Press On Towards The Goal...

Matthew 6:25-34 (but here is only half for brevity) But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. Psalm 119:160 The sum of your word is truth, and every one of your righteous rules endures forever. Daniel 4:32c "...the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will." Isaiah 37:16 “O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms o

There is a lot of division among Christians this election season. “What is a vote?” has been something many had to answer who did not think it through previously. Amidst the answers from Christians, here are 6 election-related things I know to be true . We don't have to know political philosophy to know these things, but God's clear, revealed word. Photo Cred This list was a quick check up for my spiritual health in this election cycle . I wrote this for myself, but if anyone else can benefit, then praise God. I'm not saying I have done all these, but that I hope by God's grace these will be an overflow of his influence in my life. In turn, I hope this can be a reminder to the readers how we can bring God glory during this time. I exercise kindness and patience toward Christians (and everyone else!) with whom I disagree. I am focused on continuing the work God has for me to do in my Church and community by serving those in need and sharing the Gos

A recent devotion got me thinking about how I occasionally "naturalize" God in my mind. Sometimes I can lose a sense of how surprising, timely, & out of the box God's supernatural working was in scripture. Or if I do see this, I can tuck it away because that was how God worked "back then." Indeed, I do think God has changed the way he interacts with us on some level because of the completion of scripture, but that should not blunt the fact that God still works amazing miracles today. Photo cred: http://lifehopeandtruth.com/uploads/images/miracles-of-jesus.jpg God still transforms haters of the Christian Church into devoted followers of Christ. God still takes "hearts of stone" & replaces them with "hearts of flesh" that beat for him. God still brings peace between himself & guilty sinners by the work of his Son on the cross. God still provides materially for his people when the dollars, hours

Have you heard this before? Have you heard a zealous rant against songs that have the same chorus  over and over and over ? I have a couple times. For short time I even agreed, until I compared it with the Bible. I won't spend much time rambling about why, but will just provide a couple of lucid examples of the Bible's repetitive worship. Before referencing those though, I think part of this whole situation is that we are addicted to novelty . Our new songs become older, faster and truly old songs are looked at with distaste by many just by virtue of their age and style. C.S. Lewis coined the term "Chronological Snobbery" with reference to the mindset that old books and ideas are lesser because of their age. I think the label can fit here too.  When we can watch a new show every week and are barraged with new music on the radio, we start to expect and crave the entertainment of novelty. A question for you, would you make it as one of the 24 elders in heave

Happy Birthday to my good friend Dyland,  who through thick and thin has kept it real. Here's a blog post in his name. 1) He (fake) smokes a pipe to just help himself think. 2) He swing dances. 3) He wears 1940's clothes.    4) He wraps gifts in brown paper bags as his signature gift giving "thing." 5) He writes old school poetry (and he is good at it!).  6) He makes 1920's chivalry a discipline of his. How is Dyland NOT a hipster??