A Book of Biblical Proportions
For years I’ve made a practice of reading through the Bible once each year. I’ve used a number of reading plans and translations, but usually I just read straight through, about three chapters each day.
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The Toss of a Coin
A friend and I were standing in line at a local burger hangout after our high school homecoming game. We found ourselves catching up with a former student who had graduated two years earlier.
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Proclaiming Another Sabbath Jubilee
Every fifty days we remind ourselves that we live by God’s strength and serve at His pleasure, celebrating His goodness by taking a rest. We hope you will do the same, meditating upon His blessings in Jesus, which are too numerous to count. Ephesians 1:3
If you recall, the Jubilee was to be a year of liberty, of forgiving debts, and the time when any rented or leased property or fields were returned to their original owners. In essence, it was a fiscal and geographical reset in which each tribe, clan, and family would get a fresh start. It was the ultimate Sabbath, a Sabbath a whole year long. You can read about it in Leviticus 25.
Of course, the Jubilee never really happened, for not even the Sabbath years were kept, a symbol of Israel’s rebellion and their inability to trust God. Eventually, Israel was expelled from the land in a sort of forced rest, as the Lord had warned in Leviticus 26:33-35. 2 Chronicles 36:21
We might ask God to help our nation to have its own reset, as there are quite a few things which are out of place and need to be returned to normal.
“Father, we thank you for your provision and blessing, acknowledging that we do all things by your permission and in your power. We ask that you will reveal more of yourself to us this day, and that we will walk in the wisdom you provide. In the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”
“It felt like power.”
Created in God’s image, we were meant to wield power lovingly for our planet and its people. Adam was a steward in the Garden with a mandate to be a worshiper who tended Creation for God.
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Getting Used to the New Abnormal
We often hear people mentioning “the new normal,” as if we should know what that means. May I suggest that we not refer to the present state of affairs in any way as normal. It’s not, and I hope we don’t honor it with a good name.
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Traces
A hundred years of freezing and thawing finally brought a rusted horseshoe to the surface near the street in front of our church building. The tiny chapel was built in 1834, when horses, not cars, trucks, and busses, carried people along Baltimore Pike.
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“In everything give thanks. . .”
Some Bible commands are easier to obey than others. But I imagine all of us, at some time or another, struggle with Paul’s instruction in 1 Thessalonians 5:18 (NIV), “Give thanks in all circumstances.”
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The Houdini Virus
Problems cry out for solutions. In normal, everyday life, we expect people to work together, keeping their minds and eyes open for clues and applauding any and all efforts and even hints at solutions.
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“My sheep hear My voice. . .”
One summer day In the 1930’s, my grandfather discovered a dozen of his sheep missing. A neighbor told him where they’d been spotted. Making his way through the forest and the back roads so no one could see him, he found the sheep. He recognized them immediately, and he knew they were his.
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Hard Thoughts About God
We’ve all heard the accusations against God, maybe even made some:
God has abandoned me.
If God is good, why is there so much pain in the world?
God doesn’t hear my prayers.
God has disappointed me.
God let my child die.
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