"All of life is business with God…" John Calvin
“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
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 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
The entire book of Habakkuk is the prophet’s prayer to God and God’s response. In fact, Habakkuk’s side of the conversation reads like the Psalms while the five woe oracles of God’s response in chapter two are more similar to proverbs. While still written as a psalm, the prayer that we find in chapter three … Continue reading Remember and Trust
A funny thing happened on the way to my email inbox. The Lord arranged the perfect story to pop up on the news feed on Monday as I was thinking about our lesson on God’s condemnation of idolatry. In a surprising turn of events, King Charles III [of Great Britain] has reportedly turned to a Greek … Continue reading The Fifth Woe
In his second Inaugural Address, Abraham Lincoln expressed his belief that the Civil War was the direct result of God’s providential justice, brought to bear against our nation in God’s appointed timing because of the offense of slavery. The Almighty has His own purposes. "Woe unto the world because of offenses; for it must needs … Continue reading Woe To the Oppressors
Last week, Habakkuk faithfully wrestled with the Lord’s perplexing ways. He grounded himself in what he knew to be true—that God is all powerful, he is holy, he is faithful, he is just, and he is a steady refuge in time of storm. None of that squared with what God revealed he was planning. The … Continue reading The Righteous Shall Live By Faith
