I’m all alone in this world. I don’t know what I am doing. I always make bad choices. People say I’m ugly. My face is long, and my nose is big. So is my butt. I’ll never finish school. I can’t afford cute clothes. I had an abortion. I don’t deserve to live. My kids…
When I first began to wrestle with Jesus’ Olivet Discourse (which emerges from a heated Matthew 23, rests solidly in Matthew 24 and then ascends into end-of-days judgment by Matthew 25), I struggled. At one point, I thought I had it figured out. Like many others, I determined there had to be a line drawn…
Growing up I wonder what the Bible meant when it says to love God with your heart, soul, strength, and mind. As I wasn’t a scholar of either Hebrew or Greek, I interpret these English words very basically as emotions, spirit, body, and intellect. However, even the shortest online search told me it wasn’t so…
Why do we need Christ? We need Christ because we are sinners. That isn’t confined to the small “easy to fix” sins. That applies to ALL sins. We put so much pressure on ourselves, but the truth is that we need Christ. We need him because we absolutely cannot live the way we are called…
All my life I have wanted to be free from bondage and oppression just like Anna. The temple must have been busy the day Mary and Joseph brought Jesus there. They kept bumping into people who were waiting. One of these was a woman named Anna. Anna was devoted to God. She worshipped day and…
Love your Enemies. This command sounds almost impossible. Furthermore, these words of Jesus don’t have much appeal. In most situations, hate and disdain are the more natural responses we have for our enemies. Jesus points out, loving people who already love you is fairly easy. There’s a guaranteed return on our love investment when we love people whom we know will love us back. He goes…
Growing up, I was always very short, The shortest at school and church. If you were short like me, you know that you were in the front row of every photo and always behind the tallest person at any event. Zacchaeus must have felt that way too. The bible says he was short, and the…
Have you ever lost your child? Having had the experience of losing our son in the store years ago – the panic, worry, and stress that came with it – it reminds me of one of the first stories about Jesus. It takes place when He, Joseph, and Mary were visiting Jerusalem with some other families for the Feast of Passover. At…
I have grown to enjoy the Christmas season. I like seeing cheerful decorations, spending time with family and friends, and eating Christmas goodies. My favorite part of Christmas, by far, though, is listening to carols and Christmas songs, one of my favourites is, “Joy to the World!” Isaac Watts’ eighteenth-century carol based on Psalm 98, celebrates the coming of Christ. The joy of the…
After the crucifixion, the mood of the disciples on the road to Emmaus could describe some of our moods after Christmas. The disciples were downcast. Did you know a time of anticipation is often followed by a time of letdown? In December everybody looks forward to Christmas morning. But once Christmas has come and gone, what is left to look forward to? Gifts need to be returned, the…
