Pursuits, Passions, Promises
Throughout the course of life, when confronted with various struggles and challenges, we have the opportunity on how best to deal with our burdens. We may choose to bear it alone, seek help and yet continue to bear the burden or look to other sources of strength and encouragement and truly lighten our load.
During the course of his life, king David was confronted with many burdens and challenges. Some of these things were self-imposed and others were beyond his control.
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Eye of God
The name Orlena means “Golden.” For skiers and snowboarders, Winter Storm Orlena, and her massive snow dump, was indeed “Golden.” For those who had to drive to work over the snow-covered roads, she was anything but “Golden.”
As my wife and I awoke to the aftermath of Orlena, knowing we had to clear the driveway of snow before I could head to work, she turned to me and said, “Check and see how much snow there is?” I picked up my cellphone…
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Also Ran
Upon hearing of the passing of a professor and former vice president of the seminary I attended many years ago, I was touched by the words his wife shared when speaking of his final hours before his death. She described a scene in which his family gathered at his bedside. Those present…
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In Times of Trouble
In more recent years, Americans have tasted the bitter pill of trouble. History-making events such as Pearl Harbor, the Kennedy assassination, the Oklahoma City bombing, the World Trade Center tragedy, and now the COVID-19 virus, have worked to reinforce our awareness of great and various times of trouble.
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To Bee or Not Too Bee?
As I stood on the front porch, surveying the landscape, I noticed to my left, sunny, blue skies. It was a beautiful picture of the ideal day. When I turned to my left, all I saw was dark and ominous storm clouds coming. The contrast typifies life itself and the joy and dread many regularly face. The fortunes of our lives rest on the head of a pin. To our left is sunshine, to our right storm clouds moving in.
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First Miracle
What was the first miracle Jesus performed? Changing of water into wine? How do we know it is his first miracle? In the 11th verse of the gospel of John chapter 2 it says so. Verse 11 says, “This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory.”
Why is this important? First, given the importance of Jesus’ earthly ministry and the proofs that validate who He was, it is good to know where, when and how it took place.
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The Garment of Healing
In the gospel of Mark chapter 5 verses 25 through 34 we see a very special, yet unusual meeting between Jesus and a woman who was struggling with an ongoing medical condition. The manner in which things unfolded point to the unique nature of Christ, and serves to validate who Christ is. Passages such as this underscore the challenge Christ established in the gospel of John chapter 14 verse 11 where He said, “Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.” The “works” He spoke of are the many miracles He performed during the course of His earthly ministry.
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Risk Everything
The renowned artist Paul Gustave Dore (1821-1883) lost his passport while traveling in Europe. When he came to a border crossing, he explained his predicament to one of the guards. Giving his name to the official, Dore hoped he would be recognized and allowed to pass. The guard, however, said that many people attempted to cross the border by claiming to be persons they were not.
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Faith That Works
As I sat at my desk preparing a service focused on The International Day of Prayer for The Persecuted Church, underscoring the seriousness of the situation, my eye was drawn to a New York Times story dated November 2, 2018 reporting an attack in Egypt targeting two buses carrying Coptic Christians…
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The Mask
As implied in the DC Code, masks worn in certain situations are generally used to conceal a person’s facial identity, but in the book of Genesis chapter 27 we see a mask being used to conceal the identity of a person, but it was their arms not their face.
The person attempting to conceal his identity was Isaac’s youngest son Jacob.
Jacob was a twin and even before birth
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The Trust Factor
The first and most important step in establishing and maintaining a true relationship with God, is trusting Him. God greatly desires that we turn to Him by faith and trust Him.
In the book of Proverbs chapter 3 the Bible shares one of the greatest passages regarding the essences of a true relationship with God. The Bible says…
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Lord of the Storm
Have you ever found yourself amidst a life-threatening storm? If you have, you understand the seriousness of such a thing?
Typically, your focus is on little else but dealing with and surviving the storm itself.
A number of years ago the company I worked for sent me to Tampa, Florida for a training conference. A few weeks before the conference began…
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God Is Love
In the book Miracle on the River Kwai, the Scottish soldiers, were forced by their Japanese captors to work on a jungle railroad. As time passed the men’s behavior became barbarous.
One day, the officer in charge angerly demanded the men to produce a missing shovel. When they didn’t he pull his gun and threatened to kill them if they…
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Hope Amid The Ruins of Life
Long ago there was a man named David. He was a mighty warrior and king of Israel.
The book of Acts chapter 15 verse 22 helps us understand David’s relevance in God’s eyes saying, “He raised up for them David as king, to whom also He gave testimony and said, “I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all My will.”
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Lottery of Life
During the outset of the war with Iraq, on March 23, 2003, several members of the 507th Maintenance Company were ambushed and taken as prisoners. A day later, two AH-64D Apache Longbow helicopter crewmen were captured when their aircraft crashed. Upon gaining their freedom, Chief Warrant Officer Ronald Young said, “We feel like we won the lottery of life.”
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Daily Worship
Over the years I have come across various people that when asked about their relationship with God, they say that they have their own way of worshiping Him. Often times, this denotes the formulating of a self-conceived notion of God and His expectations of us. Sadly, at times, God is approached as if He is an old dog living in the back yard of our lives, longing for the spiritual scraps from our table. And of course, when we toss Him an occasional bone He thankfully accepts it with gratitude.
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The Foolish and The Weak
In the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, Reggie Jackson’s plaque mentions his many accomplishments as a baseball player. The 11 Division winners he played on, 5 home runs in one World Series, his 563 career home runs, his American League MVP award were all listed. Interestingly enough, his plaque does not list his record for the most career strikeouts for a hitter. Reggie had over 600 more strikeouts than out distances Hall of Famer Willie Stargell by more than 600 strikeouts.
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Persecution
Picture yourself traveling to a neighboring town to share your faith with those living there. The government is watching your every move. At a later point they break into your home and take you off for questioning. They demand that you provide the name of your pastor, the people you worship with and the location of your church gathering. Because you choose to withhold this information you are beaten bloody head to toe. Your captors place your legs in chains and demand that you walk the floor all night long. At some point you realize that your wounds have left a bloody trail below you.
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Power Source
In the Old Testament the role of the Temple priest was an essential aspect to the religious life of the people. The priests were the ones set apart by God to care for the handling and the offering up of the sacrifices and love gifts to God.
In the New Testament the individual believer has been made a priest and is therefore responsible for the offering up of sacrifices. In 1 Peter 2:5 it says, “you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”
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Transformed
In the movie Unbroken, Olympian and World War II bombardier Louis Zampenni found himself afloat at sea for 47 days in inflatable rafts after his B-24 Liberator bomber crashed. During this time Louis fought off a shark attack, survived a storm, was strafed by a Japanese plane, and saw one of his two friends who survived the plane crash die.
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Priorities
Today, perhaps more than ever, people, both Christian and non-Christian struggle with setting goals and priorities. There are many reasons why people struggle with such things, nonetheless, the way we perceive reality plays an important role in our choices.
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Minutes Away From Returning Home Safely
In his article “A Box Full of Treasures: Letters Home from a Young Soldier,” Richard M. Barrett spoke of former judge Philip D. O’Donnell, Jr., going through the personal effects of his recently deceased aunt and coming across an old cigar box containing “hand-written letters and faded photographs.” To his surprise he found a number of hand-written letters from Edward A. Stewart, World War I machine gunner serving with the American Expeditionary Forces in France in November 1918. Eddie was described as a “courageous, patriotic native son who was a popular, well-liked, natural born leader.” Eddie was the sort of son and soldier that made one proud to be an American.
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Chasing gods?
In the book of Acts 14:8-19 the Bible touches on a very unique encounter Paul and Barnabas had during their ministry. The account begins in verse 8 where it says, “In Lystra there sat a man crippled in his feet, who was lame from birth and had never walked.
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Life Is But A Breath
Martin Luther was truly a great man of God. He lived roughly 500 years ago. He is best known as the man who stood up to the heretical teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. If not for his bravery, we would not have the freedom of worship we enjoy today.
Martin Luther was not only a great crusader of the faith, he was a very loving husband and father. There was a time in his life when he was forced to wrestle with the brevity of life. His time of realization and struggle came when confronted by the illness and eventual death of his young daughter Magdalene.
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Balance Amid an Imbalanced World
Men huddled together in small cabins, coughing, hacking, sneezing, shivering, and cold to the bone. They were sick, hungry and considered themselves successful, if they managed to survive another day. Their leader knew, that if they failed to endure this seemingly endless cycle, their hopes and dreams would evaporate, in the blink of an eye.
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Infinity… Eternity…
Most everything surrounding man’s existence here on earth is somehow related to the concept of time and physical space. From the point of conception, to the time of our death, from the rising of the sun, to its setting, we are reminded that all things in this world expire. Science itself predicts that the sun, as we know it, will slowly transform into a “red giant” (a step in the process of the death of a star) in roughly “5 billion years.”
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Refuge and Strength
In the summer of 1976 a friend and I were in Manhattan. We stumbled across the filming of the final scene of the movie King Kong. They were looking for extras to gather around the dead body of Kong, so we happily embraced our role as extras in an Academy Award winning movie (won the award for Best Visual Effects).
As we entered the location where Kong laid, I realizing that we were standing in the plaza of the World Trade Center. I recall how big those towers looked that evening and how small I felt standing between them.
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