Same Song, Different Versus

America’s 2020 presidential election is right around the corner. The usual posturing, mud-slinging, glad-handing, and promising is heightened as some cities are plagued by protests and civil-unrest. This is to say nothing of coronavirus, which has killed about 180,000 Americans and could have our economy on a ventilator before long. All of this had my…

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Only One Is All

My wife and I were talking recently about America’s divisive socio-political landscape. COVID and protests have exacerbated division but did not create it.  Division exists in each of us because human nature is prone to sin. Strident exchanges are everywhere. As usual, social media is the great bullhorn, amplifying every discourtesy and difference.  Even between…

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We Just Don’t Know What’s Saving Us

The following is a spoken word poem by my friend Matt Lundquist. Matt is a campus minister and blogs at https://radxians.wixsite.com/mattsblog *** We just don’t know what’s saving us! Stuff’s going down, no stopping it. People all around fearing for their lives. Got to be real, ain’t no denyin’, pain and suffering and the reason for cryin’.  Life‘s not what I…

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Safe Harbor

“But we must always thank God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because from the beginning God has chosen you into salvation in sanctification of the Spirit and belief in the truth. Into this He also called you by our gospel—into obtaining the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.  So then, brothers, stand firm and…

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One Seed

Just before telling us about the tower of Babel, Genesis provides Shem’s genealogy.  Just after the tower of Babel, Shem’s lineage is repeated.  Why?  There is an important difference in the way Shem’s lineage is stated the second time.  Here’s a sample:  “These are the family records of Shem.  Shem lived 100 years and fathered…

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Silence Is…Golden

“Silence is Violence” “Silence is Compliance” These are among the slogans wielded by protesters following the killing of George Floyd. I’ve seen such signs in news coverage and my home town, where protests continue on a daily basis. I understand the anger surrounding Floyd’s death.  No one should be murdered by an officer sworn to…

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Sin

It is like the sweatsqueezing out of every gland. I amthe porous membranethrough which it seeps,discoloring what I touch,filling the very airwith my stench. The harder I try,the more I produce: my best effortsa deluge of brine,a baptism in the dead seawhich poolson my skin.

Have You Missed the Train?

Paul opens 2 Thessalonians chapter two by expounding on the revelation of Christ and the gathering of believers into Him.  Apparently, some claimed the day of the Lord had come.  It’s not a stretch to imagine these same people suggested the Thessalonians were suffering because God rejected them and was judging them.   Paul urges…

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Trajectories

Genesis 11 tells of the tower of Babel.  Mankind had one language and was united in building a city.  The city’s main attraction would be a tower reaching to heaven.  They planned to use fired bricks held together by mortar.  It was to be an impressive, impregnable structure.  By building such a tower, the people…

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