Am I An OT Hypocrite?

Who knew there were so many Old Testament scholars? I was reading an article about political policy and scrolled through the first few comments when I stumbled into a thread of sage experts in Mosaic law. You see, one individual suggested that the Christian worldview might have some perspective on...

Continue reading

Our Master In Heaven

“Masters, grant to your slaves justice and fairness, knowing that you too have a Master in heaven” (Colossians 4:1). Paul is speaking of the treatment of slaves to the Roman-era believers in Colossae. Centuries after the Law was given, slavery was still present. In fact, it was worse than ever....

Continue reading

The Great And Powerful One

The throne room scenes in “The Wizard of Oz” are probably my favorite. After many twists and turns on “The Yellow Brick Road,” Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, and the Cowardly Lion finally arrive in the Emerald City. After much ado, they are granted an audience with the Wizard...

Continue reading

Not A Good Idea

“Not a good idea!” Our four-year-old granddaughter hollered breathlessly as her grandpa Ben was spinning her around at top speed on a piece of playground equipment. Her hair was standing straight out behind her, and she was hanging on for dear life! She was warning her grandpa to stop. The...

Continue reading

The 4th Estate And The 9th Commandment

In Europe, tradition holds that every realm is comprised of three estates: the clergy, the nobility, and the commoners. Power typically was held by some combination of the clergy and the nobility, and the commoners often found themselves in the position of having little voice in addressing their concerns or...

Continue reading

A Country Slathered in More-Having Sauce

Shakespeare is rightly regarded still as a titan of a playwright. His ability to get at the essence of human nature across such a broad field of genres and characters remains unrivaled. On the subject of greed, two quotes are quite revealing in light of current events. From the play...

Continue reading

The Uniqueness of Sexual Sin

People often say that all sins are equal. The reasoning is that since God is so holy, any sin is an egregious offense against that holiness. Thus, all sins are equal. It is true that each and every sin, whether we think it large or small, is an egregious offense...

Continue reading

Holy War and Sanctity of Human Life Sunday

I want to try to connect two ideas that may seem like unlikely companions. First is the concept of Holy War that we discussed last Sunday in our study of the sixth commandment, and the second is the issue of abortion and the observance of Sanctity of Human Life Sunday....

Continue reading

A Keeper

When I was a toddler, my mother took me shopping. As we were wheeling around the store, I reached out and grabbed a stuffed rabbit. I clung tightly to it, in my little mind it was a keeper, and I wasn’t letting it go. My mother couldn’t pry it out...

Continue reading

The 3rd Commandment and a Boar’s Head

Quick, you are alone on a hill, armed with nothing but a copy of Aristotle, and a giant boar is charging at you. What do you do? While you are strategizing, recall our discussion on Sunday of the 3rd Commandment. We looked at the seriousness of God’s revealed Name and...

Continue reading

Misery, Deliverance, and Gratitude

In 1563, saints in Heidelberg, Germany put together a summary of their beliefs to teach their children. This came to be known as the Heidelberg Catechism. It is divided into three sections: misery, deliverance, and gratitude. It was instructive for me this week to look at how this wonderful teaching...

Continue reading

God Came Down

Tara and I recently returned from an overseas trip. When we left on October 24th, the stores were filled with Halloween candy and decorations. We returned just before Veterans Day, and as we picked up our luggage from the carousel, we were shocked to see the Spokane Airport decked out...

Continue reading

Plan B: God’s Plan

When life throws me off course, I don’t handle it very well. I succumb to my fears and live tense and anxious. Recently our plans took a sharp turn and left me perplexed, frustrated, and even angry. What I thought was going to happen simply vanished. What do I do...

Continue reading

The Politics of Grumbling

It’s that time of year. Nutmeg and cinnamon are coming out of their cupboards, the last maple and cottonwood leaves are falling, frost is creeping into the shadows, and political ads carpet-bomb every imaginable media platform. Sinister voices prompt us to vote for candidate A or candidate B with promises...

Continue reading

so whos with me

So Who’s With Me

This statement was exuberantly shouted out by our five-year-old granddaughter, Grace when we were discussing a family trip to Disney Land. She suddenly motioned with her arm in the air and asked, “So who’s with me?” I guess she was hoping for a majority vote, or maybe a united front...

Continue reading

We Are What We Imitate

Pattern recognition is one of the most enduring and powerful abilities of the human brain. It helps artists sense composition, athletes follow a play, musicians pick out a theme, novelists advance a plot, programmers construct their code, and even conspiracy theorists concoct their theories. I recently heard a scientist studying...

Continue reading

How Quickly Things Change

We thought it would never end, the smoke and the heat. The heat was manageable for a time. The smoke was a bother. But together they became a problem, even unhealthy. Poor air quality coupled with high temperatures really made for a long and uncomfortable stretch of summer. It was...

Continue reading

And Then There Are The Other Angels

And Then There Are The “Other” Angels

Psalm 91 reveals an incredible truth. Angels are sent by God to watch out for us. A curtain is pulled back to reveal God’s ministering spirits, angels, working on our behalf.     For He will give His angels charge concerning you,     To guard you in all your...

Continue reading

The Crack in My Driveway

There’s a crack in my driveway. It’s become a bit of a problem because it is causing portions of the driveway to heave, buckle, crumble, and become very uneven. It hasn’t always been this way. In fact, it all started, I’m sure, with a very small crack in the concrete....

Continue reading