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...

ARE YOU TEMPTING GOD?

Almost everyday now, I read in the news or in a tweet about someone seriously ill with, or who has just died from, COVID. The stories are strikingly similar in many cases: “…man of faith…chose not to get vaccine…sorry now that he did not…moved to a ventillator…wife and children left behind…Please pray…” Some of these unfortunate people were politicians or candidates, others were media personalities, some were pastors or political activists, but most were just ordinary people who in many...

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...

“CHILDREN OF THE SAME FOUL SPIRIT”

You see them on television. They scream at the police, often provoking confrontations with the authorities or contentious onlookers. They spout revolutionary slogans, claim to represent the people, and promise to seize control of the government by any means necessary. They have grievances and want resolution (or revolution) now! These are children of the same foul spirit as other terrorist are. I’m talking about the radical left. They are sometimes dressed in military garb, with bullet-proof vests, and make-shift helmets,...

Harvest time in the country

HARVEST TIME IN THE COUNTRY

Adozen deer pass swiftly and silently through the wood in the waning light. The mercury on the thermometer drops hesitantly as the harvest moon rises over the Blue Mountain. Frogs, Crickets and Cicadas join Katydids in the evening sonata, perhaps for the la fin du concert of the year. Later, the ruffle of feathers in the darkness will herald the arrival of the Horned Owl flying at the speed of night as it pursues its prey. Bears go through our...

Sunshine and Shade: Emily Dickinson

SUNSHINE AND SHADE

I suppose I might have titled this post “Emily Dickinson: America’s Sweetheart” instead of “Sunshine and shade” and it would not be far from the truth. Incidentially, the woman on the feature photo is not Emily, but I wanted someone in period costume to suggest the age in which she lived and died (1830-1886.) The woman in the photo is not actress Cynthia Nixon, but she suffices. Was Emily truly America’s Sweetheart? Perhaps not then, but certainly now. Among the...

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,...

THE WTC ATTACKS REMEMBERED

Like most Americans who were old enough to remember the events of September 11, 2001, I remember where I was and what I was doing. I had just finished a “zero hour” dual credit college class at a rural high school approximately twenty miles from campus. I had just pulled out of the parking lot and turned on the Dallas CBS affilliate radio station KRLD to catch up on the traffic and weather. KRLD would provide traffic and weather reports...

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...

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