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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Church of Cowards

Matt Walsh was unknown to me until a few months ago.  A friend asked me to read Walsh’s book Church of Cowards so we could talk about it.  Walsh is a conservative blogger aligned with the religious right.  I’m not the religious right’s biggest fan but I read on anyway.   Walsh is a literary bludgeon. If…

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Yes, I Will Say His Name

Since the murder of George Floyd, American cities have experienced paroxysms of protests and riots. To date, three separate protests have happened where I live, which is saying something for our small town.  Thankfully, they remained peaceful; some of our police participated, exchanged fist-bumps with protesters, and walked along to show support.  Along with real…

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Shhh! Don’t Tell the Governor or President!

Much of the world is living with restrictions because of coronavirus.  Like many others, I’ve struggled with all of this.  Every time guidelines/restrictions are added or changed, it takes time for me to process them and adjust.  I’ve seen myself go through some classic stages of grief: denial, anger, depression…I haven’t really bargained because there…

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Love, not Law

The following appeared in our local paper’s religion column last weekend. It is a revision of a previous post, “Love, not Law”. The paper re-titled it “What Complete Freedom Means.” *** “Christ has liberated us to be free.  Stand firm then and don’t submit again to a yoke of slavery” (Gal. 5:1). Most Christians know…

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Big Reveal

“To the called out Thessalonians in God our Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thess. 1:1). Paul starts his first and second letters to the Thessalonians with an almost identical address.  He is writing Thessalonians who were called out, who are now in God and Jesus.  Called out of the world and into…

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Re-imaging

God created man in His image.  His original command to His image was, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it” (Gen. 1:28).  Man fell from this purpose.  God’s image in man was marred.  As a result, man multiplied his own image and likeness (Gen. 5:3).   Man’s image filled the earth.  All things…

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Are You with Me?

While I was spending time with the Lord this week, He asked, “Are you with me?”  My first reaction was, “Is this one of those questions like when you asked Peter if he loved you?” I’m way more likely to overthink things than Peter.  There was no confident (over confident?), “You know I’m with you,…

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