Month: November 2020
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Unfailing Promiser
“Not one of all the good promises that the Lord had made to the house of Israel had failed: all came to pass.”–Joshua 21:45 (NRSV) My son, Jackson, is notorious for saying “you promise?” And now Wylder is picking up on it. You know what. I will let you in on a little secret. I…
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Have and Need
“For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and He is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”– Isaiah 9:6 (NRSV) Okay. Be honest. Did you have your Christmas tree up at the beginning ofNovember? Anyonehave it up before Halloween this year?…
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Desolate
Micah 2:1–13; Matthew 24:15–31 Many people attribute motives to leaders, especially political ones, that fit a narrative, rather than the facts. Sometimes they fit both the facts and the narrative. The last few presidents have had a lot of that. Even our current governor has had a lot of that. We may not like their…
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Advent Set Aside
Zechariah 14:1–9; 1 Thessalonians 4:1–18 So often, it takes destruction for transformation. Far too many stories, whether Alcoholics Anonymous, Celebrate Recovery, Narcotics Anonymous, or others involve someone hitting rock bottom before a turn-around occurs. The opening words from this passage from Zechariah are brutal. The cruelty that the Israelites would receive went from financial, to…
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Prepare to Prepare
Psalm 80; Zechariah 13:1–9; Revelation 14:6–13 If you’ve ever watched a professional chef (besides the competition ones), they will often have pre-cut and -measured ingredients so that when a customer orders a dish, most of the time-consuming work is completed. If you’ve ever ordered a sandwich at Subway, the meat and cheese are already pre-portioned.…
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Power to…
Jeremiah 31:10–14; John 5:19–40 If you had the power to change anything and everything, would you? If you could eliminate war, disease, hatred, bigotry, misogyny…would you? If you could judge people perfectly…would you? The structure of the Trinity (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) is a conundrum. The Father is God; the Son (Jesus) is God; the…
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Kingdom Justice
Psalm 7; Revelation 19:1–9 “They got what they deserved.” We long for justice. In fact, much of the separation between political parties and people, in general, is defined by justice. When we look at emotionally charged issues such as racism, justice is often the biggest piece. The person negatively affected want to feel heard and,…
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Purple Vision
Numbers 27:15–23; 2 Timothy 2:8–13 Having worked for family-owned and -run businesses, I know that one of the business’ concerns is, who’s next? Perhaps it might be better to say that the success of a family-owned and -run business is who will successfully lead it with vision and tenacity once the current leadership steps down.…
