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The election season is upon us as we head down the final month until the election. Although the presidential election always seems to be divisive, this time it is perhaps worse than ever. I cannot say I follow politics that closely but it seems that this election for many voters is as much about not wanting the other candidate as it is about actually wanting the candidate they will ultimately vote for. In their October issue, Christianity Today published a series of articles where arguments were made for Clinton, Trump, and neither, so it...
Living in a valley, as we do here in Seeley Lake, one comes to appreciate both the beautiful scenery of the surrounding mountains and the shelter from the high winds that are so often a part of life on the plains. And as in life, the mountain top experiences (beautiful views and far off vistas) are often ones we would like to hold on to. Yet we are called to return to the valley floor to spend the bulk of our time and existence. God often gives his missions to his people during these “mountain top experiences.” Such was the case with Moses at...
Technology - 1. the branch of knowledge that deals with the creation and use of technical means and their interrelation with life, society and the environment, drawing upon such subjects as industrial arts, engineering, applied science and pure science. 2. the application of this knowledge for practical ends. 3. the terminology of an art, science, etc.; technical nomenclature. 4. a scientific or industrial process, invention, method or the like. 5. the sum of the ways in which social groups provide themselves with the material objects of their...
Words have power. Words are a primary method of communication. They can change the destiny of nations, causing war or peace. When spoken, they can stick in our memories for our entire lives, and even beyond as we pass them on to others. When written down, they can survive for centuries and millennia. The Bible is composed of words. It is God’s message to humans, penned by men, inspired by God Himself, written down, surviving for millennia. And the Bible itself shows the power of words. In the third verse of the Bible, Genesis 1:3, God spoke the...
Then God said, “Let us make humanity in our image to resemble us so that they may take charge of the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, all the earth, and all the crawling things on earth.” God created humanity in God’s own image, in the divine image God created them, male and female God created them. (Genesis 1:26-27 Common English Bible) Questions of identity - Who am I? Why am I here? - have often plagued the minds of philosophers and theologians. Since the Enlightenment, we have received various attempts to answer these q...
One of my favorite slogans is, “Ask a teenager now…while they still know everything.” We’ve all been on both sides of this. It is common for youth to feel certain that they possess a firm understanding of life. Yet, with age, comes a humble understanding that is shaped by wisdom and life experience. In my articles I have been taking a look at attributes of God, the many different terms that describe how wonderful God is. The attributes of God describe for us the beauty and truth of God that di...
One year during our family Easter egg hunt, I set out to trap one of our kids. Oh the joys of being a father! I planned it with meticulous care and feeling confident, I put the most beautiful egg inside a small mouth canning jar and buried it securely in the ground. It worked perfectly! Right out the door, Easter basket in hand, our little Kelsey spied the egg and reached in and grabbed hold of it. I bet you can guess what happened. That’s right, her little hand fit in the jar perfectly but grasping that nice round egg, it wouldn’t. Ini...
Recently I was watching the movie “The Last Samurai” starring Tom Cruise. In the movie, Cruise’s character finds himself among the Samurai, training in their ancient warfare practices. At one point he states, “I have never seen such discipline.” In the scene that follows, Cruise is shown training but is struggling to learn the ancient art. A young man runs out to him after he is knocked to the ground by his opponent, telling Cruise, “Too many minds!” Cruise is puzzled by this statement so the young man explains that he is thinking of t...
In this current age we hear time and again a litany of rights. As individuals we sometimes insist on being right. We tell ourselves that others agree with us and therefore we are in the right and thus justified in our actions. But where does right begin and where does it end? In Matthew Chapter 5, Jesus draws a distinction between man’s law and God’s law. He points out that though we may be right in man’s eyes we may be wrong in God’s eyes. He points out, “Verily I say to thee, thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou have paid the...
If you’re looking for a model of what the church is supposed to look like – look no further than a local Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meeting. Alcoholism runs rampant in my family (I’m lucky to not have the disease), but some very close people in my life do. I spent some time this week talking with those that battle the bottle. Listening to my friends describe the comradery and transparency at AA made me almost jealous! The stories went like this… “When you walk into AA for the first time, it’s usually because you have just hit rock bottom. You...
As a builder, I have the opportunity to look at a lot of plans for all kinds of various projects. For the most part, I enjoy it - there is such a variety of building styles and types out there with every project being unique in some way or another that I enjoy looking at the plans. And of course, it is an indispensible part of my job. Those plans are my guide for what to build and how to build it, and without them, I generally could not do the project or even give a price for doing the project. Over the years I have noticed that I have yet to...
In my previous articles I have focused on an attribute of God. An attribute is a description of who God is and how God relates to us. Understanding the attributes of God are important to know the beauty of who God is and the truth of how the Lord acts toward people. Every attribute of God points us to how God provides for us and protects. I want to look at the character of God as being just and fair. The idea of just is an action or behavior that is morally right and fair. When we speak of...
Bilbo Baggins was a simple hobbit who wanted nothing more than to sit in front of his fire and eat his soup but life had other plans for Bilbo! It took him on a wonderful journey filled with wizards and dwarfs. His adventures weren’t always fun (or safe!) but they shaped and molded his character in ways that would never have been possible otherwise. I believe life is like this, a series of journeys that we might not always want to take but never-the-less do. Along the way, the Lord shapes and molds us into the people He needs us to be. I...
It has been said of our country that we are a Christian nation. Do we, then, stand strong together to honor God in all we do? In our Pledge of Allegiance, the words “one nation under God” mean we should all be united, allowing God to be our Guide. Sadly, our nation has fallen away from its Christian foundation and principles. Sin blankets our nation today. Therefore, it is crucial now that believers stand together for God’s truths and promises, return to Him and seek His will. God’s blessings will not be given to our nation without our obedienc...
As I watch the news in these troubled times, I realize just how confused our nation has become. Many, for instance, mistake the right or left of political issues with the right or wrong of moral issues. Moral issues like abortion and homosexuality, which are individual moral choices, have become political issues. The result has been to further add to the divisions that exist in our country today. I doubt that our country has been this divided since the Civil War. I am by no means suggesting that we should ignore moral issues but rather that...
“...be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Ephesians 5:18-20 Of the many gifts given to mankind, the ability to create is arguably one of the most beautiful. Music, among the panoply of these, can be evocative, inspirational, comforting or driving to multitudinous ends. For example, classical music has been repeatedly shown to have positive eff...
I had the benefit of a Christian education as a child. And no, that does not mean that I was homeschooled by Christian parents during my formative years - I did about 3 months of homeschooling as a freshman in high school. And no, that does not mean that I went to Christian schools from grades 1-12. I did go to Christian schools for a few years, but the majority of my schooling was done at the public schools. So what do I mean? I mean that I received a Christian education predominantly from my parents, and not even predominantly during school...
“Let me not pray to be sheltered from dangers, but to be fearless in facing them. Let me not beg for the stilling of my pain, but for the heart to conquer it.” -Rabindranath Tagore (cited in Thriving Through Tough Times, by Deidre Combs, 2012) For some of us, conflict is a dirty word. We try to avoid it all costs. We pray for pain to go away. We steer clear of any person who makes us uncomfortable. We tend to leave those situations where we do not have control. Avoidance is a common flight response to fear, uncertainty and major dis...
For those of us fortunate enough to live in this gorgeous country, our hearts have been thrilled with this fantastic spring as the lakes thawed, the grasses turned green and the larch and aspen started to leaf out again. As I looked about I saw the miracle of life exploding upon us and I started to ponder once again what life really is. Although science can define the attributes of living things, scientifically life itself remains an unknown. Yet we all realize what things are alive and those that are not. In all of the commotion that life...
You are a very rare person, indeed, if you have never faced a difficult time in your life such as death of a loved one, divorce, loss of home, unemployment…etc. I could list many possible events in your life that would give you extreme sorrow in some way or another. Just look at the tragedies that are in the newspaper every day that kill or severely injure thousands of people. I can’t remember how many times people have asked the question “Why would a loving God allow that to happen” after a major loss of life has occurred. After all, isn’t G...
I recently relearned a lesson I thought I had already learned and thought I understood...words are like birds, once they’re out of the cage, they’re often hard to recapture. Why is it so easy to find fault in others and so difficult to see it in ourselves? As I was reading a story recently regarding a married couple, I was reminded of the saying, “Women’s faults are many, men have only two, everything they say and everything they do.” The story was written by a gentleman by the name of Carl Windsor. He told of an elderly woman giving advice to...
The term “parting shot,” to give someone a final riposte in an argument while departing, originated with ancient Iranian (Parthian) fast, light horsemen who would turn and shoot backward toward pursuing cavalry to lure them into an ambush of waiting heavy cavalry...a “Parthian shot.” Historians still debate as to who first used them but it is the simple invention of the stirrup that gave the armies of Genghis Khan, the Avars, Sarmatians, Scythians and Attila’s Huns the advantage in their conquests. Throughout history, similar basic advances...
As we all know living here in western Montana, the weather changes fairly drastically on a seasonal basis. Sometimes it changes even much quicker - like recently when it went from snowing one day to sunny and warm a day later. We live in an area that has some of the most dramatic seasonal changes - about an hour drive from here is the location of the coldest ever recorded temperature in United States outside of Alaska - Rogers Pass recorded -70 Fahrenheit (F) in 1954. And only a few hours farther to the east but still in Montana, Glendive and...
This past month our family traveled back to Washington to celebrate my parents’ 50th wedding anniversary. We had a wonderful visit with my parents, along with my brother and family traveling from Florida. The occasion of 50 years of marriage together was truly a time of celebration and thanksgiving. As my parents looked back over their years together, they were full of gratitude for the years they have shared and all the blessings received. Furthermore, all those who are close with my parents have experienced the example and demonstration of w...
In a small village outside Jerusalem, two sisters, Mary and Martha, watched their brother become ill and die. Because they dearly loved their bother, you can imagine their great suffering and mourning upon his death. Their friends and neighbors tried to comfort them but failed. Their sorrow was so great that upon seeing them, Jesus was filled with compassion and wept (John 11:30–35). We have been experiencing the same emotions in our congregation. One needs to simply follow the paper on a weekly basis to see that we experience this in our c...
