Every Monday night several folks gather around our dinner table for an hour or so of Bible study. We've been through the gospel of John, 1 John, and now we are working through 1 Peter. Tonight we focused on a passage in chapter two. It includes those verses where Peter describes the work of the...
Recent events, specifically the shooting at First Baptist Church, Sutherland Springs, TX, as well as other events where violence and death have been wrought by frustrated and hurting people against "innocents" (you do know no one in actually "innocent," right?; "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God . . .") raise...
It comes as no surprise to even the most casual reader of God's word that there are times and seasons on the life of a believer that are characterized by "waiting" and the need for patience. There are those moments (hours, days, weeks, months, years, you get the picture) when we are certain God is...
The following post appeared Saturday September 2, 2017 in the Cook County News-Herald: It seems strange to me, this continuing life as usual when life has taken the turn to the unusual for so many. Thousands displaced by flooding in southeast Texas and southwest Louisiana, yet a local museum hosts a pie social to raise awareness...
This column first appeared in the Cook County News-Herald, June 24, 2017. I did not know at the time that Grand Marais' first ever gay pride march was to be held at 2:00 in the afternoon on the day the column was published. It seems to me God loves irony. Here are some thoughts regarding...
The sky is darkening outside the window as the storm closes in from the west. A gorgeous, sunny day has taken on a new tone, darker, edgier, threatening. The peepers in the pond by the road have grown silent but the leaves on the Russian olive trees have not turned. They usually turn before a...
Sometimes, you just have to focus on the goal and push through the distractions. It was few minutes before the wedding was due to start. The pastor had talked with the groom earlier. All the groomsmen were present and accounted for and ready for the big event. It was a beautiful day. Clear skies. Bright sun....
I woke up this morning with this title phrase on my mind. It comes directly from the lips and pen of Moses as he closes his final sermon to the people he has led from Egypt through forty years of wandering in the wilderness to the very brink of the Promised Land. "I call heaven and...
There is a record in the gospel of Matthew of an amazing interaction between a desperate mother and a powerful Savior. Jesus had been teaching on the far side of the Sea of Galilee, but had moved from east to west and retreated to the area of Tyre and Sidon, north and west of the...
The text came early. "Thank you for letting us stay. You were so kind. We are on our way home now. Oh, and by the way, the toilet in the last stall of the ladies' room is clogged. We tried to open it but were unsuccessful." My first thought was actually, "If that's all there...
