Being Christian Without Losing Your Mind
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Showman P. T. Barnum had a display in his 1860’s American Museum called “The Happy Family.” It was a cage where natural prey and predators peacefully coexisted. People flocked to see lambs resting with lions without becoming mutton. Asked if he planned to keep the exhibit, he supposedly replied, “The display will become a permanent …
Diotrephes, who loves to be the leader, refuses to have anything to do with us…Not only does he refuse to welcome the traveling teachers, he also tells others not to help them. And when they do help, he puts them out of the church. – 3 John 9, 10b (NLT) This intimate scene from the …
Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. – Acts 4:46-47a (NRSV) I had the privilege of working for the U. S. Census Bureau in 2020. I …
“At that time, the Lord commanded me to teach you all the regulations and the case laws that you must keep in the land that you are entering to possess.” – Deuteronomy 4:14 It’s been well over a year since I retired. Occasionally I ask myself, “Isn’t there something important I should be doing? Teaching? Writing? Pastoring …
I once ran an experiment in a church I pastored. I put black and white beans in a Mason jar and set it on a table next to a sign, “Guess how many beans are in this jar.” People could submit their guesses for a chance to win a fabulous prize (I think it was …
Don’t do anything for selfish purposes, but with humility think of others as better than yourselves. – Philippians 2:3 Humiliation is an important precursor to humility. I once hit a ball over the fence for a homerun in a softball game. It was my first and last time ever to do that. I made a …
Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said about him, “Here is a genuine Israelite in whom there is no deceit.” – John 1:47 The comedian Jeff Foxworthy has made a career out of that redneck line. Being from the redneck genetic lineage, I can appreciate his humor. One of my favorites of his is, “If …
Probably like some reading this, I felt physically nauseated by the recent presidential debate. I even had trouble sleeping. Visions of constant insults and interruptions haunted my night like Scrooge’s ghosts from A Christmas Carol. The haunt-in-chief was President Trump. I thought his behavior in the hour and a half debacle was deplorable. Couldn’t everybody …
[Love] isn’t rude, it doesn’t seek its own advantage, it isn’t irritable, it doesn’t keep a record of complaints. – 1 Corinthians 3:5 Paradoxically, while we’ve practiced social distancing during the Covid pandemic, we’ve also practiced lessening the distance between us and the ones we love. Children come home and stay home from school. Spouses …
Jehoshaphat said, “Isn’t there any other prophet of the Lord whom we could ask?” “There is one other man who could ask the Lord for us,” Israel’s king told Jehoshaphat, “but I hate him because he never prophesies anything good about me, only bad.” – 1 Kings 22:7-8 The problem with the Bible isn’t the Bible but how people …