Teamwork

The last two weeks have been among the most challenging I have ever experienced. The circumstances that led up to these two weeks were completely outside my realm of control. As the situation grew steadily worse it became obvious that something had to be done. I was brought in as one member of a team of five people tasked with solving the problem. Although there were some similarities in our backgrounds we were unique individuals. We each brought to the table a unique set of strengths. Together, as a team, we looked at the situation objectively. We then weighed the options...

Wising Up

Matthew 2:2 (KJV) - Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him. This is one of the four verses I selected to focus on during the Season of Advent. I selected this particular verse because it would remind of two things. First, it would remind me that men anticipated the arrival of Jesus. Second, it would remind me that their response was to seek Him out and worship Him. When I selected this verse as one to focus on in the days leading up to Christmas, I did not realize that it would bring with it a third reminder. That...

Stop Your Striving

Psalm 46:10 (NET) – He says, “Stop your striving and recognize that I am God! I will be exalted over the nations! I will be exalted over the earth!” The account of Joseph in the book of Genesis is fascinating. It documents Joseph’s journey from a youth to becoming the second most powerful man in the land. Once he had that authority, Joseph saved the land and its people from a terrible famine. Yet Joseph’s journey was not an easy one and it took a considerable amount of time. Joseph’s journey began when his own brothers hated him out of jealousy. They threw him into a pit and...

As Strange As It May Seem

I was a child when I first heard the phrase, “God works in mysterious ways.” I suppose that this is a more polite way of saying that God works in strange ways. If you really think about it, His ways are often strange... to us. No matter how long we have been believers, we can never completely understand His ways. Isaiah reminded us of that. Isaiah 40:13 (NET) – Who comprehends the mind of the LORD, or gives Him instruction as His counselor? God both listens to and answers prayer but often times not in the way we would either prefer or expect. In the book of Numbers, the...

Fear Not

The other day I had some work done on my car. There was a great deal of work needed and I knew repairs would take the entire day. Knowing this, I brought along both a book to read and a notebook in which I could write. I am glad that I did. There was a television in their waiting area but it was tuned into one of those 24 hour news channels. The last thing I wanted was to be exposed to bad news all day long. I found a seat in the lobby and alternated between reading and writing. Although I could see the television from my seat I was far enough away that I could not...

Break the Cycle

Persecution is alive and well. Today's headlines bear that out. It has existed almost since the dawn of humanity. It began with the very first generation of humans born to Adam and Eve. The result of that persecution was that Cain murdered his brother Abel. Persecution, however, sprang into the world as a result of envy and hatred. Cain envied his brother's relationship with God and then hated him for it. God gave Cain sufficient warning. Genesis 4:7 (NET) - “Is it not true that if you do what is right, you will be fine? But if you do not do what is right, sin...

Small Packages

After church on Sunday, a friend and I went to another church in our denomination. They were celebrating their 100th anniversary. Being that this church was about 45 minutes away, we were delighted to celebrate this milestone with them. It was wonderful catching up with some old friends. It was equally wonderful making new ones. After a meal was served, everyone made their way into the sanctuary. There, a worship service was held. Hymns were sung and prayers were offered up God. There were several speakers including clergy, community leaders and members. Each...

Faith Is Not Complicated

What is faith? Faith and trust go hand in hand. Faith is belief without reservation. Faith is belief without the need for additional analysis. When I sit down in a chair, I do not analyze it first to determine if it will support me. I do not consider its age, its materials or its quality of construction. I simply sit in the chair fully trusting it to support me. When I drive across a bridge I do not perform any complex mathematics. I do not consider the design or the engineering that went into its construction. I do not estimate the weight of my vehicle and...

So Close and Yet So Far Away

I keep the blinds in my office closed in the summer. My windows face the afternoon sun and keeping the blinds closed helps keep my office cool. Recently, as I walked past the windows, I saw something peeking out from under the blinds. I raised the blinds and discovered that what I saw was the tail of a dead lizard. Somehow this little fellow managed to get inside our building. He then made it up to the second floor. Having survived the trip thus far, he then made his way down the hall and into my office. Once there, he climbed up onto the window sill and crawled...

Three in One

John 1:1-2 (NET) - In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was fully God. The Word was with God in the beginning. The Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit is a difficult concept for some to understand. For those who are not Christian, we appear to be worshiping three separate gods instead of one. To put this in mathematical terms, they see it as 1 + 1 + 1 = 3. But such is not the case. C. S. Lewis in Mere Christianity used the concept of dimensions to give us some insight. In a world of one dimension, one could conceive of nothing more complex than a line. In...

Our Daily Manna

I recently watched a DVD in which the speaker discussed miracles. One of the miracles the speaker focused on was the quail that the Lord sent His people in the book of Numbers. The speaker made this sound like a wonderful thing for them. He did this to imply that God will do marvelous things for us if we but ask Him. Unfortunately, the speaker neglected to tell the entire story. While everything God does is miraculous, sometimes His purpose is correction. The account of the quail really began much earlier when the people complained about the Lord's provision. In...

Faith, Hope and Love

Faith is a wonderful thing to have. Hope is another. Yet there is something even greater. 1 Corinthians 13:13 (NET) - And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. Scripture reminds us that love is greater than either faith or hope. I think that is something of which we need to remind ourselves from time to time. This is especially true as we reach out to those who have not yet put their faith in Jesus as we have. Before we attempt to do anything at all for them spiritually, we first need to love them. Maybe they have put their faith elsewhere. Perhaps...

Setting a Good Example

We just completed a week of Vacation Bible School at our church and what a wonderful week it was. While the children that attend our church know me, it usually takes the visiting children a day or two to come out of their shells when they are around me. Such was not the case this year. Even the youngest of the visiting children seemed to feel comfortable around me and for that I am truly grateful to God. It reminded  me of a time years ago when I watched an interview on television with a very famous athlete and a reporter asked him how he felt about being a role model. This athlete...

Teach Us to Pray

In the very near future I will be leading two adult classes on the subject of prayer. On one hand I am very much looking forward to leading these classes, but at the same time I admit that I am keeping my enthusiasm in check. In my opinion there is a tendency among some authors and televised pastors to encourage people to "pray big". The idea being that since nothing is impossible for God we should not sell Him short and pray for things well beyond our needs or wants. But prayer is far more than simply asking God for things we want or would like to have. Prayer is one of the most effective...

Just Do It

There is a corporation today whose well known slogan is "Just Do It". In a way, that is how our response should be in our relationship with God. God had a special relationship with Abraham. We remember how God asked Abraham to sacrifice his only son. We also remember that Abraham was willing to obey God. God spared Abraham's son and, according to the book of James, Abraham's willingness to obey God was counted as righteousness. Yet there was a point much earlier in Abraham's life when God asked him to do something and Abraham obeyed. This happened after Abraham's father, Terah, settled...

Sometimes We Need A Reminder

I have been thinking a great deal about the life of John the Baptist. In the first chapter of Luke's gospel, we are introduced to his parents, Zechariah and Elizabeth. An angel of the Lord foretold the birth of John to Zechariah. He told of his role as forerunner for the Lord and how he would prepare the way for Him. He even told Zechariah to name him John. Elizabeth became pregnant just as the angel foretold. In her sixth month with child, the angel Gabriel visited a virgin named Mary and told her that she would conceive a Son by the Holy Spirit and was to name Him Jesus. Mary is told...

What Happened, Really?

As our journey continues, we should be mindful of what Jesus endured. According to Matthew's gospel, Jesus goes to Gethsemane with His disciples. There, He instructs them to sit while He goes to pray. Filled with distress, He takes Peter and two others aside with Him. He tells them that He is grieved and asks them to remain awake with Him. He leaves them and goes a little farther where His human nature struggles with what is to come. Death by crucifixion is the cruelest and most painful form of execution devised by man. Jesus throws Himself face down to the ground and prays. His human...

A Slippery Slope

The book of Exodus describes for us that body of law that is best known as “The Ten Commandments”.Each commandment is about relationships.Some are about our relationship with God.The rest are about our relationship with others.Although I have read these commandments a number of times over the years, my thoughts lately seem to keep turning to one in particular.Exodus 20:17 (NET) - "You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet you neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that belongs to your neighbor." I think there...

The State of the Church

(Author's note: I struggled with this post more than any other I have written to date. I will not devote any space as to what inspired and motivated me to write this, but I trust that it was genuine. It certainly raised my concern for the church as a whole and I came to some inescapable conclusions. ~ JP) Church, frankly speaking, no longer plays the pivotal role in the lives of people that it once did. As time goes by both church and the worship experience get pushed further into the background as lives get busier and other things compete for our attention. Part of the problem is external. When...

The More Things Change...

As I am about to turn yet another year older I find myself reflecting on change. When I was a child television was black and white and there were only a few local channels. Telephones required lines. There were no computers, laptops, tablets or even calculators. Man had not yet set foot on the moon as the space program was still in its infancy. Now, half a century later the world is a much different place. Television is not only in color and high definition but there are literally hundreds of channels to choose from. With the advent of cell phones, land lines are decreasing in number. In...

Catalysts of Change

How much have things really changed in the last 400 years? Quite a lot. Cities have grown larger. Buildings are certainly much taller. We have electronic computers that process data faster than ever and hold ever increasing amounts of it. We have air travel and can find ourselves on the other side of the world in a matter of hours. With cell phones, people are now more connected than ever before. Yes, things have changed a great deal in the last 400 years. Yet how much have people changed, generally speaking, in that same 400 years? In reality, not much. Corruption...

Growing the Distance

Growth is something every church hopes to experience. Our church welcomed seven new members last Sunday. Words cannot adequately express how grateful to God I am for bringing them to us. Yet growth is not merely confined to numbers. Growth is something Christians should experience in their personal walk with the Lord as well. When our young people reach the age of confirmation our pastor asks them two questions. He asks them what they expect to receive from the church. He also asks what the church can expect to receive from them. I frankly do not remember how...

Yesterday, Today and Forever

There is a saying about the weather where I live. “If you don't like the weather, stick around a minute and it will change.” This is a bit of an exaggeration but there are times when the weather changes quite frequently. That was the case two weeks ago. Saturday saw mild temperatures but very high winds. Sunday saw a cold front arrive and the wind changed directions. Monday brought cold temperatures. Not to be outdone, Tuesday saw record cold temperatures. Wednesday saw milder temperatures but the rains came. Thursday the rain turned into drizzle. On Friday the...