like and how He would interact on a planet of animals–talking animals in many cases. Common beavers and mice, but...

Teach your children well

TEACH YOUR CHILDREN WELL

My very rural neighborhood lost power early last Thursday morning. So, I offered to drive to town to Dunkin’ and see if I could get some coffee for my wife. Once in town, a truck pulls out abruptly in front of me with a bumper sticker that read “Shut the Hell Up!” The driver wasn’t paying attention. Not sure what he was listening to on his radio, but it probably wasn’t NPR. I thought about that message several times since...

Opportunity knocks but once

机不可失,时不再来

I came across this Chinese idiom today. It reads: “Opportunity knocks but once (机不可失,时不再来.”) I could have sworn I had heard this many, many years ago. I immediately thought of some Bible verses, and because I have an increasing number of Chinese visitors to my blog, I want to go through the verses one-by-one for them and for you. I also want to dedicate this post to the people of China, because I know in my heart that God loves...

Visualizing prayer

VISUALIZING PRAYER

Praying can be a real struggle for me sometimes.  I’m hardly eloquent when I pray conversationally, and when I do my morning devotions, I am often likely to drift off to sleep as soon as I get started.  I remember having a daily prayer for more than fifty people a few years ago, and going through it without sounding mechanical was like chopping wood and took a good thirty minutes or so to complete.  I mean it was work! I know that some...

Losing hope

LOSING HOPE

This post focuses on pandemic-induced depression as well as feelings of hopelessness, especially as it deals with Christians or anyone else looking for hope or an excuse to go on in these difficult times. Depression occurs for a number of reasons, some beyond your control. It is no shame to be depressed, and it is not a contradiction or indictment of your faith if you do suffer from depression. If you are struggling daily with sadness, losing sleep at night,...

Did God create the coronavirus?

DID GOD CREATE THE CORONAVIRUS?

This may seem to be an outrageous question to some, and not everyone will agree with my conclusions.  To address the primary question, I believe we need to examine some secondary questions as well, specifically (a)  Is God capable of creating the Coronavirus?  (b)  Did He create it, and (c)  if so, then why did He create it? Could God have created the SARS-CoV-2 Coronavirus? In this post I’ll also touch on healing and those who are not healed as well as pain and why...

God works in the life of an Afghan evacuee

GOD WORKS IN MYSTERIOUS WAYS

I presume the child in this photo is a girl, though there is nothing convincing in the photo to assure me of this. No matter, boy or girl, God knows. This is one of the few fortunate children to escape Afghanistan only days before strict Sharia law is imposed. The child’s future is about to take a “synthetic”change of direction in terms of Hegel’s dialect. She may grow up as a Muslim or not, but she will be able to...

A love story

A LOVE STORY

Schneewittchen, or Snow White as it is called now, was published in the early nineteenth century by the Brothers Grimm as Tale 53. There are many different iterations of the components in this tale, even within the writings of the Brothers Grimm. In this instance, it is a love story. I’ve taken some liberties to truncate this tale and make some minor changes to the storyline. Quotations come from Grimm’s Household Tales, Volume 1, Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm (Margaret Raine...

Candle and hourglass indicating all of our yesterdays

ALL OUR YESTERDAYS

Almost everyone is familiar with Shakespeare’s play Macbeth. Macbeth is a driven man who makes mistakes and then commits crimes to cover those mistakes. As the crimes (including murder) multiply, he becomes increasingly troubled, guilt-laden, sleepless, mentally unstable and subject to hallucinations. His wife spurs him on his evil way, as if the forces within him needed any encouragement. And the King reminisces about all our yesterdays. Act V, Scene V of Macbeth contains Macbeth’s famous soliloquy, as follows: To-morrow,...

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