"All of life is business with God…" John Calvin
Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake . . . Rejoicing in suffering. What a concept. What a counter-cultural, upside-down, foolish-in-the-eyes-of-the-world notion. And yet, what a thoroughly biblical response to the trials and pain Christians face in this fallen world. Being a Christian doesn’t mean that we won’t suffer. Quite to the contrary, it … Continue reading Why Paul Rejoices in Suffering
“Jesus did not come into the world for us; we came into the world for Jesus.”[1] Pause. Read that again. We are so used to a faint, if unconscious, view that the world revolves around us, that we’re blinded to the Scriptural truth that the universe really and truly exists because of, through, holds together … Continue reading He Is
It’s been a hard couple of weeks. The domain of darkness is sharply apparent. A young woman was murdered on a train in North Carolina and nobody moved to intercede or help her as she died. The initial response was silence. In Utah, a well-known young man was assassinated in front of a crowd of … Continue reading A Prayer We All Need
Open your bible to the New Testament, and there’s a good chance you’ll find yourself in one of the letters written by the Apostle Paul. Reading through his epistles, we feel like we know Paul because he wrote in such a personal way to his readers. We hear his exhortations, frustrations, and patient corrections to … Continue reading Grace To You and Peace
Beginning next week, I'll be leading a Bible study for the women at our church. We'll be studying the book of Colossians and marinating in the supremacy and sufficiency of our Lord Jesus Christ. A few months ago, I wrote a post on Colossians 1:3–5 for the enCourage blog, which I'm sharing here to give … Continue reading All in the Family
I work at an RV Resort in the Hill Country of Central Texas, and on the morning of July 4th, unlike most days, I brought my raincoat to work. Our resort is located 100 miles from the stretch of the Guadalupe River that runs through Kerr County, and Canyon Lake with its dam lies between … Continue reading When Sorrow Like a Flash Flood Rises
One of the joys of church membership is seeing the children of our congregation being brought by their parents for baptism. As a covenant community, we delight to participate in the responsibilities of nurturing these precious young lives in the knowledge of the Lord. Being Presbyterians, children are usually baptized in the first weeks or … Continue reading Prayer For our Grandchildren (and children!)
I am a year late in sharing this final post on our study of Habakkuk. Life spun out of control for a few weeks (VBS, perhaps?), and I simply never returned to it. I then hesitated to post anything else without adding to the unfinished series. Procrastination turned into complete forgetfulness. I apologize for the … Continue reading Yet I Will Rejoice In The Lord
I like to peruse my Facebook memories each day to see what was happening on “this day” for the past several years. Since March, I’ve been reminded that four years ago the Covid pandemic and subsequent quarantines were the main thing on my and everybody else’s mind. The most significant memory to surface is the … Continue reading Remember and Pray
