Sheep Food

  If I remember the story correctly, a gentleman whom I have known for years and is very dear to our family, had been out of town for a few days working and was waiting at the airport to catch his flight home. Apparently he was not quite done with ‘work’ and had opened up his laptop computer and became absorbed with finishing up some unfinished tasks. He had his Air-pods (headphones) in and basically was oblivious to all that was happening around him. We all know how that can happen to us, do we not?...we get drawn in to other things...distractions...cares, etc.   Now keep in mind that he was sitting there at the gate waiting to board the plane. At some point, he looked up and noticed that nobody was sitting there around him anymore. The crowd had ‘vanished’. The gate door was closed and the attendant was no longer standing there. Do you know what this man soon discovered much to his astonishment?   He missed his flight.   Apparently, he never he...

  Questions are asked for a variety of reasons.  There are those simple questions that are designed to extract quick simple information, like “How many want coffee with your dessert ?”  Other times, questions are asked because someone is wanting to find important information they are needing, like: “Do you know how to get to the ER in this hospital?”; or maybe, “What time does the wedding start?”   Oftentimes, questions can be asked to gather facts so more important decisions can be made, whether it is your doctor inquiring about symptoms you may be experiencing or a police detective needing details in order to solve a crime.   But then there are times when we ask questions, not because we need information or answers, rather, we ask questions to get us thinking about something. Good teachers will do that; they ask questions of their students...to get their minds thinking.  It is safe to say that when God ask questions of us, it’s not because He n...

  The first novel I ever began reading to my classes when I taught JRH Reading years ago was ‘Hatchet’, by Gary Paulsen. I was captivated by that story and to this day, I still have former students come up to me and mention that book and how they still remember it. If you are not familiar with the story, it is about a 13 year old boy who is being flown up to spend the summer with his dad in the oil fields of Canada. The pilot of the small plane has a heart attack and the plane goes down crashing into a lake far from civilization. Brian, the young boy, manages to crawl out of the plane before it sinks and makes it to dry land. The story centers around his survival and eventual rescue. The only thing he has with him, is a small hatchet strapped to his belt that was given as a gift to him by his mother.   There is a pivotal point in the story, where he discovers by a fluke and a dream, how to start a fire using his only tool. It is a painstaking effort to create the i...

  Suppose you have been reading along here for a while and you have struggled a bit taking in some of what I’ve been sharing here from the bible. You might consider yourself to be a ‘longtime believer’ who is active in and faithful to a local church, read your bible regularly and have strived to the best of your ability to live a good Christian lifestyle as an example to both family and friends.   Yet....you have struggled with some of those ‘besetting sins’ that Paul writes about in Heb. 12:1. My goodness, it could be any number of those pesky things we often refer to as the ‘flesh’ or that ‘old man’ who seems to linger on and raise his ugly head up at the least opportune times. (Gal. 5:19-21)   Some of those ‘sins’ may be more obvious to those who know you and live with you. And then there are those ‘secret sins’ that we really don’t like to talk about and sure would not want to reveal in a small group of brothers/sisters because...well, you know...that woul...

  “The day of the Lord...will come...as a thief in the night...” (2 Pet. 3:10)   Peter penned those words in his final letter to fellow believers everywhere.   ‘The Day of the Lord’....the day....of the Lord.   We see that expression or term quite a bit in both OT and NT writings.   What is not clear from the writings is when exactly this ‘day’ will occur, nor do we have any inkling as to how long this ‘day’ will last. And while Peter mentions just a few lines prior to that statement that our timelines don’t always jive with God’s, given that with God one day can be the same as a thousand years, and vice versa, (8) neither answer to those two questions really matter. That is, when it will occur or how long will it last.   What is important, is to see what Peter does tell us there. He opens up this third chapter wanting to ‘stir up our minds’ by ‘reminding us to be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets...

  The other morning while lying there in bed with my wife, she whispered ever so softly to me, these words: “I threw another one of your socks away yesterday. It had three holes in it. I think we are doing well enough financially where you don’t have to wear holey socks.”   To which I responded: “Maybe the reason we are doing financially better these days is because...I don’t go out and purchase new socks every time a hole appears.”  She was not buying it. She does that with my underwear as well, so I am told. I started to make some silly comment about having ‘holy feet’ as I walk on ‘holy ground’ but spared her the eye rolling response to my holey socks. But she only tossed one out...leaving an orphan sock! Now what will I do?  We are probably more familiar and comfortable with understanding what is means to have ‘holey socks’ or a pair of pants with holes in them (that people pay good money for) than we are with being able to explain what a ‘holy bride’ mi...

  Why would you...or any sincere believing follower of Christ, NOT...want to be completely set free from sin?   Unless, that is of course....you love that sin and are not ready to give it up?   Exactly what ‘besetting sin’ do you seem to have a hard time overcoming and unable to ‘lay aside’ or turn from, as in 'repent of'? (Heb. 12:1)   I mean, really...did Jesus not come and empower us with His grace to ‘take up our bed and walk...and go and sin no more’? (John 5:11,14) Or was that just poetic language?  I can almost hear you sputtering (as your BP rises)...”Yeah...well....but...nobody can live a sinless life...we are human and will always be sinners and make ‘mistakes’...or 'errors'. (diluted words for ‘sin’).   Really? Who told you that? (I recall God asking Adam a similar question back in Gen. 3:11).   Who told you that you could never walk like Jesus walked...and love others as Jesus loved you? (1 John 2:6; Rom. 8:29; Jo...