Protecting the Promises
For the last few years the Lord has blessed Rita and I with being able to vacation each Spring in Phoenix. Our first time here in 2015 was at a particularly low time in my life. I was deeply discouraged…
Just Hanging Out Kind of Friends
Rita's uncle Oris had farmed 300 plus acres of corn and soy beans outside of Dayton, Iowa, for most of his life. Farming being what it is uncle Oris had made life-long friends of the neighboring farmers. They shared farm…
What People?
Every so often, I like to switch translations for my devotional reading, just to get a different perspective on God’s story. When I do that, I will typically get a study Bible so that I can have some commentary on…
God Always Begins with the End in Mind
God’s sovereignty versus our free will. Which one determines our future? Maybe the answer is both? “Either/or” creates a dissonance none of us are comfortable with. It is an argument that has dominated the last five hundred years of church…
Right Before Glory
I hope you don’t mind the number of posts on Abram from Genesis recently. It’s just that God seems to be speaking to me so strongly through my Genesis readings right now that I can’t help but pass on to…
The Sin of Sodom?
Don’t assume that you know the answer. I thought I did and then was surprised when I did a little cross-referencing. I think we all assume, from what we have read in the Genesis 18-19 account of the twin OT…
Worship the Lord Again
It’s easy to forget they were just human. Pretty much just like you and me. Over the years of stories and sermons on their lives, we have unfortunately elevated them to a level that can render them unreachable to us…
Answers Aren’t Always the Answer
Just read an article that when disaffected young people were given the opportunity to explain, in their own words, why they left the church, they claimed it was because the church wasn’t offering cogent responses to the criticisms of science…
A Rose By Any Other Name…
...would smell as sweet. That line may sound romantic, from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, but it just doesn’t work when applied to the religions of the world. I sat in my very first doctoral class years ago and listened to…