In today's Bible reading (Saturday) Jesus saw the crowds and had compassion on them. (Matt. 14:4)I wonder why it is that I look and I miss the hurt that people have. How is it that I can see people on a regular basis and do nothing more than have meaningless conversations and move on wrapped up in my own little world and my own little life?How is it that people that I know and love can have their world crashing down around them and I am totally oblivious? The issues can be anything...financial, health, marriage, jobs, addictions, school, etc....
Saturday, 23 January 2010
Thursday, 21 January 2010
Missing the Mark
Posted on 10:30 by Unknown
The Apostle Paul writes that "...all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."I've been feeling that lately--the falling short of God's glory has been bothering me. I've been sensing (once again) that I do very little that impacts the Kingdom of God and that I rely on myself way too much and trust God way too little.I have this secure little life and I live it every day, putting nothing out there for God. I have a modest house, a freezer full of beef, cupboards with food, four cars in the driveway (3 of them are older and paid for), cable...
Saturday, 16 January 2010
Reflections on the Week/Haiti
Posted on 15:08 by Unknown
Last Friday (Jan. 8), I attended the funeral of a friend that has spent most of his life in the mission fields around the world. Most recently, he and his wife have been Port Au Prince, Haiti. They were home on a a visit and making plans to return when my friend had a stroke and died.I mention this to say that there are many missionaries that are in Haiti. Our church has sponsored a work in Jeremy. My brother-in-law's niece has been there in the past and is already back in Haiti after the earthquake last Tuesday. Many of God's faithful have...
Monday, 11 January 2010
Compassion
Posted on 20:47 by Unknown
A year or so back I was having breakfast with a couple of other evangelists. One of them wanted to know what passage from the Bible we thought best showed the character of Jesus. The Scripture that I mentioned was one from Sunday's reading.Here it is:1When he came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. 2A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean." 3Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" Immediately he was cured of his leprosy.In...
Saturday, 9 January 2010
A Fictional Character...
Posted on 16:55 by Unknown
This morning was the 3rd Annual "Lightning Writing" meeting of the Ozarks Chapter of American Christian Writers.The writers are given seven starter lines and can choose one or more to use as they write. It can be a poem, prose, song or story--whatever you want. We then have 45 minutes to write. It can be a completed work or a start to something more. Many of the writers shared their works and they were all very good. These were the starter lines:1) I want to celebrate...2) Gabriel spread his wings and with a loud shout...3) A single tear...
Friday, 8 January 2010
Not a Daily Blogger
Posted on 12:12 by Unknown
Okay! I admit it! I am not a daily blogger. It's not that I don't have any thing to say. It's that I don't have the time every day to (semi-)organize my thoughts and write a post. Or maybe it would be more accurate to say that I'm not disciplined enough to (semi-)organize my thoughts and write a post every day.But I would like to continue to offer daily links to help any readers work their way through reading the New Testament this year. So I've added a Daily Bible Reading section to the upper right column of the blog. I'll try to post the...
Wednesday, 6 January 2010
Do the Right Thing
Posted on 20:09 by Unknown
The Sermon on the Mount in Matthew's gospel is worth reading over and over. There is so much good stuff in there that you have to read it many times to glean all of it. I really like the passage from today's reading.We find Jesus challenging us to rethink how we think about The Law. Even today, we have a tendency to rank sins according to their severity. To God, any sin is an intolerable offense and is enough to keep us from His holy and perfect presence. Murder is on the "big sin" list, but then Jesus reminds us that unrighteous anger has...
Tuesday, 5 January 2010
Temptations
Posted on 19:39 by Unknown
The first part of today's reading in Matthew deals with Jesus facing off with Satan in the wilderness. I think that the progression of the temptation is interesting and I think that we can learn from it and the way that Jesus handled it. It's easy to say that...you know...he's Jesus. That's supposed to be easy for Jesus. The Bible tells us that Jesus faced the temptations as a man--just like we face them. In the wilderness, Jesus turns them aside by using the Scriptures. This is as good an encouragement as there is for us to read and remember...
Monday, 4 January 2010
Missed
Posted on 22:19 by Unknown
I'm just going to say that my day isn't over yet so even though the time stamp says it's Jan 5, it's still Monday--sort of. To keep up with reading through the New Testament here is the combined reading for the 4th and 5th.It starts with the story of Jesus being tempted in the wilderness and then moves into the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount. There is some pretty good stuff in there. I'll be commenting on some of it later today in another post.'Til then...J...
Sunday, 3 January 2010
A Snowy Day in the Ozarks
Posted on 13:13 by Unknown
The snow started last night around 8 o'clock and has been falling ever since. It started as a fine powdery snow but the flakes are starting to get a little bit bigger now. It looks like a little bit more that 4-5 inches and it's still falling nearly 20 hours after it started. Soon I'll have to make my way out to where the horses are and make sure that they have some food and water. I'll also have to get out and shovel off the driveway (again) but might wait to see if it stops within the next couple of hours.All-in-all, it makes for a nice afternoon...
Saturday, 2 January 2010
A Fresh Cup of Coffee
Posted on 10:44 by Unknown
One of the many simple things that I enjoy is a good cup of coffee. Last year, Aaron's girlfriend bought me a french press for Christmas. I like the coffee brewed in the press but rarely have the course ground coffee to use in it. I generally have my coffee ground for espresso and that's too fine for the press. It works for the drip coffee maker, I just use a little less than I would a medium grind.This Christmas, Aaron bought me a coffee grinder. It seem strange that somebody that really enjoys coffee like I do didn't have a grinder already....
Friday, 1 January 2010
I Resolve to...
Posted on 15:51 by Unknown
...not make another resolution that I am destined to fail to achieve! For this year, I make just one resolution--to live life purposefully.I want my relationships with people to be meaningful. I want to have fewer acquaintances and more friends.I want to be very aware of the moments that I spend with my family. I'm afraid that I often take them and their time for granted. This year I really want to cherish that time--everything from text messaging over a great distance to being able to share a meal and a hug.I want to get to know my God better....
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