Sheep Food

  Today’s post is a continuation from yesterday so if you missed it, you might want to scroll down and get caught up.   It was the one about time travel, sort of. If you could go back in time and explain to folks back in the mid 1300’s what the source of that bubonic plague was; you know, those rodents carrying fleas that spread the microscopic disease that people were clueless about? If only you could have taken that microscope and shown them so their own eyes might see.   We ventured off into the subject of another ‘invisible’ enemy. They are not germs. The discussion centers on demons. Not the ‘Hollywood kind’ either.   Scripture has much to say regarding this topic, but believe me; it’s one that a very real enemy works overtime to keep you disinterested in. Who got time to read about devils when we have so many other distractions to keep us amused, right?   No wonder Paul prayed fervently that the ‘eyes of our understanding would be ...

  Imagine if you would for a moment that you could be a time traveler; and now you have been transported back hundreds of years to mid-evil times, somewhere in Europe and it’s around 1350 A.D. For the record, no matter how much a movie may romanticize a particular era, I can’t imagine any human living in America today would be fond of living back then.   Living conditions were extremely challenging. But the reason I sent you back to this time and region is because there was wide spread suffering as untold numbers of people were dying from the bubonic plague, otherwise known as the ‘Black Death’. To say it had made a significantly adverse impact on the world, especially Europe, would be an understatement.   If you remember any of that from your history classes, you will recall that this horrific disease spread rapidly from rats, which carried fleas that were carriers of this bacteria-germ and would bite people. People, I might add, that lived in very crowded ...

It is one thing for a preacher to get behind a pulpit and raise his voice and wave his arms and paint a harrowing picture of why people need to turn to God. Lots of volume and dramatic illustrations can be used along with music to inspire an ‘emotional’ response where the listener cuts loose from the pew on the third verse of the hymn and runs to an altar in tears telling God he is sorry for being a miserable sinner and then promises to ‘do better’ or ‘try harder’ and come to church more regularly.   And no doubt, when folks respond in such a manner, I like to think they are genuinely sincere. But that is between them and God. I have though, been around long enough to witness that those ‘emotionally inspired decisions’ are often short lived for a host of reasons.   It is another thing though, to be presented with information, ALL the information, and then one makes an informed decision based on what they have learned. Many people prefer this route, especially whe...

  In the Parable of the Sower, recorded in 3 of the 4 gospels, Jesus lets us in on this little nugget of insight when He was asked by His disciples to explain what the parable meant.   “And He said, “To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest of them, it has not been given.” (Matt 13:11; Lu 8:10)   Keep in mind here, they (His disciples) needed help understanding His word. Jesus had just finished preaching to multitudes of people who had gathered. What an opportunity to ‘get the word out’. Yet, He spoke in parables, which were captivating stories no doubt. But there was something hidden or woven in the stories that needed to be revealed by Him to…His disciples.   We see another incident in Luke 10 where He was with a group of 70 of His ‘babes’ as He refers to them in vs. 21. And He takes a moment to thank His Father for ‘revealing these truths to the babes’ while ‘hiding these things/truths from the wise ...

  Three paralyzed men are sitting on the ground in the starting blocks of a 400–meter track.   The blast of the starter’s gun rifles through the air and the ‘race begins’.   The first contestant begins at a snail’s crawl, to drag his motionless lower half body, inch by inch down the lane. It is painful to witness. And to add insult to injury, with each grasp of the rough texture of the track surface, shreds of skin get scrapped off his hand and lower torso revealing small openings in the skin where blood begins to seep through. He will not last long.   The second contestant remains in the same spot but begins to profusely make loud proclamations that he ‘can do this’ and ‘I’m a winner and I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me’ and “I’m more than a conqueror” and ‘Greater is He that is in me…!” Yet he remains in the same spot.   But something different has happened with the third contestant. His ‘coach’ stepped in immediate...

  I mentioned being out of town the weekend before last. My wife and I were treated to a Broadway show that was delayed two years due to Covid. Our three daughters had bought me tickets to see The Music Man on stage for my 60th birthday. And the reason for this particular show was because I had the lead role as Harold Hill when I was in high school. It was a fun weekend and a delight to revisit that musical story.   There was a part in the story that I was reminded of and is kind of the spark behind this post today. Harold Hill was a traveling salesman and a bit of a con artist. The story takes place in the early 1900’s and he travels by train to small towns pitching band instruments and uniforms for all the parents to buy for their children. The fact the kids don’t know how to play or read music is not an obstacle for Hill. He also sells them on the idea of his revolutionary system known as the ‘Think Method”. If the kids just ‘think’ hard enough, they can play....

  Jesus told a parable in Luke 13 about a man who planted a fig tree in his vineyard, and for three years he came seeking to find fruit on it, and found none. That does not seem to be an unreasonable expectation – wanting a fig tree to produce fruit.   The owner expressed his disappointment with the keeper of the vineyard and instructed him to ‘cut it down’. There was no need for it to ‘use up the soil’. The attendant petitioned the owner to give it one more year and allow him to give it some extra attention with the hopes that it might help produce fruit. If after the extra year of ‘grace’, he agreed that ‘cutting it down’ would be the only thing left to do if it remained unfruitful.   Please note: the owner of the field came seeking fruit. (13:6) He did not ask about the tree’s trunk size or how deep the roots went nor was he that concerned about the amount of leaves on the tree.   He came seeking fruit.   God has thing ‘thing’ about ...