grumble rumble
Grumble Rumble is a website that allows you to air your complaints. It claims: “Our goal is to help you improve your life surroundings and reduce your stress by providing an easy, simple platform to register and resolve complaints.”
If there had been a website like this during Moses’ time, the Israelites would surely have been among its key patrons.…
betrayed by a friend
One of the most heart-wrenching scenes in the movie Braveheart occurs when William Wallace realizes his countryman, Robert the Bruce, has betrayed him by secretly aligning with the English at the Battle of Falkirk. Wallace, who has expended great effort fighting for Scotland’s freedom, is so overcome by grief that he physically collapses on the battlefield—even with English soldiers bearing down…
excuses
Cyclist Tyler Hamilton had steadily advanced through the ranks of the US Postal Service team, and now he was on the verge of being included on the squad that would race in the Tour de France. All he had to do was take EPO, an illegal drug that boosted endurance for the grueling mountain climbs. Hamilton told the team doctor…
highly contagious
I rolled up my sleeve and looked away. The injection of immunoglobulin was going to sting, and I knew it. I knew, however, that it could prevent a battle with Hepatitis A. One of my family members had been exposed to the highly contagious disease—which karate- kicks the liver—and health authorities had recommended vaccinations for everyone in my household.
There’s…
eyewitnesses
An eyewitness is one whose firsthand knowledge of a crime or an important event is used to ascertain the actual facts surrounding the event in a court of law. One witness is usually insufficient. “The facts of the case must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses” (Deuteronomy 19:15).
Paul reminded the Corinthians to remember what they…
hypocrisy & idolatry
This morning in my Bible reading I read in Romans where it is talking about hypocrites. This is something that always hits me. I never, ever want to be a hypocrite. I want to practice what I preach.
“You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You…
meaning of life
"The meaning of your life is the meaning you give it,” writes philosopher A. C. Grayling in his book Thinking of Answers. He suggests trying to create meaning in our lives through the pursuit of relationships and goals, by developing our talents and interests, and through our hopes and desires. Grayling concludes that life itself is meaningless and the only meaning…
what does love require of me?
“In every dealing with someone, before every statement or response to anyone, a follower of Jesus, a disciple, should ask themselves first: ‘What does love require of me?’” —Andy Stanley
If we ask this question and respond accordingly I think we’ll fulfill the command that Jesus gave us in John 13:34: “A new command I give you: Love one another.…
May 14, 2012
How does the news affect your spiritually? Positive effects? Negative effects?
secular state
A chimera is a bizarre-looking character found in Greek mythology. The fire-breathing female is composed from the parts of a lion, goat, and serpent. Recently, a religious leader used the term chimera to describe the philosophy of education in his native Sweden. The highly secular country has told all its schools—including Christian ones—that they must teach subjects in a “nonconfessional,” “objective”…
weeds
As a child growing up in Ghana’s Upper Region, I used to help Mom and Dad in their garden. To this day, the aroma of tomatoes ripening on the vine makes me nostalgic for tropical climes and simpler times.
Dad, who had attended an agricultural school, used to coach me as I worked. “A weed is any plant that’s not…
don’t do your math
In the days before the printing press, the Old Testament books were copied by hand. The scribes developed a stringent set of rules to keep errors from occurring. First, they would count all the letters on the page. Then, after they had copied the page, they would count the letters on the copy to see if the numbers added up…
mothers R they - Mother's Day 2012
We consumed whatever they consumed,
our places in their lives, we assumed;
from day to night, night till day,
our nursing mothers are they.
In sickness or in good health,
their love and care are our wealth;
their legacies are here to stay,
our compassionate moms are they.
Whether we are at home or in school,
we need to obey their every rule;
they…
staying grounded
Best-selling author John Eldredge recently wrote a book about Jesus titled Beautiful Outlaw. One of the things that struck Eldredge as he researched and wrote his new work was noting how grounded Jesus was as a person.
Eldredge wrote that Jesus had the “ability to navigate praise, then hatred, false flattery, then adoring crowds, vicious slander, and then people who simply…
