There are all sorts of protection plans available for just about anything. From your home, to the appliances in our home; you can take out a policy to protect whatever you want. In Genesis 15 Abram wanted proof from God that he would inherit the land God told him. The Lord told him to prepare some animals for a sacrifice. Verse 11 says this, “And when the vultures came down on the carcasses Abram drove them away.” That is a very
I
remember hearing a phrase that I always thought was funny; close only counts in
horseshoes, dancing and nuclear warheads. I thought it was funny anyway.
Working as a painter for many, many years I have overheard carpenters say, “That’s
close enough, the painters will caulk it and you won’t see the gap where the
wood comes together.” Their joints on the wood were good but they weren’t
perfect, close enough was good enough.
Labor
Day is a national holiday celebrating the American workers and the work they
have performed to make our nation productive and strong. Most workers have
Labor Day off but there are still people that are needed to do their job on
that day. Work has always been a part of
God’s plan for mankind. After God created all the animals and trees He created Adam
and Adam had a job to do. Genesis 2:15 says, “Then the LORD God took the man
and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it.” Adam was to take care
of the garden and he also had the job of naming all of the animals.
Our daughter lives in a city about two hours away from
us. Because of a set of circumstances, she came to stay a week with us. It is always a blessing when she stays here
and I wanted to do something special for her, so I washed and waxed her car. While I was finishing her car a man walked
down the street with his two dogs. One of his dogs defecated in the middle of
the street. Our eyes made contact and he pulled a poop bag out of his pocket
and picked up the feces. We smiled and nodded at each other as he went his way.
I started thinking, would he have picked that up if I wasn’t watching him? He probably
So how has your week been or how has your day been going? These are common questions that we may be asked by friends and loved ones and we ask others these questions as well. Let’s focus on today. Each day is different as some go along very smoothly, while others are filled with tough decisions to make, or at times some days bring difficulties one after another. We may need to remind ourselves of the sovereignty of God over every day of our lives. Psalm 139:16 says, “Your eyes saw my substance,
There is a phrase that you may hear from time to time;
“give the gift of life”. That phrase can be related to organizations where
people can donate blood, they are giving the gift of life to someone. That
phrase can also be related to those people who are organ donors, they are
giving the gift of life to someone that perhaps might die without the organ
that is being donated. I also saw it in relation to a life insurance company
where you could give the gift of life to your child by taking out a life insurance
policy; that one seemed very odd to me.
What about us as Christians, can we give the gift of life to someone? The answer is
As we get older things come upon us where we are no
longer capable of doing tasks like we did in the past. Hearing diminishes,
eyesight fails, joints hurt and muscles get weaker and weaker. The basic truth
is we are all wearing out and this is a result of sin entering the world.
But, at other times something can happen to us that is
only temporary. It may simply require extra rest or perhaps an operation, but
over a period of time you will be able to resume your normal activities. I
started thinking about walking as I was not able to do it for a few weeks.
The first part of Genesis 3:8 says this, “and they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day,” What a beautiful picture we see of our
Have you ever been afraid? I am reasonably sure that at some point in our lives we have all experienced the emotion of fear. It can range from a slight anxiousness that we feel or it can be extreme as an overwhelming emotion that effects our everyday life in a negative way.
What
about being alone? At times solitude can be helpful but feeling all alone can
be very discouraging. When we put fear and loneliness together it can have
physical, mental and emotional consequences.
I recently went through the drive-in window at a local
fast-food restaurant. I ordered a hamburger and I was asked if I wanted to add
cheese? No was my reply. How about some French
fries with that, no, would you like something to drink, no; all I want is the
hamburger. That is not unusual as we are
asked to add something to our purchases on many occasions. Would you like to
add the extended warranty or would you like to add the upgrade to a fancier model?
The questions about adding something are very common.
Considering our salvation, do we add anything to that, do we have to contribute
On a drizzly morning we were getting ready to leave the Oregon coast and head home. I got out a rag and started wiping off some of the grime that was on our vehicle. There was no point in trying to dry it as a light mist was still coming down. I immediately I recalled a car wash that our family and some students put on to raise money for a young man who had cancer. Though it was cloudy on the day of the carwash we joined hands and prayed for the sun to come out and for many people to bring their cars to be washed. When we said amen, it started drizzling. I was devasted; how can you have a successful car wash
While on vacation my wife and I were walking our dogs
on the beach. A few minutes into our walk we switched dogs. She has been walking
her dog, Pepper, every morning for quite a few years and as I was walking her
dog all Pepper did was stare at her. I want to be like my wife’s dog and keep
looking at the Master.
The first part of Hebrews 12:2 states, “looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.” Our faith started in Jesus and it will be perfected and finished in Jesus, but it is the in between of those two points that we need to be careful where we are looking. I think at some point we all take our eyes off of Jesus and start placing our gaze upon the
I had just finished driving 15 hours getting us to our
destination. I thought how much longer until we get there although I did know
the answer. I then thought about when our kids were little and traveling with
us, they would ask the question that I was thinking. Are we there yet, how much
longer, I want to be there now and on and on the questions came? Are you ever
thinking similar questions about the return of Jesus? Jesus, how much longer until you come back
and get us, are we going to be home soon, or I just want to go home, why am I
still here?
Scripture gives us some basic guidelines about the end times, but in certain points in our
July 4th is a day of celebration for the
United States of America. This is the day that Americans remember their
independence from Great Britain. It is a
federal holiday commemorating when the original 13 colonies became an independent
nation, no longer under the control of Great Britain.
Before placing our faith in Jesus, we lived and did whatever we wanted to, because God was in none of our thoughts. We didn’t have a day of independence, but rather we had a life lived independently from God. Perhaps there was some inkling of judgment, but that
My wife normally takes one of our dogs out walking
early in the morning. The dogs behave fairly well, but at times they get
distracted by other dogs or just new smells to sniff.
In our daily walk with the Lord Jesus, we are at times prone to distractions just like our dogs. We may be distracted by the list of things we have to accomplish, or just trying to make ends meet, or maybe we just have too much stuff that is slowly becoming our confidence. 1John 2:6 says, “He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.” We have the perfect example of the Christian walk and what it looks
Do you have any phobias? Most people have at least one and some people
have many things that causes them fear. A few people are so overwhelmed by all sorts
of fears that they never leave their house. These fears can include fear of
heights, to crowds, to spiders, to speaking in public, and the list can go on
and on.
We get the word phobia from the Greek word Phobos. What
is interesting is the fact that in Scripture we are told that we should fear
the Lord God. Mt 10:28 says, “And do not fear those who kill the body but
cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and
body in hell.” So, fearing God is a biblical concept.
As Christians we are not to be afraid of God which would drive us away from Him, but
It seems like we are just about over the surge of the Coronavirus.
Things appear to be getting back to normal, (at least in America), but some
other countries are still being ravaged by it. I went to a home improvement
store the other day and there was a large display in the center aisle. The
display was stocked with hand sanitizer and there was a sign that said, “Clearance.” People will still use hand sanitizer but not to
the extent that they have used it in the past year and a half. Aisles that were
loaded with sanitizer are no longer necessary.
From a biblical standpoint what is no longer necessary? In the Old Testament, sacrifices
I went to a store the other day to pick up a few items. They
didn’t have exactly what I needed so I had to go to another store. When I
walked into the other store I was totally blessed. There was a man I hadn’t seen in many years.
He is a dear brother in the Lord and a friend as well. We quickly caught up, exchanged phone numbers
and were on our way. I started thinking about what had just happened and how my
attitude was frustration instead of flexibility. God had a different plan for my early morning,
I asked Him to forgive me.
I don’t think I am unique from the aspect that we make our plans, but then certain events come into play and our day changes right out of the gate. At times that change in our plans can bring about
How many times have you heard the phrase, “That’s not
fair?” If you had children, you probably heard that statement many times as they
were growing up. At times life just isn’t fair which is the result of sin being
in the world. I recently heard on the news about Ohio, Colorado and a few other
states that are offering a chance to win a million dollars if you would get
vaccinated. It’s not fair if you don’t live in one of those states, you have absolutely
no chance to win the money; that’s just not fair.
Asaph, one of the chief musicians under King David, wrote about a dozen Psalms. In Psalm 73 he was initially seeing that the wicked seemed to prosper in their way. They didn’t seem to be affected by the normal difficulties of life. This just didn’t seem fair to
I had to go to a home improvement store to pick up an
item to do a minor repair on our home. As I was about to enter there was a man
that was leaving. That is not normally an unusual circumstance, but what made
it memorable to me was the fact he was smiling and whistling. Did something
happen in the store, or did he hit the lottery that morning or you can fill in
some other scenarios in your mind.
I wasn’t whistling nor was I smiling, I was actually a little upset that I had to be there in the first place. I would really like to be similar to that guy with a smile on his face. We
The other day I went to the bank to cash a check and
the teller asked for my identification. I gave her my driver’s license and then
she asked for an additional piece to verify I was who I claimed to be. I knew
most of the other tellers but she didn’t know me and she was making sure of my
identity.
My thoughts then turned to my faith in Jesus. Am I more identifiable with the world or am I known by my faith? Do I merely mention to others about my faith or am I truly
How is your memory doing? For many of us as we get
older our ability to remember diminishes with age. There are tests you can take
to see if you have early stages of Alzheimer’s or Dementia. There are many of
us though, who have good memories, but the bottom line is all of us just need
reminders from time to time.
The last few weeks have been very difficult. We all have had those times in our lives
I had to be in Los Angles for a few days last week. As
I was walking down one of the sidewalks at night, I noticed my shadow off to
the side. As I looked ahead of my shadow, I saw another shadow of myself. When
I glanced behind me just a bit, I saw a third shadow of myself. The lighting on
the street projected three different placements of my shadow; one in front, one
alongside and the third slightly behind me. As I thought I that I started
smiling.
My favorite Psalm in the bible is Psalm 139. In my mind it is affectionately known as the
There was a movie with the title, “What’s love got to
do with it?” That movie was about the life of Tina Turner and there was also a
song by the same name. I won’t go into the details of the song or the movie,
but I was thinking about what does love have to do with the way we live our
lives as Christians? Obviously, love is at the root of our entire life with
God. The commandments are summed up by loving God with all our heart, soul,
mind, and strength, and loving our neighbor as ourselves.
In these turbulent and uncertain days, are we loving our neighbor as God commands us to? From what I have observed, because I have been guilty of this, there is a lot of
We all have different natural abilities. Some have
athletic prowess, and others may have a photographic memory, while others are
creative geniuses. We are all able to accomplish certain tasks easily, which
may be very difficult for someone else, or they may not be able to do them at
all.
Recently, I was not able to connect my computer to a
wireless printer, so I had to call on my IT specialist, Amanda. In a relatively
short period of time the computer was synced to the printer. No matter what I tried
to do, I was not able to get it working, but she was able to fix the problem
and I can now use by printer.
Though we can do many things, none of us are capable of fixing a problem that we all have. That problem is sin, and none of us are able to provide salvation for anyone’s soul. The disciples asked Jesus the question, “who then can be saved?” Jesus responded in
Whenever you buy anything new these days there is something that can usually be added to your purchase. Most of the times it is the option of an extended warranty. If you purchase a new car, you have almost unlimited options and there is a pressure to upgrade your new vehicle. This causes me to ask the question, are there different options when it comes to true saving faith?
The bible makes the answer to that question very clear. Acts 4:12 states, “Nor is there
Everyone has their method of keeping track of
important dates that need to be remembered. When you go to the Doctor, most of
the time they give you a card with your next scheduled appointment written on
it and some of them even call you the day before so you don’t forget. We use
calendars to write down dates and with most cell phones you can set reminders so
an alarm goes off so you don’t forget an important event. We are all prone to
forget so we need reminders for things that are important.
Ps 103:2 states, “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits.” The Psalm continues talking about some of these benefits that we may be prone to forget, hence the
We have all probably experienced seeing people talking
while they are driving, but then we notice they are the only person in the car.
With cell phones and Bluetooth capabilities in most cars, they were probably
taking to someone on the phone. There is also the possibility that they were
talking to themselves. Before we label them as crazy, is it OK to have a
conversation with ourselves?
Psalm One makes the contrast between the ungodly and the righteous. Verse one talks about the ungodly walking, standing and sitting with others just like themselves. Then
Honest conversations are extremely important in our
day to day lives as we interact with all sorts of people. Ephesians chapter 4
talks about “speaking the truth with your neighbor” and the same chapter states
we should “speak the truth in love.” Speaking
the truth goes back to the 10 commandments where God stated, “You shall not
bear false witness against your neighbor.”
Joshua was a great man of God and he led the children of Israel into the promised land. As Joshua was nearing the end of his life, God made this statement to him in the beginning of
In Paul’s first recorded letter in scripture to
Timothy, the Apostle Paul states in chapter 2 starting in verse 1; “Therefore I
exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of
thanks be made for all men, for kings and for all in authority, that we may
lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is
good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be
saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
What a beautiful passage of scripture and oh so very important for us today. We should
I went in the backyard the other day to do some work
on the lawn. One of our dogs usually follows me whenever I go outside and today
was no exception, but what she did was a little different. She waited on the
patio and was just watching me but she wouldn’t come close to me. I looked at
her, motioned with my hand and said, “Come here,” and she ran as fast as she
could and stayed right with me the rest of the time while I was working on the
yard.
Do we ever have to wait for God to give us the go
ahead signal to come close to Him? Are there times when we can’t approach Him?
Is He really approachable at all or is He so far removed that He has little
concern about us and what goes on in our lives?
From a salvation standpoint Jesus said in John 6:37, “All that the Father gives Me will
Picking a name for a child can be a very daunting task. Some may want to have the child named after a family member, or some may think the child’s name will be a huge factor in who he becomes; still others may argue for weeks before a name is finally agreed upon. Names are important, but what is ironic is the fact that we are more known by our
