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For those of us who are old enough to remember the song “Hokey Pokey” you may remember the words went something like this, “You put your right foot in, you put your left foot out, then you do the Hokey Pokey and you shake it all about.” Why in the world did this song from years ago suddenly pop into my mind? I’m guessing it’s because I was reflecting on the scripture verses, both in the Psalms and in the book of James that talk about a “double minded man.” These verses reminded me that Christians often try to live with one foot in their faith...
From a commercial I saw once long ago...(from memory)... How long can a person live without food? 10-14 days How long can a person live without water? 3-5 days How long can a person live without air? 3-5 minutes How long can a person live without hope? ….. Circumstances in each of these can produce different results but the end-point is clear enough. In deference to that, it is no secret that this time of year is concomitantly both the most joyous and the most difficult for many of us. As of this reading, Christmas will have passed and New Y...
One of my favorite biblical characters has always been King David. From when I was a boy, reading about the exploits and bravery of David as a youngster (lions and bears and Philistines!), until now when in mid-life I also admire David’s wisdom, humility and desire to follow God wholeheartedly. The historical accounts of David’s life found in the Bible will remain an example to all of us for eternity of an imperfect, sinful man who God used in a mighty way. David lived a life full of conflict, turmoil, battle and bloodshed. He was one of the...
We’d have to be marooned on a deserted island or live in a hellhole like North Korea to not know the great Billy Graham passed away. Of all his preaching the one thing I remember most was how it changed the life of one native. I was at a men’s retreat and listened to a man whose testimony was so striking you’d never forget it. His mother left him as an infant on his grandmother’s porch and walked away. Raised without a father or mother, his best friend became John Barleycorn. Passed out on his couch after a drinking spree, he later woke staring...
What came into existence was Life, and the Life was Light to live by. The Life-Light blazed out of the darkness; the darkness couldn’t put it out. John 1:4-5 “The Message” Per usual, the liturgical season of Advent begins just as our hours of darkness are getting longest. It’s such a fantastic reminder of God’s unexpected power. We are encouraged during Advent to expect hope. We are called upon to seek peace. We are roused to express love. We are gathered and sent to live out our faith with mercy and joy. This is God’s power at work among...
This December I look forward to speaking for four Sundays about the original songs of Christmas. These four songs, contained in the first two chapters of Luke, poetically proclaim the Good News of Jesus. These first four songs of Christmas come from Mary, Zechariah (father of John the Baptist), the angels speaking to the shepherds and a man named Simeon. Together, these songs show us the expectation and wonder of the announcement and arrivals of Jesus Christ. In December, we traditionally observe the four weeks leading up to Christmas as the...
I wonder what message the prophet Isaiah was trying to emphasize when he said, “…for all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still?” It must have been awfully important as he repeats it again and again (Isaiah 5:25, 9:12, 9:17, 9:21 and 10:4). We recently studied these verses in our Sunday school class and it has given me cause to ponder. As I read these verses, I think about the justice and mercy of a loving God. The recurrent theme that I see is that no matter where I am in my life, His hand is stretched out still...
I recently ran across a quote on Facebook attributed to @mindfulfitness that said “If you choose not to find joy in the snow, you will have less joy in your life but still the same amount of snow.” I suspect that for most people who choose to live in this part of the world, they can at least find some joy in the snow whether it be in recreational opportunities such as skiing or snowmobiling, in work opportunities clearing snow, or just in the beauty it adds to an already beautiful place. On the other side of it, I think there are aspects of...
We have a good Christian friend who was taking a class at the U, who reported to us that her instructor had made a comment something to the effect, “Watch out for those Christians, you can’t trust them.” Our friend’s responded, “Can you tell who they are?” To which the teacher replied, “Oh yes, you can.” I believe that, as Christians it is possible that the world sometimes misunderstands our Christian faith and beliefs. For example you may hear someone say, “Those Christians are just a bunch of hypocrites.” To which I would answer, “Indeed I a...
Like football itself, the Super Bowl halftime show has become an integral part of American culture. In some ways, the halftime show is even more widely anticipated and talked about. King Solomon once wrote in Ecclesiastes, “There is no new thing under the sun.” What is now, has been before. As far as popularity goes, the Roman stadiums are a good example, complete with a halftime show. Yet this was very different than ours today, as were the “games” played before and after. As the bloodiness and the brutality of the so-called bread and circus...
There was an airline pilot flying over the Tennessee mountains and pointed out a lake to his copilot. “See that little lake?” he said. “When I was a kid I used to sit in a rowboat down there, fishing. Every time a plane would fly overhead, I’d look up and wish I was flying it. Now I look down and wish I was in a rowboat, fishing.” Contentment can be an elusive pursuit. We go after what we think will make us happy and content only to get it and find out that it didn’t work. Our nation shows our lack of contentment in many ways, such as our high...
This past Sunday, my congregation celebrated World Communion Sunday. This is a day set aside where we acknowledge the universal connection we have in Christ throughout the world. My denomination’s website describes the history of this celebration: “World Communion Sunday was adopted as a denominational practice in the Presbyterian Church (US) in 1936. Churches in other denominations were invited to celebrate with us from the beginning, but it wasn’t until 1940 when the Department of Evangelism of the Federal Council of Churches (a prede...
We are currently going through concerning times with political issues as a nation. There is a great amount of division affecting all levels of government. Every day seems to bring fresh news of problems and scandals. But this is nothing new. Every generation has faced troubling times and seasons with what is happening with government and politics. The Bible gives us both comfort and wisdom as we observe what happens around us in politics. We should never wring our hands in despair but instead...
By trade, I am a saw filer. In earlier days, anyone in this trade may have been called either a sawsmith, or a saw doctor – as filing or sharpening saws was only a small part of our trade. A sawsmith, or saw doctor, takes great pains to repair a saw so that the sharpening can be used to best effect. Often times, the repair process involves welding broken teeth back into the saw, or welding a broken saw body back together. Part of the process of welding involves tempering the welded area. The careful application of heat can cause the welded a...
You may be old enough to remember that song by the Beatles. It was released in 1967 as a single and quickly swept the world. Just for fun I “Googled” the question “How many songs have been written with love in the title?” I did not receive a good answer. There was one person that counted the “love” songs in his collection and it came to 1,187…quite a large number for one person. As a society we use the word love to describe many emotions, events, persons, animals, etc. The list is endless. I want to share with you the true meaning of th...
“And Moses said unto the Lord, “O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore nor since Thou hast spoken unto Thy servant; but I am slow of speech and of a slow tongue.” When God called Moses to go to His people and lead them out of slavery in Egypt, Moses tried repeatedly to give reasons as to why he was not the one: “Who am I, that I should go forth...?”, “They shall say to me, What is His Name? What shall I say to them?”, “But behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice: for they will say; the Lord hath not appeared un...
There is a tension between liberty and security, between our freedom and our safety. Of course, we would all prefer, and choose if we could, to have both complete liberty and complete security. However, that is not the world we live in. For example, we desire for others to not steal our possessions, so we secure them, with locks or cases. But in order to secure those possessions with a lock or in a case, we give up a little bit of our freedom to have easier access to those possessions. Most of the time we weigh the cost of the freedom that we...
Last week I was down in Frisco, TX for the NDSU championship football game. Next to our hotel was…by all counts…the most tempting and fabulous building I had ever seen. On the outside it read in beautiful neon letters: Indoor Skydiving. I’ve ALWAYS wanted to skydive. It’s been one of my bucket-list items, for sure. When I was 14, my Godmother took me on a 3 day trip to Hawaii to celebrate my birthday/confirmation. She was a flight attendant with NorthWest and had the chance to fly me for free. One of the things we did while in Hawaii was a f...
I still enjoy visiting libraries. I appreciate the opportunity to borrow books without having to purchase them and being exposed to various titles that I was not aware of. But part of me (a small part) misses the nostalgia of the little card catalog drawers. Back in the “olden days,” with covered wagons and the pony express…we searched for information on card catalog cards according to subject, author and title. Nowadays, it is common (yes, for myself) to simply search on the Internet. Admit...
Recently I was sitting in the yard in the evening as the stars came out and even with my imperfect vision I was able to see literally millions of stars. Having seen pictures from the Hubble telescope, I was able to envision billions more yet unseen as I sat there. Then I sort of wandered off in my thoughts, thinking about the massive array of our universe and pondered on the limited understanding we have of how it all came about. I realized that there was a fantastic system and order present, with laws governing the whole. I contemplated this i...
More than 45 years ago when I served in the Air Force, there was nothing I looked forward to more than going home. The little house I grew up in, the small town near where I lived, the people I had known for all of my short life, were all very familiar and special to me and I certainly missed it all. There were trails through my favorite woods, my favorite swimming holes and fishing holes and that section of river that my friends and I loved to float in inner tubes on hot summer days. The Old Saying claims that you can never go home again. And...
My brother-in-law was a true intellectual. Having served as a past dean of the faculty at Cornell University, he was a truly humble man. He was always more interested in what he could learn from others than in telling others how much he knew. This always felt to me like a point of separation between a true intellectual from a pseudo intellectual. You’ve no doubt heard the expression, “Remain quiet and people may think you ignorant, or speak up and remove all doubt.” My father used to advise me, “Know what you know and know what you think a...
Having been convicted of 49 murders and confessing to 71, Gary Ridgway, also known as the Green River Killer, is considered to be the worst serial killer in U.S. History. In his 2003 court appearance, his consecutive confessions to each individual murder were completely devoid of any emotion whatsoever...“stonefaced and cold,” as one reporter described him. The judge subsequently allowed families of the victims to address him directly and most all were rightly heart-broken and enraged, up to wishing a “long, suffering, cruel death” upon hi...
If you follow the NFL at all, you know that there has been on ongoing controversy surrounding certain players who decided to not stand during the singing or playing of our national anthem at the beginning of the game. And recently the NFL instituted a new rule that stated that all players on the field during the singing of the national anthem had to remain standing. I have found it rather interesting that the instigator of this controversy remains currently unemployed as an NFL player, but even more interesting to me is the fact that he, and...
On down the highway through Prince George and Vanderhoof, logging trucks appeared, Fraser Lake and Burns Lake. All the way to Prince Rupert seemed like every third rig was a logg’n truck. Motor’n through Smithers, B.C., I spotted a gigantic igloo. It was called Adams igloo, as big as a house. Need’n a break I stopped to investigate. It was closed so I went to the house. “Yes,” the men said “But see’n how you stopped, I’ll open it.” Inside was every mounted animal from Canada. It was impressive. Seems like the ol’ boy was quite a hunter. Come to...
