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• Greatest of All Time - Greatest of All Time: I like the references to light that we find in the Scriptures. So many of them are on our lists of “favorites”. I especially love the book of John and we often reference passages in the writing of these meditations.  No one is better at capturing the Impact of Jesus on humanity. His redemptive life and death have benefited all people, including those who rejected him. He is a light that shines on the just and the unjust. I believe, too often, when we study the Bible, gather in groups to discuss content, look into the life and times of Jesus, we focus on his stories, on his parables, and his compassion. Somewhere in all of those discussions, and commentaries we sometimes lose, pardon the expression, the “human Jesus” whose impact has shaped so much of what is right in this world. Continue reading
• God Only Knows - God Only Knows: Paul Simon, singer, song-writer, philosopher. So many of his songs are familiar to all of us. However, I think we would be hard-pressed to find one that would fall in such categories as Hymns or Praise songs. Although, some of his stanzas could easily be the introduction to a homily or a sermonette. For example, this verse from “Slip Sliding Away” contains ideas that we embrace. God has a plan for us and often His plans and ours don’t quite mesh. We may think we are getting close to what God has in mind for us, and then the way is not easy to negotiate and we slip into old habits. Can you see that? "God only knows, God makes his plan. The information's unavailable, To the moral man. Continue reading
• Tall Poppy Syndrome - Tall Poppy Syndrome: At one time, when I thought I wanted to be a clinical psychologist, I knew a lot of straight and diagnostic psychological slang references. Some are pretty crazy, and in some ways, it’s like talking in code. When I came to my senses and dropped the clinical part, I ended up teaching adolescent psych in college. I used case studies as my style of teaching, and my students were the subjects. Not surprisingly, we encountered “Tall Poppy Syndrome” early on. Tall poppy syndrome refers to the idea that the tall poppies in a field will get their tops cut off to make everything neat and equal. You will recognize this: If you are in the culture of adolescence, it is all right to be smart, but you can’t act smart. You can’t show it! Continue reading
• Can We Ever Get Enough Grace? - Can we Ever Get Enough Grace? That is a question that should not stump anyone. The answer is a resounding NO! Lord keep your graces coming. We love because of your graces. We rejoice on your graces. We live and breathe on your graces. Will there come a time when we have had enough grace? Of course, and you’ll be able to tell God in person. But, until then, precious Lord, keep the flood of your graces coming. There is a slice of grace by another name that we read in our meditations. We hear in our prayers. We seek with tears and remorse. It is a very special kind of Grace called forgiveness. Continue reading
• Some More Grace - Some More Grace: John 3:16 -- So, what does the favorite Bible verse of all, the most repeated and recited passage have to do with grace? EVERYTHING! That’s right. Grace is God’s love for us. Yes, you and me, with our dirty hands, our lying tongues, and our wandering minds, we are loved by God. You want confirmation? John has it. Look at John 1:16: From the fullness of His grace we have all received one blessing after another. Continue reading
• Unpopular Grace - Grace: Randy Alcorn, in his book The Grace and Truth Paradox, tells the story of the night, in 1993, when Wesley Dodd was executed for the torture, molestation and murder of three boys. At the dinner table that evening, both of his daughters, 11 and 13, prayed earnestly that Dodd would repent and place his faith in Christ before he died. This was a big deal. Multiple media representatives witnessed the execution and crowds of people waited to know the monster was dead. When they emerged, one read Dodd’s last words: “I had thought there was no hope and no peace. I was wrong. I have found hope and peace in the Lord Jesus Christ.” Alcorn reports that gasps and groans erupted from the crowd. The anger was palpable. How dare someone who has done something so terrible, say he found hope and peace in Jesus? Continue reading
• Be Thou My Vision - "Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart.” What does that mean? Read again the Scripture passage. That first part is pretty harsh. No vision = people perish. Yikes! We had better get a vision. The hymn writer seems to be saying something slightly different.  It seems like it’s a prayer, asking God to be his vision, vision of his heart. Vision of his commitment. In other words, where there is vision, there is also a life of honesty and integrity, because the vision gives us the moral incentive. Translation: When you put God in charge of all parts of your life, there is a spirit in us that is fresh and vital. Continue reading
• Shalom, Eirene, Peace - Peace: We read about peace in the scriptures. We hear a lot about peace. In times of war we yearn for peace. When chaos surrounds us we long for peace and quiet. How would you define peace?  What does it mean to you?  How would you describe a world where only peace existed? Is it simply the absence of troubles?  Is peace related to the absence of fear, anxiety, worry? I wonder if our understanding of peace is only about the absence of negative stuff in our lives? The Hebrew Bible uses a familiar word, shalom. In its purest sense, shalom means "peace." The connotation is positive. That is, when someone says, "Shalom," or, "Peace unto you," it doesn't mean, "I hope you don't get into any trouble"; it means, "I hope you have all the highest good coming your way." Continue reading
• Exposed! - Exposed! The cultural and Biblical times in Jerusalem were not pleasant, some of the practices, by today’s standards, were outright criminal, even homicidal. That was especially true if you were female, who were considered something less than chattel, or were born with a handicap, or were born into a family that already had too many children.There was the process of “unnatural selection” common in the Greco-Roman world. By the Roman Law of Romulus, a father was required to raise all healthy male children, but only the firstborn female.  All others, not falling in those two categories, were “disposable”. In Jerusalem, the law was carried out through a practice called “exposure”. Those babies, often alive, were left to die in the elements on the dung heap, in the Ghenna Valley, south of the city. Continue reading
• Provisions for the Day – Part 2 - Provisions for the Day – Part 2: Of course, the brook would dry up, no rain = no water.  We have the obedient Elijah, following God’s command, first to hide himself and wait for the ravens to bring food. They did, but then the water supply failed. Is this beginning to sound like a bad-day in your household? First a power outage, then other things breakdown, and there go our creature-comforts, right when we need them most! So, now Elijah is instructed to travel to another place to live, an evil place, the heartland of Baal worship, and there to demonstrate his power. Frying pan into the fire? From an angry king to living behind enemy lines! But, the prophet does what he is told. Continue reading
• Provisions for the Day – Part 1 - Provisions for the Day: This passage from 1 Kings is a head-scratcher.  For some reason, I have a different perspective on Ravens, influenced in large part by Edgar Allen Poe, and his poem, The Raven.  Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary, Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore...Throughout the entire poem there is a foreboding building of something undefined, but dark. Sentences like – “Ghastly grim and ancient raven wandering from the Nightly shore”, that did it! But it was not Poe’s rendering of a raven that should affect us, but God’s authority over all creation, including ravens, to carry His message.  This is another example to help our unbelief about who God is.    Continue reading
• God’s Plan? - God’s Plan? Talk about sibling rivalry! The younger brother flaunting, the older brothers taunting. This is not going to end well or maybe… God had a plan that neither side knew about. If they had known the outcome, how would that have changed behavior?  Hmmm. We shall never know about that, but we do know about Joseph. The above scripture passages are the bookends of his story, the start and the finished.We know that all his life, Joseph lived trusting in the promises of God. He understood his whole life in light of those promises and his trust of God. If anyone had reason to be bitter about the past, it’s Joseph. He had been nearly murdered by his brothers, sold into slavery in a foreign land, was falsely accused of adultery, and spent several years in prison. Continue reading
• I’m No Giraffe! - I’m No Giraffe! I’ve been thinking about God’s plan for each of our lives and how that plan doesn’t always run smoothly and the way we want it to. Sometimes the stumbling blocks get in our way and we have to adjust, change, alter our plan. We pray our way to the hospital in the ambulance, but we do pray our way back home in the car after we are healed? Are we consistent in our prayer-life, in good times and not so good? Pastor Gary Richmond related an experience he had when visiting a zoo. He was standing next to Jack, the zookeeper, at a time when a giraffe was giving birth, and witnessed an amazing interaction between mother and her newborn. There was the mother giraffe, standing while giving birth. The calf’s hooves and head were already visible. “When is she going to lie down?” Gary asked Jack. “She won’t,” he answered. “But that’s a [ten foot drop to the] ground! Isn’t anyone going to catch the calf?” “Try catching it if you want,” Jack responded, “but its mother has enough strength in her hind legs to kick your head off.” “I’m good,” the Lord says, “on the tough stuff, but I’m also good on the easy stuff. Keep me close. Continue reading
• If My People… - If My People… We are a nation founded in our trust of God, and we are a nation, like the Israelites before, that have created distance between God and what we are all about. While a National Day of Prayer, by itself, is a good thing, it does seem to be a symptom of how far we have strayed in our relation with God. Do we need the reminder to pray? Probably. Did it take a war in Europe and the threat to our freedom to bring us to prayer? It did. While we missed in-church worship, I would venture a guess that our prayer-quotient jumped as we came to realize the seriousness of the pandemic. Continue reading
• We Must Decrease - We Must Decrease: John is answering his worried disciples that everything he had was given by God, a gift. Even they, who followed John, likewise, were gifts from God and as gifts, they had a purpose, for which they should be grateful. John knew who he was, he was not the Christ. He tried to make that clear. In the Jewish wedding customs of that day, the friend of the bridegroom was like a combination of best man and wedding planner, they arranged everything, and wanted no attention. John saw his role was to bring two people together; Christ and His bride, you and me, and all believers. In our societal mind set we think we know what a bridegroom is but in Biblical terms, it means that Jesus is God. In the Old Testament, it was only Yahweh who was the husband of Israel, and John knew that very well. Continue reading
• Parakletos and the Last Supper - Parakletos and the Last Supper: The scene is an upper room, on a dusty side street of Jerusalem. The buffet is spread, and the disciples have gathered, along with Jesus. This is what we call the Last Supper, the day before His betrayal and crucifixion. He knows what is about to happen, but the disciples do not. They are aware of the tension directed toward their Master, but are truly not prepared for tomorrow,  one of the worst days of their lives. Jesus speaks -- “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. 2 There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? 3 When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. 4 And you know the way to where I am going. 5 “No, we don’t know, Lord,” Thomas said. “We have no idea where you are going, so how can we know the way?”  6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me." John 14:1-6 Continue reading
• The Life… - The Life... We have considered "The Way" and "The Truth" in the previous two Watchwords, now it is time for a perspective on The Life. What does it mean to be given your life as a reward, as promised in the Jeremiah prophecy? Is that an easy question? I think it is for those who have surrendered their life to Jesus and feel the power of His peace.We do tend to worry about silly things, such as food, clothing, drink and that other "most important" factor, what other people think about us. These are the things that take us away from the blessings of our Lord. We whine, we are impatient, we display lack of trust in God, all because we do not see the graces that abound in our lives, and rejoice in them.Have you ever considered that salvation is more about the life you are living now than about life eternal. Continue reading
• The Truth… - The Truth… One can believe all of the right things and still be quite unaffected, untransformed by that belief. But what we “love”, shapes our lives and has great power to transform. Marcus Borg, in his book Convictions, makes the statement that “The Bible can be true without being literally true.” Think about that. In your Christian walk, in your core faith and belief in God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, these things do not depend on elements being literally true, only that you have committed to those elements. Let me ask you a question: Do you believe all the stories in the Bible?  Careful, now, it's not a trick question. Let me ask it a different way: When did you begin to realize that the truth of those Bible stories does not depend on facts? Continue reading
• The Way… - The Way… Put yourself in the sandals of Peter, John, Barnabas, etc., as they witnessed the resurrection and felt the infilling of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. With those two happenings, the whole movement of following Christ took on new meaning. It seems reasonable to assume that use of the term “The Way”, as spoken first by Jesus, was the reason that early Christians adopted it as reference to the teachings of Jesus as well as the gatherings of followers of Christ. The growth of The Way posed a threat to both Rome and the hierarchy of Judaism. “The Way” as an identifier stuck until Barnabas returned to his home region of Syria and established a gathering of The Way in  Antioch. It was there, as the church grew, attracting Jews, Greeks and Gentiles, that they chose “Christian” as an inclusive term in reference to individual believers, Continue reading
• Praise God - Praise God: Years ago, when I was in my second or third year as a volunteer at Heifer International Learning Center in Arkansas, I struck up a conversation with another volunteer who was in her second week at the Ranch, working with livestock.  She was a recent veterinary medicine graduate from a Texas university, and was doing an internship at the Ranch. Early one morning, I had come to the Show Barn to assist with bottle-feeding baby lambs and goats.  She was sitting in a stall on a hay bale, in the posture of prayer.  As I started to move on she looked up, smiled at me and greeted me with a “good morning”. Then, as if to explain, she said I was just talking to God, telling him how very grateful she was for being here at the Ranch, working with a wonderful corps of volunteers.  I smiled and acknowledged her comment with a "God bless your day", and then moved on to my own chores. But I was curious about this young lady.   Continue reading