an unlikely route to life
The first Easter morning didn’t start out well for the disciples. The one thing they knew for sure, when they woke up that day, was that Jesus was dead. The precious Master and Friend they had followed for three years, hanging on His every word, was gone— having been brutally executed on a Roman cross. His death must have been…
the source of life
An Amazon.com message board comment caught my attention recently. “I have a zillion books in my library,” Michele said in a discussion on New Age spirituality, “books on the Kabbalah, Golden Dawn books, The Zohar, books on the Tetragrammaton, Ernest Holmes books, Dalai Lama books, Ascension books, Christian Science books, Theosophical books, and on and on.” Michele’s vast reading left…
so we may live
"We decided we had to move or freeze to death.” Eleven-year old Norman Ollestad uttered these harrowing words to a newspaper reporter soon after being rescued in the San Gabriel Mountains. The small Cessna plane he had been traveling in had smashed into one of the range’s jagged peaks. Norman was the lone survivor—his dad and the pilot died immediately,…
buyer's remorse
Have you ever experienced buyer’s remorse? I have. I wonder why I buy half the clothes hanging in my closet.
Just prior to making a purchase, I feel the positive emotions that come with getting something new. Afterwards, having bought the item, a wave of remorse crashes over me. I become more aware of the negative aspects of my shopping.…
one of them
I was reading in Matthew 26 this morning where Peter is confronted two times by several individuals in the courtyard and accused of being associated with Jesus. Each time he denied being with Him. The third time some other bystanders came to Peter and said, "you must be one of them because we can tell by your Galilean accent." That last…
chutzpah
When I was growing up, my father kept one can of WD-40 in the house and another in his car. It seemed it was the be-all and end-all for almost every mechanical problem. But what is WD-40? It literally stands for Water Displacement 40th attempt.
In 1953, chemist Norm Larsen was attempting to concoct a formula to prevent corrosion—a task…
saved to sin?
A Christian leader recently accepted my invitation to deliver an address at the seminary where I teach. During his talk, the preacher distinguished between goodness as moral purity and goodness as acts of service. He illustrated the difference by saying that if you resist going into a pornographic shop, that is moral purity, and if you give five dollars to…
the God-Shepherd
SARS in 2003. Bird or avian flu (H5N1) in 2004 and 2006. And the H1N1 or swine flu in 2009. It looks like the world is set for more flu outbreaks and potential pandemics. In 2006, surveys were conducted to determine if healthcare workers would abandon their workplace during a flu pandemic. One survey in Singapore revealed that nearly 26…
fan of kdrama
I’m unashamedly a fan of Korean dramas (or Kdrama). And I have just completed a 50-episode Queen Seon Duk series recently.
Queen Seon Duk is the first of three female rulers of Silla, one of the three kingdoms in ancient Korea. The drama depicts her rise to power, the challenges she faced and how she overcame them (as was expected of the…
tattoos aren't new
You might think that tattoos are a recent phenomenon. Not true. The ancient Romans would tattoo (or brand) slaves and criminals. Later, during the fourth century AD a Christian sect called the Montanists tattooed themselves as slaves of God (Revelation 7:2-3). And Coptic Christians have been tattooing crosses and other symbols on their hands for more than 1,200 years. Many…
pushed away
I don’t remember exactly how old I was, but it was a moment I’ve never forgotten. Cooling off after a hot summer day, my family had gone swimming at a friend’s house. Because I didn’t know how to swim, I was trying to maneuver the water by wearing a life jacket that awkwardly grazed my chin. Looking for security, I…
divine tripping
In 2 Chronicles 25 we read about the reign of King Amaziah, the twelfth king of Judah who took over the throne after his father was assassinated. For the most part, Amaziah was a good king who “did what was pleasing in the Lord’s sight” (vv.1-2).
As he worked to restore order to his country, the king assembled an army…
godly wisdom
Yogi Berra, former Major League Baseball player and manager, demonstrated the linguistic gymnastics that earned him eight entries in Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations, when he addressed graduates at Montclair State University with these gems: “First, never give up, because it ain’t over ’til it’s over.” “When you come to a fork in the road, take it.” “Remember that whatever you do in…
April 19, 2010
Volcanic ash in the atmosphere has caused frustrating flight delays across Europe and beyond. What causes you to feel frustrated, and how does God and His Word affect your response to it?
