1 Oh, give ear, Shepherd of Israel,You who lead Joseph like a flock;You who are enthroned above the cherubim, shine forth!2 Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh, stir up Your powerAnd come to save us! Psalm 80:1-2 Sleep has been difficult the past week. The burdens being borne by the pastors I am caring for have taken their toll on me. When … More When Broken People Break
Sometimes you have to try, even if talent is in short supply. Poetry has an ability to be densely packed with information and sometimes, even wisdom. Readers can explore the echoes in this rant about the current state of our culture. Echoes Alexander told us “the West has lost its soul,” and the Left has … More A Rant By Any Other Name
The Will to One Thing He doesn’t start with a request. That’s where a lot of my prayers start. I need something, or I want something, and after a word of address, “Lord,” I run quickly to my request. Perhaps you do too, more often than we should. But David starts with a declaration, “My … More The Will to One Thing
It’s taken four weeks. The last two of those weeks, I have been largely one-handed. That’s what happens when the smiling surgeon cuts a cancer out of the back of your hand and closes up the wound with 21 stitches. Simple things you never thought of as difficult suddenly are. The healing process makes you … More It’s Taken Four Weeks
“My heart is steadfast, O God;I will sing, I will sing praises, even with my soul.” Psalm 108:1 Sometimes, when I read my Bible, I can’t get through the first verse before I collapse into the need for my soul to be honest. All real Bible study starts with honesty. Without an honest soul–a willingness … More Interpreting the Bible Well
I saw a wonderful video this week about a High School football player by the name of Malachi Coleman. As Steve Hartman tells the story, Malachi and his sister were abandoned by their mother but eventually adopted by a couple in Nebraska after a troubled number of years in the child welfare institutions. He arrived … More Gratitude Produces Help for Others
Three Hours of Prayer Psalm 49 is broken up into five relatively equal stanzas in the NASB95 version (1-4, 5-9, 10-12, 13-15, and 16-21). The ESV version supplies the summary heading in the form of a question, “Why Should I fear in Times of Trouble?” Why indeed, when we take the teaching of Psalm 49 … More Psalm 49 Three Hours of Prayer
Lifting our souls to God is a daily grind. It is also a daily joy. It is also a daily necessity. Never let your soul forget.
The Apostle Paul’s Testimony 11 To this present hour we hunger and thirst, and are poorly clothed, and roughly treated, and homeless; 12 and we labor, working with our own hands; when we are reviled, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure; 13 when we are slandered, we try to plead; we have become as the scum of the world, the grime of all … More How to Live in the World as a Christian
Last week, I checked out from the Library Victor Frankl’s classic book, Man’s Search for Meaning, now with over 16 million copies sold. (Think about that for a minute. If you had a penny for every book sold of those books, you would be $160,000 richer!) The foreword to the book by Harold Kushner summarizes … More Forces Beyond Your Control
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